Who knows but it works if you want to keep the kidneys you have as healthy as possible best to change your diet...is it going to hurt you to change your diet from fatty American diet to an uber healthy one? Also and curious why is this being downvoted ... I am telling my personal story to help those who want to make their kidneys healthier too.

Again, its not just me many, many similar success stories seen in that FB group and everywhere on the Internet for those who revolutionize their diet.

Overall not sure why some doctors aren't onboard ... but personally Im going to follow the data of 1,000 success stories vs. three doctors. Crowd data is more powerful then a few doctor's who were trained in medicine vs. nutrition.

I don't want to discourage you, but please don't take your experience as a justification to ignore medical evidence and advice.

Kidney function is most often estimated indirectly, based on measurements of the amount of a chemical called creatine in the blood. Higher functioning kidneys lower creatine levels more effectively. But lowering the amount of creatine generated by your diet, by cutting out animal products, will also lower the creatine measured in your blood. That change in measurement does not reflect an actual improvement in your kidney function, I'm sorry to say.

At lower levels of kidney function, attempting to game the numbers in this way, by minimizing the creatinine you consume and by over-consuming water, could be dangerously misleading. And it shouldn't distract from measures that do stop the decline in kidney function, like blood pressure control and avoidance of certain kidney-damaging meds (e.g. high dose ibuprofen).

Good luck!

Uhhh the numbers are what renal docs use to determine dialysis soon or now. Is that not right?

Cause what your saying above is the numbers don't matter? WHich contradicts all renal docs usage of the numbers!

Further yes my creatine is down and my eGFR is up, as well the fluid symptoms i suffered in 2019 are gone. My renal doc advocates plant based diets and has patients who has thwarted off dialysis for more then 20 years. Please tell me why I shouldn't follow all this data including from my primary care who advocates such diet change?

>Kidney function is most often estimated indirectly, based on measurements of the amount of a chemical called creatine in the blood.

That's the money shot. What he is saying is that given the assumption of a normal diet and a well functioning kidney, creatine blood level is a useful proxy for indicating kidney health.

The problem comes in that your creatine level's usefulness as a proxy for kidney health is reliant on the assumption you're eating a relatively normal diet. If you eat one low in creatine, but also have failing kidneys, the low level of creatine intake masks the kidney health indicator because the doctor will likely assume you are eating a normal diet, and not calibrate the numbers to reflect your particular situation.

It's not that the numbers don't matter; it's that you need to understand how the mechanics of the measurement can be effected by violated base assumptions. Always talk with a physician, and try to give them as much relevant information with regards to your lifestyle as you can.

Sure and each month I get labs done and review them with my renal doc. She advocates a plant based diet and has seen her clients stave off dialysis for over 20 years through diet. It took awhile to find such a doc as all others said there's no hope or nothing can be done..getting ready to decline further. Nope those docs were fired!

I wasn't trying to imply the diet approach didn't work. I was just trying to make it a little more clear how the mechanics of the measurement could lead to misunderstandings occurring in the absence of sharing details pertinent to the process of conducting the measurement.

I too have experienced what happens when you have to run the gauntlet of physicians who seem to have stopped thinking upon receipt of their medical degree as well. Hence the encouragement to coordinate with a physician. Not necessarily the one who might not be doing a great job working with you to manage your health.

What about consuming 5gram of creatine monohydrate (micronized) once a week, once in a while.

Is it safe?

I'm not a doctor just spreading the word as to what has helped me and tons of others. It may or may not work for everyone but eating healthier is something every being on the planet knows that's the best thing to do for overall good health. I can't see how it can hurt you to eat healthier, but again I'm not a doc.

I thought diet intervention is the primary treatment prior to dialysis. With the goal of prolonging the time until mechanical intervention or replacement becomes necessary. But I've never heard of diet alone taking someone off dialysis and a quick search for papers on the subject shows mostly positive associations of a reduction in protein on kidney function but nothing suggesting a magic bullet.

*edit To add, I have a couple of associates at my office approaching kidney failure. They're all on diet interventions to reduce protein and potassium. Not sure how the potassium interacts with it but I'm not a doctor either.

diet plays a huge role in kidney disease management for sure.

potassium is a big deal since it is filtered out by the kidneys and if your kidney function is lowered, dangerous levels could build up and possibly lead to a heart attack.

on the flip side you generally have to start ramping up protein intake once on dialysis.

but agreed that this isn’t straightforward and if it was so easy, people wouldn’t be on dialysis and renal dietitians would be overjoyed. it’s infuriating to read the other comments suggesting it’s all some garbage american diet.

Why is it infatuating... im just telling what has worked for me and 1,000s of others.

What harm will come from someone who is stage 3a to change their diet to uber healthy and increase water intake?

Are you a doctor?

It is everyones choice to make the best choices for themselves .. try things to see what works. I get labs monthly and review my progress/success with my renal doc. I finally found one who preaches diet change cause she has seen many patient success stories herself.

would it matter if they were a doctor? In your other comments you said that you ignored the advice of multiple doctors and took advice from a Facebook group instead.

I think they also prescribe phosphate binders I was on "Sevelamer"

I suspect this may vary in the USA depending on your insurance it was costing the NHS about £300 per bottle (about a grand for two months) - I suspect the price in the US might be a lot more