Normal Creatinine Levels

Normal creatinine levels in the blood can be tested for by drawing blood, or through a urine sample. Creatinine is a breakdown product of creatine, an important muscle component. Normal creatinine levels in the blood range between 0.8 and 1.4 mg/dL, with lower levels expected in women than in men since men tend to have more muscle mass. Testing for normal creatinine levels can help to diagnose certain dangerous conditions, with abnormally high levels symptomatic of conditions as benign as simple dehydration and as dangerous as acute tubular necrosis, and abnormally low levels being a sign of conditions ranging from late stage muscular dystrophy to myasthenia gravis.

The test to determine abnormal or normal creatinine levels is to measure kidney function. The kidneys remove creatinine from the body, and a malfunctioning kidney can mean that less creatinine is released through urine. The most common method for testing normal creatinine levels in the blood is to draw blood. Before this test is performed, certain medications or drugs should not be taken for a certain period of time, as they can throw off the normal creatinine levels test. Such drugs include kidney damaging cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, cimetidine, cisplatin and other heavy metal chemotherapy drugs, and trimethoprim. 

Treatments for results that differ from normal creatinine levels go along with the root cause of the abnormal readings, rather than the abnormality in the blood's creatinine levels itself. Kidney diseases, when severe enough, can result in one or both of the body's kidneys being removed, the use of dialysis, and even kidney transplants in the most severe cases. Your physician will explain whether or not your test has resulted in showing normal creatinine levels or abnormal, and further measures to diagnose the cause.