Ok, so Ive been busting my butt to get in tighter control. Testing very frequently throughout the day...really watching the carb intake. Stopped drinking (thats also because Im going to be having a tubal reversal in March and figured better stop the wine now in the hopes I get pregnant)...;)
My last A1C was 6.9. I gave myself a high five on that one. :)
My doctor mentioned to me that my creatinine was "a bit high"..of course she didnt give me the exact number so Im not sure. I'll be getting the number later this week. However, I digress...
Again, Im going to try and get pregnant in the near future and since Ive gone through a pregnancy 12 years ago, Im fully aware of the stress that puts on your kidneys..So that, with the higher levels, Im concerned.
What, if anything can I do to bring down my creatinine levels? Ive heard about nettle tea, and alpha lipoic acid...does anyone have any suggestions?
I dont eat a lot of fatty protiens. (Ive heard that will bring up levels)
Not sure if this is helpful, but I recently had a test result of high creatinine at the OBGYN. My endo asked "were you dehydrated" and in fact I was. She said, hydrate and re-test, and my levels were normal. You may already know this, but I had no idea--though the nurse drawing the blood and I had a FULL ON CONVO about my being dehydrated, but that is another story! :)
I think Gina’s suggestion is right on. Dehydration messes up lots of labs because they’re measuring substances as a percentage of blood volume. I don’t think I’d take any supplements without your doc’s ok. It’s hard to be sure what the side effects or interactions might be.
Thanks for the suggestions. I have never thought about the dehydration thing..but I have been dehydreated (for awhile Im sure, I know I dont take in enough liquids throughout the day) Today I have been drinking like a fish...and using the washroom twice as much. ;)
I have noticed the urine colour is much lighter which I know means Im not as dehydrated as I was previously. Im going to continue with the OD'ing on water and then get some repeat blood work done to compare results..Hopefully that will show a difference.
I have my fingers crossed. If not, I may speak to a nephrologist as I want to nip any kidney damage in the bud.
I got my doctor to fax over the results of the previous and my levels were 123 which were up from 107 on Jan 17. That result was down from 125 in October..so even though there is some movement in the numbers, they are all still way too high.
It even says on the report that eGFR values from 30-59 mL/min 1.73 m2 are consistent with moderate chronic kidney disease if result confirmed by repeat with persistence for 3 months or more. The original one was done in October and the most recent Jan 20..this puts me right in this category for kidney disease and Im freaking out now...
Relax and breath. These numbers can be very confusing.
There are two sources to measure creatinine from, your blood, and from your urine. It sounds like the numbers you are seeing are urine creatinine levels from a spot, one time, urine sample.
Random sample spot urine sampls have absolutely no standard reference level to tell you if the levels are normal or not. Over 24 hours, you can normally clear as little as 500mg, up to 2000 mg of creatinine, so spot urine samples normally will vary from sample to sample and don't tell you much by themselves.
A number you need to check is your blood creatinine level as well. Again, blood creatinine levels can be affected by the things mentioned in this thread, but a normal level for women is somewhere between 0.4 - 1.0 mg/dl.
The GFR you see is is an estimate based on how much creatinine is in your blood versus how much is found in your urine, and not very conclusive. They actually have to determine that you have kidney damage before you can use and estimated GFR to determine the level of damage. There are more conclusive ways to determine GFR.
A test they can do to check for early kidney damage is the microalbumin/creatinine ratio in your randome urine sample. Again, either number alone doesn't tell you much, but a ratio of the two that is higher than normal can indicate kidney damage.
I'd check with my doctor and ask him to do more conclusive tests like the microalbumin/creatinine ratio test from your spot urine sample, along with blood creatinine and BUN. They take no more effort than the tests you already have done routinely and really should be a part of a diabetics normal battery of tests.
High potassium levels in the blood could be another indicator of kidney damage, depending on conditions. So, you could see higher blood potassium along with higher blood creatine and higher BUN. It's just another indicator of the kidney's inability to clear a substance from the blood. From what I understand, blood creatinine and BUN are more indicative, so they look for those prefferably.
The first indicator will be the inability to keep important substancs in the blood though. So, early signs will be increasing levels of protein, specifically microalbumin levels, in the urine.
Ive got to say, Ive really been making an effort to drink more water throughout the day and I do feel better..although many more trips to the washroom...I guess thats a good sign of kidney function. lol
A microalbumin/creatinine ratio will come from what is called a spot urine sample. You go into the lab, they take one sample, and that's it.
If your doctor orders a 24 hour urine sample, you will get a kit from the lab that is basically just a big container. You will need to collect every drop of your urine for 24 hours. Usually, you void and discard the first sample in the morning, then start collecting from there. When you wake up the next morning, you void the morning sample into the container, then off you go to the lab to give them 24 hour's worth of urine. The lab will then measere total protein, total microalbumin, and total creatinine for the 24 hour period.
The 24 hour urine test used to be the gold standard, but it can be a pain in the neck, and you have to collect, and store for a period of time, every drop of your urine over the 24 hours.
Usually, the spot urine sample with the microalbumin/creatinine ratio is done first because it's just easier to do.
Worse case scenario, you're levels are higher than normal, and the first step will be to put you on a blood pressure med, either a Angiotensin II inhibitor like Lisinopril, or a ARB blocker like Cozaar. They work really well in most cases. They do have side-effects though.
