What was okay isn’t any more

May 26, 2012 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: I am a white male with a question about my creatinine history. In 2009 it was 1.09; in 2010 1.11; in 2011 1.15; and this year I’m 1.19. For the first three years of my testing, the reference range was between 0.67 and 1.54 but for some unexplained reason, the upper limit range was reduced to 1.18. Why?

DEAR READER: Reference ranges, otherwise known as “normal range” values are used by health care professionals to assist doctors and laboratory technicians in interpreting test results from blood, urine, cerebral spinal fluid and/or feces. Simply stated, the range calculated is determined through collecting data from countless numbers of tests, with 95% of the population falling within the “normal” range, and the remaining five percent falling out of that [Read more...]

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High potassium a concern?

February 25, 2008 By

DEAR DR. GOTT: I am a 76-year-old male with several health problems. I have had type II diabetes for 40 years. I keep good control with no known damage from it. I also have well-controlled (with medication) high blood pressure. I am now having a problem with a high potassium level. It went from 4.9 to over 6.5 in one year. I have included a copy of my blood work.

Do you have any suggestions?

DEAR READER: Thank you for including your lab results because they tell the story. Your kidneys do not appear to be functioning properly. As a result, they are not excreting as much potassium as they should. Your blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is quite high at 60. It should be below 20. Finally creatinine is also high (2.1). It should be under 1.0.
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