Anyone REALLY familiar with GFR/kidney tests?

     This is a personal question, not exactly related to work.  I am going in circles with at least 2 doctors now (and several unrelated specialists) who are not concerned about my lab values, but from what I have looked up, it seems they should be doing something, even if it is just explaining what is going on and why.

Since August last year, my GFR has been 55-59, and from what I've read, that means kidney damage.  I am still on indomethacin, which I believe can contribute to kidney damage.  I don't know what else could be contributing or what might make things better, or if like they say, it's "within normal limits" and "nothing to worry about".

Any input?

• Anyone REALLY familiar with GFR/kidney tests? - Renee
  • Nephrology - S/M
  • It looks like indomethacin lowers GFR. Here's a web link. Don't know anything about it but d - freebie
    • Shouldn't the doctors be concerned? - Renee

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I have just recently learned I have polycystic kidney disease (my mother died of kidney failure) and the cysts are on my right kidney, adrenal gland and on recent CT, (only two months from my first one), I have now developed cysts on my liver too. The kidney cysts are bleeding. :( I have daily right-sided aching and back pain. My right kidney is deformed and I have reflux on the right as well as kidney damage from childhood.

My whole illness started out about eight months ago as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and it was horrible with nausea, anorexia due to that, and significant weight loss. I had two Epley maneuvers that corrected the vertigo. A CT of the abdomen and pelvis was done and that is when the first cysts on the kidney were discovered which I was told were not concerning in someone in their 50s. In the meantime, I had started eliminating a couple of my Rx meds and the nausea stopped, and so I felt they were the cause of my nausea which in a sense I feel could still be true but perhaps more due to not metabolizing the meds appropriately due to kidney and/or liver problems but I do not know that yet. I do not see a urologist until 09/07 and will find out more then.

It is my understanding that this is a hereditary/genetic disorder and there is no cure and progression to kidney failure is quite high by the time you are 60 and I am 52.

I was just wondering if anyone else has this or knows someone who does and what info they may be willing to share. 

Thanks so very much. :)

He was extremely happy to be off the dialysis and looked quite a bit healthier for a span of time (kidneys do things the plastic tubing just can't), but he only lived an extra 3 years and had to take lots of antirejection meds in the meantime, was in and out of the hospital a lot.

I agree with the person who posted below about talking to a physician about the downsides. Find out exactly what quality of life most transplant recipients have and how many extra years most of them receive. This is a big decision. It will change your life and probably in ways you can't fathom yet.

Wish I could give you better answers. It's so hard to watch people we love suffer.

http://www.labcorp.com/dos/index.html

Just click on what the lab test starts with, and it gives you tons of information.

I love this one for finding docs:

http://doctor.webmd.com/physician_finder/home.aspx?sponsor=core

without your consent, if they are not considered standard and will probably have to be paid for by the patient out of pocket, unless the patient agrees to pay either up front or if the charge is denied.  At least that's been my experience! Good luck, I hate insurance companies, too!

Isn't she cute? 

Windows Media Player, have to keep hitting the play and rewind buttons with the mouse.  Very time consuming but doable.  Good Luck on your test!! 

Has anyone tested for any companies, passed their test and was never contacted after the initial email stating that you had passed their test?  I wonder why we bother to take hours out of our day to take tests and then never get contacted.  I recently took a test, which the company had informed me that I had passed.  However, two emails later I am still waiting to be contacted by them.  They keep telling me shortly.  This was two weeks ago.  Anyone else with this dilemma?

Hi!

I am looking for an opinion please. I have been taking my very first at-home test(hoping to come home and leave the politics behind). I was wondering if it would be counted against you if there was a blank in the one of the trascrption samples. My current employer prefers blanks to guesses but then again they are familiar with their employees' strenghts and weaknesses.

Any advice welcome.

deliberately give you a difficult dictator or bad-quality dictation to see what you will do.  When in doubt, leave a blank.  It's not such a big deal, as you will become familiar with the dictator/account & will have samples to go by.  I'm always curious though if I leave a blank and will ask and either say, "oh that's what it was," or "I'd have never gotten than in a million years, what in the world?."  Good luck on your test!

you cannot read them manually, i.e., the faint line after you pop the stick off the reader.  Those lines don't mean the same thing as the standard tests that shows lines for pregnant or not pregnant.  I would take another test first thing in the morning and see what the results say.

Sometimes don't you wonder if they should take this test before they begin dictating???

I just finished a long total knee arthroplasty and it sounds like this doc had a few cocktails before he began dictating.  Slurring his words and changing his mind several hundred times.  Don't ya just hate that?

Just had to vent cause I have him again.  I am ready for a cocktail or 2 myself now.

This may be helpful if you'd like a list without having to search every time, then you can look up terms for results, etc., based on the test. Scroll down to bottom, there's an alphabetized list. 

http://www.hrplatform.com/Free/FreePortal/FreeHR/Psychometrics/PsychologicalTests.doc

and doctor was amazed when he saw a blockage of the intestine.  The friend is very "eccentric" and not knowledgeable about his health, so that is all I know as of today.  When the doctor saw this blockage, he immediately called an ambulance (hospital just across the street), and he refused to go in an ambulance.  Then he drove himself to the ER at the hospital and took all papers and x-rays.  The ER was very busy with broken bones, etc., and he got tired of waiting and left, leaving his papers and everything on the desk.  He told the doctor he would come back Monday, and he said "you may not live until Monday."

Can you help with what you would think could be this problem with his intestine.  He is doing 3-day smear for blood now and to return them.  Thank you for any information you may have.  I am very worried about him.

I'm a long-time IC, but new to applying to jobs from a forum like this and am hitting the employment trail! I've applied to jobs that I see on the Job Seekers forum just by submitting my resume on the board. When I visit their own websites, they often have pre-employment tests too. Do I go ahead and take these tests or am I supposed to be "invited" to test for them, like I hear people talking about on these forums? I don't want to take the test if I'm not supposed to yet, but I figure if it's on their main website it must not be private.

Any advice for this new job hunter? Thanks.