Putting out lots of urine, but creatinine still too high

[mcmkids]

Hey Everyone! I had a question. I know that coming off of dialysis is usually not an option without a transplant, but my husband's situation is kind of wierd. He went into kidney failure due to dehydration. (his kidneys were already weak from high doses of chemo when he got a nasty GI infection and became severely dehydrated). The docs have always maintained that hey felt that he would recover, but so far it has not happened. His PD catheter was placed on 12/23/08 (not the Christmas present he wanted!) and he started on PD 3 weeks later. His catheter was not functioning properly and x-rays showed that it was all kinked and coiled up. So... dialysis was suspended for a couple of days and we are going to see the surgeon tomorrow to set up laparoscopic surgery to correct the problem. ( we are now attempting manual exchanges, but since his catheter is not functioning the way it should, I am predicting that this will not go very well!) A few days ago, the docs thought that he might have been able to come off entirely because he is putting out over 3 litres of urine a day and has had excellent urine production since even prior to starting PD. The problem is that his creatinine which was 9 when he started and dropped to 7 a few weeks later, ist still at 7 as of today. The docs are still saying that his kidneys will probably heal, but because his creatinine is still so high they don't want to take the chance and stop dialysis now. My husband is OK, he just wants to know one way or the other. Has anyone ever heard of anyone who has actually come off of PD without having to go through a transplant?

[okarol]

Has he had a 24 hour urine collection test? You can keep producing urine but it is "quality, not quantity" - so seeing how well his kidneys are filtering would be beneficial.

[peleroja]

He may be removing fluid, but his kidneys may not actually be filtering the toxins at present.  Maybe a little bit of dialysis is needed to help kick start the kidneys.  Just a thought.

[Rerun]

I know a young couple in your exact situation, even the Christmas start time.  They are hoping and praying that his kidneys start up again.  They are doing incenter Hemo right now.

I have seen kidney function return when it was acute failure like your husbands.  Keep the faith.  Until the doctors say there is no hope.... then there is HOPE!!

                                                               

[jbeany]

Yup, it's possible to recover from certain kinds of kidney failure - or at least regain enough function that dialysis is not needed.  Hope it works out that way for your hubby!
 

[silverhead]

Because Sharon was not diagnosed properly in time to save her kidney function (blocked Ureters) she had a nephrostomy tube inserted in her back into her her 1 functioning kidney, it drained 2 to 2-1/2 liters a day for almost 2 years, but she still needed dialysis, the kidney was removing fluid, but was not filtering any toxins at all. Hope that's not what you are experiencing......

[kellyt]

I put out a significant amount of "fluid" right up until the morning of transplant and my Creatinine was at 5.1 at that time (a little higher over the summer) and my GFR was 7.  But like Okarol said, a that time it was "quanity, not quality".    I was getting rid of fluid, but not a lot of toxins and such.  Post transplant my urine has a nice color to it, where as pre-transplant it was almost clear, hardly any color at all.

[RichardMEL]

yep, I have heard of acute kidney failure caused by dehydration recovering and getting off the dreaded dialysis... so it may just take time for them to recover. I too put out some urine but it's almost always clear, which basically means the kidneys are doing bugger all (which I knew anyway!) so the only thing that's good about putting out lots of urine is that fluid restrictions (I know this isn't really an issue for pd folks) isn't going to be a concern....

fingers crossed he gets better!