[newajna]

Hi there, NZIS has asked me to do my blood tests again. my Serum cretinine was outside the range. anyone else had this problem, pretty scared now what to do to have this reading corrected.

[Rubyshoes]

We had NZIS contact us to have OHs redrawn as well. His was for his glucose & cholesterol levels. His glucose went down to the normal levels, but his cholesterol levels went up from the previous test.

We had the doc write a letter that she didn't think it was an issue at all, and with diet & exercise, she fully expected the levels to go to normal. I faxed it & emailed it back to the visa officer and they sent our passports the same day after receiving the paperwork. We were stressed too, but it all worked out!

Good luck!

[Rubyshoes]

Oh, and it looks to be a marker of kidney function, so take good care of your kidneys before you re-run the blood tests - hopefully that'll help!

[newajna]

thanks mate, yeah my GP also told me that it could be just an issue with not drinking enough water, hopefully this should solve the matter for the next test

[JandM]

Good luck. And welcome to the forum. :)

[Rob&Don]

Good Luck & Welcome :nice1

[KatieBen]

Creatinine shouldn't go up with dehydration (although it can do) - so yes, make sure you drink plenty. It can also go up if you exercise a great deal (it's a product of muscle breakdown) - if you are a bit of an exercise nut then take it easy for the week or so before you get a retest and definitely don't push yourself until your muscles ache.

It can also be high if you are generally a larger build (in terms of muscle coverage) - the creatinine of a 90kg bloke is going to be far higher than one of a 52kg little old lady.

The machines can be out by as much as 10% on any given test run (so my husband's creatinine for the panel doctor came back at 170, which is waaay high - he normally runs at around 140 - still too high but not nearly that bad; we got him retested at his "home" lab immediately and it came back happily at 131 :)) - hence repeating the sample is always a good idea to confirm it's a true high level and not the machine having an off day.

Finally - yes, it can go up in renal disease. It's probably the rarest cause of it being high though and it's unlikely you'd be in significant kidney failure without having a few other symptoms or abnormalities (for a start, your blood pressure would be high if your kidneys were failing enough to push your creatinine up).

Don't worry too much about it yet - drink lots, rest your muscles, don't eat too much protein the week before you're tested and good luck with the repeat sample :)