Tag: Kidneys

Posted in Oxalates, Salicylates

Oxalates and Salicylates

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

Oxalates and salicylates are two problems we have had to deal with over the years and I want to share some important breakthroughs. I recently connected some useful dots by reading other authors including a post by Dr. Moore and a lecture by Barbara O’Neill who is a practitioner in Australia. She wasn’t even addressing this topic, but her information helped me have that light bulb moment about oxalates and salicyclates. I’ll link to resources below.

No doubt, you already know what oxalates and/or salicyclates are, OR you are plenty aware of the pain, irritation, inflammation, and dis-ease you are experiencing and may not realize ox and/or sals could be the underlying causes. OR further, you know about them but simply cannot stop the pain. Hopefully my post here will help you solve it.

Oxalates

In my previous post, we had made such a remarkable improvement in the area of kidney stones and oxalates, then we backslid. What the heck happened?!

To figure it out took more time than I care to take when pain is involved, so I’ll hit the main points. But, the answer is simply this:

  • I mistakenly cut back on calcium-magnesium supplement and minerals
  • we had an increase of salicylate consumption
  • I mistakenly decreased an inflammation remedy

To give an aerial overview, I also realized that we (the population) are suffering from oxalate production and stones because we are lacking calcium and minerals.

It’s the calcium and minerals that bind the oxalates and move them out of the body, painlessly, through the colon. Re-read that.

Without calcium and enough minerals, oxalates move painfully through the urinary tract instead. Re-read that.

Without calcium and minerals, those sandy, sharp, pokey deposits scrape and tear the tender tissue of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, urethra, and the prostrate causing inflammation, prostatitis, and can lead to infection.

The biggest factors here? Dairy free diets and mineral depleted soil.

Milk consumption was an easy way to get that calcium, but most of my readers are dairy free.

So, do we go back to eating dairy? Well, for us the answer is no because dairy is inflaming, addictive like an opioid, and (for us) an allergen. Others may choose to get back on it using raw dairy.

Of course we can get our calcium from leafy green vegetables, right?

Or can we?

The first problem is that green leafies, like spinach, are chock-full of oxalates which circles us back to the problem. Some believe you can boil the oxalates out, drain the water, then be left with at least some of the nutrition of green leafies. For some that will work, but I can’t get enough of the oxalates out; we’re still too sensitive to them.

In addition, I realized that American soil is so depleted of minerals that we simply cannot get enough calcium from our food, unless we grow it ourselves. And, I know, I know…buy organic, right? While organic does have less glyphosate (or none, hopefully) than regular foods, still, how do we truly know how much mineral is there?

If we’re suffering from oxalate issues that’s a clue that the minerals are not there, right?

It’s a rat race that I don’t have time or patience for when excruciating pain is involved.

As noted above, oxalates, left unbound by calcium and minerals, exit the body via the urinary route which equals PAIN while mineral-bound oxalates exit the body via the colon which is PAINLESS.

If leaky gut is involved (which is more common than the average person realizes) painful oxalate stones can course all through the blood stream getting into tissue, organs, muscles, bones, and joints. Fibromyalgia anyone? In addition, the body will pull calcium from bones in an attempt to bind oxalates.

Simply stated, calcium or a calcium supplement will bind those oxalates and get them out of the system via the colon. It will even get out old crystals lurking around and it will prevent new crystals from forming.

Be sure to have a low ox diet too. This is paramount alongside getting extra calcium and minerals.

I’ll summarize solutions further below after going over Salicylates.

Salicylates

Salicylates are natural chemicals found in plants that protect them from being eaten by insects and from plant diseases and normally are in such small amounts that people are unaffected. Some people are highly sensitive to salicylates and they can cause the same type of symptoms as oxalates like kidney stones and an irritated urinary system, but also tinnitus, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, depression, panic attacks, headaches, rashes, etc.

If you’re lucky enough to only be affected by just one or the other, you can piecemeal together some pretty decent foods to eat, but if one is affected by both (as we are), it’s quite a balancing act to get a diet right. I have a link to my favorite food guide below which not only helps you to figure out which foods to eat/avoid with respect to both oxalate and salicylate, but it can also help you determine if you are dealing with an oxalate problem, a salicylate problem, or both.

Solutions that Work

  • Add a Calc-Mag supplement at a ratio of 2:1 to mop up existing oxalates and to prevent new ones from forming. Mine has a D3 supplement in it, but I think if you can find it without D3, that is desirable.
  • I am using 2500-3000mg/daily of a Calc-Mag supplement. I think this high dose will be temporary, to get rid of a high amount of bound up oxalate, then we will drop down to a more normal dose (as per muscle testing).
  • Take throughout the day, but also with meals to help mop up incoming oxalates.
  • Alongside the supplement, implement a low/no oxalate menu. It is positively effective to reduce oxalates consumed. Some find they need to slowly reduce oxalates to avoid an oxalate dump.
  • Use a quality mineral supplement. My favorite is from Microbe Formulas called Bio active Carbon Minerals. I have also used Restore minerals as well. They have a new website though in case you didn’t know. A link is here.
  • Use Calcium Citrate supplement to mop up salicylates.
  • For a violent reaction to salicylates, (red ears, stomach pain, major downgrade in behavior, itchy skin) ==> I use a mixture of 1 1/2 tsp of Epsom salt in 4oz of filtered water and drink it. It’s a fast way to get magnesium to the body which seems to put that fire out quickly.
  • Add a natural anti-inflammatory. For us, we use turmeric/curcumin at about 700mg three times a day. There are many others such as herbal Bidens or CBD oil, but we actually don’t muscle test well for either of those.
  • Think about the total intake of salicylates. Turmeric is high in salicylate, you might note, but we are able to handle the supplement as long as we keep other ingestion of salicylates via food at zero or at a minimum.
  • To reduce salicylates some foods don’t need to eliminated, simply peeled. Such as red potatoes (lower in ox, peel to get rid of salicylates), and apples (peel to get rid of salicylates). Even peaches…you may be able to handle the inside of a peach, just not the peel. Often (not always), the salicylates are on the outside of the food.
  • In the Resources below I have links to a great food chart PDF, videos, and other website suggestions.

Resources

Posted in Biofeedback, detox, Kidneys

Kidneys and Biofeedback

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

As promised (albeit 4 posts ago) I am writing about our experience with kidney stones. This has been an issue we’ve dealt with for a very long time, years in fact, but I didn’t realize the extent of the problem. This happens when working with the non-verbal so I commiserate with you if that is your situation also.

The first thing I did was purchase a book called, The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush by Dr. Andreas Moritz. (I’ll circle back to kidneys and biofeedback in a bit.)

Although he is deceased, he left behind a trove of relevant, natural health know-how. This book deep dives into a cool thirty years of experience with thousands of gallbladders successfully treated. He shares crucial facts needed before and during detox. And for heavens sake, do not get your gallbladder removed before reading this book. If you already have had it removed this book will help you deal with the problems that were never solved by succumbing to that $8billion/year cash cow industry.

Some gallbladder cleanses require an extensive amount of work beforehand to make sure the cleanse is successful. Did you know the most important step is working on the kidneys first.

And an oxalate surprise ==> If you’re dealing with oxalate problems now, there’s a good chance you already have kidney stones. They may be small and not causing problem yet, or they are and you don’t know it because of non-verbalness or a high pain tolerance. These stones need to be cleared out before doing a gallbladder cleanse. An easy protocol is in Dr. Moritz’s book.

Symptoms of kidney stones that we had were jumping, screaming, leg hitting and pain in hips and back, difficulty peeing, scanty urine, urine that does not stay in a steady stream or drips in drops. If you still have one in diapers or pull ups, pay attention to hitting the flanks, legs, back, or slamming down on the floor or standing in odd positions to urinate. These could possibly mean kidney/urinary problems and the pain can be excruciating. Sandy stools, of course, would indicate oxalates.

Thankfully Dr. Andreas Moritz has a protocol for the kidney stones. And we used it. But I have more help.

Biofeedback.

Just what is Biofeedback? Simply stated, it is information you get directly from your body by asking it.

Biofeedback may provide a much bigger, overall picture of the situation. Biofeedback can deliver energy frequencies, instantaneously, Over time, biofeedback can retrain the mind and body to gain control over some physiological abilities.

In our case, biofeedback helped to move kidney stones out of the body. Stress causing inflammation and infection in the ureters, bladder, and urethra were reduced.

We had plenty of medical tests on hand revealing infection and oxalate problems, so the Biofeedback scans simply proved what we had already found via lab testing. At the same time, the tests revealed that the biofeedback information was correct. However, biofeedback was the only tool that identified the problem and began correcting it. Because of the information I received from the scan, I could add other things to help such as an oxalate free diet, adding calcium to bind the oxalate, adding minerals to help bind oxalate, increasing water intake, and I added chanca piedra as well. But remember, I am dealing with a non-verbal person here, so you can imagine how wonderful it is to get so much information via the scan. And, to see it confirmed by laboratory testing is an enormous confidence booster.

After we started treating the issue with Biofeedback, the most horrible behaviors like the out- of-nowhere jumping and screaming with pain and hitting the back and flanks has finally STOPPED. That means we can be in public again.

Inflammation and irritation has come way down and she has also been able to pinpoint the exact organ supports needed to reduce the inflammation and infection that can happen while those pokey, pointy stones and oxalates come down. The miraculous result is getting stones out slowly and comfortably in a non-invasive way.

While I can only talk about the things Biofeedback has done for us such as clearing emotions out of organs, reducing and eliminating inflammation, moving kidney stones out of the system, healing leaky gut in record speed (upcoming post), opening the channels of elimination, opening up methylation pathways, and obvious cognitive gains using various brain therapies; I really don’t think there’s any level of stress surrounding wellness that Biofeedback cannot help.

If you’re interested in a non-invasive, safe way to reduce the stress surrounding a multitude of issues including auto-immunity, kidney stones, etc, go to New Leaf Holistic and book an appointment to see how I can help you turn over that New Leaf.

Posted in detox, Kidneys, Liver

Liver and Kidneys

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

These organs hold the keys to a successful detox yet they are often overlooked. We have been through some pretty hairy kidney and liver issues and even though we have not needed dialysis, I don’t think we were far from that stage. Now that we have a better grip on the kidneys and liver, I will share what we did to achieve it.

The short version of how the kidneys work is that blood flows into the kidney via the large renal artery, divides into smaller vessels, and travels to a huge network of millions of nephrons. Each nephron houses a filtering unit called a glomerulus, which traps the bad stuff, plus a tubule which works twofold sending the good stuff back into the blood via the renal vein and dispatching the bad away as urine. Kidney filters are the same as all filters, they can get clogged causing toxicity, stones, organ failure, and pre-mature death. The agony of a dysfunctional kidney will bring a grown man to his knees, instantly.

The liver is not exactly a filter because it doesn’t filter toxins from the blood. Instead, it makes toxins less toxic and easier to excrete by first oxidizing the molecules, then conjugating those molecules to make them less metabolically active and more water-soluble, and finally, exporting the conjugate into the bile and into the intestines. From there, it either leaves in the feces, or is reabsorbed into the bloodstream and exits the body through the urine so that toxins leave the body. They don’t stay in the liver, like in the filters of the kidneys. Nevertheless, the liver is complex, playing a huge role in all metabolic processes of fats, sugars, and proteins, blood-clotting and detox.

We’ve had kidney issues present as irritated kidneys, excruciating oxalates, painful ureters, and urinary discomfort as well as liver dysfunction as determined by a weakened immune system, very low energy levels, digestive problems, pain by the lower right rib cage, mood swings, difficulty concentrating and poor memory, yellowing of the eyes, severe eczema, and gall bladder pain.

Any amount of detox, even natural detox, in this state without proper healing first plus proper support was detrimental to us and it will be for most. A good practitioner will understand the importance that the gut, kidneys, liver, and gallbladder all play in detox and make sure they are healing, healed, and supported. You can’t just go after parasites or pathogens without these checks in place. I know it sounds obvious reading it here on this blog, but daily, in the real world, I see people treating PANDAS, PANS, and Lyme without any consideration of these things! They don’t connect antibiotic use to detox. I see this mistake mostly with allopathy, but I have personally experienced this in homeopathy as well.

First, we desperately needed gut healing. For us, that took a few months to get to a place where I could finally add previous food allergens back in. Our doctor used products from Apex Energetics called Repair Vite, which achieved some basic gut healing. Because leaky gut renders us allergic to everything and prevents the proper absorption of vital nutrition, the gut must absolutely be healed. Supplemental vitamins are okay, even necessary, but the number one source of nutrition the body craves is that from food. Organic meats, veggies, fruits, and filtered water offer healing and support to those organs so that you can detox.

Foods such as cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus, cucumber, grapes, apples and watermelons are good for the kidneys. Berries are good too, but if you are a stone former, they are often high in oxalates, which we steer away from. Drinking plenty of filtered water is important to keep the kidney filters clean and many say that distilled water will literally remove build-up on all those glomoruluses. Be sure to supplement with plenty of minerals because distilled water will absorb those too.

In addition to an organic, clean diet, we used a variety of supports like Castor Oil Liver Packs, which we used daily at first, then gradually reduced; essential oils from Vibrant Blue Oils, Cell Core Biosciences Kidney and Liver Detox which contains milk thistle for the liver and all the top herbs to clean those filters in our kidneys, N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine to help an overburdened liver, and reflexology was incredibly helpful because I could massage tender organs like the kidneys, bladder, ureters, liver, and gall bladder via the feet. I also used a handful of homeopathics for support: cheliodonium, berberis vulgaris, and china for liver, kidneys, and gall bladder. There are others available, but those were specific for us.

Most importantly, we had a doctor very skilled with detox to help us. He was able to orchestrate the killers, the binders, the healers, and the supporters using kinesiology enabling us to regain health while detoxing. At every appointment he would check the organs and make sure they were truly healing and well supported. We are still a work in progress, but over the last 18 months we are overcoming leaky gut, allergies, eczema, parasite and pathogen infections, PANS, PANDAS, severe ASD, Lyme and co-infections.