Kidney problems?

Finally I got my period yesterday morning. It caught me a bit by surprise because I thought that train had left, for this month. I didn't have any real pre-cramps either, which I normally have ( I do have those cramps now though -there is no escaping, damn you uterus)!This also made my temperature drop, which at one point had been all the way up to the magic 37 number! Yesterday evening, it was all the way back to 35,7 :-( It's so fricking hard for me to keep those temperatures up!
Riles comment yesterday about cortisol inhibiting sodium loss and making kidneys produce hyptonic urine made me go on a little research which lead me to kidney problems. I've been told before, by my last doctor that I do have kidney and liver problems but I somehow haven't been able to untie the knots on this matter. Until I stumbled on this information:

• In the beginning, kidney failure may be asymptomatic (not producing any symptoms). As kidney function decreases, the symptoms are related to the inability to regulate water and electrolyte balances, to clear waste products from the body, and to promote red blood cell production. Lethargy,weakness, shortness of breath, and generalized swelling may occur. Unrecognized or untreated, life-threatening circumstances can develop.
  
• Metabolic acidosis, or increased acidity of the body due to the inability to manufacture bicarbonate, will alter enzyme and oxygen metabolism, causing organ failure.
  
• Inability to excrete potassium and rising potassium levels in the serum (hyperkalemia) is associated with fatal heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias) including ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation.
  
• Rising urea levels in the blood (uremia) can affect the function of a variety of organs ranging from the brain (encephalopathy) with alteration of thinking, to inflammation of the heart lining (pericarditis), to decreased muscle function because of low calcium levels (hypocalcemia).
  
• Generalized weakness may be due to anemia, a decreased red blood cell count, because lower levels of erythropoietin produced by failing kidneys do not adequately stimulate the bone marrow. A decrease in red cells equals a decrease in oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, resulting in decreased oxygen delivery to cells for them to do work; therefore, the body tires quickly. As well, with less oxygen, cells more readily use anaerobic metabolism (an=without + aerobic=oxygen) leading to increased amounts of acid production that cannot be addressed by the already failing kidneys.
  
• As waste products build in the blood, loss of appetite, lethargy, and fatigue become apparent. This will progress to the point where mental function will decrease andcoma may occur.
  
• Because the kidneys cannot address the rising acid load in the body, breathing becomes more rapid as the lungs try to buffer the acidity by blowing off carbon dioxide. Blood pressure may rise because of the excess fluid, and this fluid can be deposited in the lungs, causing congestive heart failure.

 I kinda knew most of these things already but I guess I wasn't really aware of how many of these symptoms actually fits me like a hand in a glove.
I by no means, think that I have kidney failure. I just think my kidneys aren't working like they should.

For a long time I have had problems with my electrolyte balance and I often get generalized swelling or edema.  Basically I have great trouble with keeping the right water balance within and out of the cells.
Lethargy, weakness and shortness of breath is how I feel often.
My last doctor visit revealed that my body didn't use oxygen properly, it didn't get into the cells. I was too acidic and my body couldn't get rid of the waste product.
He also monitored my heart because it tends to skip a beat, every now and then. He found nothing wrong with it though, which I believe is true (nothing is wrong with my heart)! I believe the answer lies in my inability to control my electrolytes. As we now I also have high sodium.
I have been tested high on blood UREA, on several occasions. And I am also low in calcium.
I have a low red blood count which is almost anemic which explains the whole chain reaction explained above.
Only thing that doesn't fit, is a decrease in appetite, which I believe is only something you encounter when your kidneys are about to sign off.

Now I sit with the feeling; was upping my sodium intake a bad idea then? Suggestions for kidney-friendly-diet is low sodium, which I have done in the past. I just don't think cutting out things is a long term solution.
Maybe this explains why I am never thirsty? Because my kidneys have problems excreting and filtering urine?
If I obeyed my body completely, I wouldn't drink any water at all. I am literally NOT thirsty at all. Eating seems to be enough fluid for my body. I still force down 1,5 L because I am unsure what to do.      

Another epiphany..

Okay, so something just hit me today. As we all know, I have been trying to figure out why my temperature is always higher in the morning, upon wakening and then dropping as the day progresses. The past two days, I have been mostly bed written or at least lying down because of a sore neck/back. I took my temperature and it reached 36,7 degrees Celsius both days! As soon as I get up and about, it drops almost instantly. The opposite happens when I lye down. Here is my theory: My body is still in famine and any training or just moving around in general, is a threat to my metabolism and it therefor lowers my temperature instantly, to protect it from further energy loss.
When I was in Hungary, we walked around a lot and I am sure I didn't eat enough calories to keep up with that. I had crazy cold hands and feet on the whole trip and I noticed, when I came back, my appetite suddenly increased tremendously and I became very exhausted and tired the following days/weeks. Also, I expected my period around the 4'th but it never came, although I had all the signs; breast tenderness/increase, mild discomfort in abdomen and depressed mood/mood swings.
Conclusion: Stay in bed all day. LOL! That of course is not a sustainable option but it sure explains why I still have no desire to train, what so ever. I guess I need to be more aware of not requiring more of my body, that it can deliver, at this point (which is very little). I guess its weird to realize that my body is a lot weaker than I first thought. All the signs are there, that I can't push too hard and if I do, I will most definitely pay the prize, straight away.
I need to work hard on not working hard. Rest is key.

Please forgive me..

I have now been RRARFing for 2 months. One thing it has definitely cleared by now, is my dizzy spells and low resting pulse. Going from 40 bpm to 60, is a big improvement! I still feel it could get a bit higher, when you take in consideration that I haven't been exercising at all. I've read that a RP in the eighties indicates a well functioning metabolism. My periods is still not stable, I'm still waiting for this month. My hair has not seen any improvement. I still have trouble with my water/sodium balance. This is a sign for me that my adrenals haven't fully recovered, since the hormone aldosterone (regulates the water/sodium balance) is also managed by the adrenals. I believe when they are healed, my water retention will also go away.
I am still in two minds about if I should start doing some workouts again. I'm really trying to listen to my body at this time and not do what I have always done, which is; Just do it. If I listen closely, I still don't want to work out. The question is, do I trust my body's signals or am I just getting too comfortable not doing any training?? My logic tells me, if my body is healthy, it would want to exercise and use energy. If it's still trying to heal a damaged metabolism, it wouldn't want to use any energy, other than on fixing the body. Hmm.. I guess I just kinda answered that my self ;-) I'll wait a little longer.

Today I did some thinking/reflecting to as WHEN I really started doing some serious havoc on my body. I guess it's no surprise that competition diets is not doing any favors for the body. I noticed that every competition prep got harder and harder, over the years. But at my last comp, I really reached my ultimate best condition. I did 1 hour and 40mins at the end of my diet, plus my weight sessions. I was at the lowest body fat in my life! Even my legs (which is most girls problem area due to estrogen) had deep separations! My cheeks was totally sunken in. When you look/feel more dead than alive, you know you have reached your goal (pretty sick, huh?)!
On top of that, I had a lot of things going on in my life, I did some hardcore partying too (just minus the party) and totally overdid the dieting (I have no idea how my body managed to stay alive on the minimum of calories I was consuming. To make matters worse, I was on the show Survivor, which meant real starvation was a reality!
I never gave my body the time to heal from what I had put it through. I never did a re-feed  for real. For 2 days after the comp, I ate whatever I wanted and then jumped right back in the saddle. I remember having ravenous hunger afterwards but I ignored it or killed it with drugs (I was in a pretty bad place).

Today I realized, I am paying for all of that now. The dieting, the overexercising, the partying -EVERYTHING! I totally abused my body back then and instead of resting and re-feeding, I just continued the abuse and never looked back.

Poor body, what have I done to you.. I am so, so sorry.. Please forgive me..

I'm back!

I absolutely adore Hungary! I love how they live so primitive! I wouldn't mind moving there, at all! We had awesome weather! Sun, sun, sun, even though it was chilly. We went to the Thermal bath, which is steamy hot mineral water, coming from deep in the ground. It's about 70 degrees Celsius when it hits the pool and about 40 all over the pool. It.s an outside pool and people come on all times of the day, even though the weather is minus degrees. It's been told that people have been cured of various skin diseases, from this water. When ever we went there, we filled up bottles and brought them back home, to use as drinking water. My skin sure felt amazing and soft afterwards.
The food is so cheap, we felt like kings when going out for dinner! Goulash soup was one of my favorites and of course their yummy desserts!
I also got a dentist appointment while I was there, because it is so much cheaper than in my country.
On our last night, we went to a 5 star hotel and ate their buffet. It's a shame the human body doesn't come with an extra stomach, I sure could have used it that evening. LOL! After dinner we went to the hotel bar and got drinks. We were smoking water pipe while watching belly dance, surrounded by the most awesome live band, which played something that reminded of Spanish music.
i didn't get to taste any raw milk as we ran out of time but their milk, butter and cheese in general tasted fantastic because their cows all are grass fed and they don't destroy the fat particles with centrifugation. I ate a fair bit of white bread because it's a tradition there. I tried getting hold of oats but without any luck. The closest resembling of oats I could find, didn't dissolve in hot water so I'm not sure exactly what it was.
My stomach totally clenched on me. I think it was the lack of proper fiber. On the same note, my stomach always does that when I am on vacation. I couldn't sleep either. Probably from all the excitement. It doesn't take much to mess up my sleep pattern (which is pretty messed up anyway.LOL) It's weird because the room I slept in had a fireplace and the softest bed ever! I lay under the covers and just listened to the soft warm crackling fire -like just out of a movie... Ahhhh.. Maybe that was the problem. I was enjoying myself too much, looking at the fire, that I didn't want to close my eyes.
My grandmother was with us too and we were the only two people who ran in between each other, to the toilet, all night. The only difference is that my granny is 85 years old! My bladder doesn't seem to get that though ;-P
I had colds hands and feet on the whole trip. Not even the Thermal bath could fix that. Only 10 mins after I got up, they were ice cold again. I have been told once by a doctor, that my cold hands and feet are related to kidney problems. That could maybe also explain my bladder problems.
I couldn't help from noticing the body shape of the general Hungarians. All the elderly people had the pot belly! The young people was generally slim though.
All though the country is poor, they seem content.