Kidney Health

[Falcon]

I've found several sources and supplements on how to care for liver health while on a cycle, but little about kidney.
There is a great thread here about Telmisartan, and I'll definitely add that to my next order.
What else is there, besides lots of hydration, and I think CoQ10, that can maintain kidney health?
If Cystatin C based eGFR is okay, is there any other value in the blood work that can still indicate actual problems (and not just a byproduct of high muscle mass and high protein diet / creatine supplementation)?

 

[SalvatoreCorvus]

The biggest danger for the kidneys is blood pressure and chronic dehydration.

Anything that is then antioxidant will be beneficial (NAC is the main and the best imo)

Other supplements such as astragalus also have a benefit on the kidneys.

And anything that can also reduce the Oxidized LDL

 

[xccdf]

NAC (Thorne) and Coq10 200mg goes into every stack I build. Cut, cruise, bulk, it's always there.

As far as kidney support, what is your current stack, how far are you along, what supplements are you on, do you have any creatinine markers or such that is raising Kidney concerns?

Let's us see what we can do to help brother. And water is always king, just spread out and not all at once.

 

[Falcon]

NAC (Thorne) and Coq10 200mg goes into every stack I build. Cut, cruise, bulk, it's always there.

As far as kidney support, what is your current stack, how far are you along, what supplements are you on, do you have any creatinine markers or such that is raising Kidney concerns?

Let's us see what we can do to help brother. And water is always king, just spread out and not all at once.

Thanks!

My creatinine and uric acid are slightly elevated, urea is within normal range. It has been always like this when I worked out and dieted with high-ish protein, I earlier took a 4 years break for other problems and then it went back. I'll get a Cystatin C based value next time.
I do take CoQ10 and ALA and will get liposomal glutathione and NAC soon.
My blood pressure was markedly low throughout my life, but recently is on the higher side, I do what I can about that, I hope that dropping some extra weight will solve it.
Interestingly, isometric exercises are the most effective for lowering blood pressure, even more than cardio, and they are usually neglected, I incorporated them last year.
I aim to drink about 30 ml per kg, I may raise it higher if proves helpful.
Thanks again, I'm a sister by the way.

 

[xccdf]

Thanks for the update, sister .


Your plan for Cystatin C eGFR is spot-on, as it's less skewed by muscle/diet than creatinine-based ones. I would also recommend to add the following if possible:

• Albumin-to-Creatinine Ratio (uACR): This will help check for real signs of kidney stress (under 30mg/g is normally good).
• Full Blood Panel: Creatinine, Cystatin C, eGFR (Cystatin C-based), Uric Acid, BUN (Urea), Electrolytes (Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, CO2), Glucose, Calcium, Albumin, Total Protein, ALT, AST, ALP, Bilirubin, Complete Blood Count (CBC including Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, RBC, WBC, Platelets), Lipid Profile (Total Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, Triglycerides), Testosterone (Total and Free), Estradiol, FSH, LH, SHBG, Prolactin, TSH, Free T4, Free T3, Cortisol, Insulin.
• Creatinine Clearance Test: Compares blood/urine creatinine for accurate filtration rate.

• Why These Tests:
• Kidney Focus: Creatinine, Cystatin C, eGFR, Uric Acid, BUN; flags real function beyond muscle/diet effects (1).
• Liver and Metabolism (probably good here but still): ALT, AST, ALP, Bilirubin, Glucose, Albumin, Total Protein—checks for cycle stress.
• Blood Health: CBC (especially Hematocrit/RBC). This watches for thickening from AAS, common in females too. An easy trick to get your RBC down is to donate blood, but that will cost you about 500 calories so eat a snack haha!
• Heart/Risk: Lipids, Electrolytes, Calcium. This keeps BP and cholesterol in check for safe bulking and cutting (2).
• Hormones: Testosterone (since you didn’t specify what your cycle was), Estradiol, SHBG, Prolactin. This works to balances your female cycle effects, and minimizes masculine affects such as enlargement of the clitoris (unless that is desired), facial hair (unless that is desired) and so forth.
• Thyroid/Other: TSH/T4/T3, Cortisol, Insulin. This ensures energy and recovery aren't tanked. However from what I have read, I don’t think you are suffering from these problems?

A few things you had mentioned that I wanted to also point out was Telmisartan. This will lower your BP (130/80 is probably as high as you want to go, the first number is the pressure when your heart contracts, and the second is when your heart is at rest to put it in laymans terms). This will directly help with with BP. However, and I will 100% admit up front I am biased on this opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, I prefer Losartan 25mg/50mg/100mg. It is what I would call an ancient BP mediation that has been well studied since 1986 and females can use it BUT not while pregnant to planning to become pregnant. It can cause serious fetal harm.

CoQ10 - already touched on that. 200mg is my personal sweet spot (270lbs, 6ft, 37 years old, male) but can go up to 400mg at high doses.

Liposomal Glutathione - You already mentioned it and it is a strong antioxidant which clears toxins from the kidneys. 500mg to 1000mg daily.

-----------------------

Other thoughts:

Taurine: Also helps with BP but helps to balance out electrolytes and is kidney friendly. I take 3g AM and 2g PM.

Omega-3's: This reduces overall inflammation and helps with all organ health. I skip the fish Omegas because fish do not make Omega 3's. It comes from their food chain build up and the primary source is Microalgae which produce ALA, EPA, and DHA naturally through photosynthesis. For those allergic to seafood, go for the Algae Omega 3's.

A high protein diet does push your kidneys a bit harder, raising creatinie from the extra load and the uric acid from meat and other animal sources. So higher creatinine and uric acid are not nessarly immediate reasons to say the kidneys are in bad shape, it could be by products of your diet and supplements (creatine got a bad wrap for increasing creatinine levels, but studies showed it does not harm kidneys)

---------------------

Lastly, you did not provide your cycle, goals, your current stack, how far you are into the cycle, how many successful cycles you have ran, have you had to bail on any cycles, do you mind side affects such as facial hair, deepening voice, clit enlargement etc.

The more details, the more we can grind this down and help out . Kidneys are a tricky thing to work around and figure out, if it was the liver it would be more simple haha.


---------------------

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10481367/
2. https://swolverine.com/en-de/blogs/...33_kgNAcXWGBHtFBIrh3Bcan-rrWP86ALWDtd8etFLUoy

 

[Falcon]

Thanks for the update, sister .


Your plan for Cystatin C eGFR is spot-on, as it's less skewed by muscle/diet than creatinine-based ones. I would also recommend to add the following if possible:

• Albumin-to-Creatinine Ratio (uACR): This will help check for real signs of kidney stress (under 30mg/g is normally good).
• Full Blood Panel: Creatinine, Cystatin C, eGFR (Cystatin C-based), Uric Acid, BUN (Urea), Electrolytes (Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, CO2), Glucose, Calcium, Albumin, Total Protein, ALT, AST, ALP, Bilirubin, Complete Blood Count (CBC including Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, RBC, WBC, Platelets), Lipid Profile (Total Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, Triglycerides), Testosterone (Total and Free), Estradiol, FSH, LH, SHBG, Prolactin, TSH, Free T4, Free T3, Cortisol, Insulin.
• Creatinine Clearance Test: Compares blood/urine creatinine for accurate filtration rate.

• Why These Tests:
• Kidney Focus: Creatinine, Cystatin C, eGFR, Uric Acid, BUN; flags real function beyond muscle/diet effects (1).
• Liver and Metabolism (probably good here but still): ALT, AST, ALP, Bilirubin, Glucose, Albumin, Total Protein—checks for cycle stress.
• Blood Health: CBC (especially Hematocrit/RBC). This watches for thickening from AAS, common in females too. An easy trick to get your RBC down is to donate blood, but that will cost you about 500 calories so eat a snack haha!
• Heart/Risk: Lipids, Electrolytes, Calcium. This keeps BP and cholesterol in check for safe bulking and cutting (2).
• Hormones: Testosterone (since you didn’t specify what your cycle was), Estradiol, SHBG, Prolactin. This works to balances your female cycle effects, and minimizes masculine affects such as enlargement of the clitoris (unless that is desired), facial hair (unless that is desired) and so forth.
• Thyroid/Other: TSH/T4/T3, Cortisol, Insulin. This ensures energy and recovery aren't tanked. However from what I have read, I don’t think you are suffering from these problems?

A few things you had mentioned that I wanted to also point out was Telmisartan. This will lower your BP (130/80 is probably as high as you want to go, the first number is the pressure when your heart contracts, and the second is when your heart is at rest to put it in laymans terms). This will directly help with with BP. However, and I will 100% admit up front I am biased on this opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, I prefer Losartan 25mg/50mg/100mg. It is what I would call an ancient BP mediation that has been well studied since 1986 and females can use it BUT not while pregnant to planning to become pregnant. It can cause serious fetal harm.

CoQ10 - already touched on that. 200mg is my personal sweet spot (270lbs, 6ft, 37 years old, male) but can go up to 400mg at high doses.

Liposomal Glutathione - You already mentioned it and it is a strong antioxidant which clears toxins from the kidneys. 500mg to 1000mg daily.

-----------------------

Other thoughts:

Taurine: Also helps with BP but helps to balance out electrolytes and is kidney friendly. I take 3g AM and 2g PM.

Omega-3's: This reduces overall inflammation and helps with all organ health. I skip the fish Omegas because fish do not make Omega 3's. It comes from their food chain build up and the primary source is Microalgae which produce ALA, EPA, and DHA naturally through photosynthesis. For those allergic to seafood, go for the Algae Omega 3's.

A high protein diet does push your kidneys a bit harder, raising creatinie from the extra load and the uric acid from meat and other animal sources. So higher creatinine and uric acid are not nessarly immediate reasons to say the kidneys are in bad shape, it could be by products of your diet and supplements (creatine got a bad wrap for increasing creatinine levels, but studies showed it does not harm kidneys)

---------------------

Lastly, you did not provide your cycle, goals, your current stack, how far you are into the cycle, how many successful cycles you have ran, have you had to bail on any cycles, do you mind side affects such as facial hair, deepening voice, clit enlargement etc.

The more details, the more we can grind this down and help out . Kidneys are a tricky thing to work around and figure out, if it was the liver it would be more simple haha.


---------------------

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10481367/
2. https://swolverine.com/en-de/blogs/...33_kgNAcXWGBHtFBIrh3Bcan-rrWP86ALWDtd8etFLUoy

Wow, thank you for taking the effort to give such a detailed description!
My liver values were good in the last test, cholesterol is slightly high but it was always like this, even when I was eating as much fiber in grams as fat, I'm taking citrus bergamot, red yeast rice extract and, of course, Omega 3 but from fish oil. I'll add Berberine as well, as I want to raise HDL, it's in the lower half of the normal range. Especially since I'm doing low dose Anavar for 5-6 weeks as my first cycle, I'm about halfway now (it went crazy fast, and now I can understand why so many people say they don't want to stop).
I want to re-test these a few weeks after the cycle, and add the uACR and Cystatin C, the rest is usually included in the default test and is all right so far. (I always had a little mysterious inflammation which I've been bringing down slowly.)

I'm always chuckling when reading about Losartan since "lószar" means horseshit in Hungarian.

 

[xccdf]

Maybe the doctor who came up with the name had a sense of humor haha!

But Anavar is a super solid first choice. The gains females get are quality gains and not bloated.

Here is a tip though from what I've seen (anecdotal). After the cycle ends, some of the muscle gain will go away. It's emotionally painful and it's better to mentally prepare for that beforehand. Typically, based on a lot of factors, you can expect to keep around 50% to 70% long term as "permanent" gains. However, there is a slight trick that can bump that up to 60% to 80% is to keep your caloric surplus up for an additional 6 weeks prior to coming off cycle.

This might add a bit of fat, but losing fat vs building lasting muscles is easy (and from your posts you seem to be dedicated, so you can handle a bit of fat to retain the muscle gains).

Feel free to share your blood work anytime. You can also PM me the but I request no pictures, just type in the numbers (for privacy etc.).

Keep us posted on your progress and if you have any questions, we are always here to help!

 

[Falcon]

Maybe the doctor who came up with the name had a sense of humor haha!

But Anavar is a super solid first choice. The gains females get are quality gains and not bloated.

Here is a tip though from what I've seen (anecdotal). After the cycle ends, some of the muscle gain will go away. It's emotionally painful and it's better to mentally prepare for that beforehand. Typically, based on a lot of factors, you can expect to keep around 50% to 70% long term as "permanent" gains. However, there is a slight trick that can bump that up to 60% to 80% is to keep your caloric surplus up for an additional 6 weeks prior to coming off cycle.

This might add a bit of fat, but losing fat vs building lasting muscles is easy (and from your posts you seem to be dedicated, so you can handle a bit of fat to retain the muscle gains).

Feel free to share your blood work anytime. You can also PM me the but I request no pictures, just type in the numbers (for privacy etc.).

Keep us posted on your progress and if you have any questions, we are always here to help!

Thank you! It's interesting, I'm completely the opposite, like a reverse hardgainer. Building and keeping muscles and fat is extremely easy, losing is nearly impossible, so I definitely don't want any fat gain. We'll see how it goes. Thanks again for the support!

 

[xccdf]

Just to follow up because I had a long discussion with my work colleagues who cycle. The main culprits do come down to blood pressure, water intake, and inflamation.

Anti-inflamitories can reduce gains some, but if you take them 4+ hours after the workout, it is minimal.

 

[Falcon]

Just to follow up because I had a long discussion with my work colleagues who cycle. The main culprits do come down to blood pressure, water intake, and inflamation.

Anti-inflamitories can reduce gains some, but if you take them 4+ hours after the workout, it is minimal.

That's also interesting, I read that NSAIDs can also pose a risk for kidney health. I rarely feel I need to use any, but if I could put my paws on low dose naltrexone I would consider that. I'm mostly trying to lower inflammation through diet and Omega 3.