Q: My 63 years old father is having high blood pressure and is taking the treatment for the same. His weight is 86 kg and height is 180 cm. His 24-hour urine protein count has been reduced from 13500 to 850 as the doctor had prescribed a steroid for it. Now he has stopped the steroid after taking it for a month. His creatinine level fluctuates in the range of 1.86 mg/dl to 2.2 mg/dl and 2.68 mg/dl (in the last three months). Sometimes he gets swelling on his face, legs and hands. Can the creatinine level be brought down? If not, can this be maintained? Can further kidney damage be prevented?

A:Your father most likely has had a glomerular kidney disease. I would guess he would have had a kidney biopsy before being given steroids, which have done him good. Creatinine is an indirect measure of kidney function and reflects the state of kidney function. The nature of kidney disease, blood pressure (BP) control and diet all can affect it. Unless the kind of disease he has is known on biopsy it is difficult to guess about the progress of kidney function.