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Want to hear from others who have Stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)
My husband who is 75 is in stage 4 kidney disease according to his gfr. His last Gfr was 27. That sounds terrible to me, but his nephrologist says he is stable. He is not diabetic. His creatinine is 3.2, albumin 4.1. Phosphorus, sodium, calcium, potassium are all normal. His blood pressure is controlled by medication. He exercises by walking one and a half miles every day. He has two heart stents and takes cholesterol medicine. He has shortness of breath on occasion, but still does all of his normal activities like light yard work, fishing, dining out, going to church activities. I do think he sits too much, but try not to nag. He is not good about eating healthy, but is getting better. Maybe I am just worrying too much. Would like to hear from others in this stage of kidney disease.
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Hi daringtondol from Georgia from Australia -- You dipstick that your pictured ? Well now, you sure don't have a UTI --The LEUKOCYTES ARE NEGATIVE AND THE NITRITES ARE NEGATIVE. Now the testt is all "overexposed". Did you notice that you have to read the color at 30 sec. and 60 sec. etc..???
Yes., but, since the Nitrites and Leukocytes are over their time by a lot I assume --- they STILL HAVE SHOWN NO COLOR..
I am not here to teach you about the entire chart. I JUST WAS TELLING YOU HOW TO DO A QUICK HOME TEST FOR UTI --AND THEN IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, TAKE A URINE SAMPLE TO THE GP. Run it through once with your GP (just the LEU and NIT) and tell her what you want to do.
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I just ran another urine dip stick test. Not great
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2 ReactionsKeep a watch on it. Once in a while I get generally a darker strip but it comes back. However I have not in months had a dark creatinine result since leaving the darkest color. FYI,. I'm drinking mostly half/half green/brown tea, water, and every night I have alkaline water to reduce acid reflux. Baking soda helps kidneys clear creatinine according to DaVita.
Blood in Urine with some people is routine. Since a young man I've had trace blood. It's my normal. I'll post a full strip for you later today.
@billagreste Can you please point me to where it says that on the DaVita site?
Ginger
Hi billagreste from Georgia in Australia. Blood in urine is NOT -- OK. There is visible blood and there is also blood that is not visible in urine. They will show up on the Siemen's dipstick IN 2 PLACES. Ask your GP to show you which two patches indicate each of these. Then ask the Nephrologist "why" it is appearing. (The time I had blood showing on the dipstick test of urine was when I was having "stent changes" in the ureter so the Nephrologist and I were both aware "WHY"). I AM NOT SURE ONE CAN JUST SAY IT IS NORMAL OR ROUTINE WITHOUT AN EXPLANATION.
@australia You are so correct. Blood in urine is NOT OK. Mine is usually quite visible, either just tinting the urine or in clots, up to about a quarter of a cup of clots. The valve below the bladder is leatherized and hard, and cannot open on it's own, so I use a semi-solid catheter every time. Sometimes I apparently get a little forgetful and try to force the catheter through the hard tissue. Then the blood flow starts. Also, sometimes there is also flow from the kidneys and the bladder. The worst problem I have is when the hospital tries to force me to use an "old Red" soft rubber cath. No way can I get one of those soft rubber caths through the valve.
My Nephrologist clearly said that some people have detectable blood cells in their urine. I'm not saying if you are peeing blood it's ok. I've had detectable blood in my urine since my 20's (i'm now 65). He said they don't exactly know why, but it's routine for some people. Early on he did a biopsy of my kidney to see if he could find a reason for the blood and he could not. That is when he told me it is routine in some people. If you have blood that you can see, I'd say something is wrong. He said that some kidneys in some people routinely release a little detectable blood and that they are otherwise normal. I want to be clear. You won't see this amount of blood except by test.
Sure Ginger.
https://blogs.davita.com/kidney-diet-tips/baking-soda-kidney-disease/
There is more on it than this link. In another it mentions it "slows" the progression in some patients. I'm not suggesting overdoing it. But I take it nightly to prevent reflux which for me was chronic but now I rarely get it. There are other less credible references that alkaline water can also reduce the risk of some cancers. That part I'm not going to validate. But you should research it.