Relief from talking with my Doctor.

[Granny401]

I went to my appointment today. My Doctor and me decided that it may be the lupus that's flaring and I'm going to start prednisone. I'll take it for a course of a week. Them In going to get labs again for the creatinine and BUN levels. I've been having symptoms of arthritic problems again and chronic fatigue along with burning sensations in my face and neck. Much like a bad sunburn but I'm not sun burned. My BP was up again as well. We are going to try the prednisone first and then labs to check the results. If there is still a problem with the labs then my Doctor is going to send me to a specialist. I hate going to Doctors because, as has been stated in several posts I've read, they either take no interest in the labs they are getting back on you and tell you nothing to worry about or nothings wrong with you at all! The fact is, why wait till you're in end stage renal failure when something can be done early to prevent any further progression of the disease. My suggestion is change of diet and I checked Davita.com. There are amazing recipes there. There are renal diets there also. Try to talk with your Doctor again about early intervention. There may be medications that are causing changes as well but it remains that kidneys if receiving damage now and continue on a downward spiral will eventually stop working. If your Doctor doesn't discuss your meds and side effects with you then check with your pharmacy. The pharmacists there can answer your questions. Then you have something to take to your MD that you can suggest might be the reason your having strange kidney lab results. Its important to know about your meds and their side effects. My pharmacy sends a complete print out of info concerning the meds I take. All in all, I'm feeling much better about my situation. I'll repost again in a couple of weeks on the results and outcome of my situation. Thanks to all of you for sharing yours with me.😊

[WYOAnne NKF Ambassador]

Best of luck to you with taking the prednisone. I know for me, I have had short courses of prednisone since my transplant (19 years ago) and have always corrected my elevated creatinine. Hopefully it will do the same for you.

Take care and keep us posted.

[Granny401 in reply to WYOAnne]

I have SLE. Initially I took 60mg/ day. That was for over a year. I was on 18 different kinds of meds at one time. This has been 20 years ago. A Rheumatologist started to ween me of prednisone very slowly. They feared organ damage with prolonged use. I take prednisone only when I'm flaring Now. I get blood work to monitor all things. This is the first time I've had issues with my kidneys. It scares me because when the lupus becomes active it can attack anything in the body systems. Sometimes as in the past it doesn't stop or go into remission. In hoping we caught this flare of lupus in time and the prednisone will help. I'm sure looking forward to feeling better too. Thanks for your supportive words.