too much protein?

On a blood test I was indicating VERY high levels of Creatinine at one point, indicating kidney function equal to that of a 60-65-year old....

After telling my doctor I was taking in extra protein (food/supplement/bars etc...) I was told to drink more water, as this was the cause of the high levels.

As long as you're taking in extra water to aid your kidneys in the break-down of any additional protein, you shouldn't worry.... but not drinking enough water while ingesting extra WAY down the line, or over an extended period of time CAN lead to reduced kidney function, because they're being made to work extra hard to break it all down... so help them out- drink lots of water if taking in a lot of it.

I wouldn't WORRY about it though; as long as your blood tests (standard) come back normal, you've struck a balance :-)

Don't forget your liver!

Metabolic Functions of the Liver

Hepatocytes are metabolic superachievers in the body. They play critical roles in synthesizing molecules that are utilized elsewhere to support homeostasis, in converting molecules of one type to another, and in regulating energy balances. If you have taken a course in biochemistry, you probably spent most of that class studying metabolic pathways of the liver. At the risk of damning by faint praise, the major metabolic functions of the liver can be summarized into several major categories:

Carbohydrate Metabolism

It is critical for all animals to maintain concentrations of glucose in blood within a narrow, normal range. Maintainance of normal blood glucose levels over both short (hours) and long (days to weeks) periods of time is one particularly important function of the liver.

Hepatocytes house many different metabolic pathways and employ dozens of enzymes that are alternatively turned on or off depending on whether blood levels of glucose are rising or falling out of the normal range. Two important examples of these abilities are:

Excess glucose entering the blood after a meal is rapidly taken up by the liver and sequestered as the large polymer, glycogen (a process called glycogenesis). Later, when blood concentrations of glucose begin to decline, the liver activates other pathways which lead to depolymerization of glycogen (glycogenolysis) and export of glucose back into the blood for transport to all other tissues.
When hepatic glycogen reserves become exhaused, as occurs when an animal has not eaten for several hours, do the hepatocytes give up? No! They recognize the problem and activate additional groups of enzymes that begin synthesizing glucose out of such things as amino acids and non-hexose carbohydrates (gluconeogenesis). The ability of the liver to synthesize this "new" glucose is of monumental importance to carnivores, which, at least in the wild, have diets virtually devoid of starch.


Fat Metabolism

Few aspects of lipid metabolism are unique to the liver, but many are carried out predominantly by the liver. Major examples of the role of the liver in fat metabolism include:

The liver is extremely active in oxidizing triglycerides to produce energy. The liver breaks down many more fatty acids that the hepatocytes need, and exports large quantities of acetoacetate into blood where it can be picked up and readily metabolized by other tissues.
A bulk of the lipoproteins are synthesized in the liver.
The liver is the major site for converting excess carbohydrates and proteins into fatty acids and triglyceride, which are then exported and stored in adipose tissue.
The liver synthesizes large quantities of cholesterol and phospholipids. Some of this is packaged with lipoproteins and made available to the rest of the body. The remainder is excreted in bile as cholesterol or after conversion to bile acids.


Protein Metabolism

The most critical aspects of protein metabolism that occur in the liver are:

Deamination and transamination of amino acids, followed by conversion of the non-nitrogenous part of those molecules to glucose or lipids. Several of the enzymes used in these pathways (for example, alanine and aspartate aminotransferases) are commonly assayed in serum to assess liver damage.
Removal of ammonia from the body by synthesis of urea. Ammonia is very toxic and if not rapidly and efficiently removed from the circulation, will result in central nervous system disease. A frequent cause of such hepatic encephalopathy in dogs and cats are malformations of the blood supply to the liver called portosystemic shunts.
Synthesis of non-essential amino acids.
Hepatocytes are responsible for synthesis of most of the plasma proteins. Albumin, the major plasma protein, is synthesized almost exclusively by the liver. Also, the liver synthesizes many of the clotting factors necessary for blood coagulation.