Diabetic kidney disease is the most common cause of end-stage kidney disease and poses a major global health problem. Finding new, safe, and practical strategies to halt this disease has proven to be challenging for mainstream medicine because their aversion to natural medicine prevents them from understanding the underlying causes.
In this essay, we will explore the use of oxygen therapies, bicarbonates, infrared, hydrogen inhalation, and magnesium therapies that directly address the causes of chronic kidney disease with the intent of vastly reducing the misery and death that comes from end-stage kidney disease.
Each year, kidney disease kills more people than breast or prostate cancer. Kidney disease often has no symptoms in its early stages and can go undetected until it is very advanced. For this reason, kidney disease is often referred to as a "silent disease." More than 661,000 Americans have kidney failure. Of these, 468,000 individuals are on dialysis, and roughly 193,000 live with a functioning kidney transplant.
In 2013, more than 47,000 Americans died from kidney disease. A kidney disease diagnosis means that a person’s kidneys are damaged and cannot filter blood the way they should. This damage can cause wastes to build up in the body. Kidney disease can cause other health problems, such as heart disease. If you have kidney disease, it increases your chances of having a stroke or heart attack. Major risk factors for kidney disease include diabetes, high blood pressure, and a family history of kidney failure.
Declining Kidney energy can manifest as infertility, sexual dysfunction, menopause, andropause, prostate problems, impaired immunity, chronic inflammation, high blood pressure, heart irregularities, anxiety, loss of physical drive, and low concentration. Other signs and symptoms that your Kidneys are depleted include a sore or weak low back, knees, or ankles; bone or tooth problems; dark circles under your eyes; hearing problems; and premature graying or thinning of your hair.
Thyroid problems or extreme reactions to the climate—feeling especially cold or having lots of hot flashes—are also indications that your Kidneys are out of balance. Edema, kidney stones, and getting up several times each night to urinate all suggest a problem with the Kidneys.
The information you will get from mainstream medicine fails to tell you that kidneys are sensitive to low body temperature, hypoxia (low oxygen conditions), toxicity, and like every organ in the body, they are sensitive to magnesium deficiencies. They are also susceptible to acidic conditions of the fluids and the blood.
The kidneys are highly metabolically active organs and second only to the heart with respect to oxygen consumption (QO2) per tissue mass. Despite excessive oxygen delivery owing to abundant perfusion, the kidneys are considerably susceptible to hypoxic injury.
Thus it is dangerous for kidney patients to wear masks because they cut down on oxygen intake. The brain competes with the kidneys, and our hearts for oxygen, so listen to Dr. Margarite Griesz-Brisson MD, Ph.D. who is a Consultant Neurologist and Neurophysiologist with a Ph.D. in Pharmacology, who says about facemasks and their effects on our brains:
"The reinhalation of our exhaled air will, without a doubt, creates oxygen deficiency and a flooding of carbon dioxide.”
The kidney shows a remarkable discrepancy between blood supply and oxygenation. Despite high blood flow and oxygen delivery, the kidney’s oxygen tensions are comparatively low, particularly in the renal medulla. The limitation in renal tissue oxygen supply renders the kidney susceptible to hypoxia and has long been recognized as an essential factor in the pathogenesis of acute renal injury.
When the kidneys do not receive enough oxygen, they send out a distress signal in the form of erythropoietin. This hormone stimulates the bone marrow to produce more oxygen-carrying red blood cells. However, suppose certain essential minerals are missing, like iodine and magnesium. In that case, the body has a hard time bringing up red blood cells to the proper level or maintaining them with the appropriate shape to ensure they function at optimal levels.
Yet we do not see doctors prescribing the kinds of treatments that address hypoxia because they are all-natural. Everyone knows that mainstream doctors and the organizations that stand behind them, including the CDC and the FDA, are dead set against natural medicine. Why is mainstream dead set against natural medicine? Pharmaceutical bankruptcy is the answer! This disdain for non-pharmaceutical approaches is especially telling for kidney patients and diabetics
It’s common for people who have chronic lung diseases, such as COPD, to have other health conditions. Chronic renal failure is one condition that can occur in association with chronic lung diseases.
When the kidneys receive insufficient oxygen, hypoxia (low blood oxygen) can occur, and chronic renal failure can follow. As kidney disease progresses, the kidneys become increasingly full of fibrous tissue, and they cannot filter the blood or regulate salt properly.
The type of oxygen therapies available in hospitals does not help much and can even be dangerous. One of the most excellent treatments for kidney patients who are still mobile is EWOT (Exercise with Oxygen Therapy).
All kidney patients should be prescribed breathing retraining because too fast breathing drives down CO2 levels in the blood, and as we will see below, this drives down oxygen delivery to the cells. Everyone benefits by getting control of their breathing!
Oxygen deprivation is biologically associated with most types of chronic diseases, including cancer. Stress, fear, anxiety, and worry cause not only shallow breathing but a habit of literally not breathing as much as needed by holding the breath. Those with the worst breathing habits are often people who do not do any exercise. A sedentary lifestyle is the worst thing for breathing.
Hydrogen Therapy
Molecular hydrogen therapy is considered a useful method to alleviate kidney structure damage, protect renal function, and resist inflammatory reaction and oxidative reaction. Tubular epithelial cell damage was ameliorated with H2 inhalation, as was the glomerular filtration membrane.
Hydrogen gas is another important factor in preventing renal dysfunction and is especially useful for end-stage kidney disease. Increased oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory conditions, commonly present in chronic dialysis patients, is associated with the excess morbidity and mortality seen in these patients.
The hydrogen molecule (H2) has a unique biological capacity to act as an antioxidative and anti-inflammatory substance. Applying hydrogen gas and water can make the difference between life and death for advanced kidney patients offering hope, especially when combined with other therapies. Medical scientists have shown short- and long-term protective effects of inhaled hydrogen gas on renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in a rat model. Their conclusion: hydrogen gas significantly attenuated renal I/R injury in early and late periods
Baking Soda and Kidney disease
Normal adults eating typical Western diets tend to have chronic, low-grade acidosis, which increases with age. This excess acid, or acidosis, is considered to contribute to many diseases and contributes to the aging process. Acidosis often occurs when the body cannot produce enough bicarbonate ions (or other alkaline compounds) to neutralize the body’s acids formed from metabolism and drinking highly acidic drinks like Coke and Pepsi. Even bottled mineral water can be too acidic.
From the National Kidney Foundation, we read:
Healthy kidneys remove acid from the body through urine, and they keep the right amount of bicarbonate (base) in the blood. But in CKD, the kidneys can’t remove enough acid, which can lead to metabolic acidosis.
The normal level of serum bicarbonate is 22-29 mEq/L. Kidney experts recommend that patients not have their serum bicarbonate levels fall below 22 mEq/L.
For people with CKD, metabolic acidosis is defined as persistently low bicarbonate levels of less than 22 mEq/L in the blood.
Sodium Bicarbonate is one of the essential medicines we have for kidney disease. Research by British scientists at the Royal London Hospital shows that sodium bicarbonate can dramatically slow the progress of chronic kidney disease.
Dr. SK Hariachar, a nephrologist who oversaw the Renal Hypertension Unit in Tampa, Florida, stated, upon seeing the research on bicarbonate and kidney disease, "I am glad to see confirmation of what we have known for so long. I have been treating my patients with bicarbonate for many years in attempts to delay the need for dialysis, and now we finally have a legitimate study to back us up. Not only that, we have the added information that some people already on dialysis can reverse their condition with the use of sodium bicarbonate."
Military manuals suggest doses or infusions of sodium bicarbonate to help alkalinize the urine if uranium contaminates the kidneys. This makes the uranyl ion less kidney-toxic and promotes excretion of the nontoxic uranium carbonate complex. The oral administration of sodium bicarbonate diminishes the severity of the changes produced by uranium in the kidneys.
The first randomized controlled trial on bicarbonate supplementation and CKD progression was published in 2009 by de Brito-Ashurst and colleagues. Bicarbonate is produced by the kidneys and serves to neutralize the acid. Supplementation of bicarbonate for one year in CKD patients slowed the progression of kidney disease as suggested by creatinine clearance and reduced the need for dialysis.
The next year, in 2010, a 5-year trial was published by Donald Wesson’s group that found a slowed kidney decline as measured by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) with bicarbonate supplementation. Several subsequent studies by his group have used bicarbonate or fruits and vegetables to achieve beneficial outcomes.
Bicarbonate ion concentrations decrease the formation of acid by carbonic anhydrase enzyme (Le Chatelier’s principle). In the presence of magnesium and bicarbonate ions, less acid is produced by the carbonic anhydrase enzyme. Sodium bicarbonate-rich mineral water in conjunction with a low-salt diet has a beneficial effect on calcium homeostasis. Sodium bicarbonate administration increases urinary pH. Urinary pH between 6.5 and 7.0 can keep uric acid ionized and prevent its crystallization in renal tubules.
Bicarbonate ions neutralize the acid conditions required for chronic inflammatory reactions. Sodium bicarbonate effectively treats overdoses from chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs by negating their cardiotoxic and neurotoxic effects.
Sodium bicarbonate possesses the property of absorbing heavy metals, dioxins, and furans. A comparison of cancer tissue with healthy tissue from the same person shows that the cancer tissue has a much higher concentration of toxic chemicals, pesticides, etc.
If the level of carbon dioxide/bicarbonates in the blood is lower than usual, this leads to difficulties in releasing oxygen from hemoglobin. Poor oxygenation or hypoxia appears to be a favorable environment for cancer development, whereas adequate oxygenation favors healthy tissue growth. Increasing Co2 levels through the use of sodium bicarbonate are useful in cancer treatment because bicarbonate drives up CO2 levels in the blood, which improves oxygenation to the cells.
Magnesium and Kidney Disease
As we age, our kidneys lose their efficiency in the regulation of magnesium. Magnesium absorption decreases with age. Around the age of 70, it becomes two-thirds of what it usually is at around 30.
The kidneys are dumping from the blood excess nutrients that the body does not need or cannot process at the moment. Magnesium-deficiency studies on the kidneys have shown intraluminal calcareous deposits in the corticomedullary area and damage to the tubular epithelium. Damage to the kidneys from magnesium deficiency creates a negative feedback loop that intensifies magnesium deficits.
Micropuncture studies have shown that most active renal tubular reabsorption of magnesium occurs at sites potentially damaged by magnesium deficiencies, meaning these conditions can cause renal tubular magnesium wasting.
When you introduce magnesium into a human body, calcium dissolves; it becomes more water-soluble. The same thing happens in your bloodstream, heart, brain, kidneys, and all the tissues in your body. If you do not have enough magnesium to help keep calcium dissolved, you may end up with calcium-excess muscle spasms, fibromyalgia, hardening of the arteries, and even dental cavities.
Another scenario plays out in the kidneys. If there is too much calcium in the kidneys and not enough magnesium to dissolve it, you get kidney stones. It is magnesium that controls the fate of calcium in the body. If magnesium is insufficient, calcium will be deposited in the soft tissues (kidneys, arteries, joints, brain, etc.). Calcium intakes above 2.6 grams per day may reduce the uptake and utilization of magnesium by the body, and excessive calcium intakes increase magnesium requirements.
One of the most pleasant treatments for the kidneys is magnesium oil, which is applied transdermally to the lower back and the rest of the body.
Infrared Therapy
Keeping the kidneys warm is one of the best treatments for them. Infrared therapy using a Biomat, which one uses all night long while sleeping, is perfect for treating cold conditions. Everyone with cold hands and feet, lower back pain, and advanced kidney disease will enjoy treating their low body temperature. Weak kidneys will get excellent support with infrared therapy. FIR heat expands capillaries, stimulating increased blood flow, aids in regeneration, improved circulation, and oxygenation.
Dehydration and Kidney Disease
Courtesy of Brian D. Foltz
It makes sense that chronic dehydration would be a problem for the kidneys. The element in nature associated with the kidneys is water. The organ paired with the kidneys is the bladder, and together both organs govern water metabolism in the body.
To fulfill their primary function of excreting waste products, our kidneys require a minimum amount of water. Healthy kidneys are vital to every organ system. The kidneys control the creeks, mountain streams, and rivers of our body. They give us our ability to be like a young person: flexible and fluid in body, mind, and spirit.
Let water be thy medicine is crucial for kidney patients. Using purified water loaded with either hydrogen, or my favorite, magnesium bicarbonate or sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, and magnesium carbonate will only help, whereas most pharmaceuticals will not.
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