Kidneys

[Kluso]

Is there something about gear that messes up your kidneys or is it just the high blood pressure, high protein, heavy workouts and hydration? My creatinine is elevated again. But I did just come off a blast and may still be elevated test and nandro in system when I got this done. I’m gonna ask for a cyctatin C test when I go back in 3 months but my creatinine was down to 1.08. Now it’s back up to 1.57. Gfr was 85 now back down to 55. I thought the astragalus was helping but maybe not. I know I was well hydrated this time and didn’t go to gym for a week before bloodwork. Wtf! Also I don’t have incontinance (anymore) as I use a catheter to pee and fully empty my bladder per neurogenic bladder. It’s funny cause the whole reason I started using a catheter was to protect my kidneys but ever since I started they been going downhill. Wtf! And now I can’t even pee without them. Bullshit! Lol. I’m gonna try increasing the astragalus to 6000mg ed instead of only 2000mg like I have heard others do. I’m on 80mg Telmisartan also and bp has been good.

 

[Kluso]

Only thing other than the gear is my hydration. Having to use a catheter to pee I can’t drink a lot. Only get enough for 6 a day. How many times a day do you normal people pee per day when staying well hydrated? I do fully empty my bladder and I don’t think most people do fully empty when they go. But if it’s like 12 times a day I need to figure something out. During the summer I do sweat a lot working outside. Which could be part of it. I started drinking more water about 3 days before bloodwork but the weeks before that being dehydrated may be part of it? Any thoughts on all this appreciated!

 

[beefnewton]

Isn't elevated creatinine expected, not only with Creatine supplementation, but in general for bodybuilders? You're constantly working muscle above and beyond normal, which leads to increased serum creatinine. Just a guess. I think GF talked about this not too long ago.

 

[Thrawn]

Toxicity of drug, some are alot harder on kidneys than others.

 

[Thrawn]

Isn't elevated creatinine expected, not only with Creatine supplementation, but in general for bodybuilders? You're constantly working muscle above and beyond normal, which leads to increased serum creatinine. Just a guess. I think GF talked about this not too long ago.

Creatine can definitely raise your serum creatinine levels. Here's what sucks though can it give a false indication of kidney issues? Yes. It can also make you think you don't have kidney issues when you truly do because you write it off as the creatine causing high serum levels. Kinda a catch 22

 

[Thrawn]

Only thing other than the gear is my hydration. Having to use a catheter to pee I can’t drink a lot. Only get enough for 6 a day. How many times a day do you normal people pee per day when staying well hydrated? I do fully empty my bladder and I don’t think most people do fully empty when they go. But if it’s like 12 times a day I need to figure something out. During the summer I do sweat a lot working outside. Which could be part of it. I started drinking more water about 3 days before bloodwork but the weeks before that being dehydrated may be part of it? Any thoughts on all this appreciated!

If I recall after a person pees up to 100 ml can be left over in the bladder and it beat normal. I only drink water and I drink a lot of water at least a gallon. In the absence of any supplement that could change the color of urine, I base my hydration and everyday kidney function on urine color and odor. As far as how often it depends on what I'm doing, avg 4 to 6 a day.

 

[Thrawn]

Oh if you find yourself urinating a lot at night and your prostate is fine you probably have untreated sleep apnea. When you hold your breath your body releases a hormone that causes you to pee. That can definitely cause dehydration

 

[genetic freak]

Kluso you have been through this before. I would not get ramped up about the creatinine levels being high. In fact, when you said you brought it down before to the normal range, I kind of dismissed it as abnormal. I have actually been running astragalus at 6 grams a day for the last 3 months and it hasn't done a damn thing. The only thing that lowers my creatinine is to stop taking creatine, reduce the red meat and to train like a pussy.

As far as gear messing up your kidneys. One thing you did not mention directly, blood viscosity. High RBC/HCT will have an impact on your kidneys.

For hydration. If I am not pissing every 45-60 minutes, I am not hydrated.

 

[MR. BMJ]

Yea, a cystatin-c or a creatinine clearance will all be more specific.

Having more muscle, any drugs or supps being used, dehydration, BP issues, higher protein, trained/untrained, etc can all factor into lab values for creatinine and stuff like BUN.

It's hard to say, you covered a lot of those. With those values i'd not panic unless they were consistently showing you low. The GFR can vary often with fluctuations, unless they get to a point where they are truly compromised, and then at that point, they will consistently show low values....for the most part that is.

You could try increasing the Astragalus to 4-6g per day and see if it helps, just always stay hydrated, especially if you are outside a lot and training hard on top of that.

Keep us updated on this. If you go again, try to not train again for a few days like you did this last time. Also like Thrawn stated, if you are on creatine, then it will give a higher creatinine value as well.

 

[Friggemall]

Another item people don't consider having an effect on kidneys & creatine levels is excessive D3 intake. If you are supplementing with D3 you should also be taking K2. Excessive salt can skew results too.

A couple things to remember when dealing with kidney function...Estrogen is renal protective, don’t over suppress Estradiol
Besides the astragalas you can increase nitrate rich foods (beets, spinach, arugula).
My creatine is generally high, but not as high as yours...my doc freaks out when it gets to 1.08, lol. If he only knew how much tren a I took over the years he'd say...well this is good considering.

 

[Kluso]

Thanks guys. A lot of good stuff here! First, I dropped creatine about 3 months ago so that’s not a culprit. Actually the first time my creatinine was high like, idk, 3-4 years ago now, my Dr had me drop the creatine and we retested in a month. Made no difference for me. But also my last test that was good I had not been on it for months so thought maybe we just didn’t wait long enough. There were a lot of variables last blood work that was good. Second, I don’t use an AI and last 6 weeks of last blast didn’t even have a dht in there to lower it. D3 I do supplement. One I use is Now brand and has K2 in it. Maybe my Dr had same idea because she tested my D3 and it tested at 85. Which I believe is like perfect, what u want. Now salt, yes, that has increased! My preworkout and intra both have sodium. But my bloodwork my sodium tested rather low. 135 with range being 134-144. Potassium was in 2/3 of normal range too. My cyctatinC when I did get it tested was .93 with normal range of .6 - 1.0. That was when I got the 1.08 creatinine. I’m kinda thinking maybe I was over hydrated on that good test last year. Will cyctatinC look good if over hydrated like creatinine will? Or does that take everything out of the equation that could throw off creatinine? Also I noticed on that “good” bloodwork last year my Bun was actually elevated which it hasn’t been on any other test that creatinine was high. I will be getting retested in 3 months. My Dr sent me a note thru MyChart saying “if you are taking a lot of supplements and body building treatment, stop, and retest in 2 weeks. Lmao. Bodybuilding treatment? You mean steroids? Lol. Will never admit that to her. My old Dr retired and this lady is ok but I’m looking for a primary care Dr that specializes in sports nutrition. I found one. Just need to call. But yeah, I already have an appointment for 3 month. Not going back in 2 weeks. Not gonna miss more gym again and it’s not gonna change anything. Need time for cycle to get out of my system. And I’m gonna ask for cystatinC test again. Idk. Kinda thinking that one good test last year was a fluke. Kinda depressing. Means I can’t keep doing what I have been doing. But honestly I can’t not do what I been doing. I’ll start using again. I know it. But no way I’m gonna live on dialysis one day either. Sucks!

 

[genetic freak]

I do not know on the hydration and cystatin C, but I have never done labs dehydrated. Why would anyone?

As far as waiting long enough after coming off the creatine, you waited long enough. It only takes a week of coming off creatine for my creatinine to drop considerably, like from 1.7 to 1.4. I still won't get back to normal, but it appeases the doctors. Now I just stop two weeks out from labs.