Turn On Kidneys Like a Water Tap
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, this is Katherine, welcome to 00Kidney.
Today’s video is all about treatments and cures to lower creatinine levels in kidney disease patients.
Yes, there are ways to beat kidney disease and I’ve seen people doing it.
But I’m absolutely not saying that improving kidney function is easy, because otherwise nobody would end up on dialysis and nobody would need a kidney transplant.
No, unfortunately kidney disease and renal failure are terrifying illnesses that are taking an incredible toll on the world population.
But in today’s video I’m not going to tell you how scary and devastating kidney disease, CKD, is.
You, as a patient, already have to be brave enough to fight kidney disease without me or anyone else trying to scare you.
So I want to focus on the solution rather than the problem.
Today we are going to learn a little bit about kidney disease and how it works, so we can understand a little bit better how to lower creatinine levels and how to improve kidney function.
So we are going to see what therapies and treatments actually work and what herbal remedies and supplements you can use to improve your GFR.
You see I have some home remedies here with me that I want to show you, because maybe they can help you.
You probably already have at home a couple of these, so knowing how they can help is important.
I’m making this video for anyone with kidney problems, actually.
So, either if you have already been diagnosed with CKD or if you only just know that you may have problems with the kidneys, in this video you will find information that can help you.
And I know that doctors always tell their patients that damaged kidneys cannot be healed.
They say that when the kidneys have been impaired for too long or when there’s scarring there’s no way of getting kidney function back.
I’ve met a lot of patients to whom doctors gave very incomplete information about their disease and in some cases no information at all.
They don’t tell you how to manage the disease, how to put together a balanced diet to improve kidney function and what treatments can lower creatinine levels.
Because that would be a lot of work and in too many cases they have just too many patients.
So they just tell you that kidney disease can only progress to a renal failure and the only outcomes are a transplant or dialysis.
In no way you can stop the progression of the disease or lower creatinine levels.
But that’s absolutely not true.
Yes, there are things you can do to improve your creatinine levels and to get kidney function back.
Actually, researchers studying stem cells discovered that the kidney is the organ in the body with the greatest ability to repair itself.
And this shouldn’t surprise anyone, since the renal system is in constant contact with all the toxins we put in our bodies all day long.
So it has to be able to fight back, and to restore its damaged cells.
And when I say toxins I’m not just talking about unhealthy foods.
The kidneys have to deal with everything our bodies goes through, the pollution in the air, the stress of our day by day lives and… even prescription drugs.
Yes, there are a lot of drugs, like antibiotics or pain relievers that are regularly prescribed to people and that can do damage to the kidneys.
NSAIDs like ibuprofen are proven to be nephrotoxic.
Popular diuretics like furosemide often prescribed to patients with kidney disease are proven to be dangerous too and even ACE inhibitors.
I don’t want to discredit doctors in general here, I just want to tell you that treating kidney disease is a lot more complicated than it seems.
So, even if your doctor told you that you have no chances of reversing your kidney disease or to lower your creatinine levels, don’t lose hope because there could still be a way.
But you, as a kidney disease patient should be really involved in your own care to find the right way for you to improve your renal health.
And this mean that you already did the right thing getting informed about your condition.
So, let’s try to understand a bit more about the condition we need to fight, chronic kidney disease.
What is chronic kidney disease
ok here
Chronic kidney disease, or CKD in short, is a condition characterized by a gradual loss of kidney function over time.
Ok, I know that this is basic information for a lot of you but we’ll move quickly on the more advanced part of the video.
The kidneys main job is to clean the blood and dispose of filtered waste through the urine.
And we know that they do a lot more than that, but that’s their main job.
You have two kidneys but you need only one to survive.
this is both a good and a bad thing. It’s good because it means that our kidneys are going to withstand a lot of troubles before giving up.
But it’s bad because a lot of people damage their kidneys without even noticing.
1 in 3 adults is at risk for developing CKD.
This is a terrifying number. It means that 1 in 3 adults has some risk factors for CKD, like diabetes, hypertension or smoking.
Now, what this infographic doesn’t tell us, is that having one of these risk factors doesn’t mean that a person is just at risk for kidney disease, it means that the damage is already being done on the kidneys.
Chronic kidney disease is the gradual loss of kidney function, which happens over the years.
In the early stages of chronic kidney disease, you may have few signs or symptoms.
Now, the treatment for chronic kidney disease focuses on slowing the progression of the kidney damage, usually by controlling the underlying cause.
So the priority for someone with kidney disease is to control the cause of the damage and the risk factors.
These two terms are not interchangeable but they mean almost the same thing here.
Diabetes, hypertension, obesity or smoking are the most common, but there are other causes.
Now, the sooner we find out about something that’s damaging the kidneys, the sooner we can treat it and try to improve things.
Ok, there’s a question we need to answer right now, it’s maybe the most important question about kidney disease and we need to understand it to understand and fight this disease.
here
Why so many people have CKD?
Why are there so many people suffering from kidney disease today?
Why so many people have CKD, chronic kidney disease?
Let’s take a look at the statistics, these numbers are pretty impressive, actually.
And they will also tell you that you are not alone in this.
15% of North Americans have CKD and more than 37 million have some form of the disease.
Only in the US, 37 million people, 15% of US adults, are ESTIMATED to have CKD.
Estimated, that’s important. Not diagnosed.
Yes, we are talking about one American in 7.
Now, if we take a look at the population over the age of 65, the numbers are even scarier, since one in 4 has CKD in some form.
Of all these people with CKD, the 20% is awaiting a transplant, meaning that they’re in the last stage of the disease.
But the scariest number is another.
This. Only 4% of people with early kidney disease are aware of it.
That’s the number of people actually diagnosed with CKD in the first two stages of the disease.
So 96% of people with early kidney disease are not aware of it.
They cannot stop it, they can’t do anything to prevent kidney disease from progressing to the advanced stages.
And this is a real problem, because CKD is really harder to manage and to treat in the advanced stages.
Now, while these numbers are only referred to the US population, Chronic kidney disease is a worldwide epidemic.
I’m insisting on these numbers because anything that can increase public awareness about the disease can help, really.
So even sharing this video with anyone you know who is over the age of 65 may help, because they’re at greater risk for CKD and they may even have it without knowing it.
Yes, spreading awareness can help everyone suffering from this disease.
And obviously the sooner people can get diagnosed with the disease, the more the chances of treating it with successful results.
There are five stages of kidney disease. I’ll show you this very briefly today because I want to focus more on the causes.
Understanding and treating the cause of CKD is the only way to get kidney function back and to lower creatinine levels.
But this is still very important.
So, there are five stages of kidney disease with decreasing kidney function and increasing creatinine levels.
as you can see in this chart, CKD is divided in 5 stages, from mild damage in Stage 1 to kidney failure in Stage 5.
These stages are based on how well the kidneys can filter the blood.
GFR means glomerular filtration rate, it tells us how much blood the kidneys can filter each minute.
It can also be seen as a percentage of kidney function: if your GFR is 100, then your kidneys are likely working at 100%. If it’s 50 they’re at 50% and so on.
As you can see from this chart, the very first symptom only show up in stage 3a, when kidney function is between 59% and 45%.
Now, the very first symptom is foam in the urine.
Changes in the appearance of the urine, color and the presence of foam, are often the very first visible symptom of kidney problems.
And that’s a pretty difficult symptom to spot.
I mean, a lot of people tend to ignore pain and serious troubles…
who is going to notice if their urine looks slightly different?
In fact, according to statistics, most of the people don’t get diagnosed with CKD until the advanced stages, where the symptoms are more noticeable.
You see, symptoms like back pain and swelling, symptoms that people would always notice are only going to show up when there’s less than 50% kidney function remaining.
The point here is that CKD has very few symptoms and it can progress to the more advanced stages without the patient noticing.
This is why we need to focus on causes and risk factors.
So, either if you have been already diagnosed with chronic kidney disease or if you have one of these risk factors for kidney disease, what you need to do is to take care of the risk factor, which is also the cause of the problem.
It’s the only way to stop the progression of the disease.
Let me try to make this more clear with a metaphor.
Trying to improve kidney function without treating the cause would be like driving with one foot on the brake and the other on the accelerator.
So yes, you could take herbal remedies and supplements, but if you don’t stop diabetes or high blood pressure the results are not going to be good.
So the only way to solve the problem and to remove the foot from the brake is to treat the cause.
ok, as we can see here there are several causes of chronic kidney disease.
7% of the cases are caused by glomerular disease, a disease caused by an infection or a drug that is harming the kidneys.
6% miscellaneous
4% unknown origin
4% type 1 diabetes
3% cystic hereditary, this is polycystic kidney disease
3% nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys
3% tumors
All these causes, combined together, account for about 30% of the cases of kidney disease.
The remaining 70% is caused by just two risk factors:
the number 2 is high blood pressure, causing 28% of cases and involving more than 1 in 5 people with CKD.
And the number 1 is type 2 diabetes, causing 42% of the cases of CKD and involving more than 1 in 3 people with this disease.
Other risk factors for kidney disease include
a family history of CKD, being overweight, smoking and being 50 years old or more.
Now, not all of the causes and risk factors of CKD can be treated unfortunately, but the most common can.
You can’t do very much for example if you have lupus or polycystic kidney disease, other than treating the symptoms. Or if you are 50 years old or more.
Cannot go back in time, right?
But you can do a lot if your problem is caused by diabetes, high blood pressure or if you are overweight or a smoker.
Now, since we are talking about statistics, I can tell you that a lot of people have all these four causes and risk factor together, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking and being overweight.
And many of them don’t actually know they have kidney disease too, because it still hasn’t been diagnosed.
But I can assure you that if a person has had even one of these for some years, their kidneys are going to be already damaged.
So, if you know anyone that smokes or that has diabetes or high blood pressure… send them this video now.
The sooner this disease gets diagnosed, the more the chances of reversing it.
Ok, I promised you that I was going to focus on the solution today, right?
So let’s see what you should do if you have
Diabetic kidney disease
Diabetic nephropathy (diabetes induced kidney disease) occurs when the blood sugar is not controlled and off balance.
Too much glucose, sugar, in the blood makes your kidneys work harder.
Since diabetic nephropathy is caused by unstable blood sugar which damages the kidneys,
our first goal should be to stabilize the blood sugar with the proper diet and medications.
So usually patients are prescribed medications to control blood sugar levels, like Metformin and insulin.
Obviously your doctor will be prescribing you these medications.
Now, with diabetic nephropathy the proper diet is absolutely essential.
Your dietitian will give you nutritional guidelines that tell you how much protein, fat and carbohydrate you can eat, as well as how much potassium, phosphorus and sodium you can have each day.
Because your diet needs to be lower in these minerals, you’ll limit or avoid certain foods, while planning your meals.
Portion control is also important. Talk to your dietitian regarding tips for accurately measuring a serving size.
What may be measured as one serving on a regular diet may count as three servings on the kidney diet.
Your doctor and dietitian will also recommend you to eat meals and snacks of the same size and calorie/carbohydrate content at certain times of the day to keep your blood glucose stable.
It’s important to check blood glucose levels often and share the results with your doctor.
There are also supplements and herbal remedies that can help with diabetic kidney disease.
One of the best supplements for diabetics is turmeric.
Curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric, can stabilize and decrease blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.
A 2013 review of studies suggests that curcumin can decrease the level of glucose in blood, as well as other diabetes-related complications, like kidney disease.
Researchers also found out that curcumin may have a role in diabetes prevention.
Another herbal remedy useful for people with diabetes is HORSETAIL.
Horsetail is very powerful when it comes to lowering blood sugar levels.
It is also very useful for people suffering from fluid retention, horsetail is a gentle diuretic that will naturally promote the healing process of your kidneys by helping them removing the unwanted toxins from the body.
Always remember to consult your doctor before taking any supplement.
So let’s see the treatment for the second most common cause of kidney disease, hypertension
Hypertension is the second leading cause of kidney disease in the US and the leading cause among African-Americans. The kidneys are structured to handle blood pressure in a range of 130/80.
As you can see in this infographic, the normal blood pressure numbers should be below 120 for the systolic and below 80 for the diastolic.
If the systolic raises above 120 and below 130, blood pressure is considered elevated, while if the numbers are above 130 on 80 we are talking about hypertension.
If the blood pressure and the pressure delivered to the kidneys remain this high over an extended period of time, it causes harmful effects to the function of the kidneys.
If the blood pressure is high, the pressure to the kidneys is high. The pressure at which kidneys need to filter blood is also high.
This makes the kidneys work harder putting them at a high risk of stress, which can lead to CKD.
So, in case of kidney disease caused by high blood pressure, managing hypertension should be the top priority.
As this infographic reminds us, some lifestyle changes like being more active, eating better and avoiding smoking can greatly help with hypertension.
Obviously checking blood pressure regularly is also very important for everyone.
So get one of these blood pressure monitors and start to use it regularly, so you know exactly if what you’re doing to manage blood pressure is working or not.
A blood pressure monitor is really easy to use but requires a couple of precautions to get the results right.
A lot of people think they have a good blood pressure and then when they go to the doctor to get checked the levels are all over the place.
Why?
Well, in a lot of cases is just stress.
Or maybe they did something wrong while measuring the blood pressure.
So to get it right, even at home,
rest for at least 5 minutes before taking the reading
sit in a chair in a relaxed way
And place your arm at the level of your chest
ok let’s try
You don’t have to put it on too tight or too lose, just find a comfortable size.
Remember that if you have eaten, or smoked or exercised or took any medications in the hour before taking the reading, it may be inaccurate.
another tip to remember is to go to the bathroom before measuring blood pressure
Also you shouldn’t talk while measuring blood pressure.
See, mine is maybe inaccurate, I was talking… and standing
Maybe I should take it again later.
Also to be even more accurate take another reading in five minutes and do an average.
Most important, measure it every day at the same hour, maybe in the morning before breakfast or before going to bed in the evening.
And record everything, write down your pressure day by day so you know if things are getting better or worse.
This alone could literally save the health of your kidneys, in the long run
I also wanted to show you a couple of supplements you can use.
One of the best supplement for people with hypertension is Omega-3 or fish oil supplement.
Ok, all the people with kidney disease should use Omega 3s, actually.
There are a lot of benefits from taking Omega 3 fatty acids: they Can Fight Depression and Anxiety, Can Improve Eye Health, can lower the risk for heart disease and stroke, can fight inflammation, age related decline, can lower fat in the liver, can improve sleep, can improve bone and joint health… Omega 3s can even alleviate menstrual pain and fight cancer.
All these benefits have been studied and proven real.
But most of all, Omega 3s have been found by recent studies to be able to lower hypertension as much as lifestyle changes such as exercising more, cutting back on salt, or limiting alcohol.
So basically everyone should take them, but especially people with kidney disease.
Another really useful and inexpensive supplement is sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda.
This is something that everyone has in their pantry.
But it can be really useful for people with kidney disease.
Studies found out that this cheap, simple supplement improves the nutritional status of patients and has the potential to translate into significant clinical benefits.
It can improve not just the renal function of the patient, but their quality of life as well.
OK then there’s another thing that I want to show you.
A lot of people here are using this program to improve their kidney function and lower their creatinine.
You may have seen their videos here on 00kidney. They were basically able to reverse their kidney disease thanks to what they learned from this program.
I’m leaving a link here if you want to know more.
This is all for today, thank you for watching.
About the Author
Michaelw Hi, my name is Michael and in this blog I'm gonna share the story of how I got off kidney dialysis for good. Getting off dialysis isn't easy at all, and that's why I'm trying to help people as much as I can.
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