Hello Dan,
Welcome to Mayo Connect and thank you for reaching out. You mentioned you were diagnosed with cysts on your kidneys. Were you also diagnosed with PKD?

I was diagnosed with PKD over 25 years ago. I remember the time as shocking and disorienting. No family history for me, either. It took a period of time to adjust - to recover not from the disease, but from diagnosis. For me, some unusual high blood pressure readings sent me in for an ultrasound. I looked at the screen and my kidneys were covered with black cysts - "too numerous to count" is what I was told. Up until that day, I believed I was completely healthy, and after that day, I realized I carried a disease that could take me out.... and there was no cure.... and it was relatively rare, so there were not a lot of people to talk to. It was a lot to get my brain around.

I am glad to hear your renal numbers are good and that you are exercising, and drinking lots of water. A healthy life-style is very important and increase your odds, tremendously, for avoiding kidney failure. Keeping blood pressure in check, is also key. I had to do that with meds.

I also recommend avoiding high stress situations and relationships. One of the interesting things I noted over the years was that when I was going through significantly stressful times, my GFR would drop significantly. Years, when I had normal life stress, my GFR stayed pretty much the same. I learned, a little late in the game, that I needed to distance myself from crazy-making people and situations, even when (or perhaps, especially when) those people are family members. I just share that last bit, because it is the one thing I wish I would have done for myself, when I was first diagnosed.