EverybodyPees - from the NKF

[ewintr44]

I just got an email from the National Kidney Foundation about their new "successful" campaign for Kidney Disease and it made me laugh (sarcastically) and made me angry!!!
https://www.kidney.org/everybodypees


It touts the fact that a simple urine test done by your doctor can detect early signs of Kidney disease. Well maybe they need to be telling doctors this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have diabetes, high blood pressure, family history of diabetes (which I found out after I was diagnosed), I'm overweight, and have other HIGH RISK factors that "SHOULD" prompt a doctor to say, "Let's keep an eye out for possible complications like Kidney Disease, etc." Over the last 30 years or so, I have seen family doctors, gastroenterologists, gastro surgeon, bariatric surgeon, cardiologists, Nephrologists, Diabetic Nutritionists and more.......and I've had tons of blood work, MRIs, Scans of all sorts, etc. and guess what...."""""NOT ONE""", """"NOT ONE"""" of them EVER even mentioned doing a urine test. NEVER!!!!!!

Could my CKD have been caught long before I reached the point I was at when I finally became so sick that I had blood work done and got diagnosed with CKD??? """"YES"""

Is it my fault that it wasn't found early? """NO""""!!!! But guess who's paying the price.......me (us).

[stumpr54]

Hello ewintr44,

The only potential kidney function issue that will be detected by a urine test is the presence of protein. I've been a PKD patient since 2002 and an HHD patient since 1202. My CKD was not detected via a urine test but by a blood test for renal function - GFR, BUN and creatinine. These are the first values to be affected by a decline in kidney function. Creatinine above 1.7, GFR below 60 and BUN above 10 or 20. Any one of the values out of range is an indication of the loss of kidney function and likely CKD.

It took 10 years for my values to decline to point of Stage V Renal Failure and the need for dialysis. I had plenty of time to decide on dialysis modality of choice, get listed with two transplant programs, get an AVF placed, and otherwise ready my home for home hemodialysis. During this time I was under the care of a nephrologist (still see him every month at my HHD clinics). I got the referral to see him in 2002 when my PCP noted the loss of renal function with an elevated creatinine. The PKD diagnosis was confirmed with a CT Scan of my cyst laden kidneys.

Let me add insult to injury by noting that I never got sick, didn't miss work, wasn't hospitalized and have continued to maintain an active work and play life through it all. Sadly, that seems to be the exception, and not the rule with sufferers of CKD. It seems unconscionable that your condition could have progressed to the point it had with regular medical profession contact.

[dac0214]

FWIW, in all those years you were diabetic, overweight, etc., on the blood tests you took, did they ever check BUN and/or creatine levels? If yes, then they have already done a better test than any urine test could ever do. I am assuming that this urine test was designed as a quick, cheap, non-invasive way to check for kidney disease in non-likely candidates. Being overweight and diabetic, you were a VERY likely candidate for kidney disease.

[ewintr44]

Hi dac, as incredible as it sounds the answer to your question is 'no'. I never had a BUN test, and never even heard of such a thing until I got sick last Fall and was then diagnosed with CKD after my family dr. did a whole battery of blood work to see if she could find out why I was so sick. The only blood work I'd had done up till then was the A1c (AC1?) and it was always within range because of medicine and diet. They always said my diabetes was well-controlled.

I've lived in several states during those years and saw numerous doctors in different cities so it wasn't a case of just a local doctor missing it.

The thing about all of this is that I wonder how many people are like me and it is so sad when such a simple thing as a urine test DONE BY DOCTORS to check on high-risk patients could add years to lives. People should be able to rely on their doctors to know what is right, and not have to find out what is right themselves and then ask the doctors to do it. And there have been a few times when I have asked a doctor to check something and was told 'no' because they didn't think it was necessary enough that insurance would cover it.

People are dying and dying too early because doctors don't do a simple pee test.

[dac0214]

Just about ANY regular 'blood panel' includes the GFR (Globular Filtration Rate), and this number is often what determines what stage of kidney failure you may be in. If you had a GFR of lower than 30, your PCP should've had you contacting a nephrologist. A GFR lower than 20 would put you into stage 4, and regular visits to a nephrologist would be almost automatic. Go through your old blood work sheets, and take a look. If you had GFR numbers worse than this and your PCP did nothing, then he was negligent.