I had a major health scare last year. I took creatine, don't drink enough water and was taking NSAIDs temporarily (30 days). My eGRF went down to 41...however two weeks later it was 66 then in 6 months went to 82. I stay at around 80-85...trust me I lost my mind. I drink more water, stopped drinking alcohol and eat less protein (no beef or pork) now, stay away from salt, and stopped creatine. I'm 58 in excellent physical condition and no problems. I can tell you I was completely freaked out and highly stressed. I went to a Kidney doctor and he says, nothing to worry about, relax and your Kidneys are perfectly healthy.
@@MMacAttack eat clean, drink plenty of water and stay away from supplements as much as possible. Don't freak out, I did for months and that's even worse on you.
Hey! Mine came out as 90.9-91 (I’m in my 30s). Before the pandemic- the past 4 years, I worked out a lot; I was taking vitamin supplements (individually), eating ground chicken or ground Turkey with steamed/cooked veggies, consumed water intake, green tea (evenings), coffee (mornings) with oatmeal and nonfat yogurt. Recently- during the pandemic, I stopped dairy but I’ve been using collagen (in my coffee) with oatmeal, same routine with the chicken and Turkey but wondering if it is because of the collagen- along with fast food (eating once or twice a week). I’d imagine it’s a lot to do with those- along with sodium so I have eliminated all things and stuck with my home cooked meals. Will just drinking water help my rate go up or are there any other tips? Please, help 🙏.
As an ex bodybuilder still carrying descent muscle mass and after a long spell of cardio only I Hit 50 so decided for longevity/health to get back into the weights and got bloods done also, egfr was 64! stage 2. Serum cystatin C is a more accurate test for high performance athletes who's training and supplementing (muscle breakdown, creatine, protein vit D) all lower egfr (I was doing all of the above) making the results inaccurate or not a true reflection, lots of doctors aren't aware of this so don't panic. Also I understand that egfr results can be out by as much as 30-40%. Doc recommends bloods every 6 mths. I'll ask for serum stastatin c next time. Hope this helps some
Dan, I used a 24hr urine test to determine my GFR. I think this is the gold standard. It's inconvenient, but if you can bear it, it would give you a more accurate idea of GFR. eGFR merely approximates it, and the way it's done it just leaves a lot of room for under or overshooting the true GFR. I don't know why the establishment uses eGFR, but it does a disservice. In cases where the dosage of prescription drugs are dependent on the GFR, patients could be over- or underdosed. It has serious ramifications, as in the case of overdosing fluoroquinolone antibiotics such as Ciprofloxacin and Levofloxacin.
You're welcome Dan. In the tropics, in warm climate, I had to store the urine at the ref as I collect it and transport in a cooler on the way to the lab. Glad it doesn't cost a lot more.
My comment on Levofloxacin (aka Levoquin) was based on my experience when my mom was confined in a hospital. Doctor used a different eGFR formula from that recommended in the direction packet that came with Levofloxacin. The eGFR he came up with was higher than if he used the eGFR formula that was recommended by the packet. The excitotoxic effect was likely pronounced as a result, and she became drained after 3 days being excited and sleepless. You can see that there is no agreement on which eGFR formula is better. I don't really think there is much coherence and consistency in these eGFR formulas. For example, there is a formula specifically for Africans. Are all Africans the same? It's laughable they are using rule of thumbs when a better method exists. eGFR formulas should be used only when it is difficult to collect urine over a 24 hour period. I admit though that this is the case with elderly people with continence problems, yet they are the ones who are most impacted by faulty GFR estimates.
Oh I’m so glad I seen this. Yes my lab test came back saying I was developing kidney disease. Never having a problem with my kidneys I was a bit freaked out. 🙌🏻 I have a good amount of muscle on me and 61 years old I could say I’m very active .
Thanks for giving me hope I might not have impaired kidney function, I lift weights, don't supplement with creatine, but eat lots of steaks and liver. I was so sad to see low eGRF number compared to my age, but now I hope I might be fine. Muscle mass number should be taken to account when making up the result.
My egfr went from 77 to 55 in 9 months, last week it was up to 60. I don't hydrate as much as I should, not a body builder type but muscle dominates my composition (especially for my age) and pretty much active for the most part. As a borderline health fanatic, it's good to know the egfr calculation isn't precise.
Is it normal to drop from 117 to 89 in 8 months? I express my concerns to my doctor and she didn't seem concerned at all, she said as long as it was over 60 it was great.
I’m pretty muscular. I always had high creatinine in my blood. I’m only 36 but my egfr is 46. It’s scaring me a bit. I do eat food with sodium and protein. Am I in trouble?
You are one highly intelligent funny guy. And it makes it really easy to assimilate this information. I do have a question, my creatinine has improved since my kidney failure last May. It was at a six four years and no doctors thought it was of concern and then they totally failed May of last year. But now the doctors are saying I have stage 4 kidney failure because of my GFR numbers. But my creatinine is 2.6 now. This is confusing can you please clarify?
Well thank you, Deb! I don't have a great explanation for the seemingly-inverted creatinine pattern. But I bet the doctors are using one of the better (non-creatinine) ways of measuring your true GFR, and are basing the diagnosis on that.
My egfr in March was 74, my egfr in May was 56. How could the number drop that much in some 2 months? - i made no changes to BP meds. The testing was done by two different labs. The hospital now says I have stage 3a kidney disease and I am scared as sh&t. Advice?
What do mean it's affected by that? I do not drink. I did get my GP to test again and they said everything is normal with a egfr of 74. Everyone said it's normal except the hospital lab. Strange.
Mine was 91 then 74 then 61 within 2 months. Doctor asked me to check again in 3 weeks...are these number accurate? Am 39. I had a urine test which came out normal.
How do you Raise it? Drs say it Fluctuates My Brothers dropped from 111 down to 97 in 3 years but he doesn't drink much water...(3 or 4 Glasses a day) So it could be Dehydration which Lowers the EGFR His Creatinine Also went up from 73 to 83..Yes he's in the Normal range but he does not want it to go any Lower than 97..
@Sándor Komiszár 45. Thev might have found out the issue, I'm positive for pANCA vasculitis, which is a fking horrible autoimmune disease that attacks the kidneys. I've got to have a biopsy. The disease is called "The hurting" disease, as its horrendous. I'm praying its not the case.
My eGFR is at 55, with Creatinine of 1.4. The rest of my test are normal; bun, protein, sodium, potassium, albumin, etc. Nothing else was flagged. What does that mean? All my doctor does is read the test results.
@@charlescarson5318 hmm…I did my blood test last year and my egfr was at 89. I’m 39 years old; I work out, eat right (for the most part)., hydrate and IT FAST. The thing is it’s been between 89-91 since 2017 and no doctor has told me if I am fatal or not. …I’d be worried but- again- I haven’t had any symptoms. The only thing I do have, which is minor is anemia but I take iron and c supplements.
Any recommended direct-to-consumer labs that have a kidney test panel (that includes serum Cystatin C)? Plugging in the numbers on the National kidney Foundation's GFR calculator.. I seem to get mixed results. For example, despite normal GFR*, and despite constantly drinking water, I'm chronically thirsty/constipated with very dry skin, I wake up extremely dehydrated (like a hangover). Also despite eyelid/ankle swelling, I don't think I'm retaining the water because I go to the bathroom frequently at night even when I haven't drank anything! *Blood Creatinine for eGFR? ex. .77 mg/dL => 107 ml/min/1.73 (I have low muscle mass) or Urine albumin to creatinine? ex. .3 mg/dl (3ug/ml) / creatinine 11.7 mg/dl => 26 Would it be better to skip the estimate, and do an actual GFR measurement via a 24-hour urine collection?
My GFR levels are going down .. I was told with age this happens.. I am 71 and my GFR was 59 last month and has been as low as 52 it has gone up at times never more than the 59 and 52 is the lowest.. this scares me ..
I read something once about only reporting values to patients as ">60" because they don't want the numbers overinterpreted until they get below that. So maybe your current result was done by a different lab, or they changed their policy?
