Creatinine 1.48, ESR 37, Should I be worried?

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and hope to get some advice. I'm a 51 yr old woman and was finally diagnosed with mild Crohn's Disease 6 months ago after a year of testing and seeing all kinds of specialists. My blood test results just came back with the creatinine at 1.48 and the ESR at 37. My hematologist didn't seem too concerned but he thinks I should see a nephrologist, who is booked up until February. Ever since I got really sick a year and a half ago, I've had an increased urgency and frequency to urinate, sometimes there's just pressure and not much there and other times I'm surprised how much clear urine I'm passing. A urologist checked in 2/13 for cystitis but said I had Overactive bladder and prescribed a medication that I took for 3 weeks but it made me feel sick and didn't help. I'm highly sensitive to many medications, supplements, fillers, and foods. After changing my diet to gluten-free, sugar free, no grains, no processed foods, no dairy, only organic, grassfed, pastured, wild animal products, I've improved quite a bit. However, I still have to get up 4-6 times a night to urinate. No pain on urination. I have low back pain, but also upper back pain, neck pain, and joint pain which worsens if I ingest something I am sensitive to, or don't take care of myself with sleep and exercise. The only medication I'm on right now is LDN for the Crohn's (low dose naltrexone in a hypoallergenic capsule and the only filler is sucrose). I can only drink about 32 oz of water a day because if I have more I would be going pee every 30 minutes. Here are my lab results for ESR the past 18 months:

6/12: 99,
9/12: 83,
11/12: 45,
3/13: 102,
6/13: 50,
12/13: 37

Also on the 12/13 report: BUN= 21, IRBC=240, Iron Saturation=17, Transferrin=192, RBC=4.07, MCV=100.1, MCH=33.1 (I was NOT fasting for this last test and everything else in normal range)

I don't have diabetes or any cardiovascular disease and there is no history of kidney disease in my family. When ever my doctors saw my lab results in the past they would always just say "you seem to be dehydrated", but until now there was never a concern about my kidneys. I have lost 10 lbs that I can't seem to regain, fatigue, headaches, nausea, lightheadedness, feeling cold, nerve pain in feet and hands, and itchy skin without a rash. All of these symptoms seems to fluctuate from day to day. Somedays I feel pretty good and some days I'm miserable. I looked up GFR tables and found that 37 is stage 3 kidney disease. My husband thinks I might be getting nervous over nothing. Anyone have any thoughts. I wish I didn't have to wait so long to get in to see the kidney specialist!

Thanks!

Bill,

Thank you for the warm welcome to Healing Well. I realize it's Christmas time and everyone is busy, so I don't expect to get any responses for a few days.

Happy Holidays and well wishes to all!

Thanks for your reply Bev. I finally have a chance to respond after a busy holiday season.

I ordered myself a routine urinalysis from a company called Accessa Labs. I just got the results and everything was normal. I'm still waiting for the Kidney doctor's office to call me to set up the appointment. Apparently he's booked up for at least a month so I think I'll call every few days to see if he's got a cancellation. I'm just anxious to see if this is anything to be concerned about. I assume that if it was bad I would have protein showing up in my urine, right? Does anyone know if a normal urinalysis will rule out CKD or if it's still possible to have it?

Good luck with your upcoming appointment. Besides craving salt and getting the feet/leg cramps, did you have any abnormal results for creatinine, BUN, or GFR? If so, what were they?

Take care, Ginny