Bad news: Stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease

7/12/2017 Syl 1 Comments

This morning I felt horrible. I could hardly move around. I was dizzy, my muscles were very weak, there was some dull headache, brainfog,and a lot more was wrong.
My blood pressure was OK, heart rate slightly higher than usual, and the saturation was changing from 94 to 98% and back.
Reviewing everything I expected the problems due to the kidney insufficiency

I always had good kidneys until I started to experience the effects of the heart medication. Maybe by that time the consequences of the heartfailure on my kidneys became apparent, and the nefrotoxic effects of the medication were just building upon it.

Gradually my kidneys became worse, and I wondered if I was suffering from kidney insufficiency. The cardiologist told me I shouldn't worry. It was normal to have some diminished kidney function.
I didn't believe him. Certainly not after I saw a cyst in one of the kidneys, during some routine echo. The man doing the examination said I'd seen it right and suggested that with all the cysts that had been discovered before: ovarium, liver, lungs I might suffer from LAM, but it was ignored by the other doctors.

My own family doctor was willing to keep a close look on my kidneys and after a while agreed something was wrong. He consulted a nephrologist again (another one had said the lower kidneyfunction was due to the hot weather) and this one said that reviewing all the data made her draw the conclusion I had kidney insufficiency already during 3 years. (Still then the cardiologist wouldn't believe it.)

Often I asked for a change of heart medication, but the answer was always 'no'.

Yesterday I went to hospital to get bloodwork done. The physician's assistant filled in the form with quite some tests, yet I wanted her to add kidney- and liver function, and later added a urine test myself.
Good decision.

Already today my doc contacted me to tell me he was very worried about the new results. Kidney function had deteriorated tremendously to eGFR 24/25, which mean stage 4 (out of 5) of Chronic Kidney Disease. It's called pre-dialysis stage here. So not even an hour later he had referred me to the nephrologist

I don't know what's going to happen, but I hope a good review of my medication. I informed my cardiology nurse and told her I wouldn't mind a stay in hospital to get a medication review.

Now I have to wait.



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