Health warning!

Do you use a manual wheelchair?

Do you have nice big, strong arm muscles (like mine)? When I first started self-propelling in a wheelchair, I was the typical middle-aged woman! I had no arm muscles whatsoever and really struggled to go very far unless the ground was completely flat and smooth.

Fast forward to June 2016 and I decided, rather than be limited for the rest of my life, I would do something about it and get fit. So I lost a load of weight - almost 4 stone - and did the wheelchair equivalent of couch to 5K. It worked! I developed big, strong arm muscles, stamina in abundance and a back pat that could cause injury without ever intending it.

So all should be well really.

Yes?

No!

Last October, I was feeling very low and couldn't work out whether I was depressed or ill, so I went to the doctor. They sent me for blood tests - all of them!

I have a theory on path labs. There is no point in blood tests. They don't test them. They just make up results and feed the blood to either a room full of vampires or the Little Shop of Horrors.

The results came back and I got called in to discuss kidney function.

Medical Lesson 1

One of the ways they measure kidney function is by checking how much creatinine you have in your blood. They use this, along with your gender, age, weight, etc to calculate your kidney filtration rate. If creatinine levels are high, your kidney filtration rate must be low, because the kidneys obviously haven't filtered it properly. Or something like that.

So my creatinine levels were high, which meant that my kidneys might not be doing their job very efficiently... so just to check, I was sent to have more blood tests.

The results came back worse. So they put me on 2 months of vitamin D and told me to have more blood tests when they ran out. Not being one for half-measures, I Googled the situation and checked what else I could do to lower my creatinine levels. So I spent 2 months restricting my coffee intake, drinking plenty (and I mean plenty) of water, checking my blood pressure, trying to lose yet more weight...

AND...

It got worse!

I spoke to a nurse practitioner, who basically said I was looking at a possible diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (I had already worked that much out) and sent me for more blood tests, and a urine test too.

This morning

As I was having breakfast and preparing myself for the likelihood of impending doom, I suddenly thought, I've Googled how to lower creatinine levels but I haven't checked what could cause them to be high. So I did. And that was when I began to think they might be missing the obvious. When I say obvious, obvious to a doctor, who knows about these things. Less obvious to a pleb like me who doesn't.

Medical lesson 2

Creatinine is produced by muscles when we exercise. When I say exercise, I mean like proper, full-on, tough exercise. Weight lifting, body building, that kind of thing. Creatinine is a waste product and enters the blood stream. When they work out your kidney filtration rate, they don't assume that a disabled, middle-aged woman might have the exercise profile of Geoff Capes.

Back to this morning

I got to the doctors, ready to ask whether the extreme exercise that is self-propelling a wheelchair for miles each day, through carpet, uneven pot-holed pavements and up and down hills, etc. could be why my creatinine levels are high, only to be told... everything's fine. They've come right back down.

And that was when the penny dropped. All my blood tests were late afternoon/early evening, except the last one, which was first thing in the morning. Actually, for the first time ever, I was number one of the day. Dracula's first victim! This time, they tested me before I did my usual day's exertions.

I ran my theory by the doctor, who said that was highly likely to be the reason and told me to have another blood test in 6 months. Needless to say, I'll be there before they even open!

Just thought other wheelies might want to know. If they start suspecting kidney disease, just bear my story in mind. Whilst all's well that end's well, it has been pretty worrying contemplating a potential life without coffee for the last few months, not to mention any actual treatment that I might have needed!