So the moment of truth came when I stepped on to the
hospital scales and weighed in at 115.2kg, a 9kg loss since my previous
appointment in January. My consultant was pleased and despite the flu and gout
that plagued the months in between my kidney function was stable, with eGFR up
1 point at 28. So for now I’m holding my own and the more weight I lose the
better some of the readings will get, although nobody is pretending there will
be a fairy tale ending to CKD.
I explained about the gout attacks and it was agreed I could
ditch Furosemide given it was probably doing more harm than good, and in her
own words she doesn’t want me getting down to 100kg only to have worn out
joints. I still need to take the higher dose of sodium bicarbonate, and if I
feel like I’m retaining water I need to start taking the water tablets again. Fortunately
to the best of my knowledge I’ve never suffered water retention, either that or
I have and just haven’t realised it.
I got a prescription for Colchicine (a.k.a. magic tablets) which
pretty much took care of the current attack in three days. I’m now waiting to
be fully clear so I can start on a low daily dose of Allopurinol, although I’ll
also need to take a couple magic tablets every day for two weeks to mitigate
against a new attack when I start. At the moment the swelling is gone from both
feet and I’m taking decent walks, but there is still a little residual pain in
a couple of joints I want to clear (also my in-laws are going to bring me back
some more magic tablets from Northern Cyprus in a couple of weeks so I won’t
risk running out at a crucial point).
In the afternoon I saw my GP for my annual check, most of
the blood readings (kidney function aside) weren’t noteworthy but did warn that
I’d flagged for pre-diabetes and needed to look at my diet and weight. I
explained about the weight loss programme to get down to 100kg so I make the
transplant list when the time comes, he seemed tiny bit surprised we were
looking at that outcome already, but didn’t challenge it when I said it was
inevitable at some point. I just need to carry on with what I’m doing, there is
no other treatment needed.
So now the challenge is to fight complacency on the diet
front, I have slipped a little lately, not massive binges, but a little less
disciplined than a couple of months ago. Getting rid of the gout and the better
weather should enable more exercise, I’m thinking of treating myself to a fit
bit for my birthday which will hopefully act as challenge to my activity
levels.
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