I went and got a physical and blood work. GFR value was 52. Went back and got it retested same thing. Doc says I have stage 3 kidney disease.
Background
53 years old.
Long time runner.
Not a drinker.
In college raced at 150 lbs, now weigh 170. I am 6'1", heavier then college but I am not obese.
Both parents late 80s and healthy - no family history of kidney disease.
Blood pressure has always been low, resting heart rate high 40s.
I am somewhat freaked out about this. Anyone have any experience?
Is there any connection between kindney disease and being a long time runner? Just got test results back how can this be?
Masters Running
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Runners can have abnormal blood or urine results based on recent efforts. Get re-tested after a few days of very easy or no runs and decent hydration.
Do you use advil etc. to excess? -
Do you have any thyroid issues? I have Hashimoto's and the more hypo I am, the worse the kidney results. I'm waiting on latest lab results myself (just took 'em yesterday), after a raise in my thyroid meds 6 weeks ago. But yeah, I'm 57 and my last eGFR was 54. Pretty sure it'll be substantially improved thanks to the meds increase.
This paper explains the transitory connection of thyroid/kidney. https://jasn.asnjournals.org/content/23/1/22.full -
Also, the next step would be to see a nephrologist and get tested - as the above poster said, it's common for runners to have some variation on eGFR/creatinine, but proper testing will let you know if it's "real" and needs attention. My endo has advised me that if my levels aren't improved (I'll find out Friday), then I should make an appt with a nephrologist.
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ThinandAlone wrote:
I went and got a physical and blood work.
That was your big mistake.
GFR value was 52. Went back and got it retested same thing. Doc says I have stage 3 kidney disease.
Tell him to shove it. Walk out and don't go back.
Blood pressure has always been low, resting heart rate high 40s.
Same for me, and I've outlived all the idiot doctors who told me I'd be dead in a few weeks 40 years ago.
I am somewhat freaked out about this. Anyone have any experience?
Yes. Tell him to shove it. Walk out, and don't go back.
Keep doing your own thing and be healthy. -
Er, what!? 53 *is* technically stage 3 kidney disease, not the doctor's fault. https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/gfr
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ThinandAlone wrote:
I went and got a physical and blood work. GFR value was 52. Went back and got it retested same thing. Doc says I have stage 3 kidney disease.
Background
53 years old.
Long time runner.
Not a drinker.
In college raced at 150 lbs, now weigh 170. I am 6'1", heavier then college but I am not obese.
Both parents late 80s and healthy - no family history of kidney disease.
Blood pressure has always been low, resting heart rate high 40s.
I am somewhat freaked out about this. Anyone have any experience?
Health can be an odd thing. A good friend has stage 4 lung cancer. Exercised, never smoked, did not work around smoke, ate well and did "everything" healthy. Sometimes stuff just goes wrong. -
I have lots of experience, and I know the feeling of being a longterm runner in his early- to mid-fifties who is "somewhat freaked out" by glomerular filtration rate (GFR) measurements indicating stage 3 chronic kidney disease.
I can't spend much time on this answer right now, but I want to point out that, in all likelihood, your GFR numbers were probably obtained by a fairly simple test that measures creatinine concentrations in the blood. It's a useful test, cheap and easy, but it provides only an estimate of GFR ("eGFR") that can be affected by many factors, including dehydration, muscle mass, and physical activity. The gold standard for measuring GFR uses an exogenous filtration marker to directly measure rate of clearance through blood or urine over a period of hours, and that test may provide very different (and more accurate) figures for your glomerular filtration rate. At some point, it may be worthwhile to arrange for such a test, especially if your eGFR measures are showing a fairly rapid decline.
If you're at all like me, you'll start reading everything you can get your hands on. But don't get too carried away by any particular articles or studies; it's a big subject. You may find it useful to check out what some of the more reputable medical facilities (such as the Mayo Clinic) or organizations (such as the National Kidney Foundation) have to say. -
Start drinking!
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Doctors are idiots `' wrote:
ThinandAlone wrote:
I went and got a physical and blood work.
That was your big mistake.
GFR value was 52. Went back and got it retested same thing. Doc says I have stage 3 kidney disease.
Tell him to shove it. Walk out and don't go back.
Blood pressure has always been low, resting heart rate high 40s.
Same for me, and I've outlived all the idiot doctors who told me I'd be dead in a few weeks 40 years ago.
I am somewhat freaked out about this. Anyone have any experience?
Yes. Tell him to shove it. Walk out, and don't go back.
Keep doing your own thing and be healthy.
Go F yourself JR. -
adf wrote:
Er, what!? 53 *is* technically stage 3 kidney disease, not the doctor's fault.
53 is mildly to moderately decreased, which is just a slight decrease, and is NOT a disease.
Plus as has been pointed out, the test was very likely not all that accurate. -
Lol, do you think I made that up? Idiot. http://www.kidneyfund.org/kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease-ckd/stages-of-chronic-kidney-disease/#stage-3-ckd
Wrong. wrote:
adf wrote:
Er, what!? 53 *is* technically stage 3 kidney disease, not the doctor's fault.
53 is mildly to moderately decreased, which is just a slight decrease, and is NOT a disease.
Plus as has been pointed out, the test was very likely not all that accurate. -
Here ya go, honey, sounds like you're a little too confused to follow a link:
Stage 3 CKD
Stage 3 kidney disease is an eGFR between 30 and 59.
Stage 3 kidney disease means the kidneys are moderately damaged and are not working as well as they should. Stage 3 kidney disease is separated into two stages; Stage 3a and Stage 3b. Stage 3a is an eGFR between 45 and 59. Stage 3b is an eGFR between 30 and 44.
Many people with Stage 3 kidney disease do not have any symptoms. But if there are symptoms, some of the more common ones are:
Swelling in the hands and feet
Back pain
Urinating more or less than normal
By Stage 3 kidney disease, you are more likely to have health complications as a result of waste building up in your body. Common complications from kidney disease are high blood pressure, anemia, and bone disease.
To keep your kidney disease from getting worse, follow the same steps for living a healthy lifestyle as in Stages 1 and 2. There are other things you can do in Stage 3 to keep your kidney disease from getting worse:
Visit a nephrologist to make a treatment plan that is right for you. Your nephrologist will tell you how often you will need to have your kidneys checked.
Meet with a dietitian, who will help you follow a diet that will keep you healthy.
If you have diabetes or high blood pressure, ask your doctor about special kinds of blood pressure medicines called ACE inhibitors and ARBs. Sometimes these medicines can help keep kidney disease from getting worse. -
If you are in California Vote YES on Proposition 8.
The California corporations running these dialysis units are
in collusion with certain nephrology groups.
Go to a cardiologist and get your blood pressure managed,
like I said, the nephrology groups in California are colluding
with the dialysis groups to cheat kidney patients insurers.
One smoking gun --- if you are a registered nurse in
the state of California? Go into or talk to one the LBN or RNs
who are dialysis nurses in these corporate units.
Look for yourselves. Ready ----
a. The majority of m i n o r i t y (minority) dialysis patients
are given cheap thinner membrane disposable dialyzer filters, and their
white/anglo counterparts are given larger filters?
Dirty dialysis units, it's an assembly line basically ripping off the system,
Why is this?
California voters VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 8.
The 'no' campaign ads are deceptions, because hospitals will
not lose out, most don't have dialysis units.
To the OP, get a second opinion from a Cardiologist, who does
keep track of the veins that connect to kidneys.
Good luck -
This has been alluded to above when discussing the downfalls of creatinine testing for eGFR, but this test assumes that everyone your age/gender has roughly the same amount of muscle mass and is breaking it down at the same rate.
If your working out prior to these tests, you will have broken down more muscle (which equals more creatinine) and falsely elevate how much Cr is your blood (making it look like your kidneys are doing a poor job).
Here is a figure from after an ultramarathon. Notice the large number of elevated creatinines, which isn't atypical given the level of effort.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4900946/bin/nihms732965f1.jpg
As mentioned above, get a 24h urine excretion test (which will let you know how your kidneys are actually doing) before getting too worked up. -
I would definitely look into this further before you get too worried or make any life-changes.
Runners often have some weird blood values. As an example, my father's doc was very concerned about his kidney function a while back. Then my dad took a few days off from running, drank plenty of water, and got retested. His levels were normal.
Definitely something to keep an eye on in case there is a problem, but I'd want to talk with an expert who has experience with athletes before I did anything drastic. -
Get yourself retested several times. Can't make a diagnosis based on a single blood study.
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It depends how much you run. If you are doing 5ks, you should be fine. If you are doing marathons and ultras, they can do significant damage. Additionally if you live in a hot climate, you would be more prone to kidney damage. The main thing is dehydration.
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notanephrologist wrote:
Runners often have some weird blood values. As an example, my father's doc was very concerned about his kidney function a while back. Then my dad took a few days off from running, drank plenty of water, and got retested. His levels were normal.
Make sure you're drinking plenty of water. What I do sometimes is cut the top off a gallon juice container, set it on the toilet, and pee into that for 24 hour periods. This way you can measure how much you're peeing, and can visually see how concentrated it is. You could measure for more accuracy, but the point is see what you're doing so you can make adjustments.
This should NOT be a major issue, but simply one that you need to address personally.
Be sure you're drinking enough water, eating a good diet and so on.
I agree to stay away from medical places, as they don't care and don't know about helping you to be healthy.
You're much better off to simply take care of this on your own. -
No, don't ignore it or tell the guy to shove it or drink more water or whatever
if you want to know with certainty whether you have chronic kidney disease or not you need to do two simple things:
1. Ask for a renal ultrasound. If this is NORMAL meaning 100% it is exceedingly unlikely you have any renal diseae
2. Ask for a 24 hour urine for creatinine clearance. Make sure this is done exactly to the specifications---don't miss a drop and if you do start the collection over. This will give you a number that expresses your kidney function as creatinine clearance which is a surrogate for GFR and corrects for issues related to muscle mass or creatinine turnover etc.
My prediction is the above will come back normal and you can rest easy at night
