Q: I am a 42 years old man having creatinine blood level as 1.4. I have one kidney of size 5.5 cm and the other is of 12 cm; as per the doctor this is congenital. I used to avoid animal proteins but a year ago I started to eat it. The doctor told me that this is because I need protease enzyme to make the protein become amino acid. Is this right? Please advise.

A:You have one kidney, which is small, may be since birth. You should get spot urine protein creatinine ratio done and also get DTPA and DMSA scans of the kidney done. The latter two tests are nuclear scans to detect exact function of each kidney as well as any structural defects in the normal sized kidney. You should consult a nephrologist with these reports.