GFR down from 58 to 43.8 over 3 years

Posted by tiglet @tiglet, Aug 22 4:06pm

I was diagnosed with CKD in November 2023 by my GP, and not informed about it. I found it in my clinical record when accessing it online. At the time, my GFR was 54.4. Another blood test on 29 December showed GFR of 48.

I've recently had my first annual CKD check, and GFR was 43.8, so just tipping over to stage 3b. This is suggesting a drop of over 10 in a period of 9 months, which I understand from reading clinical articles is quite a fast decline.

Since the diagnosis was added to my record, I've been eating more mindfully, cut out most salt and saturated fat from my diet. I don't eat a lot of meat and red meat only occasionally. I do drink some alcohol but have reduced that too.

I can't help but worry that this decline will continue. What else can I do?

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cheyne | @cheyne | Sep 1 3:28pm

In reply to @tiglet "Looks like you have a lot going on, I'm sorry to hear that." + (show)

Hi,
Thank you.
It's been a particularly rough week but am now experiencing some better times, for the moment. Stopped all medication but for a mild BP med and now My BP has come back to under 150/110 for the last few days. That seems to be the break point for a really bad day, so the intent is to try and keep it there or lower. Somewhere inbetween good and bad days is managable for me, although good is desirable.
The question now is, is the insulin responsible for the increased BP or not? Or is it just coinsidental with the withdrawl of insulin my BP has dropped a little. I suspect that years of higher readings may have set the body up to consider it the norm for me and is now struggling to cope with anything different. It is interesting that the minor symptoms I get have taken a break for the time being but sadly the major symptoms as still as invasive as ever.
I have no idea what effect it is all having on kidney function and frankly don't care too much as long as I feel positive what does it matter. The reality is I can't change the state of my kidneys, just be mindful not to completely disregard them and what they require.
Cheers