Well, last week I went to my former primary care physician and because I haven't had the standard blood tests in a long time from him (and even though on January 18 I'm going to Cornell and have all these same blood tests, ekg, EVERYTHING done for my two year checkup, we still did the blood test thing.

Got the results in the mail today.

The only things that kicked out of range are as follows:

UREA NITROGEN 28 Range is 7 - 25 mg/dL
FYI, my creatinine was 1.0 which seems to be in range.

BUN/CREATININE RATIO........ 28.0 Range is 6.0 - 25.0

URIC ACID .........7.7 Range is 1.7 - 7.5 mg d/L

Oh, my total cholesterol is 161, HDL IS 48, LDL is 93,
CHOLESTEROL/HDL RATIO IS 3.4

Triglycerides were 98

HEMOBLOBIN A1C was 6.8 (used to be 9.0 when I first went to Cornell)

So all in all, everything is okay EXCEPT FOR THIS UREA, NITROGEN AND URIC ACID THING..
I looked this up on the internet and it says many things can contribute to kidney disease (which I don't, as far as I know have). I urinate quite fine, thank you very much. This means I have protein in my kidneys right?
I do have diabetes for 18 years. I don't eat any red meat (said somethint about GOUT in the article)., never been diagnosed with that.

Also, in all three things which I had out of range it said that thiazide can contribute to a high reading. Other meds can do the same.

Now I am on Zestoretic 20/25 (for over a year now). This is a high blood pressure pill combined with a water pill right?

So why do I have a high count in these three things?

Tomorrow I'm taking him to see Dr. Fred about his foot so if the guy has time (He's going to be my new primary care physician), I'll just show him this and say "do you want me to make an appointment sooner than later or do we wait for the full workup at Cornell"? KNowing him (because I already told him about Cornell, he'll say, "do the Cornell thing and then we'll see the results".

My question is "From these results, am I getting kidney disease,? (I eat and drink water appropriately), I exercise (not to excess) I don't eat red meat) so can it be that because I have diabetes for 18 years, this is what happens? I basically live on fish and grilled chicken. I once in a while (like last night and last week) had scallops and shrimps, but mainly I like salmon.
I'll keep on drinking water, that much I can do!!!

Thanks for any answers.

Melody

I really am not certain, but a long time ago on one of my routine blood tests my creatinine & Bun were lower than the normal lab values. But they told me that was perfectly normal in someone my age,and a sign of good healthy kidney function.

I find blood test results very confusing as it could be this, or it could be that...

I am sorry I could not be of more assistance.

My guess is you were a bit dehydrated when you had the blood drawn. Just a guess.

Thanks to both of you.
My mind was having me have all kind of kidney stuff and this and that.

I know what uric acid is. I had a old uncle who had gout and he used to eat lots of red meat. I havent eaten meat in 20 years.

I do live on Fish. I hope the doctor doesn't tell me "no more fish".

I mean, what else is there for me but grilled chicken, fish and veggies and salad. Don't mind this way of eating because I like it but if they start telling me I have to live on soy, well, I don't know.

I wonder though. Don't the people on the Atkins diet have to have uric acid because of all the protein they eat? Isn't this dangerous?

yes, but Melody, could you have been dehydrated? If you had the blood in the morning and had not drunk a good deal of water, that would be possible, for instance.

hydrochlorothiazide that is doing it.

HCTZ commonly causes gout. You can discuss with the doctor, changing
to plain zestril for a while, and see if your blood pressure stays good, and
the uric acid readings go down.

Since you are doing well, you may have no problems with a slight change/adjustment in the meds.

Just my opinion.

The morning I took the blood test, I had to do it on a fast.
So because I never eat after 7 p.m. in the evening., I had nothing to eat from dinner the night before to the blood test which was 9:30 the next morning. Now I probably had a glass of my totally light (think crystal lite but with splenda instead). I ususually drink that with meals.

I never, and I mean never drink just plain water.

I am used to the totally light drink.

So think about it, I went from 7 p.m. till 9:30 a.m. the next morning with nothing but maybe a glass of Totaly Light in between. That is definitely not enough liquid is it??

Never realized that.

Will tell the doctor about that.

Wish us luck today!! we find out why Alan's foot is swollen

Mel

Mrs D--Yah, I missed that Melody is on a diuretic, somehow.

Mel--between the diuretic and not drinking, that's the explanation. You gotta drink water!

enuf liquid at ALL! Fasting, usually does'nt exclude WATER. And probably encourages it tho, maybe IT only... Bet you probably got a bruise at the draw site as well? That could be the dehydration aspect. Soo, don't panic. Think of it all as well, 'concentrated' for the interim.. I'll bet that they will probably want a 'follow up' test soon. Gee, cant' imagine why!

Hugs and good things for the interim? - j

If it were lots of people would have factitious elevated BUN...uric acid.

The effects of HCTZ are because of specific actions on the kidney.
Diuretics increase absorption of urate in the kidney.
Melody's test results are not too out of range... the serum creatinine is normal. The doctor may overlook it all.