1. < Kidney & Bladder

GFR dropp 19 points 63 to 44 in less than a year

Posted by jeffh @jeffh, Jan 13, 2023

I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma last year and had radiation treatment in December and it went well. My cancer is stage 1 and treatable. In my labs in May 2022, I had a GFR of 63. I had labs Jan 3 this year and GFR are at 44! A 19 point drop in one year! I have a referral starting yesterday to see a Nephrologist. No appt yet. What in the world could cause such a huge drop? Anybody? I'm freaking out.

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jeffh | @jeffh | Feb 4, 2023
In reply to @gingerw "@jeffh So glad you were able to interface with your kidney doctor. How do you feel..." + (show)
@gingerw

@jeffh So glad you were able to interface with your kidney doctor. How do you feel about what he told you in comparison to what you have read from members here?

As you recall, we usually say to look at trends in labwork versus a single result. In the case of acute kidney injury, that might come after a physical injury to the kidney area, or perhaps a sudden illness. Personally, I have had a doctor tell me to watch for prediabetes, especially as it runs in my family, so there may be a disposition towards it. But an endocrinologist or well-informed general practitioner would have more information on that.

I will be curious what your urinalysis [I assume a 24 hour collection?] and other labwork together will indicate to you and your doctor. Good luck on the low-carb/low sugar eating plan.
Ginger

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Thank you. He's in Tucson and Phoenix and has many years of experience. And I hadn't really read much on this forum and didn't know about multiple lab tests. He pointed that out. My AKI was probably a result of dehydration that was caused by me not drinking enough water especially during my radiation treatments. Just got the urinalysis results and all seems normal. It was a Prot+CreatU (Random). My wife and I figured out the numbers and check out as normal. Now onto the sonogram. Going to try and stick to the low carb/sugar diet. I appreciate this forum and will check back with further test results.

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marye2 | @marye2 | Feb 4, 2023

Mine dropped into the middle 50s this year. I am supposed to get really serious about staying hydrated and drinking more water. Your kidney Dr will do an ultrasound in the office to check kidney function and size and there is bloodwork for other things. I just turned 70 and my status is a 3 a. I had to stop taking anti-inflammatories and reduce my use of plaquenil.

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feliciaus | @feliciaus | Feb 4, 2023
In reply to @collegeprof "@jeffh Many of us here on this forum suffer from CKD as a chronic condition such..." + (show)
@collegeprof

@jeffh
Many of us here on this forum suffer from CKD as a chronic condition such as diabetes or any other illness that may be or has been long term, and consequently our kidney disease in many cases cannot be reversed, but can be manageable for a term. There are also others who may have had an injury or episode that results in an acute kidney impairment which perhaps can be reversed. At any event, there is a tendency to go online and seek answers from many sources, none of whom is your doctor and freak out to try to figure out why the sudden change. Many of us are vulnerable to immediate answers, but a nephrologist or NP or PA can be the best solution. I could go to 3 different labs in one day, and have 3 different eGFR results. In addition to eGFR, there is a Cystatin C lab test that also informs us of our current kidney condition. As you may know, kidney disease is long term and as such we follow the trend of our lab results, and respond accordingly with our doc or team of docs.

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Great post with wise suggestions. Thank you for that!

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