I took Seroquel for PTSD nightmares from 2008 to 2012.  Then I was misdiagnosed and treated for thyroiditis for a year, when really all I had was diabetes.  The combination of Seroquel's work on my kidneys along with the renal effects of a year of untreated diabetes led to my collapsing at work to find out I had 60% permanent kidney failure.

All PTSD meds were removed.  I wished I could still take them, but since that was medically prohibited for me, I came here to substitute support for meds.  5 years later my pdoc found Prazosin helped with my PTSD nightmares, and it's processed through the liver, not the kidneys, so I got back on one PTSD med that could help me, at least.

The kidney damage was permanent, it's like my PTSD, chronic and not curable.  Most folks have to go on dialysis or get a transplant when their remaining kidney function goes down to 25% or die.  By following strict rules about diet, drink, and exercise, I held on to my 40% of kidney function left.  That meant that I kept on the safe side with a margin of 15%, for 7 years. 

That mattered to me because, having worked in hospitals for 10 years as a chaplain in my past, I sat through dialysis with many patients, and saw many sign papers Against Medical Advice and choose to die rather than do dialysis forever.  Having witnessed that decision process many times over, I knew I was no better than any of those patients of mine, and that it was crucial for me not to get to where I'd need dialysis at all.  I had to hang on to that margin of 15%, do or die.  Literally.

But as everybody here knows, last week for the first time my kidney disease went active again, meaning it began to eat away at my 40% kidney function.  I had to go in to the hospital twice last week, once to be hooked up to IV fluids for 5 hours in the ER to try to flush out my kidneys and bring my creatinine level down.  Creatinine is the hormone docs measure in the blood to see how kidneys are functioning.  It should have been 1.4 units, which is a little high but is where I've kept it for 7 years since 2012.  Instead it was all the way up to a dangerous 2.3 units, almost twice as bad as allowed.

By Friday I had it back down to 1.8 units, but there was no guarantee it wouldn't go back up again over the weekend.  Today my doc had me go back to the same hospital for a 3rd time in the past week to see where we stood.  If we found it had gone back up, I could no longer be outpatient with IV fluids in the emergency room.  I would have to go inpatient and have emergency IV fluids pumped into me around the clock.

As much as I enjoyed being an ER hospital chaplain at a trauma center and found my PTSD useful in helping patients, I get triggered by being a patient overnight in a hospital myself.  When I was in for my stomach surgery last December, I got zero sleep during my post-op recovery in the hospital.  

So today I was pretty concerned about what my 3rd hospital visit in a week would reveal in my blood test to check my creatinine level.  After the hospital lab drew blood and I had to wait an hour for the result, I  really drew on the support you've given me here in the last week.  It was a nail biter.

Fortunately, the good news came:  my doc called me out in the waiting room to tell me that my creatinine level today was down to 1.49 units!!!!   That is almost all the way down to where I've been able to hold it for 7 years keeping from further kidney damage to the 40% kidney function I have left!!!

Thank you, my friends, for your thoughts, prayers, hugs, posts, and good vibes for healing!!!  I'm SO HAPPY to have health leveling off again!!!  Gratitude to one and all!!!