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[Betsysue2002]

Hello everybody. I found out earlier this year that even tho I've had 3rd stage kidney disease since 2010 my doc didnt tell me. Yes ... i've now got a new doc and a nephrologist.

So now here i am starting to learn from the rest of you.

Best wishes.

[Hidden]

Hi, and Welcome.

Well, you found us here so you are already on the road to CKD knowledge. Being told you are Stage 3 can be a real shock and an eye-opener. I had a similar thing happen to me but not with the length of time you have been kept in the dark.

Without knowing any of your lab values or accompanying health issues the safest place to send you is to the DaVita website. You'll find that at davita.com

That will serve two purposes. First, along their menu bar, you'll find a tab called Recipes. Click on that and you'll find many types of meals for you to switch to a kidney-friendly meal plan. Snacks also if you like. Many of the recipes are seasonal and make it easy to try different things as the fruits and other vegetables come into season.

The recipes also provide you with the important information like protein, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and sodium. None of these can or should be eliminated completely but reduced based on your current lab values.

Second, unless they've changed their page you can also look for a free (local to you) class on Chronic Kidney Disease. Attend the class you can and you'll get lots of information and have many questions answered, even some you hadn't thought about.

A couple of other websites for you to check out would be The National Kidney Foundation at kidney.org and The American Association of Kidney Patients at aakp.org

Since you have already found this site and here you'll meet many people from all over. Many have been told well after the fact they had CKD. Come back as often as you can and feel free to share.

[Betsysue2002 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for the information.

I actually found out only by finally looking at information on my hosptal page. My doc never ! addressed it and said only when i asked her that she had told me to not take pain pills ... which i very seldom do.

My gfr with my new doc last week was 40.

[Betsysue2002 in reply to Hidden]

My nephrologist has prescribed 150 mgs of iron saying im slightly anemic. It seems like a lot but the days when i had low gfr's, that my old doc finally told me about, each day was accompanied by severe brain fog ... not the kind that left me confused particularly as much as heavy weighted down "whats going on?" Before going to the next step of what i was trying to accomplish.

[Betsysue2002 in reply to Betsysue2002]

Stopped iron pills for obvious reasons. Am going to need to figure out something else ... and prunes are high potassium 😾

[Hidden]

I've been taking additional Iron pills for about 10 years without knowing anything about CKD. Once I did, about 5 months ago, I found some interesting articles on those websites I mentioned. If you go to the Store on the AAKP website you can download a highly specific document on dealing with Anemia and CKD. It was helpful to me and a few others I told about it. Also, the National Kidney Foundation has in their archives a Podcast that was done last month about Anemia that you can pull up and view along with several PDF's on Anemia. After I started taking the extra iron pills, (about 4 months) the brain fog lifted completely and has not returned. Now any memory issues I have are strictly age-related.

[KidneyCoach NKF Ambassador]

Try looking at kidneyschool.org It is a great place to learn about CKD. Also kidney.org by National Kidney Foundation. You're not alone. Have questions? Ask away. Blessings

[Betsysue2002 in reply to KidneyCoach]

Great ! Thank you. Ive made it a favorite and i'll read it tomorrow.

I have an ultrasound next week but no doc visit till jan ... unless he decides differently.

In the meantime tho ive found a couple sites breaking down what are good and bad foods and will try to use ideas in the meantime. Not that i ate all that badly tho.

Its all spooky tho of course since my gfr dropped from 53 last jan to 40 last week.

And i found that by coincidence some of my gfr days coincided with bad brain fog days.