Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

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Worrymint
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 6:57 am

Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by Worrymint »

Hey guys and gals,

I'm new to this forum but not new to medical issues.

I recently had a blood test for unrelated reasons and I have seen that my egfr is 78, I checked online and this would be normal kidney function in a 70 year old!? I'm only 27

Due to other problems in my life I have high blood pressure (150/90) and I seem to have foamy urine.

I went to my doctors and he performed a dipstick test and said that I have NO protein present, I insisted on a urine test in a lab (not 24 hour, a little pot) and I am waiting for my results.

I am very worried about my kidneys, I must admit due to my other conditions I haven't exercised a lot and am a bit overweight, my diet could use a bit of cleaning up but it's not too bad.

Should I be very worried? Also could anything else be causing my foamy urine? Sometimes the foam doesn't disappear even after 5 minutes... Sometimes it isn't foamy but 95% of the time over the last 2 years it has been.

I know I am not as far along as a lot of you (I've been reading this forum for 2 days straight) but I am extremely young to have this low function.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, its all I've been thinking about over the last few days.

Thanks

P. S I am mixed race (father afro caribbean), I haven't taken this into account with the above gfr becasue I was told only full afro caribbean stats need an increase, thanks
Worrymint
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 6:57 am

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by Worrymint »

Sorry to bump but I'm really looking for some help here. I'm having near sleepless nights
freddyy
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 6:45 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by freddyy »

Hello Worrymint,

If you have no protein in your urine, there should be no immediate cause for concern. I know from personal experience that urine can be foamy without kidney problems too (I have had that since long before I got my interstitial nephritis which led to chronic kidney disease).

An eGFR of 78 should cause no symptoms, and can actually be quite good depending on your current muscle / fluid / infection / nutritional status. Values can jump up and down quite a bit at the high end as I understand it, depending on daily form. Also your heritage might influence this value as you mention. It might seem scary to be "only" 78 out of 100, but remember the kidneys have a built-in backup and that level of function is quite enough to get you through your life.

What you should consider (together with your doctor) is to get blood pressure under control. It is probably the most important factor to control / slow down progress of a potential kidney failure.

If you still feel scared, ask your doctor for a repeat test, and if they don't feel it is necessary, then have them explain why it is not needed. They should be able to reassure you of their decisions.
Worrymint
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 6:57 am

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by Worrymint »

Thank you so much for your reply.

That is good news, I will let you guys know what my urine results say, if I don't have any protein or Micro protein then I will stop worrying about it.

Ive had a lot of health conditions and I don't think I could deal with something else keeping me up at night!

Thanks again

Worrymint
wagolynn
Posts: 1362
Joined: Thu May 23, 2013 2:49 pm

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by wagolynn »

You can get some protein passing through your kidneys if your protein intake is high.

eGFR is OK, it is the long term trends in eGFR that matter but eGFR is notorious for being inaccurate anyway.

As mentioned above, you should be fine.

You ought to work on the blood pressure, try to eliminate added salt in your food, and drinks.

Best wishes.
Worrymint
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 6:57 am

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by Worrymint »

Ok, I will keep an eye on that.

I am on going to be changing up my entire diet and lifestyle, this has been a huge wake up call for me.

I will be handing in my urine samples tomorrow so I will let you guys know how I get on.

I am only 27, I've heard my gfr can drop about 1-4 a year.... Does this mean I am at high risk of full on kidney disease I'm my middle/late years? What could I do to change that?

If I get my blood pressure down is there a chance that my gfr will go up? Or at least slow down a lot?

Thank you for the advice so far, we are very lucky to be able to reach out to people in similar situations!

Worrymint
Worrymint
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 6:57 am

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by Worrymint »

Hey guys.

Just a little more info, I just found a blood test from April last year and my egfr was 82 with a creatine of 92......my last test was egfr 78 and creatine 101....does this mean my kidneys are slowly failing or do the numbers bounce around a bit..... Extremely worried

Thanks
freddyy
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 6:45 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by freddyy »

As mentioned before, eGFR is a kind of blunt estimate, and variation is normal.
As for a difference between 92 and 101 in creatinine, that is very small and can be explained by any number of factors such as sleep, how much you drank, how much you exercised before the test, how much protein you ate, your bowel movements, infection levels, etc. Also the margin of error for the analysis is probably quite large.

As a reference, when my creatinine changed from ~630 to ~670 a blood test not long ago, my nurse told me "your creatinine is doing great, it hasn't worsened". And yes, during a period when I was taking many tests with only 1 week apart, the value did bounce up and down a bit without anyone being worried.
wagolynn
Posts: 1362
Joined: Thu May 23, 2013 2:49 pm

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by wagolynn »

Worrymint wrote:Ok, I will keep an eye on that.

I am on going to be changing up my entire diet and lifestyle, this has been a huge wake up call for me.

I will be handing in my urine samples tomorrow so I will let you guys know how I get on.

I am only 27, I've heard my gfr can drop about 1-4 a year.... Does this mean I am at high risk of full on kidney disease I'm my middle/late years? What could I do to change that?

If I get my blood pressure down is there a chance that my gfr will go up? Or at least slow down a lot?

Thank you for the advice so far, we are very lucky to be able to reach out to people in similar situations!

Worrymint
You can change your diet but talk to your doctor first, for two reasons, first, changes will/may have an effect on your blood results, and the doctor needs to know why. Second, apart from salt, there is not any urgent reason to do so but moving in the direction of the five-a-day (Google it) will improve your general health, NB, fruit juice does not count as one of the five-a-day, the flesh of the fruit is the important part.

However, this change should not affect your kidney health, the lower salt will reduce blood pressure , and help your kidneys (high BP over time destroys kidneys)

In America, a reduction in protein intake is sometimes recommended but as the usual protein intake in the UK is much lower it is not usually a problem.
Worrymint
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 6:57 am

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by Worrymint »

Thank you very much for your reply, I feel a lot more at ease than when I found out.

Yup, I've been putting off "getting healthy" for a long time!

I work an office job and then enjoy netflix/games with my girlfriend, we have also moved out recently so we tend to choose convenience over healthy eating, 5 fruit and veg a day will take a while for me to get to (honesty it's not even 5 a week at the moment) but now is the time to change.

Thank you all again and I wish you all good health, I will update this with any information I get!

Worrymint
wagolynn
Posts: 1362
Joined: Thu May 23, 2013 2:49 pm

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by wagolynn »

Hm, convenience foods are usually loaded with salt.

Best wishes.
JMan
Posts: 3470
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2004 10:21 am
Location: Lives in a slightly weird bit of Shropshire called Telford!

Re: Age 27, Stage 2 GFR and foamy urine... HELP

Post by JMan »

You might want to take a look at the main pages of this site which has good info

And also the info at www.kidney.org.uk

Best
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