Proteinuria and GFR up and down

[jaysoncraig11]

Basically for the last year my pre has not been clear, gross color regardless of hydration, got bloods every month since January and my gfr has been dropping , started at 83 and got down to 60, normal is over 90.. got a urine test done came back slight protein in urine, ever since then I've been getting bubbly urine that fills literally the whole toilet, been getting worse, told my doctor and instead of sending me for urine she does more gfr tests, I was on anabolic steroids for a while and I'm guessing they damaged my kidneys badly, so I got a recent gfr test not on steroids anymore, and it was up from 60 to 80 and now for the first time over 90, was 93.. but the bubbles and color of my pre is disgusting and the bubbles last hours, she finally refered me to a neprholohist but sadly it will probably take months to meet him, I don't want to wake up one day with kidneys completely failed, my urine is clearly proteinuria and something horribly wrong, not sure what to do even though i can't do much lol. Gfr tests are so dumb, if you go to the gym alot your creatinine levels are raised and that lowers your gfr, I stop and get bloods done and my creatinine is lower which automatically makes your gfr higher ugh

Just wanna know how bad my kidneys are, my gfr was lowering so quickly and now is back up.

[jaysoncraig11]

Is kidney failure gradual or can it happen overnight? I use to only get bubbles every morning but now it's everytime I pee and my pre is not normal looking ever, even if I drink a million water bottles.

[SamuelChin in reply to jaysoncraig11]

Kidney failures often progress according to its pathology & histology. For example, if you have a very mild form of IgA Nephropathy, your kidney is likely to fail very slowly compare with aggressive form of FSGS. Again, it depends on the pathology.

That being said. Proteinuria is an important marker to identify the rate of progress. For example, if you ACR exceeds 60, then you are in the high risk category. Moreover, if your 24 hour urine IgG exceeds 240mg per day, then your kidney is failing faster than others.

If you have high blood pressure, then your kidney fails faster than those who don't. If your eGFR at the time of discovery indicate irreversible kidney damage, then your prognosis won't be good. So, you need to see a nephrologist to get the details about your situation.

Hope it helps.

[WYOAnne in reply to jaysoncraig11]

Have you looked at your previous posts, where you were concerned about these same issues? Bubbles in your urine could mean nothing and you just have bubbles.

The eGFR is but one thing the doctors look at when diagnosing someone with a kidney problem. eGFR is but an estimate of your filtration rate. A nephrologist also looks at your blood tests -creatinine, BUN and a complete urinalysis, not only looking at protein, but magnesium, sodium, potassium, etc. It's also not a one time thing, these labs are done many times in a year and the values are evaluated for a doctor to diagnose chronic kidney disease.

I am not aware of any kidney disease that progresses over a couple months.

None of us on this site are medical experts, so your questions can only be adequately answered by your doctor

[Zazzel]

As Wyoanne said, bubbles don't necessarily mean proteinuria. However, if you are concerned about it, you can often get urine tests at a lab through self pay rather than going through a doctor, at least in the US- not sure where you live. Otherwise, you can buy urine dipsticks such as "Rapid response" and check to see if you have protein at home. That might relieve a little worry. If you do have high protein and kidney disease, you might want to search through this site on other posts regarding things you can do such as reducing the consumption of meat- especially red meat, reducing salt, practicing stess reduction methods and so forth.

[Saaba]

Hi jaysoncraig11.

First don't panic

Second simply do a ACR Test, it will determine the protein in your urine and a routine examination of your urine should be done too.

Remember above 30 is microalbuminuria and the range is 30to 300. At this phase you can still reverse the damage. Irreversible loss hasn't yet happened.

Limit your intake of meat or fish to thrice or four times in a week. No dairy, less caffeine and stay hydrated. 2.5 ltrs of pure room temperature water is enough. Exercise, stay mobile but don't overexert yourself. Eat wisely. Intermittent fasting twice a week would help.

No protein supplements. Yes steroids do damage organs. But the doctors weigh pros and cons when they are prescribing it. Steer clear from painkillers. Keep bp and sugar in check.

Trust me, nothing to panic.

Microalbuminuria is reversible. Diet, less of stress, exercise and having faith.

Take care.

[anxietyaddict in reply to Saaba]

why no dairy? I am a vegetarian with a microalbumin score or whatever of 33, I am a diabetic also of 35 years, so no shock I guess that things are going wonky, if I can't eat diary or have a cup of coffee in the morning then what in the hell can I eat for pleasure? I already have to watch my potassium, this is just so damn hard.

[jaysoncraig11]

Yeah thanks guys, hope I see one soon. It's obvious it's proteinuria if you seen how blotchy and disgusting it looks there is literally no other explanation, especially bevause my first urine test and only showed slight proteinuria and this was before it looked anywhere near this bad

[Bubreg]

Hi there and good luck to you. I also have proteinuria since December 2018 and right now I am on prednisone 7.5mg and it is my 5th month and I will be on it 6 full months. This was my second round since first time I was on it was higher dose and shorter period of time and my proteinuria came back and I started again. This moment I do not have proteins and bubles in urine but wondering if it will come back once I stop steroids like did first time after month and a half. All of my tests were normal and my biopsy from December shows Minimal Change Disease so not sure what to think any more. I am female 44 years old and not taking any pain meds only maybe few per year, no alcohol use, no soda, just mainly water and sometimes juice and coffee. I did take for 13 years contraceptive pills and that was it. Keep us posted!