Anyone raised eGFR without medical assistance?

Hi,
One day my doctor told me I had 5 years to go with my kidneys, I'm now plus 8 years and remind her when I see her with great satisfaction, I'm still alive. Anyway being given a expiry date motivated me to take action. I stopped all excessive exercise, went on a "kidney friendly"diet and took it to excess. No red meat, nothing to drink but water, absdolutely no salt or sugar, I'm diabetic, and no man made or aborted foods. I stuck with a small meal per day mainly of vegitable, if possible home grown. No eating out for fear I'd be eating something off the list. Switched to wholemeal bread and plastic butter with shaved ham on and no sauce, shaved ham being the thickness you can see through, no more than one sandwich a day. Changing diet and lifestyle was easy as I was dealing with several health issues. I eventually realised my kidneys would last longer than 5 years and relented on the diet and lifestyle. It had become extremely difficult to stick to my diet it being restrictive beyond reasonable. I learnt that most sugar substitues had the base ingrediant of aspertane, something that causes more damage to kidneys than real sugar, that stimulated me to throw away all the dark soda I had stocked, 30x 2 liter bottles. For those unaware aspertane taxes the kidneys and eats the bones while the dark colouring is chemical which the kidneys can not filter. The recomended amount with fully functioning kidneys is one small glass per day, I was getting trough 2 liters per day.
Now days I still refrain from off the shelf rubbish but have started back on a small amount of salt and sugar. I eat lean red meat once every 2 to 3 weeks but a very small portion. I have advanced to black tea with a splash of trim milk, the milk with all the good stuff removed and a few grains of sugar. I'm still able to tolerate my ham sandwich and will sub it out for 2 boiled eggs occasionally. Because of my other health issues my diet is constrained to simple things and a limited amount of food and fluid per day. Yes I fight hunger every day. I stopped all medication that could effect the kidneys, fortunately I have a very high pain threshold and am able to forgo painkillers. On the rear occasion pain gets the better of me I have opioid based painkillers at hand.
I learnt to bake my own sugar free cupcakes and share the cooking duties so I know what is going into each meal.
Because of my food and fluid constraints I watch the colour of my urine trying to keep it a light straw colour. The theory goes keeping urine between clear to straw colour and your kidneys are working well. If you are consistantly clear you are over hydrating and conversely if it is dark you are under hydrated.
I haven't eaten out in 13 years and not seen fast food at all in that time. I have discovered by restricting my intake of salt and sugar the brain re-educates itself to believing it is not required for life to exist and you rediscover what food actually tastes like, naturally. Funny though I persist with a few grains of sugar in my cups of tea, I don't stir it and it is not enough to change the taste, yet the brain thinks it tastes better! The other side of that coin is that everything pre-made tastes salty or sweeter, that helps me stay away from it.
My mother-in-law died recently at 95, her GFR for the past 7 years averaged GFR18, no medical help or intervention and certainly no restriction on what she ate or drank. Yes her movement was impinged but she lived oblivious to the state of her kidneys. I'm 73 with GFR 38 I see no reason to panic, I have enough to see me through barring anything drastic to change my situation.
Most of us get into a dire panic when first diagnosed because it is not explained to us. CKD is kidney disease not kidney death, yes changes will be required but life goes on. The very day I was told 5 years to go I went home closed my busines, paid off all my debits and wrote my will, then sat and waited for what hasn't come, yet. The only good thing to come of it is I'm ready for the inevitable, retired and enjoying as much of life as I can well aware of how fragile life can be.
Cheers

@cheyne I noticed in your article that you stopped all excessive exercise. I walk and a couple days a week I lift light weights does exercise make kidney problems worse I am 73 years old and my kidneys stopped working last summer. I was ln the hospital for 8 days then on dialysis for 2.5 weeks then they started working again. My GFR is 43 and I don't want to screw it up. My renal care nurse told me to exercise but not lift heavy weights which I had done for 25 years as a body builder, Might not have been a good idea--no steroids. Russell

@rrr1952
Hi, For me strenuous exercise/ work drops my GFR, fortunately it does rebound. I have a bad habit of working until I drop, literally, the thought of stopping before completion isn't how I work. The habit of a lifetime is hard to stop.
I try to keep to the same pattern when having blood drawn at around the same time of day, this gives me a more stable record of how my kidneys are doing. By watching my test results I know what I can get away with and what I can't. Some medications can rob me of kidney function quickly and I stop them when this happens. Gabapentin is one of the worst. I don't let anything or anyone mitigate my kidney health, including my Dr's anymore.
For me painkillers rob me of kidney function so if absolutely required I will use opioid based pain relief only, it happens very rearly having a high tolerance of pain. Stay away from dark coloured sodas as the chemical colouring taxes the kidenys.
I reduced the amount of red meat to one small meal per week, cut the amount of salt I was using to minimal and don't do anything stupid, mostly! I watch the colour of my urine to tell me if I'm hydrating enough or not, works well for me.
Thirteen years ago I started with zero kidney function, managed to push it up to GFR 63 with extreme dietry and lifestyle changes. I'm 73 now and have relented to a more suitable diet and lifestyle, kidney function is down to GFR 42 and reasonable stable. I have enough function to see me out and am more concerned with other health issues that have come along to test me.
Cheers

@cheyne I also noticed you said you ate plastic butter what is that or was it a joke. I use unsalted butter I have to be careful of my diet because of diabetes after my kidneys stopped they took me off all diabetes meds. When they let me out of the hospital I had dialysis and believe me that drains everything from you no energy at all just a washed out husk. The renal DR said they were going to leave my blood a little dirty hoping my kidneys would see this and start again and I was lucky it worked. I have already switched DR's. I was assigned A DR at dialysis center who I could not tolerate. She had a rating of 1.79 out of 5 so I switched to the DR that got my kidneys going again he is rated 4.9 out of 5. I'm like you if I think a DR is not helping they are gone. Russell

@rrr1952
Hi,
No joke, after years of having potatoes on my butter, now having to put up with man made conjealed synthetic rubish strikes me as plastic butter. Strangely though currently butter is good for you, so they currently say, but wait a while and it will be bad again! Scientific opinion seems to change every once and a while. But I know better, I love everything on my butter! Her indoors insists I should be having the plastic butter and for the peace it brings, I put up with it.
I draw the line at wanting to be comfortable nothing less or more, if that means I do things wrong so be it. Rather comfortable than feeling like crap every moment of my remaining existance. At least my wife understands my preferance to being comfortable above medicating and feeling rubbish 24/7. I react to most medications and particularly the ones I need the most to deal with my health issues. I have run out of known BP meds and Diabetes medications all reacted to while nothing I have been given effects my molility and digestive issues. I do what I can for my kidneys but they are not likely to kill me first.
Cheers

Hello:

I am new here. I am responding to alexmimi2023 @alexmimi2023. I had a kidney transplant last year. My eGFR and creatinine increased significantly when I switched to a plant-based diet. I also exercise about two to three times a week. Hydration is important. Protein, potassium, phosphorus, and sodium intake should not exceed allowable amounts for your kidney issue. Please feel free to ask questions.

Tokunbo

@cheyne what a lovely story. You are so motivated and strong to stick to a great diet. I’m so proud of you. I am 69 years old and my GFR is 13 and has been for several years. I eat healthy and live a good life and play sports

@tapdancer If I may ask, are you on dialysis?

I have been reading that once one hits 15, that the doctor recommends dialysis?

Thank you.

My answer to your question is Yes. In October last year I was diagnosed with CKD stage 3b. I was told I needed to drink more water. I researched kidney problems and found this site. I decided to be proactive and went on a kidney friendly diet regime. Yesterday I had blood tests and my number moved from 40 to 60 which means I am now in stage 2. I will continue with the kidney friendly regime. I am 82 yrs old.
Good luck, I hope you have similar results.

t