Reason for GFR level to fluctuate from 20 to 57?

@fromthehill Personally, I take it as a challenge to keep myself healthy. Healthy eating, mindfulness for creating an emotionally and mentally healthy life, too! Yep, that word got used three times!

I am a creative person, doing a lot of writing and different crafts. So, using those mediums help me deal with the challenges. It's okay to be thinking how to move forward given our own individual circumstances. What could be crippling is to focus only on that. Friends and families often do not understand the seriousness of our health situation, so we can use that as a platform to educate them.

Taking care of ourselves will let us focus on what else we want to accomplish. For me, and perhaps for others, watching my diet, my stress levels, moderate exercise, being medication compliant is part of the big picture. Why take away part of that because we don't want to deal with it? Isn't that like a tire with a flat spot?
Ginger

Thank you for the encouragement and helping me thru' a wobble of thinking

Thank you Ginger...wise words and encouraging advice...very true words.

My eGFR has had enormous swings.

Jan 19, 2023 ….. 59
May 10, 2024 ….. 56
Oct 14, 2024 ….. 77
Feb 28, 2025 ….. 86
June 19, 2025 ….. 63
July 18, 2025 ….. 63
Sept 25, 2025 ….. 66
January 20, 2026 ….. 53

The last eGFR of 53 , after a eGFR less then one year earlier of 86 has me very concerned and very confused.

I had my blood drawn today and hope that my eGFR is the same or increases, but with these huge swings I don’t know how much trust to even put in my personal eGFR. Prayers for all.

Thanks @gingerw , as always, for your compassion and great advice!

@faithfully those #’s do not look like “enormous swings” to me. Even if they are a bit swingy, they are at the higher end of good. Many folks don’t even get referred to nephrology until eGFR is less than 40. In 2016 when I first got serious about CKD my eGFR was bouncing between 14 - 42. I had a local (Twin Cities, MN metro area) nephrologist and got a Mayo (Rochester, MN) nephrologist too. I had pre-transplant kidney evaluations done; was approved/accepted and even listed (inactive) at Mayo transplant center. I learned about hydration, renal diet, medications effecting kidney conditions, dialysis, transplants and started looking for a living kidney donor. That was in 2016. In the decade following I have settled into an eGFR in the low 30’s. Yesterday I had a virtual meeting with my Mayo nephrologist. She recommended delisting on the UNOS transplant list because I have been in too good a shape for too long a time. Today my transplant coordinator called to confirm that this is the plan. It feels funny to be “delisted” (like demoted) but in reality it is a good thing. Forgive me if I have a hard time sympathizing about your 53 - 86 eGFR’s when my last one was 34!

@cehunt57 congratulations on being “delisted”. Great news, truly!

I am never looking for sympathy; I am merely sharing my path with CKD. And, to me, a drop of 33 points in my eGFR in less then 12 months is defined as “HUGE”. We all define things differently. Another 33 point drop, and next year I would be at 20 eGFR.

Perhaps, a little more information from my original post may shed light on my concerns.

“Hello all. In June, 2014, I passed a stone (4mm) and had the extreme pain, vomiting. The ER doctor said my kidney was “a stone factory”. 11 years passed. No problems until July, 2024, when I passed a second very large stone, 8 mm. Huge. Zero pain. I went to a urologist and they did a CAT scan and discovered that I had a 14 mm stone in my left ureter and bladder junction. That same CAT scan also discovered my left kidney was “severely atrophied”. Prior to this, no one had ever mentioned anything different about my kidneys. The doctors say that they have no idea why one kidney atrophied so badly or when it did. Then, I was told to “assume I am a solitary one kidney person” In August, 2024, I had the 14 mm stone surgically removed via laser. My right kidney (the good one) had three “non obstructing” stones in it, 8mm, 6mm, and 3mm. A CAT scan done in April 2025 showed 5 “non obstructing” stones in the right kidney (the good one), 6mm, 5 mm, another 5 mm, 3mm and another 3mm. Where the 8 mm went from July, 2024, I don’t know.
Naturally, I was and am scared .. . .”

Why ?

As a constant “stone former”, If my solitary “good” kidney becomes obstructed, pressure will build up, and I will have Acute Kidney Injury, and my eGFR will drastically plummet, maybe forever. Also, no one has ever been able to explain the sudden atrophy that occurred sometime in the past 11 years. Will it occur on my remaining “good” kidney? What effect will that have on my total kidney function, my eGFR?

These are “what ifs”, but all of life, every single day is really ultimately a series of “what ifs” that actually occur and therefore become our reality, our lives, right?

Prayers for you and all.

I found out I have ckd in February 2026...my first gfr was 38...a month later it was 44 and yesterday it was 26....all all blood work creatinine ect was worse... I have been so careful about everything I eat and drink I'm so depressed I don't understand this I don't understand what's happening to my body why my kidneys are doing this other never had kidney problems I don't get UTIs or kidney infections I don't have kidney stones I've been healthy

@faithfully123 what was different when it was highest, when it was lowest ? That helped me identify a diet issue—I way upped protein and dairy as a response to Osteoporosis, and the number went down…eager to see if current revised diet is helping.

I'm no expert on this, but read a lot of posts. I have CKD 3b - eGFR of 38. If I were to summarize dozens of posts I've read, it seems hydration is one of the keys. 2 liters of water daily - 6-8 cups of water, however you want to measure it. Of course weather is a factor, hotter days, you might need more water. Activity, you might need more water. I was told to reduce dairy intake. I was told to avoid drinking black tea, drink green tea instead. I've read it can lead to kidney stone formation. A friend of mine gets large painful stones periodically, he's been told to reduce dairy intake. Sodium, if you dine out, you can be lucky to find 1 or 2 items on the menu that are below 900 mg of sodium. Restaurant food is LOADED with sodium, 3,000 - 6,000 mg in a serving is very common. Of course, that impacts your system water. Reduce red meat. Eliminate processed foods and ultra processed foods. That's a tough one, even the government - right NOW - is trying to determine the definition of those. They are working on providing guidance, I believe, this year. Berries are good - blueberries, blackberries, strawberries. They say avoid bananas and oranges - Darn! Avocados, I eat a quarter of one most days, but do small portions. Veggies, I've read tomatoes are hard on kidneys, maybe the homegrown - low-acid varieties would be OK???? Rhubarb, I've read both opinions on this. Here they say it's tough on the kidneys. In China, I've read they are seeing good results in experiments. Keep protein intake lower, again, I'm 3b, so they suggested 45-60 grams per day, roughly 15 grams per meal. Chicken, fish, turkey considered good. Pork and beef, eliminate or reduce consumption. That's a lot of information. Hopefully, you can determine what combination of this is causing the ups and downs. One additional thought - reduce sugar - added sugars.

@gwladj76 very good post…hydration is #1…reduce salt ! Reduce sugar…Eat less meat and dairy—-as far as food detail, it’s basically to exercise caution with certain foods like the ones you listed, and do more of the ‘’kidney-friendly’’ ones… that keeps it simple and probably suffices for early stage/stable CKD. Every list encourages us to move as much as possible to keep things in our bodies flowing.