About Creatinine (and high levels of it)

Creatinine is a waste product that’s made by your muscles. Your kidneys work to filter creatinine as well as other waste products out of your blood. After being filtered, these waste products are then expelled from your body in urine.

Measuring creatinine levels can provide important insights into how your kidneys may be functioning. Your doctor can measure creatinine levels in both your blood and in your urine.

Creatinine levels that are above or below normal ranges may indicate the presence of a health condition. Let’s take a closer look at high creatinine, the symptoms that go along with it, and when to see a doctor.

Symptoms

Like proteinuria, a high creatine level is more an indication of a potential health problem, rather than a problem itself. If your creatine level increase is caused by a kidney issues, you may experience related symptoms. Kidney conditions often cause bladder and fluid retention issues. If your kidneys aren’t working well enough to remove toxins and waste from your body, you could notice a wide range of symptoms, including:

• Nausea
• Chest Pain
• Muscle Cramps
• Vomiting
• Fatigue
• Changes in urination frequency and appearance
• High blood pressure
• Swelling or fluid retention
• Itchiness

Causes

Some of the causes of high creatinine levels are:

• Chronic kidney disease. When kidneys are damaged, they have trouble removing creatinine from the blood and levels rise. Doctors use the result of the creatinine blood test to calculate GFR, which is a more specific measure that can indicate chronic kidney disease. A GFR of 60 or over is considered normal, a GFR less than 60 may indicate kidney disease. A level of 15 or less is defined medically as kidney failure.
• Kidney obstruction. A blockage in the flow of urine, such as an enlarged prostate or kidney stone, could cause kidney obstruction. This blockage can create a backup of urine into the kidney and impair the kidney’s ability to function correctly, which might raise the level of creatinine. The medical term for this condition is hydronephrosis.
• Dehydration. Severe dehydration is a risk factor for kidney injury, which will affect creatinine levels.
• Increased consumption of protein. What a person eats can have a significant impact on creatinine levels. For example, proteins and cooked meat contain creatinine, so eating more than the recommended amount of meat or other proteins for your activity levels, or adding extra protein to the diet through supplements can cause high creatinine levels.
• Intense exercise. Creatine is present in the muscles and helps them produce energy. Rigorous exercise can increase creatinine levels by increasing muscle breakdown.
• Certain medications. Antibiotics, such as trimethoprim, and H2 blockers, such as cimetidine, can cause a temporary increase in measured serum creatinine levels.