Any Suggestions on Improving Kidney Function

Hey, does anybody have any suggestions on improving kidney function? I've had a kidney removed nearly 20 years ago (car wreck) and for a while my remaining kidney had been pretty stable.

Lately, my remaining kidney's function has been progressively deteriorating. I take Norvasc and a beta blocker to treat high blood pressure and I drink a lot of water every day, but my eGFR doesn't show any improvement. Anybody got any ideas? And does anybody know how I should expect this to play out and relative timeframes?

Here is a recent history of some of my eGFR (non-African) tests I've had done by Quest:

38 mL/min/1.73m2 (Low)
Date: May 13, 2021 Reference Range:> OR = 60

46 mL/min/1.73m2 (Low)
Date: Apr 12, 2021 Reference Range:> OR = 60

42 mL/min/1.73m2 (Low)
Date: Mar 16, 2021 Reference Range:> OR = 60

49 mL/min/1.73m2 (Low)
Date: Dec 15, 2020 Reference Range:> OR = 60

58 mL/min/1.73m2 (Low)
Date: Jul 17, 2020 Reference Range:> OR = 60

61 mL/min/1.73m2
Date: Nov 01, 2019 Reference Range:> OR = 60

Fighting that battle right now. I've gone from a 38 to a 41.4 and will check again in 4 weeks.

Just for shits and grins, run a Google search for 'Dante Trudel and astragalus". I'm not fully convinced that's the reason for my improvement, but it's one heck of a coincidence. He's posted on IG and other boards about this.

Currently using Bulk Supplements astragalus powder @ 2g b.i.d. and may bump it to 4g b.i.d. Dante/Dogcrapp has posted some impressive improvements in guys with eGFR's way worse than ours.

He recommends the Vitamin Shoppe brand. Since he's a big stakeholder in True Nutrition, when recommends something that isn't his brand, I kind of take notice, so I have some Vitamin Shoppe heading my way from Amazon.

Pretty sure when the pharmacies couldn't source Atacand and I had to switch to telmisartan was the culprit. I thought it was just stress from work, but finally figured out I absolutely do not respond to telmisartan, but Atacand/candesartan does my BP right.

Just for reference, at my best, my eGFR used to be 75.9 mL/m/1.73 with a reference range being >59. On the other hand, my mother was a "brittle" diabetic and was on dialysis before she passed, so there may be some genetics involved, we'll see.

Keep me posted on your results and I'll shoot you my results in the future. and please keep an eye on your BP, H_K.

Lastly, I have had to get serious about my cardio. :(

Im doing a kidney cleanse supplement i found on amazon. It does work i think. My moms gfr went from 30-45 in two weeks. If interested pm me

Wife says eat blueberries.

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Originally Posted by Ernst

Wife says eat blueberries.

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That's a daily thing for me. A handful in a cup of plain, fat free Chobani yogurt!

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Originally Posted by almostgone

Fighting that battle right now. I've gone from a 38 to a 41.4 and will check again in 4 weeks.

Just for shits and grins, run a Google search for 'Dante Trudel and astragalus". I'm not fully convinced that's the reason for my improvement, but it's one heck of a coincidence. He's posted on IG and other boards about this.

Currently using Bulk Supplements astragalus powder @ 2g b.i.d. and may bump it to 4g b.i.d. Dante/Dogcrapp has posted some impressive improvements in guys with eGFR's way worse than ours.

He recommends the Vitamin Shoppe brand. Since he's a big stakeholder in True Nutrition, when recommends something that isn't his brand, I kind of take notice, so I have some Vitamin Shoppe heading my way from Amazon.

Pretty sure when the pharmacies couldn't source Atacand and I had to switch to telmisartan was the culprit. I thought it was just stress from work, but finally figured out I absolutely do not respond to telmisartan, but Atacand/candesartan does my BP right.

Just for reference, at my best, my eGFR used to be 75.9 mL/m/1.73 with a reference range being >59. On the other hand, my mother was a "brittle" diabetic and was on dialysis before she passed, so there may be some genetics involved, we'll see.

Keep me posted on your results and I'll shoot you my results in the future. and please keep an eye on your BP, H_K.

Lastly, I have had to get serious about my cardio. :(

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Thanks I Googled that. I'm defintiely going to try that. If I can get back up to 60 I'll be happy. I was reading that this "regenerates?" meaning that if you stop taking it after the improvement, you'll maintain it?

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Originally Posted by Cuz

Im doing a kidney cleanse supplement i found on amazon. It does work i think. My moms gfr went from 30-45 in two weeks. If interested pm me

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I sent you a PM.

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Originally Posted by Ernst

Wife says eat blueberries.

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How many is enough? I eat a lot of things like blueberry pancakes and muffins.

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Originally Posted by Honkey_Kong

Thanks I Googled that. I'm defintiely going to try that. If I can get back up to 60 I'll be happy. I was reading that this "regenerates?" meaning that if you stop taking it after the improvement, you'll maintain it?

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Dante said his clients and other guys he recommended it to maintained it after stopping usage, but he does recommend that they use it if they jump back onto anything other than TRT.

From what I've read it encourages lengthening of telomeres. I've read through a lot of studies, but here a recent one.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6755196/

That studies also mentions Centella asiatica, but it looks like chronic use of Centella asiatica is rough on the liver.

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Originally Posted by almostgone

That's a daily thing for me. A handful in a cup of plain, fat free Chobani yogurt!

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Try them frozen by themselves. I grew up eating blue berries. We had 10 blue berry bushes in our front yard and I use to pick them and sell them by the gallon. I could pick 2 gallons every 3-4 days. I still have a small bush in my front yard.

Ive used just an OTC kidney cleanse before. I dont remember the name but per the test I got it helped and of course drink plenty of water and no or less alcohol.

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Originally Posted by lovbyts

Try them frozen by themselves. I grew up eating blue berries. We had 10 blue berry bushes in our front yard and I use to pick them and sell them by the gallon. I could pick 2 gallons every 3-4 days. I still have a small bush in my front yard.

Ive used just an OTC kidney cleanse before. I dont remember the name but per the test I got it helped and of course drink plenty of water and no or less alcohol.

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I do think some OTC supps actually work, with the majority being false advertising. But once in awhile you find something useful. I think water is definitely our most abundant and helpful tool when it comes to the kidneys and overall body function

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Originally Posted by Cuz

I do think some OTC supps actually work, with the majority being false advertising. But once in awhile you find something useful. I think water is definitely our most abundant and helpful tool when it comes to the kidneys and overall body function

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I agree. I just dont remember the name. I did a lot of research before buying. I dont trust 99% of the sups out there.

I agree that water, lowering the BP, and not taking excessive steroids, medications, and unhealthy foods are some of the best things you can do for kidneys. I am not sure how an herbal supplement on its own can provide much benefit if you consider that the more shit you take, the harder the kidneys have to work. After all, they are our body’s filter.

I've started taking 2g of astragulas every day a couple days ago and I've got an appointment with my nephrologist on the 24th. So we'll see if my condition improves in that timeframe.

Please let me know H_K. I will be doing some bloodwork at the end of the month and will report my results bas well.
Currently taking 2g astragalus 2x/day.

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Originally Posted by almostgone

Please let me know H_K. I will be doing some bloodwork at the end of the month and will report my results bas well.
Currently taking 2g astragalus 2x/day.

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I think the more of us who want to get in on this and post their results the better. If astragalus works, it's bound to help more people than in just the steroid community.

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Originally Posted by Honkey_Kong

I think the more of us who want to get in on this and post their results the better. If astragalus works, it's bound to help more people than in just the steroid community.

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Guess I never really paid attention to this closely. This was my last result. Happy to start supplementing with the above and re-run this if it would be helpful to others. Not sure what my current result means though.

Pt-eGFR(Krea L-Mrev)
Resultat: 70 mL/mi/1,73m2 *
Referensintervall: >80

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Originally Posted by tarmyg

Guess I never really paid attention to this closely. This was my last result. Happy to start supplementing with the above and re-run this if it would be helpful to others. Not sure what my current result means though.

Pt-eGFR(Krea L-Mrev)
Resultat: 70 mL/mi/1,73m2 *
Referensintervall: >80

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I know this isn't as good as a double-blind study on it, but if it works, there should be real results we can get from it (even if it's small). And it's only going to cost about $20 worth of this supplement.

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Originally Posted by tarmyg

Guess I never really paid attention to this closely. This was my last result. Happy to start supplementing with the above and re-run this if it would be helpful to others. Not sure what my current result means though.

Pt-eGFR(Krea L-Mrev)
Resultat: 70 mL/mi/1,73m2
Referensintervall: >80

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Looks like your result was 70 mL/mi/1,73m2 and the reference range >80 mL/mi/1,73m2, T

^^^^FWIW, I'd love to get mine back >50

Thanks for the insight. I do remember bp affecting every other part of the body, when I had my own kidney scare early in 2021 (January 2021)...

Do you know I Facebooked messaged Flex Wheeler...and it showed "seen at ___ pm"

He is very responsive to messages and enjoys helping people.

He had a huge problem with his kidneys

I think he didn't respond, because I basically answered my own question... meat & protein are something that makes the kidneys work very hard, so did
those Animal Pak huge multi-vitamins

My own piss like I think Almost Gone said is often naturally foamy like beer suds, so I don't think I need to worry about that

Kidney function was found ok by my doc in January 2021.... nothing worth writing home about--although I don't have the exact numbers.

A hot seller is Liv . 52 an herbal supplement that is beneficial to the Liver mostly, but it claims that it helps the digestive system, too...

It's 1 of the best things India is known for and it is a huge seller on Ebay and elsewhwere

Also, one of the commentators on "The Secret" the dvd version, said the kidneys have a great ability to regenerate

I'm going to be 50 years old in December, take it that HK is 10 years younger than me

Just keep visualizing not just on doing 1 or more reps than the last work out session, but in that your kidney function numbers improve

Visualization is 1 of the miracles of life, shown in the dvd *and* the book, " the secret " and developed by the father of bodybuilding, Joe Weider, rest in Peace

So here's an update:

I saw the nephrologist yesterday. He took one look at me and told me not to pay any attention to the GFR numbers. They apply to people of normal size and normal height.

Since I have one kidney and the contrasting chemical in the CT scans is kidney toxic, he's ordered a "doppler effect" ultrasound to see the actual blood flow in to my kidney. He's also ordered a 24hr urine collection and when I deposit that at Quest to check urine total protein/creatinine ratio, they're going to also draw blood and check creatinine clearance protein total, uric acid and an ANA panel comprehensive.

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Originally Posted by Honkey_Kong

So here's an update:

I saw the nephrologist yesterday. He took one look at me and told me not to pay any attention to the GFR numbers. They apply to people of normal size and normal height.

Since I have one kidney and the contrasting chemical in the CT scans is kidney toxic, he's ordered a "doppler effect" ultrasound to see the actual blood flow in to my kidney. He's also ordered a 24hr urine collection and when I deposit that at Quest to check urine total protein/creatinine ratio, they're going to also draw blood and check creatinine clearance protein total, uric acid and an ANA panel comprehensive.

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Just dropped you a PM

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Originally Posted by almostgone

Just dropped you a PM

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Dude, I'm really starting to become a believer in Astralagus. I kind of think this should be one of the required ancillaries in everybody's cycles. There's too many people with anecdotes of improved functionality on it for there not to be something there. And it's not expensive or hard to get ahold of either.

I may have missed it but I didn’t see anyone recommend NAC (N-Acetylcysteine). It worked wonders for me and put me “normal” range for the first time in a long time.

Hopefully you’ve already figured it all out, but if not I’d add it into your vitamin routine ASAP.

My before and after labs were night and day

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Originally Posted by SampsonandDelilah

I may have missed it but I didn’t see anyone recommend NAC (N-Acetylcysteine). It worked wonders for me and put me “normal” range for the first time in a long time.

Hopefully you’ve already figured it all out, but if not I’d add it into your vitamin routine ASAP.

My before and after labs were night and day

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How much were you taking and for how long?

Hopefully, others are seeing improvements in their eGFR, BUN, and creatinine levels with astragalus.

Now that I'm back at home from the hospital and settled in, I'll probably pull a panel again in 4 weeks or so.
I got extremely spoiled in the few days I was there.

They'd pull bloods early in the morning daily and about 1030 or so I'd get a MyChart notification, login, and look at my new values, make a graph from the previous values, etc.

Bringing me fresh ice water whenever I wanted it. Scoff....fancy living!!

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Originally Posted by almostgone

Hopefully, others are seeing improvements in their eGFR, BUN, and creatinine levels with astragalus.

Now that I'm back at home from the hospital and settled in, I'll probably pull a panel again in 4 weeks or so.
I got extremely spoiled in the few days I was there.

They'd pull bloods early in the morning daily and about 1030 or so I'd get a MyChart notification, login, and look at my new values, make a graph from the previous values, etc.

Bringing me fresh ice water whenever I wanted it. Scoff....fancy living!!

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It's been a week since I did a 24hr urine collection and bloodwork and I've yet to see the results from Quest. I'm thinking about going there on tuesday and getting the results from them in person.

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Originally Posted by Honkey_Kong

It's been a week since I did a 24hr urine collection and bloodwork and I've yet to see the results from Quest. I'm thinking about going there on tuesday and getting the results from them in person.

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Please keep me in the loop, H_,K. I'm very interested in seeing your results!

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Originally Posted by Honkey_Kong

How much were you taking and for how long?

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Just one a day at 500 mg’s

Attachment 181161

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Originally Posted by SampsonandDelilah

Just one a day at 500 mg’s

Attachment 181161

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Where are you getting your NaC?

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Originally Posted by Cuz

Where are you getting your NaC?

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We have a grocery store called sprouts…it’s a poor mans Whole Foods. The vitamin lady there recommended that brand to me. My labs don’t lie! Lol

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Originally Posted by SampsonandDelilah

Just one a day at 500 mg’s

Attachment 181161

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Alright I'm gonna give that a try for a month... Thanks.

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Originally Posted by SampsonandDelilah

I may have missed it but I didn’t see anyone recommend NAC (N-Acetylcysteine). It worked wonders for me and put me “normal” range for the first time in a long time.

Hopefully you’ve already figured it all out, but if not I’d add it into your vitamin routine ASAP.

My before and after labs were night and day

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That is good to know. I use it for liver. I am on 2000 mg per day. Like I said, precontest cycle has a lot of orals.
All this good that it does and the FDA had to meddle.
I have a 1-2 years supply. LOL


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I finally got back my test results. The nephrologist didn't order an eGFR test, but he did these instead:

https://i.imgur.com/afE8aTD.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/C3kT0a2.jpg

Can anybody give me their interpretation?

It’s how much protein is in your urine.

Diet and heavy exercise can have a profound effect…I wouldn’t be so concerned. I literally just went through the same thing. I’ll post my last labs.

It’s so hard to pinpoint the culprit but your labs aren’t in the “scary” phase. Just more annoying.

Like myself I think it has to do with diet and exercise and carrying extra muscle mass that skews the tests.

Mostly what I’ve learned.

I know once I started taking the NAC at 500
Per day, they dropped Attachment 181170

After taking NAC for 6 weeks…

Attachment 181171

Attachment 181172

I’m obviously no doctor (I just spend a lot of time there lately, lol).

Definitely follow up with whatever they tell you to do.

Not knowing your weight and mass (just assuming) and the belief that you lift heavy heavy and often, I’ve learned that those factors (along with a high caloric and protein laden diet) make an impact on those markers

We are not your average humans ;)

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Originally Posted by SampsonandDelilah

After taking NAC for 6 weeks…

Attachment 181171

Attachment 181172

I’m obviously no doctor (I just spend a lot of time there lately, lol).

Definitely follow up with whatever they tell you to do.

Not knowing your weight and mass (just assuming) and the belief that you lift heavy heavy and often, I’ve learned that those factors (along with a high caloric and protein laden diet) make an impact on those markers

We are not your average humans ;)

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I've trimmed up to about 230lbs, I saw that heavy exercise can raise the protein levels in urine, but the level of 7x the max reference number.

The thing that gets me though is the total protein serum level are inside the "normal" range. I would expect that if my kidney was failing, the serum protein would be leeched to well below normal.

The nephrologist was also trying to get me to reduce my protein intake to under 100 grams per day. I can't go on that little.

I'm going to give the 500mg of NAC a go and see where it takes me.

I bought the Doctor's Best NAC from some hippy store Sprouts. It's 600mg per tablet. I took one already.

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Originally Posted by Honkey_Kong

I bought the Doctor's Best NAC from some hippy store Sprouts. It's 600mg per tablet. I took one already.

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nice I should have bought tabs. I bought 3 pounds of powder because of the FDA ban. Amazon and Whole Foods pulled NAC it so I figured places like Sprouts did too so I went online and got some. Now I am stuck with 3000 servings of powder stuff that tastes like super sour citric acid lol I thought I could mix it in with my glutamine and protein shake but I was wrong. On the plus size I learned to add a little lemon and stevia to make it taste better, and I won't run out anytime soon.