Worrying results wondering what the best next step is?

Kidney and urinary tract
1

Hi!

So I'm 26 years old and was getting a general health checkup when I got worrying results on my Creatine levels. Fast forward few months and I've been told i have reduced Kidney Function. I am currently working out of the country, so finding an English speaking doctor is a little hard and I am also worried this may affect my treatment or diagnosis. I am really at a loss what would be the next step for me to take with the results i have. Currently no idea what is causing the problem and if its getting better or worse.

My lifestyle as a summary:

Never have done drugs

Don't smoke

excercise at the gym 3-4 times a week (Weight training)

Cycling /  Mountain biking 2 times a week

Hiking or some other long distance trip  - once a month.

Drink around 2L water normally + more if I excercise.

Results so far.

perfect blood pressure

No diabities or issues with blood sugar levels

Ultrasound scan no abonormalities found - Possibility of 1 kidney stone but the result was so small without the characteristic shadow that it could not be confirmed.

No history of disease or illness in the renal functions.

18/5/2017

Creatine = 102 (High)

Cholestorol = 4.34 (Normal)

EGFR = 56.8 (Low)

Glucose = 4.82 (normal)

alanine aminotransferase (ALT) = 26 (normal)

Potasium =  4.35 (normal)

7/6/2017

Creatine = 144(High)

Sodium = 139 (Normal)

EGFR = 38.2 (Low)

Urea = 10.30 (High)

Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) = 26 (normal)

CRP = <0.3 (normal)

20/6/2017

Clarity = normal

colour =  Normal

weight = 1.012 (slightly low)

PH = 5.0

Glucose = not present

Ketones = not present

urobilinogen = 3.2

Bilirubin = not present

Protien = not present

erythrocyte = normal

leukocytes = normal

7/7/2017

doctor advised no excercise and drink lots of water for 1 week results as follows

Clarity = normal

colour =  Normal

weight = 1.013 (slightly low)

PH = 7.0

Glucose = not present

Ketones = not present

urobilinogen = 3.2

Bilirubin = not present

Protien = not present

erythrocyte = normal

leukocytes = normal

Creatine = 100 (High)

Cholestorol = 4.34 (Normal)

EGFR = 58.1 (Low)

Glucose = 4.78 (normal)

Potasium =  4.29 (normal)

Urea = 6.5 (normal)

Calcium = 2.49 (normal)

Uric Acid = 388 (high)

Mioglobin = 38.10 (normal)

Any help would be much appriciated! As I am freaking out slightly at having this potentially thrown at me at 26 years old when I thought I was in good shape.

2

Hi Will,

I think that the Creatinine/EGFR numbers do tell you that your kidneys are under stress for a person of your age.  There are many possible causes, but the right thing to do is to see a Consultant Nephrologist to try to figure out the cause.  Your current levels may not be producing any symptoms, but what you would  like to achieve is no worsening of these levels.  So good luck!

KenR

3

Hi KenR,

Thanks for the post. I have been referred to a consultant, although English is an issue as I am working out of other parts of europe. unfortunatly what concerns me is I have no measure of if i am following the right steps for diagnosis or what should be looked into more, as I was recommended to wait 2 months for more tests. But this seems like a long time given my EGFR keeps going up and down, and i don't have any typical causes (as far as i have researched).

4

Hi Will,  I am not a medical professional but had low EGFR then had to have 1 kidney removed due to renal cancer - which gave no symptoms, it was an incidental finding.  I am now very careful to avoid anything which may cause more damage.  So, it is  worth following up on your numbers  - why were they measured? The causes can be varied, disease, poor blood supply, damage or flow restriction, injury from meds. NSAIDS, weight boosting preps ( as you lift).  Too much protein with weak kidneys and so on.  You may find that  you are taking everyday stuff which is doing harm like many antibiotics and painkillers.  Suspect everything and look up effects on kidneys!

And have the Consultant check over!

5

Hi Will

Im no expert either but Im wondering if you are exercising a bit too hard with a little dehydration. There is a very good eGFR calculator you can download from the play store from british kidney foundation it is really good and has good advice on there.

Keep posting Im new with this too.

Jane

6

Hi,

I noticed that you have high uric acid.  For me this was the first sign that I had a uric acid stone in my ureter.  Uric acid stones  don't show up on ultrasound and are quite rare- the consultant called me "the mystery patient" but a CT scan did show it up.  It was eventiually removed by laser treatment but damaged my kidney.

7

Hi,

It is scary when you get such results, however when you stopped exercise and drank loads of water do you see what happened to your results.  Mad I know but excercise effects creatinine which is linked to your GFR.  When your creatininegoes up your GFR will go down, yours could be dehydration.  After I had my transplant I went back to HIT training and all my blood results were spot on except creatinine which was up and GFR which was down, I was told it was due to what I had been doing before the blood test.  Blood results vary depending on what time of day we have them done, being better in the afternoon as you have drunk more fluids during the day (again I have seen this as I usually have my bloods in the am, they are better in the pm).  The fact that all your other bloods have come back is a good sign, yes it is a worry that your GFR is floating around the 58 mark but also good news is that it recovered from 38.  You say you are working out of the country, are you in a warm counrty? it could be that you are in fact not drinking enough fluid.  I know I have had a tx but I have to drink at least 3lt's when the weather is cool and at least 5lts when it is warm or if I am ill with a cold or such.  If there was anything really bad going on your other bloods such as urea would we skewed also potassium goes for a burton.  Your uric acid is high and this could indicate addisons disease but I am not a dr its just all of the things that I was checked for but my bloods have never been good like yours!.  Its a sinple blood test for addisons ask if you can have that done just to put your mind at rest.  I n=know it is easy to say but I promise you on the whole your blood work is good so please try not to worry.  You can ask for further investigation to put your mind at rest, try drinking lots and staying away from the excersise and ask for an afternoon blood test to see if there is any difference if you haven't already done this.  Good luck