Anabolic Freak

QUESTION: I’ve used cycled off and on for 3 years now and I’m scared I might be endangering my kidneys. What blood tests should I ask my doctor for as I want to make sure I have optimal kidney health?

ANSWER:  First off, check your blood pressure regularly to make sure it’s at or below 120/80. The greatest danger to your kidney health is high blood pressure. They call it the “silent killer” because most people don’t know they have high blood pressure because they don’t get it checked. Meanwhile they’re damaging their kidneys on a daily basis.

Secondly, you should ask your doctor to check your BUN (Blood Urea Nitrogen) and Creatinine levels (NOT Creatine levels - big difference). Creatinine is a waste product of protein digestion. If either BUN or Creatinine is high, this could mean that the kidneys are not functioning at optimal capacity.

The newest and most accurate blood assessment test out there is test for something called Cystatin-C. This substance has a low molecular weight of approximately 13.3 kilodaltons so it’s very small and it’s removed from the bloodstream by glomerular filtration in the kidneys. If kidney function and Glomerular Filtration Rates (GFR) decline, the blood levels of Cystatin-C rise. Serum levels of Cystatin-C are a more precise test of kidney function (as represented by the GFR) than serum Creatinine level testing. Cystatin-C testing are less dependent on age, sex, race and muscle mass compared to Creatinine.