@jenatsky Thanks, I appreciate your concern and caring.

I'd like to share more details of my history. You see, I was able to develop my own renal diet and thrived on it for quite some time, even posted some of my recipes in one or two Mayo CKD support threads. . .

I was in Stage II CKD when it was diagnosed about 8 or 9 years ago. My main nephrologist suggested a vegetarian diet then and I agreed since I wasn't eating much meat anyway.

Unfortunately, dietitians around here know even less about renal diets than I did! So, partly from my medical background and partly from my own research, I had to design a special "almost vegan" renal-and-diabetic diet, which my nephrologists and primary love - they share my free "cookbook" with their patients who are interested in a CKD diet and at my request they include my caveat that ingredients and measurements have changed since I developed those renal recipes, that patients should always check every label of everything they buy, and that patients might even look at the latest USDA values to make corrections to what and how much to eat because figures from several years ago were accurate at the time but manufacturers and producers frequently change nutrition amounts, etc.

As I said, I did well and was stable on the 1st version of my renal diabetic diet. (A renal diet conflicts with a diabetic diet, by the way, so this required balancing and "fine-tuning." ) Renal function was stable, A1C s were good.

Then a severe case of shingles and subsequent candida dropped my eGFR from the 50s to 14! Nephrologist put me on dialysis immediately.

To meet parameters from Davita, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, etc., while on dialysis 3 days a week, I "tweaked" the diet even more, measuring everything in grams, milligrams, etc., before and (sometimes after cooking if needed) and before eating. (I still do this.) I admit that it entailed a lot of research and complicated math but it paid off because four months later I was able to stop dialysis altogether and was stable for several years until I developed gastroparesis and had to try to balance a gastro diet with diabetic and renal diet parameters.

Meanwhile, I shared some of the recipes on this site in one or two CKD threads but since my old computer crashed I can't pull them up. Ginger and Rosemary A might be able to find them, but anyone reading them should be aware that amounts in certain foods have changed, especially potassium, sodium, and protein.

When I first started researching nutritional values potassium and phosphorus weren't required on labels. Now potassium is, though not phosphorus, so I have had to estimate phosphorus content (if it's not listed on the label, which it seldom is) by checking values for a generic version of that particular food on the USDA website.

Again, this involves some math since serving size on a product can be different from the serving size listed on the USDA website.

After I posted about a gastroparesis diet above, I did find some answers, (not from nutritionists and GI people in my area, who can't quite grasp the concept of a renal vs. diabetic vs. GP diet,) and I started getting better again until, unfortunately, a year ago some automatic doors slammed against my wheelchair and sent it sailing across the sidewalk with me in it, slamming me against a metal pole.

After an ambulance ride to a trauma ER and subsequent hospitalization then outpatient therapy and now home health visits for dressing changes, the wound still has not fully healed and my eGFR has dropped from 36-40, where it had been for several years after the shingles, to 32 and, more recently, to 30.

So now I'm in Stage IIIb and headed to Stage IV. It's been difficult to maintain a renal diet in the first place but diabetes and gastroparesis (the latter diagnosed about 3 years ago, almost 2 years before I posted above) have really complicated things. Gastroparesis required 2 hospitalizations, when I was given the sorriest excuse for a hospital dietary department's version of renal and GP diets.

The GI problems, along with other comorbidities (CHF, COPD, arthritis, fibromyalgia, the accident and concomitant trauma, among others) have contributed to declining renal filtration. But in and of itself, my own renal diet has worked extremely well and I've lived at least 2 years past what some predicted would be about 4 years.

I know that CKD isn't usually curable in the long term, anyway, sometimes not even with a transplant (for which I was past the age to be a candidate when I had to go on dialysis) and I'm struggling to accept that.

Meanwhile, when people like you show concern it really lifts me up. It's so good to know that you -and others -care.

Peace and blessings to you.