I had lab work in March and my Creatinine was .70 & GFR 91, I had lab work again in June and my Creatinine was 1.9 and GFR 44. Can something cause this sudden drop ? I got my Lab reports for the past 5 yrs and my numbers have always been below 1 for creatinine and above 90 for my GFR. I had a kidney stone in back in February. Can my numbers go back up again?
Thanks any feed back would be appreciated.
Creatinine is a horrible biomarker for kidney function. I had blood taken a little over a week ago by my dr. I immediately went to labcorp and had them run the same bloodwork. My dr's office had my egfr 8 points higher than labcorp. Apparently driving for 15 minutes can drop your egfr 8 points.
I would not say that is normal. However, my question is why were you having your GFR and Creatinine tested for all those years? Do you have some underlying issues that effect the kidneys?
My family doctor ran my creatinine solely because my blood pressure had gone up a little. I think creatinine is now a standard test for anyone with high blood pressure or diabetes, which is ridiculous considering how unreliable it is.
Well with all of us who have Kidney Disease promoting earlier diagnosis and treatment I am proud of your doctor for being proactive for you. Obviously, there may be some kind of issue cooking for you. High Blood Pressure is one of the main causes for CKD. What did the doctor tell you, and are you going to see a Nephrologist. Are they giving you dietary and lifestyle advice to bring the BP down?
I see a new nephrologist tomorrow, I fired the first one... it was obvious he saw me (and my works platinum plan insurance) as a way to pay for his giant fancy corner office with expensive furniture and probably his BMW. According to the kidney foundation I should not have been refered to a nephrologist at all since I've never had 3 consecutive months of sub-60 egfr's. The first nephrologist diagnosed me as stage 3 CKD (based on 2 egfr readings, I've never had any protein leaks or any other symptom of CKD), which has future implications if I want to buy life insurance. If I lose my job and have to buy insurance, I'll have to pay a higher rate. I have been diagnosed for a disease that I probably don't have, but that makes no difference. I suggest you google "CKD overdiagnosed" and read the large numbers of articles out there that talk about what this is doing to people, especially older people like me. It makes me question the ethics of our entire medical system. And don't get me started on High blood pressure, the current US standard puts a high blood pressure diagnosis on 48% of the US population. It is no wonder Europe rejected our blood pressure standards and don't consider their population to have HBP until they are over 140/90.
I don't understand why the question then on this forum if you are just defensive as to my response. I agree with everything you said, and I research and read all the time. I fully understand your concerns with having a diagnosis that you may not really have. I think the whole point of having a Nephrologist is to be sure you do not get to that diagnosis, imo. I too hate labels, but if people can get an earlier handle on risk factors that may lead to CKD then maybe CKD can be avoided. As to the age reference you made, it is true the kidneys naturally decline as we age. I hope you can find a Nephrologist that will work with you to meet all of your health needs and wants. Best wishes.
I have to pay more attention to who the original poster is.
It isn't defensive, it is irritation... and not irritation with you, but irritation with our health care system in this country. It is appaling to me that Doctors diagnose people with a life threatening disease based solely on a blood test that has been proven over and over to be misleading at best, and outright wrong more often than not.
I understand that too, but we have to work with what is available in this country. I would request your doctor to not diagnose you with something that does not meet the criteria. Have the criteria handy in case he doesn't remember them. Explain to him the reasoning why you can not have a diagnosis on your records that you don't actually have. Then request he monitor you to be sure you don't get it. At least that is what I would do.
The US system is a money making system not a disease prevention or fixing system. It has to change.
Thanks, and oh yes, you can be assured I am ready for this nephrologist. I have all my creatinine scores and more recently I have been getting my cystatin-c tested, which by the way last calculated a egfr of 115. Unfortunatly, questions on insurance applications ask, "have you ever been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease" and even if the diagnosis is false, I cannot answer that question "no".
True it would be very hard to lie especially if they ask for your medical records. If you are in USA I thought they could no longer charge more for what they consider pre existing conditions. Maybe you need to change your health insurance provider, if that is even possible for you. Your insurance cover cystatin-c testing? I have to ask my Nephrologist about that because my Creatinine is just at the cusp of above normal and the egfr goes more on weight than anything else which is just ridiculous. There is another calculator I found that does not go by weight and it increased my EGFR to almost normal. I see my doctor in Sept and I plan to discuss with him bc like you I want this label removed if I don't have to have it. But, I do want to be monitored.
I can't complain about my insurance at all, my employer provides excellent coverage (including a lot of tests that other insurance will not). If I ever have to buy in the ACA market place, they can charge risky people more but it is limited thankfully.
In the US, Common blood tests like metabolic panel test group includes sugar & creatinine. That way one or two test groups can tell a doctor of most common abnormalities. If any thing is abnormal, they may ask additional specific tests or refer you to the proper specialist.
Listen to the doctors. Diabetes and High Blood pressure are common causes of kidney failure.
Yep standard renal panel, I've never had diabetes, and if I lived in Europe I would not even have high blood pressure either.
What did your Doctor say about the sudden drop? Has your Doctor ordered another GFR test?
Focus on the big changes in your numbers...it may be insignificant or it may be meaningful. If you can, set aside your disgust at the system (which I share with you), and listen, really listen, to what is being said. I urge you to bring someone with you and also get his/her "take" on it. If you can, give that person a list questions you have which, in a moment of distraction or pique, you may forget to ask. (Should we get a sonogram - cause cysts and kidney stones sometimes go together? and others.) You'll want to structure the best game plan going forward IF that is needed. I did not go with my husband when his numbers started going crazy, and I really regret it. But, yeah, I hear you loud and clear. Profit driven health is huge in this nation. It's definitely impacted us negatively in a number of ways. It definitely needs to change.
Just my added thoughts...though late. I'm an 80 yo with an autoimmune disease since 8/2019. I would always look my blood tests over on the computer but never knew what GFR was and paid no attention to the number or where it was headed. With this disease, I was seeing a rheumatologist and my primary care physician. In July of 2020, I decided to go to a geriatric practice for new primary care. It was then that my rheumatologist said, " Have him take a look at your kidneys because your GFR has dropped from70 in January to 38. It is now up to 44, and I have to keep an eye on the BUN and Creatinine.
The cause was not steroids but a variety of NSAID medications I'd been taken and given plus a whole 325 mg aspirin every day. I live in the states, and I agree it is not a preventative style of medicine.....BUT.....if someone alerted me earlier to watch my kidneys, I would be nothing BUT grateful.
I totally agree!! Also, the medical system in the USA is very truncated across specialties. One specialist may see data of concern but nit in their specialty area yet nit mention it to the patient. So the patient remains unaware and doesn’t know to see s another doctor to address the situation.Jayhawker
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