How high does creatinine get before dialysis is usually needed?

@transplant2017 Welcome to Mayo Connect! You ask a very important question. There are several values that are considered by your medical team related to kidney function and treatments. While your creatinine value is higher than normal, your eGFR of 24% is showing your kidneys continue to function. Dislysis is usually first discussed around 20%, and dialysis often starts when function drops to 10%. High creatinine can be caused by infection, or high protein intake, dehydration, or the fact your kidneys are not functioning optimally. Your medical team looks at trends in your lab results, not necessarily a single lab value. Have you discussed your concern with them, yet? What have they conveyed to you?

I notice your name indicates that perhaps you had a transplant in 2017? If so, what organ was transplanted? If it was a kidney, what was the cause of your native kidneys failing?

Please check back in and let me know a bit more of your story.
Ginger

I had a liver transplant and suffered an acute kidney injury during transplant. I was at a pretty steady EGFR 36 until the last few months when the EGFR started dropping and the creatinine started increasing. I have been told it is likely the numbers will continue to decline over the next year.

@transplant2017 Well, that sounds like quite the experience! I will not pry but hope there was some kind of reckoning when the injury came to light. I hope the injury was not to both kidneys. To ease the burden on your kidneys, you may ask your team about switching to a kidney-friendly diet [low protein, low potassium, low phosphorus] now. Some people have been able to help reverse a downward trend in kidney function, this way. @kamama94 who posts in this group, did a lot of research on food plans for kidney patients. By modifying his food plan and lifestyle, my husband was able to ward off dialysis for 5 years, so I'll bet you can tackle this, too!
Ginger

I was diagnosed with ESRD nine years ago. My creatinine has been steadily between 3.5 and 4.5 for the past nine years. I have so far been able to avoid dialysis. I watch my diet very carefully. All the usual stuff: low protein, low potassium, low salt etc. I was taking a phosphorus binder initially but stopped that after my first year and that doesn't seem to be a problem. I fence competitively in national level tournaments so I do get a lot of exercise. I am 74 years old and have been very careful about COVID but finally will be able to get a vaccination in April. Vaccine appointments in New York City are hard to come by. I can't tell you exactly what I'm doing that has allowed me to avoid dialysis (likewise I've rejected transplant offers), but I can say that it can be done. Don't give up!

@m1rmiller
Congratulations on your success in meeting your goal to stay off dialysis. I was extremely vigilant about my lifestyle choices and despite adhering to a nearly all vegetarian diet, exercising regularly and watching my labs I was powerless to change the course of my kidney disease. Through no fault of my own Polycystic Kidney Disease eventually overtook my kidney function, displaced nearly every major organ in my body and threatened to take my life. Your story certainly shows that a great deal can be achieved thought lifestyle choices but I imagine you'll agree not everyone's diseases will respond in the same way.
Again, congrats on your success!

Thanks for your kind words! Indeed, I was told that Polycystic is almost impossible to fight. I do have multiple cysts from the damage done by whatever it was that attacked my kidneys, but I have been told that it's definitely not Polycystic. I do have a friend who inherited Polycystic (two others in her family also had it) and had a kidney transplant. I guess there is always something that we can be thankful for. I try to focus on living each day as fully as I can.

@m1rmiller
Your overwhelming success keeping ESRD at bay through a disciplined lifestyle is a story worth sharing! People can learn a lot from your achievements. Your lifestyle offers hope to many who need it so I'm so happy you're sharing with everyone.
When determination and willpower aren't enough to combat kidney failure, dialysis or transplant can offer a long happy life to those who need it. Even post transplant patients like me need encouraging examples like yours!
I appreciate you lighting a fire in me today! I am going to put on a batch of homemade minestrone and jump on the treadmill in your honor today! 😄

Thank you so much for your message of possibility and hope. Hearing a new diagnosis (3/4) is so scary. Hearing that it is still possible to live with kidney disease brings hope. My husband contracted Covid and was hospitalized (November) and everything since has been off the charts. Creatinine 2.6 and eGFR now 24 (labs fairly normal in April 2020). Awaiting biopsy results next week. I am sure many can identify with our anxiety wondering what is around the corner. I realize it is one day at a time, but if anyone out there can send along positive messages/stories to help us in these early days, it would be so much appreciated. We are doing everything we can re: diet modifications. Thank you.

@alwayshope Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. We are patients, family members, and caregivers, and offer support, share our experiences to others on their journeys.

I have chronic kidney disease Stage 4, due to an ultrarare disease. Yes, people can indeed live with chronic diseases of all kinds. Your story is not the first one I have heard, where Covid-19 may have caused or compounded an existing health issue. Anxiety goes hand-in-hand with waiting for results, and restful sleep seems so elusive, doesn't it?

Remember that stress can play a big part in how you feel, too. Good for you in doing your diet modifications. Salt, potassium, phosphorus, calcium are all limited, ideally. Please come back and let us know what the biopsy results say. We are here to help support you and be a shoulder to lean on!
Ginger

@always hope, Welcome! Am now pulling out of Stage 5 into Stage 4 after 6 months of dialysis, good medical management, excellent renal diet, and recovery from a horrible case of shingles last year. 6 months ago when I went on dialysis it was a bit of a surprise to everyone because my numbers tanked rapidly. The only thing neph and I can guess what caused the sudden drop was the sudden herpes viral load so I can somewhat relate to your COVID. Vascular surgeon placed a permacath for dialysis then attempted a more permanent access (fistula) which failed, then a lower left arm AV graft (which also failed,) had to cancel my declot procedure due to a sudden illness (his, not mine,) then finally - so far! - succeeded in creating an upper left arm AV graft, a month later removing the perma cath and placing a mediport. 6 trips to the OR and exhausting dialysis left me feeling pretty hopeless at times and without the good people in these threads encouraging me I would have given up and just stopped dialysis. Here you will find diet tips (ask some of the others to share my kidney friendly recipes,) caring support, even humor. As I often have said, Hope lives here! Please keep us informed, Sending you healing vibes!