Chronic Kidney Disease is Chronic Kidney Disease. I believe you may be referring to a possible underlying cause. In my case, it's Diabetic Nephropathy with an assist from being Hypertensive. It doesn't change the fact that I have CKD. In addition to the precautions, I take as a patient with CKD I have to extra vigilant on my blood sugar/pressure issues. To further highlight my issues I have known for about 14+ months that I have CKD. For that same time, I have also been off all medications for T2D. My blood pressure is also under control and has been for the last 2 1/2 years. That doesn't mean that I can ignore those issues now and just deal with my CKD. For many, many years they were the underlying reasons that caused my GFR to decrease. I have to watch everything.

For those with genetic conditions, they still have CKD but must be aware of the underlying issues and watch them all. It's a balance but it's also CKD.

I think this is all subjective. I cannot get a physician to agree on anything. Most ignore my high serum creatinine blood labs and only now they are because I have a completely unrelated disease that requires that I keep good kidney function.

As far as I know, I am not diabetic. I've had borderline hypertension for about 10 years, but the ranges and classifications keep changing. Kidney disease IMO is bizarre in that it assumes from a 1 to 5 scale that it is a degenerative condition. The reality (from the literature - NOT the Internet nonsense Mr. Google comes up with) is that someone with Stage 3 CKD has a 1 in 6 chance of progressing to stage 5 and kidney failure. Those odds are revealing. Certainly at 65, my odds are better because my life expectancy is shorter.

Somewhat recently I have developed Stage II hypertension, which is now under being put under control. I am a skeptic as I started out as a biotechnology scientist years ago. What I see when looking at the literature on CKD is that most of the diagnosis is based on eGFR which is solely based on age and serum creatinine levels. (that is ridiculous!) When I started treatment for HT, the Drs finally (after at least 15 years) noticed that my creatinine was around 1.3 + or - depending on the lab and the full moon I guess. I checked back in my records and when I saw them next, I told them that I had creatinine levels of 1.2-1.38 consistently since 2003. My records do not go back farther. Only because I have been getting older does the GFR formula now make me in the mid to upper 50's. So, if you look at trends, my numbers for creatinine are the same. If I had CKD in 2003, then I am at a loss to figure out the cause. Then again an analysis which is only based on creatinine - which has been said to be unreliable - I have no idea of what I am looking at.

Even more strange is the fact that my other kidney related values were and still are completely normal. Two weeks ago my BUN was 12. Looking back, it has always been normal. None of this makes sense. Same is true for CO2 and serum proteins. If I am truly stage 3a - it's got to be based solely on my GFR. I have a recent (May 2018) urinalysis after an illness where I had no detectable protein or albumin (presumably dipstick method) - but I did have trace blood. When the urine was manually counted for blood it came to 0-2 RBC's and 0 lymphocytes - meaning they could not find anything to count. Other than that, I have had no abnormal urinalysis that I know of - if that is even abnormal.

The bottom line is that I do not know what to make of any of this. I presume I have CKD, but to what extent is not clear. I do know that some medications can artificially raise creatinine or interfere with the assay, some I have taken for years. So perhaps I will see problems in the next week, year or ten years. I don't know. No nephrologist will see me, and no physician will say I even have CKD, when obviously I have something. It seems that the medical community only looks at CKD until it is string them in the face. So underlying problems? Nothing major. I don't know when the "creatinine problem" started, but I do know that there is little else to substantiate it. That still doesn't mean there is not a problem.

The reason I care is that I have Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. It was diagnosed in mid 2018, but has likely been present for a couple of years prior. I am asymptomatic and so far been very lucky in that all prognostic indicators are good and I am asymptomatic. I could easily stay this way for well over a decade or more - possibly not. What is troubling is that should I need CLL treatment, my kidneys need to be in good working order. If I had any symptoms of CLL and needed treatment, poor kidney function would be a serious problem. So the bottom line is that I have no idea of what extent my CKD is - even though my life could depend on it. Crazy, huh?

I have no idea why I have CKD3a. In fact, my blood tests pointed it out for 5 years before I picked it up and my GP had to apologise. But whilst the markers were described as CKD, the strap headline was basically, 'No Action Needed'.

I do not have any of the known precipitating causes. I am waiting for the next blood test, assumed in February, when I will ask to have a cause investigated. Only advice I have had is to stop it getting worse, so I drink more water and stop using salt.

I should love to know the cause - but would it make any difference?

I have IGA Nephropathy. I've told my long story many times here so I will keep it brief. They feel it is caused by a poor immune system and food intolerances. It was verified by doing a biopsy after I began having hematuria and proteinuria. If I keep my food intolerances and my immune health under control, so far I am able to keep my GFR stable. I did develop hypertension after I was diagnosed, but put on a very low dose of Lisinopril which is controlling my blood pressure and proteinuria. I still have mild hematuria.

I too have FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosis) kidney.org/atoz/content/focal.

It was caused by having psoriatic arthritis PsA. Many people think that PsA affects only your joints, which is totally untrue. It affects everything. So my kidneys have scarring. My kidneys created very large stones also due to the PsA. PsA makes your blood have very high uric acid which is what caused the stones. The kidneys also were very affected by the combination of very strong drugs that I had to take for the PsA. The last issue that dropped my GFR was a change in my prescription for diabetes (T2D). I have T2D from the PsA. My glucose was not being controlled and my sugar was too high for too long and it dropped my GFR four points. Just recently, being on vacation and not being careful with my eating, I dropped 2 points because my sugar was high for only a week. Have to keep my sugar under control.

By simply changing my diet and losing some weight, I was able to turn around my labs. I actually had brought my GFR up a point. Diet changes are a lifestyle change and have to be for life.

I was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) at age 21. I also had high blood pressure. I then acquired diabetes. I started dialysis at age 44 (2002) and had both diseased kidneys removed in 2006. I've never had a transplant. It will soon be 17 years on dialysis, 16 on home hemodialysis. Blessings

I had angioplasties to put stents in my heart after a heart attack. They knew I was at risk but went ahead and used iodine contrast dye and my gfr went from 78 to 18. I have now struggled to get it up to 28.

Hang in there. You'll find many here including a number of your fellow countrymen who might be able to chime in and help you with ideas and information to make your journey easier.