A Kidney Stone Update . . .

My follow up appointment with the urologist is next week, but yesterday, my 24-hour urine collection test results dropped in to my LapCorp portal.  Wahoo!!!

This report is pretty technical if you don't know what you're looking at.  So - you'll recall that my two main goals in the past three months were to (1) drink more water; and (2) eat less sodium.

See the upper circle for my success on getting more water in.  Yay!

See the lower circle for my success on lowering my sodium intake.  Yes, that really does say 77.  In fact, there is a little asterisk to the right of the number - this means that the lab checked my sample twice to be sure there was no mistake.  I find this pretty funny, but the number is pretty startling :-D  My sodium number at 77, is really, really good - I think.

The three arrows across the top are areas that still require some work.  Remember, I've mentioned before that this is a balancing act of large proportion.  So, I've fixed some things and aggravated others.  I think these things can be brought into line with more dietary changes, and I'm hopeful that when I meet with the doc that he will agree to let me try another 6 to 12 weeks on my own before he prescribes anything for me.  I'm hoping I've done well enough on the first two things he asked that he'll give me that chance.

The first arrow on the left is my calcium.  For women this number should be below 200.  I've substantially lessened the leaching of calcium from my bones.  My average of my first two tests was 464, and I've knocked it down to 263 (nearly by half) but I have more work to do here because if my kidneys continue to leach calcium from my bones, I will be at great risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis.  I'm not interested in either of those.  Seriously.

The middle arrow is my citrate number - it, unfortunately, has gotten worse.  This is not really a surprise, since I believe it is connected to potassium, and this is an area where I have been struggling.  Many of the leafy greens (and potatoes) that I used to eat are very high in oxalate.  Since oxalate is not an issue for me (in fact it went even further down, to 20!), I'll be talking to the doctor and my health coach about the possibility of adding more potatoes and maybe something like Swiss Chard back in to my diet.  Another alternative might be to start drinking Crystal Lite Lemonade.  I won't know for sure until I see the doctor.

The left arrow is my pH.  Unfortunately it's a bit wonky at the moment.  Not sure what's up here, but it's possible that this could be caused by intestinal distress (ahem . . . ).  Upping my calcium has not been easy, if you get my drift, and if you have diarrhea a lot, it can mess up your pH.  I'm thinking that's probably at least some of what's going on here, but this will be discussed with my doctor and health coach next week.

So, the journey is well begun  :-)

Yay!!

Happy Fourth of July!