I wanted to share my experience and journey with CKD with you all. I was diagnosed with CKD stage 3 about four years ago when my eGFR went to 57. I saw two nephrologists over the course of four years and had many renal tests done as well as blood work every six months. My eGFR numbers kept decreasing even lower to 51 and creatinine was creeping up. I panicked as I was so fearful of where it was headed. I read volumes about CKD and joined this amazing forum that had been so very encouraging and helpful to me. I watched numerous YouTube videos from experts in kidney disease and did everything recommended.
At first I went on a very low protein diet and bought (very expensive) Albutrix supplements. I drank lots of water and was barely eating any protein. I cut out meat altogether and just ate vegetables and fruit in an effort to curtail the decreasing kidney function. Nothing was helping my kidneys!
In the course of my research I discovered that resveratrol and LDN (which I started taking for an autoimmune issue) as well as intermittent fasting was reportedly beneficial for improving kidney function. I also prayed continually in faith believing that Jesus is my Healer.
Lo and behold, my numbers started improving gradually. I started eating more protein as my protein levels were decreasing to the abnormally low range and I was actually becoming malnourished. I increased the resveratrol and LDN. My numbers started improving six months ago. And to my very happy unexpected surprise my last lab values done last week showed a significant improvement in my kidney function — I almost couldn’t believe the numbers!! My creatinine went way down to .77 and the eGFR increased 30 points and is now 81 (and I am 73 years old)!!! All the rest of my parameters are normal and my nephrologist said my kidney function is excellent and above normal for my age - even better than his!
I even began eating fish and a few of my favorite foods in moderation (meat only occasionally). I stay within healthy protein intake for my weight but not low protein as before. I am being very careful not to stress my kidneys and keep them in optimal condition. I take an ARB (candesartan) for slightly elevated blood pressure and migraine prevention (but I had been on that for years without any effect on my kidney function) I try to walk every day for 30 minutes
So, yes, indeed, THERE CERTAINLY IS HOPE for CKD. I had read numerous times that the kidneys can’t be restored once they start to decline. But I am seeing wonderful evidence that FAITH CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS and there is great benefit from modalities that conventional medicine does not promote. I can send links providing information on the success of resveratrol in improving kidney function as well as LDN (low dose naltrexone) and intermittent fasting. But the greatest thing I attribute to the healing of my kidney function is prayer and faith, and the blessing of God.
I hope this is an encouragement to others who are feeling pessimistic about their kidney decline as I was for years. Life can be joyful again…there is always, always hope in God while we are breathing. Never ever give up…have faith! Praying for you all.
———<@
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)
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HisLittleOne
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Whilst my mum doesnt have your religious faith, she has achieved similar success with a natural approach. Her eGFR increased from 36 after a nephrectomy 5+y ago to 76 last year albeit it unexpectedly slipped back to 46 recently. I doubt very much we can increase her faith but we have pointed out where she has slipped with the natural approach we laid down eg hydration.
Id certainly be interested in the links that you've offered in case I dont already have as a keen student. Many thanks, in advance and well done.
I hope your mom continues to improve in her health.
I purchase resveratrol from Amazon (I use either MAAC10 - Trans Resveratrol or Approved Science Resveratrol) and I take 1,000 mg daily. You can Google “resveratrol and kidney function “ to read the medical research and results of how resveratrol works in the kidneys to improve and restore them. I wish more doctors would read this very optimistic research and recommend resveratrol to CKD patients!
I get LDN from agelessrx.com where You have an online medical evaluation and then they prescribe the LDN and send it to you. I have been taking it for immune issues but when I did research and learned that it actually helps kidney function, I increased the dose from 3 mg to 4.5 mg daily.
I also take ½ tsp of sodium bicarbonate in water every day and I drink several large glasses of water daily.
I hope your mom can just reach out in faith to the LORD Jesus…He loves her so and will give her amazing mercy! Will say a prayer for her too 🙏
You may find the following link important. I believe in fasting and have heard reports from people like y ourself who swear that their Egfr was dramatically improved. I believe that this is true when you are eating food that does not aggravate your condition. Additionally, I heard from another doctor who said that essentially, potasium is absorbed at a lower level in veg and fruits (i.e., 30%) rather than 80% in meats and dairy products. His conclusion was don't worry about fruits and veg because they are absorbed at a lower rate.
At first I concluded that your story was positive due to fasting. But I'd never heard of resveravrol. But then I started reading about olive oil and wine. There was a study that showed biomarkers improved dramatically by this inclusion in the diet, which is basically close to resveratrol in many ways. search.yahoo.com/search?fr=...
Thank you for this encouraging testestimony. All things are indeed possible with God. I too am not religious but I believe in God and that in His Son, Jesus, we have forgiveness and salvation, which all of humanity needs.
I'm praying about the Resveratrol LDN and Candesartan aand praying that you will go from strength to strength in your faith
Wow HisLittleOne, your posts always inspire me and I am sure other ckd patients. What do we do without hope in life and your post again provides that hope. Could you please share more info about LDN, I never heard of it. I assume your resveratrol dose is the same as in your earlier post or did you increase it more? Thanks and please stay posting these good news. Congratulations!!
Thank you for your kind words. I am very glad my comments are encouraging to you – that’s my intent! ☺️
I purchase resveratrol from Amazon (I use either I use either Approved Science or MAAC10 - Trans Resveratrol or Approved Science Resveratrol) and I take 1,000 mg daily. You can Google “resveratrol and kidney function “ to read the medical research and results of how resveratrol works in the kidneys to improve and restore them. I wish more doctors would read this favorable research and recommend resveratrol to CKD patients!
I get LDN from agelessrx.com where You have an online medical evaluation and then they prescribe the LDN and send it to you. I have been taking it for immune issues but when I did research and learned that it actually helps kidney function, I increased the dose from 3 mg to 4.5 mg daily. I also take ½ tsp of sodium bicarbonate in water every day and I drink several large glasses of water daily.
I hope this is helpful and I hope you will look to the LORD for His healing mercy. God bless you 💕
Great gonna purchase one of these today. I've enjoyed your posts, very uplifting! Thankful your health has improved!!! Wish me luck. I'm 47 with a gfr of 75 . . . ultrasound concluded my kidneys were 'normal.' Been on a veggie diet, lower protein . . . 40 grams, also do the intermittent fasting. Went off all my supps except probiotic and vit D . . . am thinking of trying the reseveratrol .
I do think it depends on the cause of your CKD if it can be reversed as in your case.
I am a positive person with a strong faith in God. I believe that my parents in heaven and our Heavenly Father had everything to do with my very successful kidney transplant 22+ years ago.
Your story is quite interesting. I don’t think there have been any convincing RCTs done or peer-reviewed studies published using God as a variable, so that won’t hold up as evidence or be in any journal.
Some blood pressure medications like ACE inhibitors also help kidneys. I have not heard of resveratrol or LDN in this connection, and there might be a problem for us in getting LDN prescribed and formulated. What dose are you using and how often? Have you done your own trials with these individually, and stopped them to see if your numbers change for the worse while keeping everything else the same? Until you do that, you cannot say for sure whether either of those things actually helped. I don’t see a plausible biochemical pathway. Please send me some references for both. What does the nephrologist say caused your improvement?
I get LDN from AgelessRx. You have a medical evaluation from a physician who then prescribes the dose for your specific need. I started on 3 mg (for an autoimmune condition) and when I noticed a slight improvement in my kidney numbers I increased the dose to 4.5 mg and then my lab results showed great improvement and were the best in ten years! The nephrologist said my kidney function was not related to an autoimmune cause so we can’t attribute the improvement in kidney function to the anti-inflammatory effect of the LDN; rather something else unknown has come into play (whether it is an activity of the LDN, resveratrol, etc. obviously some action is evidently restoring significant kidney function).
I know you can’t equate God in any medical trials…that is an issue of faith alone and trusting that the Scriptures are the Word of God (which I certainly believe it is). So even if there are no studies to verify or conclude any benefits from the modalities I am using, I believe God is blessing what He is directing me to do. I’m extremely thankful for the blessings He has given me with my physical health even without any scientific basis to it. To God by the glory!
in one of her other threads I posted a link to a study that basically says exactly what you say….while they can link improvements to eGFR and serum creatinine it is unclear whether these are safe or even the reason for improvement. Here is a link to one study….many more out there:
it’s working very well for me! I’m not going to change anything as long as my lab numbers remain a good as they are. My neph said to keep doing whatever I’m doing as it is doing a great job!
kwikc that is 12 years old an unfortunately outdated. In the US the 2020 NKF clinical practice guidelines included for the first time ever a significantly enhanced nutritional recommendations. These are the National Kidney Foundation guidelines to physicians and are backed by nearly 500 studies performed in the last 2/3 years. They put these together along with the Renal dietitian association and the ASN or association of nephrologists. There are several studies now that have found that VLPD diets do have a kidney protection benefit if using KAs. But only if you can maintain that VLPD for a lifetime.
That being said if you read the actual research studies that advocate the KAs the researchers like most every other thing related to this confounding affliction are unsure exactly why this is effective but most likely is due to plant based VLPD lowering BP, lipids and phosphate that results in the benefit. I’ll finish by pointing out again the the NIDDK.gov has and excellent explanation of eGFR and how tremendously inaccurate that measurement is ESPECIALLY in below 60 eGFR lab readings…as much as 40% inaccurate and “should not be reported as an actual number,” but a range as it is the TREND in the eGFR that indicates a progressive deterioration of kidney function. However, since CKD is so misunderstood by both patients and doctors folks live and die by the 5 point change in eGFR when it’ll change 5 points 5 minutes after the last test! Also, during the time of her improvement in August 2021 the eGFR calculation was changed because of the worthlessness of serum creatinine as any kind of appropriate measurement of true kidney function and in order to do away with the labs that differentiated between whites and non-whites so even I got a 5 point boost in eGFR with a baseline of 17.
Don’t get me wrong diet is important but paying several hundreds of dollars for supplements that have a marginal effect at best is not cost effective and is based on dubious science as exampled in this post.
Finally, I am not cynical just a realist and have spent 20 years helping newly diagnosed CKD/AKI patients in hospital deal with their diagnosis. I have seen the effects of folks putting all their hope in the latest internet fad and then causing more damage to their kidneys making then face dialysis and transplant much sooner than “following” the true science. While VLPD and KAs don’t reach the level of internet fad (snake oil) they also do not lead to a 30 point ( almost double) increase in eGFR (true eGFR) in fact as most studies outline the actual eGFR numbers over a 2/3 year period DONT increase but do not decrease either. But, all studies stress before going down the VLPD road with KAs be sure to have your nephrologist AND Renal dietitian adhere to an entire road map to ensure you don’t end up in protein wasting as that is worse for us then eating ultra-processed foods. So spending $400 for a bottle of albumix to “cure” CKD is just another in a long line of false hope of having a degenerative disease like CKD that doesn’t allow for being diagnosed as stage 3 than 6 months later being “CKD free.” Unfortunately.
Finally (for real this time) I am not doubting the OP word nor questioning her belief in God as I am a believer as well. I have no doubt she has experienced what she says she has. Instead I have doubts she had “normal” CKD but instead maybe a slow moving AKI that the diet removed the toxin and led to the improvement. No doubt it worked FOR HER. But she is not we and most don’t share that experience unfortunately. This is an uncommonly individualized disease and since it affects multi bodily systems there are no absolutes. I hope the OP continues with her wonderful outcomes and never has any more kidney issues and I wish you both my best in your quest for quality of life!
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