Hello, I had an allergic reaction to some unknown medicine that damaged my kidneys and left me with an eGFR reading of 17 before we discovered this through a blood test in my annual physical in April. I feel so grateful to have caught it in time to get some help in the hospital and have steroid treatments. After four months, my eGFR is now 27.
I enjoy 4-6 ounces of white wine every night. So many of you have so much experience managing your CKD and improving your eGFR, I'd love to hear your opinions about daily wine consumption and if I am slowing down my kidney improvement by this habit.
Thanks for your thoughts and good luck and prayers to everyone!
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Kidneybetter
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Congratulations on this amazing progress! I am very interested in knowing the answers you get. Did you make any modifications to your diet/routine in addition to your steroid medication?
Yes, I met with a renal dietician. I'm eating about 2 ounces of animal protein a day. I eat very little dairy. I'm eating low potassium fruits and veggies and drinking 60-85 ounces of fluids a day. I avoid salt and sodium as best I can. I eat a lot of sourdough bread because it is low in phosphorus. It all feels still new to me, I wish there was an easy test we could take every day to test our eGFR. I get exercise most days but I still have fatigue.
Wine is a tricky situation. There is a lot of misinformation out there. The bottom line is this. 4-6 ounces is not crazy, Wine has some benefits, but not much. White wine has less than red wine. Wine, like all alcohol is sugar and sugar is eliminated through the kidneys. You are taxing the kidneys with the extra sugar. AND it is a can have a diuretic affect. You do not say whether or not you have high blood pressure, but wine will make you BP go up and that stresses the kidneys. Since you went down to stage 4, I would be doing everything I could to say up and not harm what function you have. Water is the best drink to indulge in.
Before you take any of our advice, talk to your doctor. They know what meds you are on.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I am on high blood pressure meds, my bp went up when my kidneys were damaged, but now it is normal. I do want to ask my doctor if I still need to be on this medicine. I didn't realize alcohol raises bp, so that is another reason to challenge my daily habit. thank you
"Wine, like all alcohol is sugar and sugar is eliminated through the kidneys. You are taxing the kidneys with the extra sugar." This is untrue unless of course one is diabetic and the ingested sugar causes a high blood sugar situation. In which case the excess sugar is eliminated via the kidneys.
Sugar is not a problem for the kidneys unless the blood sugar level gets too high. This commonly occurs in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Once the blood sugar level gets higher than 180 mg/dl, the kidneys start to spill sugar into the urine. The higher the blood sugar, the more sugar comes out in the urine.
I have been told that sugar is one of the causes of gout. Gout is common with kidney disease. I have been taking meds for gout for over 20 years, Believe me, you don't want that pain. I've been on peritoneal dialysis for a little over a year. Sadly, it does not remove uric acid so I must continue on Uloric.
My steroid, prednisone, treatment was over eight weeks. Started with 60 mg a day and tapered off to 5 mg a day at the end. Because I had a recent allergic reaction to medicine, the nephrologists thought my kidneys would bounce back quickly with the steroid treatment. I got some benefit from the steroids, but apparently my injury was over a period of months so the improvement wasn't huge -- from 23 when I left the hospital to 26 when the steroid treatment was over.
I have raised my egfr about 21 points over 9 months by the grace of God and by eating a low protein diet and I never drink any alcohol. Good luck with your kidneys and I hope they continue to improve. 🙏🏻
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