How high are your creatinine levels? I've drank a lot of kava and mine have been within normal range every time it's tested.
Do you use a creatine supplement such as creatine monohydrate? Or eat protein bars with CM as an ingredient? CM will give a false reading on the health of your kidneys. If you have been consuming CM or similar, lay off for a few days and then have your kidney function re-tested.
I have also gotten that "pain" well more so flank pain.
I can't find the number at the moment, but 1.7 sticks in my mind.
Yeah, I do take creatine monohydrate and had taken some that morning. The doctor didn't seem to think that would normally elevate it that much. I guess I'm gonna just have to get a few more tests and experiment with things to figure out what's going on.
I doubt I drink enough alcohol for that to be the cause. I drink alcohol 1-2 times/week, if even that (I'm stuck in a very small town for work and the bar is the only place where I can go and talk to real people without having to drive an hour or more). I also gave in to three professionals' urgings and started a taking lexapro a couple weeks ago. I have taken NSAIDS, but not really much for about a year. I'm probably not drinking nearly enough water. I usually end up drinking kava pretty late at night and just don't want to down the amount of water I should be drinking right before bed. Plus, it's gotten pretty hot here and I've been jogging more lately (since I've figured out that high doses of heady kava are to be avoided during the day if I want to exercise).
https://www.livestrong.com/article/124482-causes-high-creatinine-levels/
Yeah: creatine supplementation, dehydration, some weight training, and eating a lot of meat all probably apply lately. But, of course, the doctors always want to get rid of kava, first thing.
I've had the same experience and once I was off the creatine for 30 days or so everything went back to normal. Never changed the kava intake, only the creatine. Also kept the weight training schedule and protein intake the same. For good measure I tried the creatine six months later and ended up with the elevated creatinine levels again. Same result when I stopped the creatine.
Did you ever go back on creatine? Is it a "false positive," or a sign that the supplement is actually straining the kidneys? Did you re-test earlier than 30 days, such that it actually took 30 days to get back down, or did you just wait 30 days and test again?
Eventually due to pressure from the doc and more so the WIFE, I stopped the creatine completely. To be honest the doc wasn't really concerned by the creatinine levels once I told him I use creatine daily. I used the 30 days myself to see if the creatine was the culprit. I really did not want to quit the creatine so I quit for a month to see what the labs would look like. When they were back to normal I knew the creatine was the issue. I did the off/on creatine experiment several times just to be certain.
Interesting! I think I am above that amount. Actually probably double it on some days. I usually take 5 grams; but my protein powder has creatine mixed into it, and I don't really pay much attention to that. I always just thought taking too much was just a waste of money; not that it could be harmful. Maybe I should just use the protein powder and not take any additional creatine (or stop both for awhile).For anyone interested in the effect of consuming creatine monohydrate and it mimicking acute kidney injury see:
https://startingstrength.com/articl...erum-creatinine-mimicking-acute-kidney-injury
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-26
My recollection is that .045g per kg of bodyweight is a safe daily dose. For example, .045x74 = 3.33g. That's what I take anyway.
Was is only your creatinine level that was elevated? My BUN level was slightly elevated too, but not nearly as much as the creatinine.
BUN level was borderline. Top of normal range. After 30 days off that went down to middle of normal range.
@SelfBiasResistor FYI: I just checked my chart. My creatinine was at 1.3, not 1.7.
