Is Kidney Disease Certain?

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Hyrul
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 10:45 pm

Is Kidney Disease Certain?

Post by Hyrul »

HI all, 26 year old male from Canada here... No medications or previous history of disease or illness.

My recent blood test showed the following with regards to kidney function:

Creatinine: 100 (1.13 in the U.S)
eGFR: 78
No abnormalities in urine or ultrasound imagery

My doctor didnt mention a thing, however, my research prompted this question from those of you more knowledgeable.It appears that many sites state that a GFR over 90 is "normal," and in fact, some sites state a healthy young individuals GFR should be more along the lines of 110!

Now, from what I understand, GFR begins to decline at about age 20 at the rate of 1 ml/min.... is this correct?
If yes, would it not be safe to assume that my GFR, which is 78, will be at 60 in 18 years (when Im 44)?

This would put me at stage 3 kidney disease at age 44.
Should I speak to my doctor about this.... would it not be wise to take precautions now rather than later?

Thanks in advance!
Thumps
Posts: 1302
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:50 pm
Location: London, England

Re: Is Kidney Disease Certain?

Post by Thumps »

First of all, don't worry unnecessarily. Kidney function does deteriorate into old age, but the vast majority of people get on just fine with what they have all the way through their lives. The chances are you'll be absolutely fine.
Hyrul wrote:Now, from what I understand, GFR begins to decline at about age 20 at the rate of 1 ml/min.... is this correct?
If yes, would it not be safe to assume that my GFR, which is 78, will be at 60 in 18 years (when Im 44)?

This would put me at stage 3 kidney disease at age 44.
You're assuming a linear progression, which is not how these things work - and even if your kidney function does decline, most people along just fine with absolutely no ill effects at the levels you're mentioning well into old age, just as we can with wrinkly skin and other signs of aging. You'll find people here with chronic kidney disease who have lived full and normal lives with eGFRs in the 20s or 30s for years.
Should I speak to my doctor about this.... would it not be wise to take precautions now rather than later?
The best precautions you can take are to eat healthily, exercise regularly, drink plenty of water, keep well and go to your doctor if you feel unwell - just the same as anyone else in the world :)

Hope that's reassuring!
PKD/PLD diagnosed 1994, CKD stage 5 Oct 2007, Living Donor Kidney Transplant Dec 2008, still going strong!
Hyrul
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 10:45 pm

Re: Is Kidney Disease Certain?

Post by Hyrul »

Thank you Thumps,

yes, that is a bit more reassuring, but I have a couple of questions if you (or others) dont mind :)

I noticed a lot of people go by percentages here. Does eGFR = % left of kidney function? Example: GFR of 80 = 80% left? Im assuming not, because Ive read of people with 120, 130, and even 140 eGFR
Also, you mentioned living full a normal lives with eGFR in 30s and 20s.... just curious, are we talking about individuals living lives (without dialysis) for 10 or 20 + years?

Thank you again
jenjen
Posts: 1535
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:28 pm
Location: Leicester

Re: Is Kidney Disease Certain?

Post by jenjen »

Remember that eGFR is just that: estimated. eGFR can be swayed by things like height/weight/muscle-mass, giving falsely low or high results. See here:
http://www.edren.org/pages/handbooks/un ... mation.php

Have you discussed your results with a nephrologist (specialist kidney person)? There are many things to take into account when predicting if someone's kidney function will decline or not. In relation to what you can concretely do, the most important thing for avoiding kidney decline is to keep your blood pressure under control, ie. Don't smoke, eat healthily, reduce stress out & watch your salt intake. Again, I would advise you to talk to your doctor about this too as they might feel it necessary to prescribe BP medication, but of course we cannot say if they would advise this or not.

Jen
Hyrul
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 10:45 pm

Re: Is Kidney Disease Certain?

Post by Hyrul »

I live in Canada, and for us to see a kidney specialist, we'd need a referral from our general doctor.
I dont think general doctor's refer you to a kidney specialist unless your GFR is around 30ish (correct me if Im wrong).
So theres no way I can speak to one about this, really....


I spoke to a walk in clinic doctor about this today, and he said things like hydration, muscle mass, exercise, etc can all effect eGFR. Told me not to worry and just "keep an eye on it" when I do future blood work.

Not gona lie, Im still not 100% convinced that I should just let this go..
My main question is that if GFR is "normal" for most people at 100.... and mine is 78 (lets assume this is the true # regardless of hydration and other factors_, then Ive declined 22 points at the age of 26. This seems like it should be alarming and perhaps early steps should be taken, rather than waiting for it to get to some low #..... am I wrong?
Hyrul
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 10:45 pm

Re: Is Kidney Disease Certain?

Post by Hyrul »

also... as I live in Ontario, Canada, I did some minor research and found this statement:
eGFR’s of 60-89 mL/min/1.73m2 are seen in almost half of the adult (> 18 years) population of Ontario.
Further screening for CKD in this patient group is therefore not recommended, unless the patient is
already at high risk for CKD.
http://www.oaml.com/PDF/FINAL%20DRAFT%2 ... y%2012.pdf


From peoples experience, is the above true?
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