Question-------------------------
Her weight is 190 and her thyroid functions a few months ago were normal. Can you tell me what creatine level would be of concern being she is 1.6 now? And her BUN was 10 a year ago and now it is 7, is that good or bad? And the Bun what is a concern level i should look out for? Thanks so much
you have been a tremendous help..
Followup To
Question -
Doctor:
My mother is age 65 and has been taking lithium for 13 years, her family doctor and psychiatrist recently had blood work drawn for her and did not make mention of some results i found to be of a concern to me. Her creatinne has been on the high side, it has been 1.6 since 11-2003 the most recent a 1.6 and one in the past was a 1.5/.
Her current BUN is 7 and the bun/creatinnne ratio is now 4.30.
She had had problems switching to other drugs other than lithium to stabilze her.
Can you tell me if any of these readings are of a "major concern"? at her age? ANd what if anything i should be doing? Like i said both doctors have the same copy i do and made no mention of anything way out of line, i do remember reading that as women age the level is normally a little high, and lithium can do it too i read, thanks so much, Marc
Answer -
The creatinine only estimates kidney function. If your mom weighs 80 lbs, wih a creat of 1.6, that is a concern, but if she is 150 lbs, then it really isn't much of a concern. Lithium will not damage the kidneys in normal doses; it may cause thyroid problems, and if there are kidney problems, it can mess up lithium levels because it will have trouble getting filtered out by the kidneys. But, as long as the creatinine is stable and her thyroid is normal and the lithium levels are ok, things are fine.
AnswerBUN doesn't mean as much as creatinine.... at 1.6 at that weight, her kidney function is very good, probably 75% of normal. We don't get into problems until the kidney function falls below 25%, so there isn't a major problem now, just have to watch the dosing on kidney excreted meds.
