Pre-diabetic/potential Kidney Issues?

[victry77]

Hello there, hoping for any educated opinions/advice I'm Type 1 but am asking this on behalf of my mum;
- 62yrs old, quit smoking 2yrs ago.
- Relatively active but about 1-2 stone overweight (the gain being around the stomach).
- No pre-existing health conditions.
- Has always had higher than normal cholesterol.
- no dx as diabetic

Over the past few months she had developed the following symptoms;
- Reduced urine output with decreased urge to urinate.
- Sudden complete aversion to meat.
- Slight intermittent puffiness to face and fingers.
- Increase in blood pressure. She had always had BP in the very low end of the normal range. She was tested last year and told the increase was due to giving up smoking and weight gain. Her BP had not been tested since.

I was concerned there could have been an issue with her kidneys. I used one one my protein stick to test her urine and it showed up as a fairly high amount present. Tested her BG fasting (6.2) and 3hrs after food (8.4).

She saw her GP. He tested a sample and said there was quite a significant amount of protein. He ordered blood tests and sent sample to lab. He failed to do BP, though.

The subsequent 3 weeks was a right saga with the surgery messing her about no end. It appears the practice nurse does just about everything and because she was on holiday nothing apparently gets done (long story). Anyway, she eventually gets a call that there is prescription ready for antibiotics as she has a long-standing UTI. No word on blood results.

So, further 2 weeks pass and finally she has an appt made with the nurse (this morning). In the meantime I recommended she should pop to the chemist to get her BP done. She did this at the weekend and it was 169/104. This is massively high for her.

So at the appt this morning was the following info;
- Dipstick test on another urine sample - negative for protein.
- (HbA1c) - 43 - which has just edged into the borderline range.
- Cholesterol - 6.7 - It was 6.6 last year.
- eGFR - 52
- Anion Gap - 25 (range 10-20)
- BP - 140/90
- Creatinine was in normal range

Mum said the nurse seemed pretty unconcerned about everything, said she didn't even need to see her and should have just gone to the HCA at the surgery and that her BP wasn't anything to worry about! Then just gave her a form to get kidneys/Lipids/A1c checked again in another 3 months.

I'm just concerned at what impact this would be having on her kidneys. She was given zero advice about anything. Any opinions are more than welcome on these results. Should my mum go and see another GP in the surgery who might be more helpful or is it reasonable to leave things for another three months?

Thank you.

 

[xfieldok]

I can only comment on BP. If you are concerned, get her a meter she can use at home. You can get them from Amazon or your local supermarket pharmacy.

Mine is always higher at the surgery after the walk there, and a touch of white coat.

Sometimes my DN asks me to record twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon for 6 days.

No exercise or caffeine for an hour before testing. They cost around £25 or so. Not a lot for peace of mind.

 

[victry77]

Hi, yes, I tend to be a bit higher due to white coat, but I don't leap right into the high BP range. I'm always within normal range just perhaps a bit higher. It just seems for someone who always had low-normal BP she has taken a massive leap, which appears to have started from last year. I have a BP machine on order.

 

[Grant_Vicat]

Hello there, hoping for any educated opinions/advice I'm Type 1 but am asking this on behalf of my mum;
- 62yrs old, quit smoking 2yrs ago.
- Relatively active but about 1-2 stone overweight (the gain being around the stomach).
- No pre-existing health conditions.
- Has always had higher than normal cholesterol.
- no dx as diabetic

Over the past few months she had developed the following symptoms;
- Reduced urine output with decreased urge to urinate.
- Sudden complete aversion to meat.
- Slight intermittent puffiness to face and fingers.
- Increase in blood pressure. She had always had BP in the very low end of the normal range. She was tested last year and told the increase was due to giving up smoking and weight gain. Her BP had not been tested since.

I was concerned there could have been an issue with her kidneys. I used one one my protein stick to test her urine and it showed up as a fairly high amount present. Tested her BG fasting (6.2) and 3hrs after food (8.4).

She saw her GP. He tested a sample and said there was quite a significant amount of protein. He ordered blood tests and sent sample to lab. He failed to do BP, though.

The subsequent 3 weeks was a right saga with the surgery messing her about no end. It appears the practice nurse does just about everything and because she was on holiday nothing apparently gets done (long story). Anyway, she eventually gets a call that there is prescription ready for antibiotics as she has a long-standing UTI. No word on blood results.

So, further 2 weeks pass and finally she has an appt made with the nurse (this morning). In the meantime I recommended she should pop to the chemist to get her BP done. She did this at the weekend and it was 169/104. This is massively high for her.

So at the appt this morning was the following info;
- Dipstick test on another urine sample - negative for protein.
- (HbA1c) - 43 - which has just edged into the borderline range.
- Cholesterol - 6.7 - It was 6.6 last year.
- eGFR - 52
- Anion Gap - 25 (range 10-20)
- BP - 140/90
- Creatinine was in normal range

Mum said the nurse seemed pretty unconcerned about everything, said she didn't even need to see her and should have just gone to the HCA at the surgery and that her BP wasn't anything to worry about! Then just gave her a form to get kidneys/Lipids/A1c checked again in another 3 months.

I'm just concerned at what impact this would be having on her kidneys. She was given zero advice about anything. Any opinions are more than welcome on these results. Should my mum go and see another GP in the surgery who might be more helpful or is it reasonable to leave things for another three months?

Thank you.

Hi @victry77 It is very difficult to give precise advice, but as an ex Type 1 with a kidney/pancreas transplant, I can understand your concerns, particularly with the higher BP. As a general observation, the Creatinine news is good. Is your mum drinking lots of water? It is interesting that she has gone off meat - I had to cut most meat out from 2000 - 2013, when I got a donor kidney. Effectively I was told to cut out phosphates and limit protein. This meant goodbye to anything seed based such as coffee, nuts, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, and tomatoes (unless you take out all the pips). Tea (unless it is caffeine-free), milk, chocolate, ice-cream (unless water ice) etc all fall into the avoid category. Obviously it would be drastic to suddenly implement this unnecessarily, but maybe bear it in mind until you're happy with tests. Water is highly recommended. I wish you the best of luck with the outcome and must say your mum has a great carer!