HELP! Kidney failure

[suzanne marie]

Hello everyone, I'm new to this sight and working on the raw diet concept. However, at this moment my concerns are with my 66 year old mother. She is dying and I am praying for a miracle. She has renal (kidney) failure and has been going to dialysis 3 times a week for a couple months now. She's really taken a plunge in the last two weeks, she's not eating and lost 25+ pounds in ten days and weighs under 100 pounds. Her fingernails and toenails have turned blue, shes been wearing a diaper for a while now and she is too weak to walk. I've heard of miracle cures for cancer like Dr. Budwigs flax oil, honey, and cottage cheese diet. I'm wondering if anyone reading this message has ever heard of a natural treatment for kidney failure? Any advice is welcome! Thanks,Suzanne Marie

[auntbilliegail]

I am not sure about a cure, but I'll pray for your mom and I'll pray you find that cure.

[kmik]

More prayers here too. {{{Hugs}}} through this difficult time!

[Revvell]

I don't know how helpful this would be yet, check out Richard Schulze's site ~ his products have been known to be of great assistance. http://www.dr-schulze.com/home_1024x768.asp


Best to you and your mom ~

Revvell

[Sunshine9]

You are in my thoughts and prayers!

My idea would be to get her on watermelon juice asap! It is enormously cleansing to the whole body, especially the kidneys.

[Gosia]

I did a quick search on the topic and found some links that might be useful. From what I read, it appears that a diet high in protein and fat could be a factor, so removing the cause is important. Below, the mentioned links:

* A book about a cancer therapy, also used for kidney failure:
http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/catalog/books_acancertherapy.html

* A healing story:
http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/hotline/Feb03_hotline.html

* Contributing factors (in one of the paragraphs there):
http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020121horne/020121ch21.html

* Now, I've no idea what's exactly in this one, but thought it might be relevant. It's got some stuff on kidney failure in it.
http://www.drmirkin.com/mp3s/hour24.mp3


Take care,
Gosia.

[LNdolls]

I know this may be the unpopular reply - but having my own mom pass from lung cancer this year - I say just be with her as she goes. If she was open to healing she would have made a move before this. Let this time be precious, special and enjoy what time you have with her.
My blessings to your whole family.
LN

[calee]

I'm so sorry about your mother. My own experience with renal failure was with my father who was on dialysis for 4 years and died last year and 90.5 years old. In the end it was his heart that gave out, not his kidneys.

From this experience, I know that dialysis patients must be on a highly restricted diet or it will cause real complications. We can all sit here and recommend what foods to eat but I think that perhaps it isn't in her best interest. Watermelon for instance is very sweet and watery and a dialysis patient has to regulate their fluids carefully. If I remember correctly, the total fluids per day was only a couple of glasses. He had to measure everything from sips of water to the milk (yeah, I know) that he put into his coffee. There are many foods that can be near fatal for a dialysis patient.

I can hear that you want your mom to find a miracle. This may go against the general rule of raw, but I highly suggest you speak to your mom's dialysis center and get the guidelines for what she can eat and tolerate, then help your mom make the best decisions. I don't think it's written anywhere that meat and dairy needs to be part of the plan. I know this will sound awful, but Ensure is one of the things recommended for dailysis patients. They make drink, bars and pudding. If your mother isn't eating, maybe you can get her to drink some. It's balanced so that her system won't get thrown out of wack. My father ate tiny meals and maintained his weight at around 120 for the 4 years he was on dialysis. Maybe a little nourishment into your mom might help her get her strength back.

Check out some of the sites that people are recommending here. We all want only the best for you, but remember that none of us are doctors.

If and when the time comes to do as LNdolls recommended, I wish you strength and a good support system. I know this time has to be incredibly difficult for both you and your mother. I'll keep her in my prayers.

Lee

[theresaann]

I recommend writing or calling Dr. Lorraine Day. She's a major medical doctor who cured her own cancer and now helps others (drday.com). Also, Sherry Rogers, M.D. is great-she advocates macrobiotics, mostly.

I've worked with many, many terminal patients as they were passing (I am a craniosacral therapist and medical intutive) and I can tell you, even if the body starts healing, if the will to let go is stronger, they'll let go. In the reverse, if the will to stay in the body is very strong, people can stay in the body for a long time after the body seems to shut down. Essentially, in my experience, if the will to stay in body is strong enough, go for healing and give it all you've got! If not, be with her while she transitions. How do you know how she feels? you have to ask. Sometimes just having the courage to ask people if there is anything they need to be complete can be tremendously supportive-giving that kind of spiritual support, no matter what they choose to do.

many blessings to you and your mom!

[shakti17]

yes, i remember the ensure shakes. my mom died from kidney failure 3 years ago, she was 58 and had been sick for 6 years. i think on dialysis for 5 years. they say you can live about 5 yrs on dialysis.

actually, that was how i discovered the raw diet. i was already vegan, because of not wanting to harm animals. when my mom got sick, i searched desperately for an alternative treatment for her. i found the raw diet, but she didn't want any of it. i think somewhere she wanted to die.

my mom was not eligible for a kidney transplant, because she had a disease, amyloidosis, which would have effected the new kidney. hopefully your mom can do something like a transplant. also, i did hear a story of someone who lived 16 years after having kidney failure when he went on a raw diet. contact dr. fred bisci in new york. he told me about a client that he healed of kidney failure. he is a raw food nutritionist, has been for many years, and he works w paul nison.

what i learned from the whole experience was that, as someone also said, i wish i could have been there for my mom more in love and support - not bothering her to follow a diet that she didn't want.... whatever your mom wants to do is her choice. yes, that is a good idea what someone said about the restrictive dialysis diet and making the best choices. she probably has no energy, and may appreciate your help. just being there w. her is the most important. i hope this makes sense. i know what you are going through, and i pray for you and your mom. please contact me if you want to.

shakti

[Mrs.Clause]

I am very sorry.

[Revvell]

yes, i remember the ensure shakes. shakti

I'm sorry to bring this up at this time yet, unless things have changed over the years, Ensure is filled with sugar. I had a client who brought out a can and told me this is what the doctor told her to drink as she refused to eat. Well, sugar water w/ sythetic vitamins is not conducive to life as she found out 6 weeks later.

If it were my mother, I'd be making fresh green juices and veggie juices. That's it!


He had to measure everything from sips of water to the milk (yeah, I know) that he put into his coffee. There are many foods that can be near fatal for a dialysis patient. Ummm, coffee?

R.

[shakti17]

but when you are on dialysis you cannot take liquids. it is a very restrictive diet. the amount of liquids is like nothing. but if she is open to raw foods, see how you can work within the dialysis diet with living foods. yes, i agree, life makes life!

also if she is open to it, visualization, etc i think is so important. mind over matter! a good book is deepak chopra's Quantum Healing

again i wish healing for your mom.

[Janet]

I know this may be the unpopular reply - but having my own mom pass from lung cancer this year - I say just be with her as she goes. If she was open to healing she would have made a move before this. Let this time be precious, special and enjoy what time you have with her.
My blessings to your whole family.
LN

Having lost my mother to Kidney Failure ten years ago, I agree with this.

Be with her. Let her indicate to you, what she wants.

My mother was on dialysis for over 10 years....a very good long time for a patient hooked up three times a week.

She had one failed transplant, 7 surgeries and ten years of crap.

I tried to enjoy her company as much as I could.

Be with her.
Don't try to "cure" her.

[MaxMarie]

I know cats and people aren't the same but here goes...

I suddenly lost my cat Yoshi this year. His older "brother" Murphy took a nosedive in the health department after Yoshi's passing. I put Murphy on Feline Futures raw food diet. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with him and claimed grief. Raw food had helped my health and general well being so much, it couldn't hurt.

We switched vets. The second vet diagnosed Murphy with renal failure. In the same sentence the new vet said Murphy had an amazing will to live and recommended he be put down.

no way. He spent several days in the hospital getting rehydrated and having blood work done. The vet noticed his toxicity levels went up the longer he stayed at the vet. He said Murphy was getting rapidly worse and again said I should put him down. I suggested the toxicity levels were rising because they were giving him kibble instead of his easy to digest raw food diet.

So the vet loaded me up with sub-q fluids and sent me home. 2 weeks later his blood panel showed a significant improvement. The vet agreed with me about the food!

Doing some research I discovered that our B vits are water soluable. So is our potassium. That being the case, the loss of B causes a loss of appetite. The loss of potassium launches heart attacks and stroke. Meaning, those in renal failure die of starvation and heart attack rather than the kidney problem itself.

I got Murphy a super liquid B and a liquid potassium trace mineral supplement from Whole Foods.

While that's very little to go on - it might help a bit. Get a super B to increase her appetite. Get some potassium to stave off heart attack and stroke. Get her to eat more easy to digest raw foods. Less toxins for the body to get rid of.

God bless!

[Janet]

With all due respect, do NOT give her potassium.

Potassium and renal failure are HUGE issues. Chances are they're monitoring her potassium levels very carefully. Potassium is sometimes referred to as the 'quiet killer" because overload is sometimes the cause in an older person dying in their sleep.

I spent the first five years working with my mother (very open to it all) and her "nutritionist" etc.

I'm not saying renal failure isn't reversible. I'm saying that by this stage in your mother's kidney failure, she's on different meds, her body does not process things like potassium, salts, suppliments etc. Her kidneys are being substituted with a manmade fiber filter.

Please...be very careful if you are attempting changes in her diet and most importantly in the meds/suppliments or fluids.

It is HER comfort that counts now. HER choices.

She'll tell you what she wants.

[sweetgoddess]

Just to let you know, I spoke with Alissa about my mother, who is also on dialysis. This is something you cannot help your mother with. If she were to go the route of detoxification and diet change, she would ABSOLUTELY NEED to be somewhere she can be supervised at all times by somebody with a lot of experience in this exact area. And there is only 1 person I know of who has experience with this.

You cannot help her with this on your own.

But you can love her and give her your company as already suggested. And maybe you could do a consultation with Alissa if you needed to know more.

Hugs
Carmel

[Sharon in Colorado]

If she could only have a cup of liquid a day, wouldn't a fresh, live juice or at least clean water be better than a dead drink?

Wouldn't a little live food be better than a cracker?

I'm just trying to understand. If this is the end, shouldn't she at least have something natural?

People told me stories about how they were given DAYS to live and they did raw as a last resort and were healed. Why not do live food in those last days. If it is too late anyway, why not at least try some fresh foods?

[Janet]

If she could only have a cup of liquid a day, wouldn't a fresh, live juice or at least clean water be better than a dead drink?

Wouldn't a little live food be better than a cracker?

I'm just trying to understand. If this is the end, shouldn't she at least have something natural?

People told me stories about how they were given DAYS to live and they did raw as a last resort and were healed. Why not do live food in those last days. If it is too late anyway, why not at least try some fresh foods?

It is her mother's choice to "try" something.

If one hasn't been around dialysis or been run on a dialysis machine, then they have NO idea how painful and exhausting the whole process can be.

If her mom wants "natural" ...then fine. Fresh juice, whatever the case. It's her mom's choice. If she turns the offer down, her daughter MUST accept that.

But at this point she's lucky to have time with her mother. She should spend that time wisely....which in my opinion should not be trying to get her to try these things if she doesn't want to. I WISH I still had my mother to talk to.

This isn't about what the daughter wants (which is for her mother to live a healthy life)

This is about the mom. Her wants, her needs, her tolerances.

Sometimes we need to leave things be.
Raw/natural isn't always the answer.

[Rawkinlocs]

I think Janet has a point, but at the same token, I think we ALL need to stop making assumptions here because the originator of this thread hasn't specified that her mother is willing or UNwilling to try "xyz".

I see what Janet is saying, kinda like people who are sick and the loved ones want to keep them around even if it means being hooked up to machines, etc. while the person who is actually sick/dying may have expressed they don't want that. Maybe their actually ready to pass on...we don't know what the case is in this situation. Maybe she would like to live on, but feels hopeless and that nothing can be done but if she even thought there were, she'd be willing to try.

All I got from Suzanne is that her mother isn't eating...seemingly at all.

I have family members going through dialysis (my maternal grandmother and my father-in-law) and yes, they have to be very careful of what they take in...they've both told me how restrictive the diet is...no bananas, no tomatoes, my grandmother said she can't have her cooked greens that were fresh picked or canned, but can cook and eat frozen ones (go figure) and a whole host of other do's and don'ts.

I believe in working with the person where they are, so if their doctor says no fresh greens, then I assume that would mean no green juices and in a sensitive case as this, I'd honor that and perhaps see what I COULD give them that was healthy.

But again, it IS up to the person who is going through this...but none of us knows that so there is no sense in going back and forth about it and the OP hasn't said either way.

[Gosia]

about the reliability of what the western doctors say. My personal experience with relying on what western doctors say have only confirmed my doubts. For example, when I was in my 20s, one doctor diagnosed me with a certain female-type health problem and insisted that I had to absolutely go on some hormone therapy, or I could have serious problems with getting pregnant in the future. I rejected the idea. Well, I have two children now. In each case, I got pregnant straight away! I have gone countless times to see a doctor about my yeast infections, with no help at all. I cured myself by simply changing my diet. My son used to suffer from bad breath, adn no doctor every cured him. A change of diet did. How many times terminally ill patients recoverd despite being told that they have not long to go? Dr Day recovered from a breast cancer that was a size of an apple. There are raw foodists who got cured from cancer, diabetes, asthma, and other sorts of incurable diseases. Western Doctors do save lives many times, and their job is important, but they are not always right. We all know it very well. Think vaccinations and nutritionsits, for example. I would definitely seek alternative advice from an experienced practitioner who supports and is knowledgable about raw foods, if this was my mom who was sick. My guess is, if she is open to eating some nasty stuff prescribed by her doctor, she might like eating things that are actually yummy and healthy.

Anyway, Suzanne Marie, take care. All the best to you and your mum.
Blessings,
Gosia.

[Sharon in Colorado]

Suzanne Marie - what is she eating right now?

[sweetgoddess]

Gosia, while I agree with you, I have to tell you, this is very different.

Of all the conditions in the world to have, this one IS different.
My mother, who has been on dialysis for 8 years, had a failed transplant only 2 months ago, and she wanted to do raw.

I researched it, consulted with Alissa, wrote a few other people, etc....and it was made very clear to me that I cannot help my mother.
For people with renal failure, detoxification alone is a huge risk.
They would have to come to a place where they realized, ok, there is a possibility of raw helping me repair my kidneys, but in order to get there, I am willing to take a risk , put all my energy and focus into it, and to go through a LOT!. Because that is what to comes down to.

If the original poster wants to pm me for more information about this, I would be happy to share with her everything I have learned.

And I strongly caution anyone not to try to change the diet of somebody on dialysis on your own. I cant tell you how clear this message was made to me.

Warmly~
Carmel

[Janet]

Agreed Carmel.

I, too, did extensive research regarding my mother.

As we've stated, it is a VERY different medical condition. It requires very serious treatment, all specifically measured and calculated for the individual who's own kidneys can't filter what's in the body.

Thanks for the confirmation for those who still may think renal failure is just another med condition. When one's organs start to shut down, it's a whole other ballgame.

Peace
Janet

[suzanne marie]

First of all I want to thank all of you for your valued input! My mothers case is very complicated. She is in Phoenix AZ and I'm in Silverton OR. However my sister has been with her on a daily basis. I found out yesterday morning they took her to the hospital (from her nursing home) She has a bad urinary track infection. She also has a namonia(sp?) When she got back from dialysis she had dryed blood all over her lips. The nurse said she is coughing up blood. I'm going to Phoenix in the next few days. I'd be there now but I'm a single parent with three middle schoolers and am trying to find a good child care situation. My DEEP HEART FELT THANKS AGAIN....... I will write back within the next week and let you know how things are going. Suzanne

[Gosia]

I do not think we are in disagreement. I do not advise "doing it alone", without supervision. On the contrary, advice of an experienced medical practitioner is crucial. Ths point I am making is about the choice of who you listen to.

Suzanne Marie, did you try to contact Dr Graham? He is not just a raw-food nutritionist, but a doctor, with expertise, long-term experience and success in healing. Whatever you do, all the best to you and your mum.

Take care,
Gosia.

[misslinda]

Wow, this thread got me in a whirl of emotions. Suzanne Marie.......we are all thinking of you and your mother. :) That would be great if you can consult with all the raw gurus and start some path of healing. I'm keeping those thoughts of "time" close to heart and keep us posted.



luv and time,
Misslinda

[suzanne marie]

Hello again, to the gal who asked if I contacted Grahm. No I have not. I got more news today. My moms heart and liver are shutting down too. I'm flying in to Phoenix tomorrow to be with her. My wish is she will be freed from her agonizing body. She's been in alot of pain for quite some time now. I wont be reading this thread until I get back from Phoenix (a week or so). Stay healthy all, Love Suzanne:)

[misslinda]

Glad to hear from you Suzanne.........thank you giving us an update. Please know that we are with you during this difficult time.



Let's all send good vibes to her and her family while she is away. :) :) :)

[Rawkinlocs]

Suzanne Marie,

Sending warm and loving vibes and prayers of comfort and peace to you, your family and your mom.

[sweetgoddess]

suzanne marie, my thoughts are with you and your mother. I send out a wish~*~*~that all the blessings of love, both Divine and human be made apparent to you and your mother during your time together.
At the core, in all things, the only thing that really matters is love, and it is obvious you are blessed with that.

Big hugs to you. Let us know when you are back.
May the blessings be,
Carmel