by NeuropathicGuy » 23 Nov 2009, 15:21
Well as it turns out, I won't be getting iodine via IV for the CT scan after all. Just got my pre-scan blood test results back and they show elevated serological creatinine, elevated eGFR, and elevated bilirubin. The imaging place won't give me iodine in light of this and indicates that it's highly suggestive of a kidney problem. I'm going ahead with the barium ingestion and CT scan tomorrow anyhow, but they may need to do a MRI instead if the CT scan results are inconclusive given the lack of IV contrast material.
Dating as far back as March of this year, I've also noticed slightly foamy urine and have felt dizziness along with occasional bouts of itchiness all over my body. And lately I've had acne on my face and back despite not having had any acne since adolescence. My primary physician dismissed these complaints as anxiety, which I always felt was BS from the start. I even saw a second physician for another opinion and she also dismissed it as anxiety. I tried to make myself believe that it was only anxiety, but now it looks like I may have been right all along. Widespread itchiness and acne can indicate that waste products are not being properly excreted from the body, which is the role of the kidneys.
I'll take it as a lesson learned: if your physician wants to take the easy way out and dismiss your complaints, keep on digging until you get to the truth!!! Only you know your body, screw what anybody else says. I'm just hoping now that any issue I do have is isolated to the kidney (since bilirubin is normally a measure of liver rather than kidney function) and that the opinions of so-called medical experts hasn't cost me too dearly in the long run. I'm a bit bummed right now, but am trying not to get too ahead of myself, and am happy that we at least seem to be zeroing in on some kind of diagnosis!