My Mother's creatinine & BUN are high. (creatinine 8.5 & BUN 82)?

Question

She's so disappointed. I think she has no problems but the answer of her experiments make her so. she is in diet & she has been in a hospital for a week. the doctor says only one of her kidneys is working for 18 % healthy but i again say she has no problems i think. in my opinion all she does depends on her moral, but i can't change it. How can she decrease the Creatinine & BUN? or is it any problem? i don't trust the doctors here, that's why i'm asking. just please help me with this cause i am running crazy with the way she behaves. she is like she's going to die! :(( i couldn't change her moral, so what's the way to decrease them? is it a good diet? what kind of diet?

Answer 1

Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) and Serum Creatinine are two indicators of renal disease. The normal value for SCr is about 1.0, this can be increased in patients who are muscular and decreased in patients who are more frail. A better assessment of renal function is Creatinine Clearance. Perform the following equation with your mother's weight and age:

(140 - age) * (Weight in Kg) / (72 * 8.5)

Multiply the whole thing by 0.85 and you'll get your clearance value. (Also if you only know her weight in pounds you can divide that by 2.2 to get Kg)

Good renal function is above 50, poor renal function falls between 30-49, below that and you are looking at renal disease.

You can change her morale in saying that kidney failure is not the end of the world. A good friend of mine just recieved a kidney transplant in the similar situation and she is doing amazing. Tell your mother that science has made great strides in kidney disease and transplant in the past decades and that she stands a good chance of survival.

There is no diet that would help her reduce her creatinine and BUN, these tests don't indicate that there is too much SCr or BUN in the sense you might be thinking. These are just indicators that the kidneys are failing to filture the blood effectively.

I wish you and your mother well and I hope I've helped.

Answer 2

Ok, it's impossible for me to give you very specific information without knowing quite a bit more about your mother's condition, but that's a very high creatinine, high enough that I can't be sure that dialysis won't be necessary in the near future. In order to really know what the numbers mean though, I would have to know what's causing her renal failure, which is something that only doctors who have had a chance to talk to and examine her would be able to tell you.
It is not the case, however, that she has no problem, those are fairly scary numbers that merit a serious workup to find out what's causing them, it's unlikely that this is just something small that will clear up if she changes her diet. On the other hand, if that's really the only thing wrong, then the worst case scenario is dialysis (temporary or long term) and not death.
Sorry I can't give you better information, but I would advise you to talk to her doctors, only people with access to her medical information are going to be able to tell you what's going on with her.

Answer 3

when BUN levels and creatinine levels increase it indicates a renal problem.
but confirm it by doing other set of investigations like serum K+,
or a USG scan of kidneys or any isotopic scan of kidneys. ok
dont worry... u r mother will be fine soon. just confirm that she has no serious problem that may land her up in a dialysis room.
bye dr. thiru

Answer 4

Your mother has one healthy kidney working at 18% and you believe she has no problems.

why would a doctor lie to your mother about her kidney function?

Help her stay on her diet and hopefully she'll be around long enough for you to realize that your mother deserves flowers while she is still alive to enjoy them.