UPDATE ON KIDNEYS

Had my follow up visit with the kidney Dr today. Good news. All tests were negative. So in a nutshell I have Analgesic Nephropathy. Apparently this is becoming more and more prominent with long term use of acetomiophen, Ibuprophen and the NSAIDS (Celebrex, Vioxx,etc). As a rule, kidneys do not regenerate, but after the pains meds are stopped, the damage can sometimes be reversed/and hopefully stopped. My creatinine levels and ratios did improve over a couple of months ago. It's going to take a while to adust to new medication, even though it's straight narcotic, my pain relief is not as effective. I can't tell yet if it's the pain medication or my pain is worse and the Vicodin wouldn't have worked either. The nephrologist said the new medication was a fairly low dose and likely needed to be increased. So all in all, I'm very relieved that it's nothing worse and can at least be managed.