Hello and thank you for submitting your question.

Your question is a very good one and I will try to provide you with some information and recommendations regarding what is going on with your daughter.

There are three major categories of dysfunction which may be causing her creatinine to be elevated. The first category would be hydration. For some reason she is quite dehydrated and has not been able to drink or eat enough over the past couple of weeks this will cause an elevation of the creatinine. This generally improves with intravenous fluid hydration.

The next category which could be affecting her kidney function would be exposure to some type of substance which had a toxic effect on the kidney. This may include some medications such as antibiotics. Occasionally if a young person has an infection with a streptococcal bacteria this may also cause an acute drop in kidney function which may affect the creatinine.

The last category which may affect that creatinine would be some type of obstruction in the kidney tract. This might include something like a kidney stone.

I am sure that the physicians who are seeing her are looking into all three of these major categories. While her kidney function is significantly limited at this point it does not look like she needs dialysis right now. Sometimes we are able to reverse this type of kidney dysfunction with medications and fluid hydration. She should certainly see a kidney specialist. They are known as nephrologists.

I thank you again for submitting your question. I hope you have found my answer to be both informative and helpful. I am sure you are experiencing quite a bit of stress regarding your daughter and I hope to be able to provide you with good reassurance.

If you have any additional questions I would be happy to address them.

Regards,

Dr. Galamaga

---