KIDNEY DISEASE!
OK, I put that in shouting-caps, because that's how the team reacts at the imagining center whenever I go there for a CT with and without contrast. They have my bloodwork, but as far as they are concerned? I have kidney disease, they are freaked, and the radiologist must be there, which impacts scheduling times. As far as I'm concerned, I have 1.75 happy healthy kidneys, and I've got the bloodwork to prove it (the happy healthy part, anyway).
So, I asked my favorite neighborhood physician who's following me: Does not having .25 of one kidney mean I have kidney disease? "No", he said, "that just means you have .75 of one kidney and all of the other one. Not so good blood work results would point in the direction of kidney disease, but your bloodwork is OK. We can do just fine with one kidney, which is how people get to be living kidney donors. Why? [I explained... he just shook his head]. "They can call."
So, while I'm certainly not going to go do something stupid to endanger either happy healthy kidney - or any other body part, for that matter - it's nice to know I get to live life like a regular Jo (aside from regular re-checks so I know when to set the table for one more 'cause Uncle Ned is dropping by). This is good.
Life, in fact, is good. Even an occasional Advil and a beer or a glass of wine now and then.
Life is also entertaining. Expecting the staff at the imaging center to freak when they see me for my next with-and-without CT. Smiling patiently and letting them know they can call the physician.
Comments
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My guess
I think they are just being extra careful to make sure to check your creatinine levels before they give you the contrast. It's probably designed more for people like me that have only 1 kidney and who is consistently just barely over the 1.5 creatinine level allowed for contrast.
It's a step in their procedure for folks with kidney issues.
They may not see a lot of patients missing part of a kidney.
Where I go (a national cancer center) they see a lot of people with missing or malfunctioning kidneys. The doc's orders say if my creatinine is below 1.5 I can have the contrast if and if not, no.
You might look at the technical definition of CKD. You might actually already fit the definition of CKD Stage 2. I fit the definition of CKD Stage 3 with my single kidney and creatine over 1.5 (or whatever my eGFR is, I forget). So technically they might be correct. If your GFR is 60-89, you have Stage 2 CKD.
Best to you!
Todd
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I get that, but...todd121 said:My guess
I think they are just being extra careful to make sure to check your creatinine levels before they give you the contrast. It's probably designed more for people like me that have only 1 kidney and who is consistently just barely over the 1.5 creatinine level allowed for contrast.
It's a step in their procedure for folks with kidney issues.
They may not see a lot of patients missing part of a kidney.
Where I go (a national cancer center) they see a lot of people with missing or malfunctioning kidneys. The doc's orders say if my creatinine is below 1.5 I can have the contrast if and if not, no.
You might look at the technical definition of CKD. You might actually already fit the definition of CKD Stage 2. I fit the definition of CKD Stage 3 with my single kidney and creatine over 1.5 (or whatever my eGFR is, I forget). So technically they might be correct. If your GFR is 60-89, you have Stage 2 CKD.
Best to you!
Todd
As far as my physician has said, my numbers have been OK, and they have the numbers in front of them at the center. In six months when it's time for the next scan, I'll ask the physician again, but so far, so good.
BTW, thanks. I appreciate the way you described all that stuff.
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Kidney function
Most of us with less than 2 kidneys have reduced Kidney function than those of our 2 kidney brothers and sisters. Contrast is not Kidney friendly and they check all or almost all club member for Kidney function (gfr and or creatine numbers) before scans with contrast. Many times our GFR numbers fall between 31 and 60 which is classified as Stage 3 CKD (Chroniic Kidney Disease. Most Doctors are not alarmed with numbers slightly below 60 GFR and half the population has numbers under 60 as they reah 70 years old anyway.
icemantoo
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Protein
Kidney disease.... Yeah. This is one of my little worries in life. Of course!
I'm trying a little experiment. There's a general idea that too much protein destroys kidneys. I've decided to ignore this idea and just eat a normal or slightly higher amount of protein. I don't mean stupidly high amounts, but at least 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight. I haven't yet seen any reason to reduce protein unless one's kidneys are actually failing.
The background to this decision is that I have found that even small amounts of carbohydrate in my diet are enough to keep my blood glucose levels higher than I want them. Therefore I am now eating as close to zero carbs as possible. Even eating sheep liver spikes my blood glucose, no doubt due to glycogen stores.
Anyway... I'll get some blood tests in a month or two and let you know how I go.
Steve.
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Overeating ProteinSteve.Adam said:Protein
Kidney disease.... Yeah. This is one of my little worries in life. Of course!
I'm trying a little experiment. There's a general idea that too much protein destroys kidneys. I've decided to ignore this idea and just eat a normal or slightly higher amount of protein. I don't mean stupidly high amounts, but at least 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight. I haven't yet seen any reason to reduce protein unless one's kidneys are actually failing.
The background to this decision is that I have found that even small amounts of carbohydrate in my diet are enough to keep my blood glucose levels higher than I want them. Therefore I am now eating as close to zero carbs as possible. Even eating sheep liver spikes my blood glucose, no doubt due to glycogen stores.
Anyway... I'll get some blood tests in a month or two and let you know how I go.
Steve.
You might want to consider talking to a nephrologist about your plan. Once kidneys start to fail, it's too late to fix them. From what I understand they don't recover from this kind of damage. I've no idea if the amount you're eating is anywhere near a problem.
My nephrologist said she's seeing more and more healthy young men that are slamming these protein supplements to build muscle that are permanently damaging their kidneys. All excess protein is excreted through your kidney and wasted, so there's really no point in eating extra protein that what you need. All it does is make things hard on your kidneys.
They have very well balanced diabetic diets around to keep blood glucose levels stable. When you say your glucose spikes, are you diabetic or pre-diabetic?
Hope my 2 cents didn't offend. I'd hate to see you damage your kidneys (or is it kidney?)?
Todd
P.S. By the way, the fact that excess protein damages kidneys is not a general idea. It's been proven scientifically. Ask your nephrologist about the experiments that have proven this. My nephrologist went over this with me and even went into how the experiments were done. It was a big change in the field of nephrology when this experiment came out because before that they used to advise patients with protein in their urine to eat more protein. This turned out to be really bad advice.
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That's why this group is so great...
My egfr has been staying around 35 or so after my full neph. I thought it was supposed to go back up to normal numbers - so it's relieving to see that other folks have numbers around mine and that I don't have to worry (as much) about imminent kidney failure (although I wish everyones numbers were way up there). This ride sure has a lot of twists and turns!
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