eGFR #

[EnhancedFatGrappler]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss bad eGFR as being useless for bodybuilders. I would get retested, preferably with not having trained 2 days before, being well hydrated, and with a good night sleep. And also get all the other relevant blood markers. How is your BP? Are you chronically dehydrated?

And also get off all the gear.

 

[whacked]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss bad eGFR as being useless for bodybuilders. I would get retested, preferably with not having trained 2 days before, being well hydrated, and with a good night sleep. And also get all the other relevant blood markers. How is your BP? Are you chronically dehydrated?

And also get off all the gear.

I concur….

Dismiss? Foolish

Use proper context when assessing this value? Wise / prudent

 

[jaxino]

So my eGFR has been 90 goin back to 2001 where I started tracking labs, including February of this year. I got lab’s yesterday and it’s 76, which my psych doc is concerned, all I can find on You Tube is CKD stuff. I did travel Thursday-Saturday and on Friday I was working corner for a Muay Thai/MMA tournament which wound up being outdoors and oddly about 90F up until around 10 pm in the shade the venue was outdoors. Being focused on my fighter I actually got severely dehydrated to the point I almost was taken to ER but there was only one bus left and the fights woukdve stopped without one there, other people had taken them dunno if it was fighters or heat casualties. Anyway that was Friday so 48 hours prior to test but the CKD website basically says that 76 is normal still but I don’t want to have it stay there so the question is coukd it be the stressful weekend? Also apparently being heavy, heavily muscled, high protein diet can all affect this test, yes I know I should get another test and I will but just off hand have any of y’all ever had your eGFR go below 90 and was it an issue. I’m 45 and white (apparently race matters) and big obviously but all other blood kidney markers are normal. I need to get a UA with my own pee I had to use someone else’s at this test bc I lose my benefits if there’s thc in my urine. That said I feel amazing and drink 1.5-2.5 gallons of water a day and have no issues urinating in effort or volume. Thanks for any input gents. Again I know it’s one test just thoughts and advice.

If you are really worried about your kidneys status ask for a Cystatin C blood test.

 

[Bio]

No im guessing I should, I understand it fluctuates in bodybuilders and appreciate guys saying it mine has just never not been 90 on the nose and oddly my liver is totally normal and im taking 30 turn and 10 halo here and there, now I took none the 4 days of the fight weekend, but if my liver is even 150 I don’t sweat it but if the kidneys get hurt they don’t bounce back so I ordered himalaya kidney care and I’ll grad astragalus too.

I think you should hydrate, take two to three days off of training, and re-test. Then start the Astragalus at 6 grams split into 3 grams twice daily and stay hydrated. After a month/6 weeks, take another 2 to 3 days of not training, re-test, and see what the difference is between your original test, the second test where you're hydrated, and the third test which includes the Astragalus and being hydrated.

 

[marssel]

eGFR calculations in laboratories are false if you have above average muscle mass - because laboratories do not take body weight into account in their calculation, but you can calculate your true eGFR by knowing your creatinine and urea levels

Creatinine Clearance (Cockcroft-Gault Equation)

The Creatinine Clearance (Cockcroft-Gault Equation) predicts Creatinine Clearance from serum Creatinine.

www.mdcalc.com

So go get a piss eval from a non VA lab and math it up ? I assume someone who Pisses 2 gallons a day wouldn’t have kidney issues and if one did pissing that much woukd be hard.

 

[marssel]

If you are really worried about your kidneys status ask for a Cystatin C blood test.

I already sent the email

 

[275bills]

Wait so it was someone elses piss though?

 

[nothuman]

I guess you mean creatinine because you can calculate eGFR from cystatin C too. It's better but not super accurate either. There's many things that can screw the reading up. Bp meds, hgh use, thyroid issues, dehydration etc. My eGFR from cystatin c made 25 point jump within a two week period because of dehydration.

I agree and I've seen my own eGFR fluctuate up and down depending on the lab test so while it doesn't fluctuate to the same degree as creatinine, it still bounces around.

 

[nothuman]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss bad eGFR as being useless for bodybuilders. I would get retested, preferably with not having trained 2 days before, being well hydrated, and with a good night sleep. And also get all the other relevant blood markers. How is your BP? Are you chronically dehydrated?

And also get off all the gear.

Definitely not useless. Just needs to be retested with Cystatin C before making any dramatic changes out of panic (unless it's really low)

 

[SouthernMuscle]

Wait so it was someone elses piss though?

Irrelevant apparently

 

[275bills]

Irrelevant apparently

Im not a doctor but im pretty sure it would matter ? Lol

 

[SouthernMuscle]

Im not a doctor but im pretty sure it would matter ? Lol

the craziest part is that they all read it. They all see our posts. They know exactly what’s going on but still choose to ignore so they can give advice thats been given a thousand times already

i mean , idc . Human behavioral science is interesting to me.

 

[Doitagain]

the craziest part is that they all read it. They all see our posts. They know exactly what’s going on but still choose to ignore so they can give advice thats been given a thousand times already

i mean , idc . Human behavioral science is interesting to me.

More scary than interesting.

 

[Black Beard]

As Luki and others stated, GFR is going to be lower when you carry higher average levels than muscle mass. This is one reason they used to have the "african" GFR reading.

GFR is calculated by looking at metabolites of skeletal muscle like creatinine and nitrogenous waste. Carry more muscle and higher protein/creatine intake and lifting = more metabolites = lower calculator GFR.


Understand that 90% of kidney disease/failure/true low GFR is caused by 1. Decades of uncontrolled high blood pressure 2. Decades of uncontrolled blood sugar.


It is very rare for kidney failure to because by something than those two things i just mentioned. Keep your BP no higher than 130/80 mmhg ideally at rest. +140/90 mmhg in the long run can damage the kidney filtration system, especially in those with genetic susceptibility.

This elevated BP can also damage the retinal cells (vision loss), heart and circulatory system. Most AAS users or abusers are going to get damage by from high BP. AAS can be directly toxic to the vascular/cardiovascular system but the BP is a major killer.

 

[275bills]

As Luki and others stated, GFR is going to be lower when you carry higher average levels than muscle mass. This is one reason they used to have the "african" GFR reading.

GFR is calculated by looking at metabolites of skeletal muscle like creatinine and nitrogenous waste. Carry more muscle and higher protein/creatine intake and lifting = more metabolites = lower calculator GFR.


Understand that 90% of kidney disease/failure/true low GFR is caused by 1. Decades of uncontrolled high blood pressure 2. Decades of uncontrolled blood sugar.


It is very rare for kidney failure to because by something than those two things i just mentioned. Keep your BP no higher than 130/80 mmhg ideally at rest. +140/90 mmhg in the long run can damage the kidney filtration system, especially in those with genetic susceptibility.

This elevated BP can also damage the retinal cells (vision loss), heart and circulatory system. Most AAS users or abusers are going to get damage by from high BP. AAS can be directly toxic to the vascular/cardiovascular system but the BP is a major killer.

How about if he used someone else’s urine ?

 

[whacked]

I.

Cystatin C Test Levels, Normal Range + How to Lower it - SelfDecode Labs

High cystatin C can point to kidney problems. Read on to uncover how it can impact your health.

labs.selfdecode.com

Cystatin C Test Levels, Normal Range + How to Lower it​

Medically reviewed by
Ognjen Milicevic, MD, PhD, Puya Yazdi, MD | Written by Lillian Wilenberg, PharmD | Last updated: January 15, 2021

Cystatin C is important for monitoring kidney function, but is there more to this marker? Read on to uncover how cystatin C can impact your health.

What is Cystatin C?​

Cystatin C is a protein that inhibits the breakdown of other proteins. It is produced by most cells in the body and can be found in all bodily fluids [1, 2, 3].

This protein plays a variety of roles: it’s involved in growth, bone metabolism, and studies suggest it protects the brain against injury and some neurodegenerative diseases [4, 5].

Cystatin C is almost completely broken down in the kidneys (>99%). In healthy people, both the production and the breakdown of this protein happen at a relatively constant rate. But if your kidneys are not working properly, cystatin C builds up in the blood [6, 7, 8]. That is why this molecule can tell us how well our kidneys are working.

Because kidney function is tightly interwoven with the function of other organs in the body, studies suggest that higher cystatin may also predict a higher risk of heart disease, cognitive dysfunction, and all-cause mortality [9, 10, 11].

On the other hand, researchers found that lower levels may be associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s and aneurysms [4, 12, 13].

 

[whacked]

II.

Cystatin C Test​

Normal Range​

The normal range of cystatin C is around 0.62 – 1.15 mg/L. Values can vary between laboratories. Generally, higher cystatin C levels point to poor kidney function [7].

Advantages and Disadvantages over Creatinine​

Pros​

Cystatin C can be used as a replacement for blood creatinine for the assessment of kidney function.

It has several advantages over creatinine:

• Its levels don’t depend on muscle mass, physical activity, or protein intake. That’s why it can be used in people who lost muscle mass, such as the elderly and people with chronic disease (e.g. heart failure, liver cirrhosis, and AIDS) [6, 14, 9, 15].
• It can detect mild decreases in kidney function, known as “preclinical kidney dysfunction”. Creatinine, on the other hand, doesn’t increase until 50% of kidney function is lost [14, 15, 16].
• It rises faster than creatinine, and therefore it can detect kidney injury faster [7, 6, 17]

Cons​

Studies have found that there are factors that can affect cystatin C level regardless of the kidney function:

• Inflammation [13, 18]
• Thyroid issues (either low or high levels of thyroid hormones) [4]
• Corticosteroid medication [4, 19, 18]
• Cancer [6, 4, 20, 21, 22]
• Chemotherapy [23]
• Aging [24, 4]

 

[whacked]

III.

Other Tests Your Doctor May Order​

Most people with chronic kidney disease can be diagnosed with two tests: a urine test to check for protein and a blood test (serum creatinine and or cystatin C) to estimate GFR [25].

Because neither cystatin C nor creatinine is perfect, sometimes they are both combined to access kidney function. Cystatin C is often used with creatinine to estimate GFR [9, 26].


Blood urea nitrogen (BUN), a breakdown product of protein metabolism, is also used to measure how well the kidneys are working [27].

High Cystatin C​

Higher than normal cystatin C levels mean that kidney function is likely reduced. Your doctor will interpret this test, taking into account your medical history, symptoms, and other tests.

Causes​

Causes shown below are commonly associated with high cystatin C. Work with your doctor or another health care professional to get an accurate diagnosis.

The most common cause of high cystatin C levels is impaired kidney function, which can happen in various diseases, or a result of drugs such as chemotherapeutics [14, 15, 28].

Other factors that can slightly increase cystatin C include:

• Chronic inflammation (in conditions such as lupus, liver disease, obstructive sleep apnea, lung disease, Parkinson’s, and HIV) [29, 30, 9, 15, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39]
• Obesity [40, 15]
• Physical inactivity and prolonged bed rest [41]
• Smoking [9, 42, 43]
• Alcohol [9]
• Hyperthyroidism [44, 45, 46, 47]
• Growth hormone excess (acromegaly) [48]
• Some types of cancer (e.g. multiple myeloma) [49, 6, 4, 20, 21, 22]
• Medication such as corticosteroids, fenofibrate (but not other fibrates), and chemotherapeutics [15, 4, 19, 18, 50, 23]
• Third trimester in pregnancy and twin pregnancies overall [51, 52]
• Genetics [53]
• Aging [15, 43]

 

[whacked]

IV
High Cystatin C in Disease
Studies have found an association between higher cystatin C levels and:

• High blood pressure [15, 14]
• Metabolic syndrome [54, 55]
• Pre-diabetes and diabetes [15, 56, 57]
• Hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) [13, 58, 59, 60]
• Heart disease [9, 14, 61, 62, 63]
• A decline in cognitive function, dementia, and Alzheimer’s [4, 12, 64]
• Depression [65, 66]
• Frailty, worse exercise capacity and reduced mobility [67, 68, 69]
• Lower bone mineral density, osteoporosis, and fractures [15, 70, 71, 72, 73]
• Preeclampsia in pregnancy [51]
• All-cause and heart disease-associated mortality [69, 74, 75, 76, 10, 11, 61, 77, 78, 63]

Keep in mind, these studies have looked at association, not causation. Higher cystatin C levels are likely not causing any of these conditions. Instead, it’s possible that underlying conditions such as chronic inflammation or impaired kidney function increase cystatin C and also play a role in the conditions listed above.

Lowering Cystatin C​

The most important thing is to work with your doctor to find out what’s causing your high cystatin C and to treat any underlying conditions, such as kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV, or cancer. Studies have shown that cystatin C decreases with appropriate therapy [79, 49, 80, 30].

Additional lifestyle changes listed below are other things you may want to discuss with your doctor. None of these strategies should ever be done in place of what your doctor recommends or prescribes!

 

[whacked]

V

Diet​

If you have kidney issues, eat a kidney-healthy diet (renal diet), high in fruits and vegetables, and lower in protein and potassium which kidneys have a harder time processing [81].

Additionally, the National Kidney Foundation recommends the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet [81].

Mediterranean diet has also been linked to lower cystatin C levels [82]. It may be a suitable choice for those with only mildly impaired kidney function. Discuss it with your doctor.

Lifestyle​

Exercise helps improve kidney function, especially light physical activity on a regular basis. Studies have shown that seniors with stronger muscles have better kidney function [83, 84].

Lose weight if overweight. It may help bring down your cystatin C levels [85].

Smoking is associated with higher cystatin C levels. Quitting may help lower your levels, while supporting your overall health [85].

Both diabetes and high blood pressure can strain the kidneys. Thus, take steps to keep your blood sugar and blood pressure under control. Monitor your blood pressure and sugar levels regularly to prevent sudden spikes in either one [86, 87].

Finally, your mindset matters. An interesting study has found that feeling older than you are can increase your cystatin C levels (along with other adverse health outcomes). Staying mentally, physically, and socially active can help you feel younger and age better [88, 89, 90, 91].