Q:
I have polycystic kidney disease and both my father and uncle have it too. At present, my creatinine is 1.2 and kidney function is still normal, but I want to know some prevention measures for slowing down the growth rate and progression of these numerous cysts on my kidneys.
A:
PKD is an inherited and hereditary kidney disease and there are cysts in the patients’ kidneys since birth, only that they are small at that time and usually between 30 and 40, the cysts will have a period of rapid growth and enlargement. And this is a very crucial stage for controlling the cyst growth and slowing down the illness progression.
In your case, you haven’t developed any discomforts and symptoms and that is very lucky. The normal
creatinine level for male is 0.7-1.2mg/dl and 0.5-1.0mg/dl for female. Though creatinine is accurate in reflecting kidney function, it is not sensitive and only when more than half kidney functions been affected can there be obvious increase of creatinine, so I recommend you to measure the creatinine clearance and GFR which can be more sensitive.
Anyway, there are some prevention measures and reasonable nursing cares for protecting and preserving kidney functions for early stage PKD patients.
1. Avoid contacting with things that will stimulate the cysts to enlarge such as tobacco, alcoholic drinks, coffee and caffeine-containing foods and drinks, strong tea, spicy and excitant foods such as hot peppers,sea foods, etc.
2. Control blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipid, limit the intake of salt.
3. Some herbs such as dandelion root, celery, parsley, stinging nettle, juniper berries are all conducive for PKD patients.
Search
