First Post

[Redsong]

I am new to ckd and this forum. Aged 49, gfr 54 and otherwise healthy. Low cholesterol, normal weight, blood pressure fine. I need to go back in 12 months for another blood test and carry on doing what I’m doing, eating well and exercising. But I’m wondering why I have ckd and as autoimmune diseases run in my family (coeliac and Crohns) wonder if this could be a cause? I have no obvious symptoms of an autoimmune disease but can’t think of any other reason. My vitamin d and b12 levels are low and is that linked? Any comments appreciated!

[madonbrew]

Hi Redsong, I have no idea about your situation,however my ckd is an autoimmune disease. I have a rare autoimmune disease called IgG4 systemic disease that has affected my pancreas,kidneys,gall bladder,bikes ducts etc. If the doctors can't figure out any usual reason for your ckd it might be well worth them checking your autoimmune system!!

[madonbrew in reply to madonbrew]

Lol...bile ducts...Not bike!!

[Redsong in reply to madonbrew]

Thanks.

[RickHow]

Kidney problems are not always just caused by something else. Just like any organ in your body it can have it's own health problems without being caused by something else. The reason to see if something is causing the problem, is there might be a potential to stop further damage. Such as high blood pressure. It hurts the kidney. Lower the pressure, there should be no further damage. But it can just be, bad kidney.

[Redsong in reply to RickHow]

Thanks for your reply. What you say makes sense.

[WYOAnne in reply to Redsong]

My ckd was caused by step throat that I had as a child. 30 years later, I wound up with stage 3 ckd. Perhaps, if I had known about it earlier, I could have taken steps to slow the progression. I am now 19 years post transplant and living well.

So, there are things that happen to us when we are younger that can affect our kidney health as we are older. Everyone is different as the cause of our ckd. Diabetes is a big cause, but so is high bp, nsaid use, etc.

I guess I would suggest finding out what your creatinine and bun numbers were with the last blood test. I know >60 egfr is normal. This tells the doctor about your filtration in your kidneys. But it could be a tad low because of dehydration, etc.

[Redsong in reply to WYOAnne]

Thanks for your reply. What is a bun number? I’m new to all this!

[WYOAnne in reply to Redsong]

I forget what BUN stands for, but most nephrologists will order BUN & creatinine together. If your BUN is high, shows that you are dehydrated and then it also will raise your creatinine