P
Peatness
Guest
I Know it's been a while since your post, been wondering if you managed to maintain kidney function since last yearHey @charlie, thanks for tagging me; reminding me to update. Life these days are filled with some pretty head spinning stuff, so you need to forgive my tardiness.
I am SOOO stoked with my results. I am not sure just how much taurine contributed as I did a few different things. Put it this way, taurine had no negative impact on kidney function.
Back in September 2019, I was devastated to learn my eGFR to be 57 ml/min/1.73m2. That's heading into stage 3 kidney failure. It says so on my medical file and referral to the endocrinologist and hospital.
It has been bugging me for some time, whether animal protein and cholesterol are beneficial or not in the case of reduced kidney function. I thought, perfect time to test the theory. My cholesterol had dropped from 5.1 to a low of 4.5. Another red flag that I was headed into dangerous territory. Albumin in September 2019 was also shockingly low at 29. @yerrag, your albumin looks healthy in comparison to mine. All I can say is, my health was in a sad and sorry state.
The following is what I changed in my diet and supplemented leading up to my January 2020 results:
6 grams of taurine
2 raw egg yolks each morning in a milk shake to replace loss of albumin. It was full-cream milk, cause I can't stick to reduced fat milk.
2 Pork sausages for breakfast to increase vitamin D
Pork sausages for lunch & dinner otherwise, beef or lamb with either grilled tomatoes or leafy green salad or non-starchy vegetables, sometimes 1/2 to two potatoes.
Hard boiled eggs with homemade mayo made with butter - no oils
Extra Vitamin D - 1000 units
Sardines for extra Vitamin D
Vitamin K2 - 180 microgram - 360 microgram. I am steadily increasing the dose.
Sunbathing for more Vitamin D
Progesterone massaged into kidney area. Sooths the inflammation beautifully
Pregnenolone 25 g
T4 50 ug
T3 nibble at each meal and bedtime
Lots of spring water to keep the kidneys and bladder flushing - no coffee and no teas
Limited amount of Aloe Vera & grape juice
Results on 21 January 2020:
eGFR 80
Total cholesterol jumped from 4.5 to 5.6 and LDL skyrocketed to >3 - obviously a hyper responder.
My normal GP was sick and I saw another Dr for these results. She said my cholesterol was good back in September and I should do what I was doing back then. My cholesterol was too high now. I informed her that I was nearly dead back in sept with stage 3 kidney failure. Obviously, the increase in raw eggs and meat consumption plus taurine made a significant improvement in my kidney function. She advised me, animal meats should be restricted to 3 x a week and the rest of the week I should consume lentils & other non-heme protein. This is precisely what I did, restricted my red meat consumption and ate more lentils, potatoes, fruit, milk and gelatin.
I use to buy 1/2 a side of beef which would last my family 6 months. After reducing my red meat consumption, I lost a significant amount of weight. I was drinking full cream milk and fruit. My TSH just kept climbing but only now, is quickly coming down, despite the increase in phosphate and tryptophan.
My file states hypothyroidism has now been resolved. Was not going to tell her that it was due to the increase in supplemental T3 - she would have had a fit. The endocrinologist told me, this is what happens sometimes - thyroid corrects itself on its own. Yeah sure, didn't happen with me. Shouldn't we be telling them the truth. I certainly am not game since my last GP sacked me. They just don't like it when you make medical decisions for yourself. I wish we could have an honest relationship, instead of being deceitful and cheating behind their back. I am trying real hard not to upset my current GP - she has been great, even though I can't tell her the truth.
12 February 2020, I saw my usual GP. she wanted me to do a urine sample to check for infection. It was impossible to produce any urine. I must have drank 4 litres of water trying to pee and not a drop. It was so stressful. Last year, the complete opposite, I was peeing constantly, making it impossible to travel. I fair dinkum bought incontinence pants, but could not bring myself to pee in them. I was so desperate for sleep, I figured I would just pee in them and not have to get up to go to the toilet. Still with those horrible diaphers, I would get up to go to the toilet every hour. Finally, after 2 hours of drinking all that water, I managed to produce a urine sample. When she tested it, she said, I'm sorry but you need to go straight to hospital. She told me my ketones were off the chart and I was experiencing ketoacidosis. Other than not being able to pee, I felt quite fine. Surely, if I was experiencing ketoacidosis I would be feeling ill. No pain in my kidneys, perfectly calm until I heard ketoacidosis and then I just broke down. I was overwhelmed with absolute terror. She told me to go straight to hospital but I had things to organise, so I didn't get to the hospital until 11pm that night - 12 hours after she told me to go. So much for a medical emergency.
I was monitored throughout the night. My blood ketones were 0.1mmol/l on arrival and got to as high as 0.4 fasting overnight. Dr explained to me that even ketones as high as 1.0mmol/l is perfectly normal. I told the dr, those ketogenic diet gurus advocate keeping ketones around 1.5 and ketoacidosis does not occur until over 10mmols. Dr then thought I was following this fad ketogenic diet. I told him not intentionally but then in hindsight I recall Stephen Phinney saying it take 6 weeks to become keto adapted. Then recently, Paul Mason stated it can take athletes > 8 months and that ketones produced while unadapted are not able to be used for fuel and quickly excreted by the kidneys.
Measuring ketones in the urine is very different to measuring ketones in serum. My GP needs to know this. So, I had increased my fat consumption, decreased my carb/sugar consumption and producing ketones which my body was not adapted to use as fuel. These ketones ended up being excreted in massive amounts in my urine. My poor dr, freaked when she tested my urine. She did the right thing though, sending me to hospital. It was a great learning experience and the hospital stay helped in other ways.
Now for the good news. In hospital my bloods were taken. Just general chemistry and kidney function, nothing fancy.
WOW, my eGFR result was >90. Could it be that easy to improve kidney function in just 5 months?
