Hello, I have stage 3 kidney disease and I was wondering which vitamins and minerals are of most concern for people with CKD in terms of deficiencies. I know vitamin D is an important one and I am currently supplementing after learning that my results are very low. It seems I am also low on zinc. I have a lot of fatigue and I would like to know if there is any other vitamin or mineral I should be having tested?
Thanks
HI Shyguy, Be careful with supplements. And I hope your doctor prescribed the VIT D. Did you know that it can easily become toxic if you take too much? When the kidneys do not work as in Stage 3, it is important that the minerals you consume are appropriate because of how they are eliminated. So please check with your doctor to see what if any you need.
Your fatigue might be do to anemia. Have you had your iron checked? This is common in CKD.
Bassetmommer is spot on! EVERY single one of us has different electrolyte levels! Be VERY careful with OTC meds, especially iron! Iron can be toxic if taken in high levels, but have your nephrologist do regular bloodwork on you, and he/she can tell what electrolytes need adjusting. There is also a 24 hour urine catch, that they measure volume, pH, and a few other electrolytes that don't come up in the blood test. I was recently taken off Vit. D because my nephr. said my levels were ok now, but I felt a LOT better when I was on it, but my last bloodwork said I was borderline anemic, but I get retested in about a week.
Thanks for the good info Bassetmommer. Doctor prescribed Vitamin D. I am anemic also. I take vegan iron pills low level, and was approved by my Doctor.
I never knew there was such a thing as vegan iron pills, but it stands to reason! I learn new stuff on here every day!
Re vitamin D, I agree one needs to be careful with supplementation (although toxicity us unlikely unless dosage is very high). But, in our experience, NHS doctors only prescribe a few hundred iu/dy if patients are above minimum serum levels. Generally thats not enough..
So the answer to the above quandary must be to self-supplement BUT test serum levels regularly. Agree? By doing that, we've maintained levels for my mum (CKD3) around 75nmol/l. We believe that's enough for general health and kidney (but her nephro doesn't believe D helps anyhow!!!). And it's also just in the range to protect against covid according to several test results!.
I was recently put on Calcitriol and vitamin D. It was explained about hyperparathyroidism and what it does to the kidneys. I also read the combination of the 2 are a deadly combination. I don’t understand all of it. I have a note to my doctor to explain. I’m not sure what this means..can I eat foods with calcium in it? Or no? I have also read that if I do one thing the drug doesn’t work...if I do something else it could kill me. The reason I have kidney problems in the first place is because I took scary diabetic drugs and it was supposed to be ok with everyone. On a better note even tho the numbers are still high they are better...my creatinine level went from 28 to 30. And my GFR went from 1.85 to 1.72Any info anyone can tell me about Calcitriol and the vitamin D thing is appreciated.
I suggest you open up your question to all (rather than just me) for responses from those with CKD.
But my views are that vitamin D is very important for general health eg immunity (covid data overwhelming) and so should be at/near optimal levels, if possible. CKD can reduce D - as stated in the link below (near the end). So something should be done to increase it although I believe care must be taken to avoid kidney stones. Hence we don't raise mum's levels as much as ours but seek to get higher than it was pre supplementation. If you're confident in your medic, you can liaise with him/her but our personal experience is not good and we understand their training on supplementation is minimal.
Re calcium, I believe that should be checked regularly for CKD patients (along with phosphorus etc) and mum's is halfway through range. Others on here may comment more on calcium and hyperparathyroidism from personal experiences but I believe testing is key and diet may need adjusting accordingly.
Has anyone did the hair analysis test for minerals and vitamins? 
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