Problems with the kidney or what is going on?

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I tried to change my diet to one with less carbohydrates and with more proteins. The first few weeks went well, but then I felt suddenly totally sick and had trouble eating. Now after a week and eating just light stuff my stomach gets better, I feel a bit better. Every time I try to change my diet, I feel sick after a certain amount of time.

I went to the doctor and he told me, he thinks it's an infection. But I don't quite agree, because I noticed since a while that something is wrong, but couldn't figure out what. This was also the reason I actually wanted to change my diet. Before I ate mostly carbohydrates and that wasn't all that healthy and not that many proteins.

I checked my blood tests again, but sadly the last one is a year ago and I noticed that all those who play a role in the kidney functioning where still normal, but right on the edge. So I read into kidney problems and a good diet for the kidney is not eating much proteins. I also react very often heavily to all kind of medication. So I ask myself if I've mild kidney problems, could that be?

I've an appointment by a physician next week, but by a gastroenterologist, because my first guess was that something is wrong with my stomach or something. But maybe he can make a blood test anyways.

Last edited by Raziel on 30 May 2014, 12:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Oh, I really hope you're feeling better soon. It's good you've caught the problem soon though. High protein diets can stress kidneys - if you're prone to kidney problems, you might consider a lower protein diet. I'm sure you're doctor can advise.

Thanks for your answer.
I hope, I'll know soon what is going on. I've trouble communicating with physicians in general.
Somehow I can't tell them correctly what's going on with me or they don't listen, because they notice that I'm strange.

I also wanted to change my diet, because I'm a bit overweight, but I don't eat that much actually. I don't get it. I lost a bit when i changed my diet. I still wanna eat more healthy stuff, but then I need to know what I can eat and feel healthy. I should also check for allergies. I had many as a child.

There are no kidney problems in my family. I'm not 100% certain that it's the kidney, but it would make total sense also considering my blood sample.

Specialists can be wrong too. There are way too many diagnosed and undiagnosed diseases out there, so you can't expect them to know everything, but they may have good advice sometimes.

I would say listen to your body, and don't eat too much protein if it makes you sick. Extra protein is good if you are very physically active, or are sick, sometimes helps in cold weather too I think. Otherwise, its tough on your kidneys and liver, because it produces toxins as a byproduct. Also drinking more water should help this, because it will remove all the toxins out of your system faster.

If you are feeling hungry, add fruits, vegetables, nuts and milk to your diet. These are more easy going on the body.

^ Yes, that's good advice. Super high-protein diets are really popular just now, but in reality they might not be right for everybody.

I still want to be checked to be certain. It's highly possible, but there are also other possibilities like I ate something in that time I'm allergic to or something else.



I'm not a fan of fruits. My physician tells me since years he wants to check me for fructose intolerance, so I'll ask on Tuesday the gastroenterologist. I mostly just drink goat milk and also not too much. It doesn't has that much lactose than cow milk and I react a bit to lactose. I propably should get checked what I can eat and then go to some expert who can figure out with me a diet plan. I actually added more vegetables to my diet a double of weeks ago.

I drink a lot of water actually and have to pee often, but often just small amounts.

Last edited by Raziel on 30 May 2014, 2:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It was just low on carbohydrates and so automatically higher on proteins. I also added some things to it I just rarely eat, that's also why I wanna make sure that it's really the proteins. The first two weeks went pretty well actually. I felt better, had more energy, lost a bit of weight what was also a nice side effect and suddenly I felt totally sick and I feel better now but still not 100% well.

But it still had a positive effect. By changing the diet I got rid of my sugar addiction.

So the blood test is sadly one year ago.

GFR below 60 was considered to be abnormal, I had 65 ml/min. But this link is very interesting. Normal functioning is GFR about 100: http://www.renal.org/information-resour ... 57Vh0.dpbs
My creatinine was 1.07 ml/dl in January 2013. Normal was considered between 0.00-1.20.

I ate hardly any meat or other high protein food at that time. The GFR and creatinine was 2012 better than 2013 and 2010 better than 2012. The GFR was still 87 ml/min in November 2012 and the creatinine was the same, 1,07 mg/dl, but the creatinine was 0.85 in December 2010 (the GFR wasn't tested 2010 in the blood test I've at home).

Deteriorating function is considered by a loss by 5 ml/min GFR in a year or less and I had back than a loss of 22 ml/min within 2 months.
The physician should have spotted this.

So I guess it really should be tested again, when I feel that sick after eating high protein food.

You may also do an allergy test, that will test you against pretty much any food out there to see if your body is allergic to it. I think it is expensive however and not covered by insurance, so see if you could do it pro bono somehow.

Sounds like you are getting very sick often. So yes, you should keep checking with different doctors and do some of your own research.

I'm not having that many infections actually. I mean I've many symptoms who are not quite clear like "chronice fatigue" and so on. I got tested for allergies more than once and except for heavy allergies, those are changing constantly. So even if I avoid some stuff, there is a high probability that I've another allergy in half a year. So this doesn't make all that much sence. The doctors told me that I'm the multiallergic type. Whatever. I would rather like to get tested against fructose intolerance and glutene sensitivity.

I'll see what I can do on Tuesday, but maybe I've to go to another specialist because of my kidneys.

You could be just naturally switching to different diets. There are some theories out there that you can develop an allergy if you eat too much of the same thing, since your body benefits from eating diverse foods.

It's possible that eating all kind of different stuff will help to some degree, but in fact I'm having allergic reactions since I'm two months old. So i guess it has more to do with my immune system. But the allergies got better over the years, it was very severe when I was a child. I had asthma, all kinds of allergies, was sick often and was underweight.

I still think that I'm eating too much carbohydrates. I've to work on that.

Hi Raziel,

When you say you are not feeling well after eating more protein, are you talking mainly about gastrointestinal problems? If so, you might want to consider taking digestive enzymes. Some people, especially those with low stomach acid and acid reflux symptoms, have trouble digesting high-protein foods and taking enzymes can help.

If you are experiencing other types of symptoms, you might want to Google 'low-carb flu.' Sometimes people have trouble adjusting to lower-carb diets or just need a certain amount of carbs daily to feel good. People can differ in what amounts work for them. You can experiment with adding 'good carbs' to your diet, like yams, plantains or parsnips and see if that helps.

If you are concerned about your kidneys and the last blood tests were done a long time ago, it could not hurt to have them repeated, but my guess is that your kidneys are not something you will have to worry about. The two issues above are fairly common and might be a more likely culprit.

Good luck!

Now that I think about it, I did start developing a bit of an intolerance to grains at around age 25, I think because I was eating too many grains (which is usually the culprit for bad carbs). Ciliac disease associated with gluten in common bread, has also now become pretty wide spread. I now eat bread only for breakfast to get my daily fix.