Hi @A DiabetesTeam Member,
My liver function took a dump during the 9 weeks of radiation treatments every day, as the 4th treatment for prostate cancer, 3.5 years ago. In March I will start my 7th treatment.

It might be coincidence, but each bloodwork I've had since being diagnosed diabetic, my liver function has improved.

I believe that, even though diabetes sucks, and hereditary diabetes sucks worse.

I have received serendipities of better liver function, Increased kidney function, lower blood pressure, attention to my heart function, much lower cholesterol, extremely lower triglycerides, and dropping weight.

HDL, good cholesterol is 60. LDL, bad cholesterol is 52. Total cholesterol 126. Triglycerides went from 1500 to 117.

I also dropped 62 pounds. I think my right eating lifestyle is responsible for most of these results.

So in a roundabout way, thank you diabetes, for better health. Diabetes has given me better health and hope for the future.

I will never give up, never surrender, never ever.
Baby steps. I can do baby steps.
I got this.
Have a blessed day

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A Diabete...

@A DiabetesTeam Member

Henry, while high blood sugar can mess with eGFR, especially if you are undiagnosed (a sudden drop in eGFR IS a symptom of diabetes) but there are also other "less sinister" factors at play.

Age as I have already mentioned is a known cause tor a more gradual decrease but also a sudden change in activity levels/strenuous activities can really mess with them.

I usually work at "fairly active" level but since the new year I have been "slugging my guts out" on a reconstruction project so been really stressing some muscles that haven't been used in a couple of decades.

I used to "set up" new retail stores for the corporation I work for - 20 years ago - and while my brain still says "you can do this" my body has other ideas and I'm wearing myself out - but it's a "good worn out".

But it's also playing havoc with my creatinine levels because I'm "burning up muscle" and doing it this time around with drastically reduced carb intake which is making the (depletion) worse.

Because of that my eGFR and Creatinine (urine) levels is taking a major "whack" - eGFR has dropped 15 points "during this period" but know that it should "go back" once I get back to my more moderate workload in a few weeks.

When I was testing A1C twice a year (only once a year now) my eGFR would be 85'ish one time, 75'ish the next - back and forth between winter and summer - the change could "probably" be chalked up to slightly less hydration in the summer (maybe/probably)

Point is, there are many factors "beside" ones we really need to worry about, but eGFR is going to likely bounce around "a little" at the best of times.

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A Diabete...

Hi @A DiabetesTeam Member,
2.5 years ago my eGFR was 93, 2 years ago 86, 1.5 years ago 78. A year ago when I was diagnosed diabetic it was 88. I had already been on my ultralow carb right eating lifestyle for 2 months. Half year ago it was 90. Last week it was 92.

What conclusions do you draw.

I think that I was diabetic for almost 2.5 years. There were probably lots of glucose spikes, that slowly eroded kidney function. I have drank 150-250 ounces of water daily, for the past 12 years.

That may be more of an indication of diabetes to. Prior to that I drank 60-70 ounces of water daily.

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A Diabete...

Sorry for the late reply, but you guys summed it out great. When I was a teenager due to my JRA and the medications given to me from age 15 to 17, I do not remember my kisdney function back then, but basically the doctor was quite worried, to the point she told me I may have to start dialysis within that year. But she then stated it might be medication related, so many tests were done, even allergy testing (found out was allergic to NSAID's), so the doctors removed the NSAID's and within monthsI regained full kidney functions and dialysis was averted. That is why from that point on I was only on steroids to control the JRA for 40 yrs. Doctors did try reintroducing different NSAID's once kidneys recovered, but I reacted to all of them one by one and there were many of them, they would stop once I reacted, wait a bit then try something else. I was in doctors office every month, also had blood tests every months for the longest time. Also developed worsening GI issues I had since birth, so was very hard for doctors to treat my JRA. But I was able to work till age 55 when I finally retired. They even tried Vioxx at some point but I was having heart issues, the Vioxx was pulled off the market permanently 3 or 4 months after we stopped it.

My eGFR used to be 103 to 116 prior to diabetes and my last one was 98 July 2021, so for someone who almost ended up on dialysis at age 17, I guess that is a plus for me. Mind you I was always aware of my kidney issues, frequent UTI's, passing ketones and proteins, blood, PH imbalance, always thought I would go into kidney failure, way before I could have ever imagined becoming diabetic. But considering what my body has been battling since my teens and having been on steroids 40 yrs, maybe it should have been obvious to me that I would end up diabetic, but doctors never mentioned this to me, as for 30 yrs I had hypoglycemia despite the steroids. Also they told me in my 30's that I was at risk of Adrenal gland failure due to long term steroid usage, and when newly diagnosed diabetic my Adrenal glands were actually failing, hence the slow withdrawal of the steroids till my Adrenal glands recovered on their own, hence why not starting the Plaquenil till the day after the steroids were stopped. Been a long bumpy ride to say the least. Add in the GERD and Gastroparesis and wow what a party my body is having at times lol.

But as a dialysis nurse I also knew that diet could help improve kidney function, this up to stage 3 of kidney failure, so for some of you having kidney failure, there might be hope that diet changes for a kidney friendly diet (which is opposite of diabetic diet), you might regain some function or slow down the failure, some patient managed to push off dialysis by 20 to 30 yrs just by diet alone. Guess for me it has been almost 40 yrs since my kidney failure, but it was medication induced, so I got lucky.

Here's what it may look like on your lab report