Intermittent Fasting with Chronic Kidney Disease

Glad to join you to compare results. I'm ESRD for almost 9 years and started experimenting with IF a few months ago. Started out with fasting around 14 hours a day and have slowly built up to now doing between 19 and 20 hours fast daily. Right now waiting for my most recent blood work results to post. So far haven't seen much change either way.

I started IF 3 days ago. The first two days were 16:8. Today I am pushing for 17:7. Went down one Jean size. Don't know if that's temporary but time will tell.

I've actually gained a couple of pounds after initially losing a couple. I've increased the intensity of my workouts and suspect that I've replaced some flab with greater muscle mass. More muscle creates more creatinine as does more intense workouts (creatinine is a byproduct of muscles working). I can see my body is changing even though weight is not dropping. Let's see what my new blood work says about the whole thing.

Interesting because I weighed myself each day due to see the fluid retention. Before I began I was 302. After 1 day was 308. 2 days 318. Then tried on the pants because my body didn't look the same when I sucked in my stomach. Went from 22 to 20. Comfortably. Didn't weigh this morning. Many people on the Fastic app advise weighing once a week or a month. End of May I will get bloodwork done.

My wife @lisaaase is a member of this group too so I'm tagging her. She had been diagnosed with Stage 3 Kidney Disease (which I understand is nothing near what @m1rmiller has) a few years ago and has been on a mostly grain-free, low-carb diet and mostly one meal a day (OMAD) intermittent fasting. Her most recent blood tests show normal kidney function. She's just one case, but in addition to other health benefits it seems her approach has helped with kidneys too.

Your improved progress is very inspiring. Care to share the homeopathic remedies and Chinese herbs?

Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, @mknumbers. I look forward to learning more about you. Do you have chronic kidney disease?

I have been following OMAD Intermittent Fasting since Sept 2017 and am age 70. I am maintaining a very significant weight loss (-207 lbs) but my kidney function has been notably decreasing -- to the point where I've talked with the Transplant Team and Dialysis Group -- both options seem quite daunting. I feel that Intermittent Fasting has certainly saved my life but wonder if this way of eating has contributed to my CKD. I just don't know. I'm at Stage IV and my eGFR continues to decline although creatinine is a smidge over 2.0 -- does anyone have insight if there is a correlation between IF and CKD? Thanks for your time to respond.

@alpha642 Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Your weight loss accomplishment is impressive! I am curious what the cause of your CKD is, which indeed may play a factor in the decreasing eGFR. While some studies seem to show that people with PKD [polycystic kidney disease] may benefit from intermittent fasting, there of course are caveats for submitting our bodies to extreme dietary changes. If you scroll back to the beginning of this discussion thread, on page 1 you will see I linked an article about fasting and kidney disease.

If you see fit to share, I would be interested in your story of how you came to do a fasting diet, what led you to that, how your medical team has responded.
Ginger

Hello -- good to be part of this group. Responding to your questions -- I do not have PKD -- I have had diabetes for many years (current A1C around 5.4). Four years ago I decided to explore intermittent fasting as a way to get healthy, decrease inflammation (which it has), and have the side effect of weight loss. I consider Intermittent Fasting to be a way of life FOR ME -- a way of eating -- it is not a diet as many people believe it to be. The documented health benefits (autophagy--cellular rebuilding) have caused a marked improvement in my overall health. My medical team has been quite supportive and understanding of my commitment to this way of eating . I do not find this way of eating to be extreme at all and, in fact, feel better overall on my regimen of OMAD (one healthy meal a day) during the "window of time" when I am consuming food. Intermittent Fasting is also known as time-dependent eating and the literature is showing, more and more, that it is valuable *for some people*. Obviously I am sure people need to discuss this way of eating with their own medical/health team and decide what's best for them. But FOR ME, for the first time in my life after being morbidly obese for over 60+ years, this works.