More ↓ GFR Diet
Ask to see a renal dietitian. Inquire as to:
How much potassium are you allowed?
How much phosphorus?
How much sodium?
Your dietitian can give you this information. If inclined, try a data base for many foods such as
Church and Bowe's Food Values
or print the AAKP Nutrition Counter
or try a
web based database.
Leucine
A vegan diet without any soy, dairy, butter, that is neutral in protein, seems better for kidney health. Increasing intake of an amino acid called leucine rich foods such as garbanzo beans, chickpeas, nuts, nut butters, chia seeds helps with dialysis outcomes and raises serum albumin. For the vegan there are many foods high leucine foods. Leucine is an amino acid that is known as branched chain amino acid. This just describes its shape. Branched chain amino acids are particularly utilized by our muscles; the hypothesis is that having more of these branched chain amino acids, like leucine, helps increase muscle build up and prevent muscle breakdown. Leucine also helps increase serum albumin levels while on dialysis.
Some vegan leucine rich foods:
Beans, lentils
Garbanzo beans, chickpeas, chickpea flour
Almond or Brown Rice milk
Chia seeds
Here is a an abbreviated list of converters for the kidney patient: carbohydrate converter, a nitrogen calculator, a milligram to millequivalent converter, along with many others. Also a nutrition calculator from the USDA;. Just key in any food. Pressing enter gives the food breakdown.
Saving failing kidneys is a great article on how by changing the diet, one can forestall dialysis and transplant. Most vegetables are low in phosphorus. Here is a list of fruits and vegetables low in phosphorus and low in potassium.
Coping with Kidney Disease
A book written by Mackenzie Walser, MD called Coping with Kidney Disease has some very good suggestions when kidneys begin to fail. By following his suggestions with the help of their nephrologists, a few PKD'rs have had good results in delaying dialysis
According to Dr. Walser when serum albumin drops low, this is an indication that more fatal complications can follow. A drop in low serum albumin is partly the reason for physicians wrongly prescribing an increase in proteins during dialysis. Through his practice, Dr. Walser found the opposite to be true. By decreasing protein intake to 0.3 grams/kilogram and supplementing with essential amino acids formulated especially for kidney patients, serum albumin increased, creating better health outcomes.
If individuals dropped only their protein intake and took the essential amino acids for kidney patients Calwood Nutramine T - Amino Bites: 30% of individuals were affected positively. If they took ACE inhibitors: 40% of individuals were affected positively. But by combining both treatments, this figure jumped to a 90% decrease in proteinuria. This halted the downward progression of kidney failure. It did not reverse it, it halted it long enough for some individuals to get a donor kidney or to delay dialysis, some for perhaps eight years.
A few with PKD while experiencing a drop in GFR, have tried Dr. Walser's recommendations:
The result is some have staved off dialysis/transplant for eight years; another went straight to transplant bypassing dialysis; another gained many more years onto life and is going incredibly strong after receiving a transplant. Many of these fellow PKD'rs were told by their physicians to get their affairs in order; that the end was near. All are healthy, alive and living today! Dr. Walser's recommendations require effort to follow them but it seems to be worth the time.
Medications That Can Raise Creatinine
Even with low use of cimetidine (6/ 1494 or 0.40%), this drug was associated with elevated serum creatinine levels (™2 = 9.96, P = 0.002) among older adults.
Lithium for seizure disorders is associated with increases in serum creatinine.
Certain blood pressure lowering medications are also associated with declining creatinine levels. Check with your doctors.