Anemia, kidney stones, and unable to take vitamins. Help?

[Wifezilla]

I have to supplement with the farmer's market just because my yard is so small and I can only grow so much. It is a great way to get good, healthy veggies.

As for fruit, fruit can be good or bad. It depends. Like BB said, whole fruit, no juicing. But tropical fruits are basically just sugar bombs. Use sparingly. Berries are low in sugar and the best as far as nutrients go. If you feel like you gotta have fruit, those should be your go to item.

It does sound, however, like you are headed the right way.

 

[savingdogs]

Alrighty then! get those hands working, and hand milk a couple cps every morning for you. In a dark room where you cannot be seen of course.

*nods wisely* Ninja milking!

*sneak sneak sneak*
*milks cow in the dark, into a black bucket, wearing dark clothing*
*sneaks out again*

No one knows when ninja milker will strike again!!!

*cues music*

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Alrighty then! get those hands working, and hand milk a couple cps every morning for you. In a dark room where you cannot be seen of course.

*nods wisely* Ninja milking!

*sneak sneak sneak*
*milks cow in the dark, into a black bucket, wearing dark clothing*
*sneaks out again*

No one knows when ninja milker will strike again!!!

*cues music*

The poor cow!

 

[farmersdaughter83]

*shakes head at the ninja milker* LOL

I try to consume mostly local fruits, apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, and black/raspberries. I do a fair bit of canning, we made chicken soup and deer stew last year, no noodles added, just the meat, broth, and veggies. Also some deer meat, and this spring I made some strawberry jam. I'd like to soon have my can room filled with more jars and less cans from the store. I know it has got to be better for us than the canned stuff they mass produce in a factory somewhere.

 

[lwheelr]

Ok. I am dealing with some of the same issues. I can recommend three things, specifically:

1. Niacin. Get a niacin supplement - a liquid capsule one if possible. Take one a day. If you are nutrient deficient from any form of malabsorption, you can end up low in niacin. Try this for a couple of weeks - if it is helpful, you should notice a decrease in odd symptoms (nerve pressure, heart palpitations, headaches, and a slight reduction in edema) - if you have adverse symptoms from it, or no response, then chances are you don't need it. The kidneys require Niacin to function properly, and if you are low, they'll have problems. Apple peels, watermelon, and kale are good sources of niacin, if you can break it down and absorb it from foods - a supplement helps to get over a crisis, and helps you isolate whether niacin deficiency is causing problems.

2. Dill. I recommend buying the fresh organic baby dill (in the produce case), or grow it yourself. It costs about $2 and that will last you about a week. Eat one sprig a day. It is wonderful snipped on salads. Alternately, you can purchase dried dill and add that to your food (very good in eggs, potato salad or mashed potatoes, biscuits, etc), or you can fill capsules with dried dill. You'll need the equivalent of about 1 TBSP a day of dried dill. Dill helps with three things here - it helps with general circulatory issues and blood cell production, it helps with kidney function, and it helps to reduce inflammation in the bowels.

3. Get lots of fresh greens into you. Organic is better than non-organic, homegrown is best of all. Specifically Lettuce, and Kale every day, and beets every few days, which help the kidneys especially well, but also lots of other greens and veggies. Get a good variety in addition to the lettuce and kale. Zucchini, cooked spinach (easier to digest than raw), chard, squash, carrots, onions, garlic, cucumbers, radishes, etc. FRESH, NOT CANNED. Canned veggies only have about 1/10 the nutrition that fresh has, and it sounds like you need all the nutrient density you can get. Also, get all the variety you can, six to eight servings a day. That's a lot of veggies, but it really does help if you are nutrient deficient, and those three specific ones help to heal kidney damage. Getting a good variety of greens will help tremendously with the iron deficiency, and long term, will eliminate any niacin deficiency if you have it also.

Also, just eat red meat daily. Liver IS best, but it isn't the only option. A serving of red meat, in combination with lots of fresh veggies, should do the job. You can also try a Slow-FE type Iron Supplement. Regular iron ties my guts in knots, but I was able to tolerate the buffered slow release iron. It IS more expensive - $10 to $20 for a box (almost always comes in a box), but it did work without messing me up. Most of the time, I just ate red meat though, only used the iron supplement when things were really bad.

If you are not overeating, and are still gaining weight, it is likely either from the edema (can affect you to the tune of 10 to 20 lbs), or it is due to malabsorption. If you are low on certain nutrients because your gut does not absorb them well, then your body will hang onto pounds, because it reacts like it is in a state of starvation. Eating less makes it worse, because it makes the threat of starvation worse.

I've been battling many of these same issues combined with a difficult pregnancy, so I had to find non-medicinal methods of treating them. These things really help, to varying degrees with different individuals.

I happen to be the radical here - I don't think that going gluten free or low carb is the answer in most cases - that is just reacting to a symptom, not removing the cause. In general, if you have to resort to either one of those, you have other nutritional problems which are not being addressed, which are actually CAUSING the problems. A whole and truly healthy diet will balance out 99% of the people out there without avoidance of gluten or HEALTHY carbs.

I did in fact become gluten intolerant at one point, and had blood sugar problems, at the worst stage of Crohn's that I hit. When I reversed the Crohn's, my blood sugar balanced out again, and I could handle gluten again just fine. I'm now in the process of reversing lactose intolerance - it is gradually improving.

But I eat clean meat, dairy, fruit, vegetable and grain sources, I never eat pre-packaged prepared foods, and I eat only whole grains, untreated potatoes, homemade fermented bread and homemade baked goods, and whole grain pasta (fresh when possible), etc.

Regardless of whether you choose to go for a gluten free or low carb diet change, the three items above should help specifically with the kidneys and blood issues.

 

[abifae]

I happen to be the radical here - I don't think that going gluten free or low carb is the answer in most cases - that is just reacting to a symptom, not removing the cause. In general, if you have to resort to either one of those, you have other nutritional problems which are not being addressed, which are actually CAUSING the problems. A whole and truly healthy diet will balance out 99% of the people out there without avoidance of gluten or HEALTHY carbs.

I did in fact become gluten intolerant at one point, and had blood sugar problems, at the worst stage of Crohn's that I hit. When I reversed the Crohn's, my blood sugar balanced out again, and I could handle gluten again just fine. I'm now in the process of reversing lactose intolerance - it is gradually improving.

Sometimes, removing all the gluten and carbs until everything clears out lets you add in quite a bit again. A lot of folk here eat healthy grains (ie, barely processed and prepared correctly) without issues at all. I definitely think you can add those in as long as you don't have anything specific causing an issue against the carbs themselves.

If you only eat the "good" carbs (fresh veggies and berries, raw milk, properly prepared grains), you are eating a lowered number any way. Sometimes just cutting them for long enough for your body to flush out toxins from the chemical junk is enough to let you start adding the good stuff back in

If you get a chance, take Freem's nutrition classes!!

In my case, I get overexcited and make too much insulin. So I'll never be able to go very high in my carb intake. My body is pretty precariously balanced.

 

[lwheelr]

Again, with the voice of dissent...

Cranberry juice is GOOD for kidney problems. And good for other issues as well. BUT...

It has to be 100% cranberry juice, NOT "cranberry juice cocktail" (which is a little bit of cranberry juice some apple juice, some grape juice, a lot of water, and a lot of high fructose corn syrup, and sometimes even artificial flavors). You'll pay a LOT more for it, but you don't need nearly as much at one time either, since it is more concentrated. 1/4 cup a day of REAL cranberry juice is sufficient. 1/2 cup of cranberry juice blend that is 100% juice.

Blueberries have the same component in them that cranberries have, so if you can eat raw blueberries or raw cranberries, that is best. A small handful a day is enough. Dried are also good, as long as they are not loaded with sugar and preservatives (most are unless you dry them yourself).

If you have digestive issues, middle weight gain, kidney problems, and miscarriages, I'd be willing to bet that you have autoimmune issues going on. If so, the miscarriages may follow a rough pattern - intrauterine growth retardation, occurring at successively earlier dates. They may also be interspersed with healthy pregnancies - I used to miscarry at about 6 weeks, then immediately carry a healthy baby. That pattern between most of my kids, until I started chronic miscarriages where they got earlier and earlier. Lost one at 5 months due to IUGR, that was the latest one.

There is a huge difference in carb quality between whole grains and refined grains. Most commercial "whole wheat" grains are NOT whole grain. The germ has been removed. So your ability to process them, and your ability to get full balanced nutrition from them has been compromised.

I don't count carbs AT ALL. But I make sure they are good quality and nutrient dense. I eat fruits whole, uncooked, with the peel if the peel is edible (apples, pears, etc). I eat potatoes with the skins on when possible - otherwise I use untreated potatoes, and I eat potatoes pretty much every day because they are easily digestible and nutritious. I choose brown rice, roll my own oats when I can, mill my own wheat, etc. So what I use is whole and fresh for the most part. Our bread is fermented, and has no sugar added. I do add sugar to some things, but in limited amounts. I found that when I balanced everything else, I could have some sugar and it didn't make a difference.

Soy also damages the kidneys, so that is something to avoid with kidney disease. It is in a lot of forms, in a lot of foods, so avoiding it can be tricky at first.

Ultimately, you'll have to find your own way - determine what sounds most reasonable, and practical, and try it out.

And FWIW, stubborn weight that won't shift in spite of not overeating and being fairly active, is always an indication that something is out of whack.

 

[abifae]

LOL. I don't think you are dissenting much at all. Just for the record

 

[Icu4dzs]

Extreme bloating can be a sign of malnutrition. Ever see an African child that looks pregnant?

My MIL decided to starve herself to death (elderly anorexia) a few years back and she had the bloating and the edema until her legs literally wept. When your minerals and proteins get severely out of whack the cells begin to collapse. Again malnutrition ... what ever the cause.

Get the testing done pronto and I would probably go to a GI expert and not a family physician.

Yeah, us family doc's aren't all that bright...or else we'd be "real doctors i.e. specialists...HUH?

First, welcome to the SS forum. You will find us "opinionated" but all willing to help. Lots of folks have ideas as to what is going on or what to do, but the history you give is incomplete.

What you seem to be describing is a severe protein deficiency. You describe your abdomen getting much larger and your legs swelling severely (level 3 pitting is serious.) With that said, your diet history is very poor and when you think about it you are starving yourself to death but in a dfferent way. A protein-losing enteropathy is when the body does not keep protein from the gut but wastes it and the result is what you describe.

Protein deficiency occurs from NOT getting enough protein in your diet which in turn causes insufficient protein (albumin for example) in your blood to hold the water inside your vascular space. You are doing what is called "Third spacing" where the water is unable to stay in the vascular space and leaks into the interstitial spaces; hence your severe edema. You are gaining weight at an alarming rate but it isn't fat, it is water. The suggestion of a diuretic was made but before you go taking any medications based on the friendly advice you get here, you need to have your parameters tested to see exactly what is going on. A simple chemistry panel will tell you a lot.

I agree gluten is a protein and that is a possibility but the diagnosis of all this is NOT dependent on the advice of a few friends. The study of medicine is a long and arduous experience and takes a long time for a reason. It takes a long time to learn all the parts lists, the wiring diagrams and the "way things work" before you are ready to learn about how to investigate when things don't work correctly.

FWIW, I would seek the advice of a competent physician, explain what you have told us here and have some basic chemistry studies done to help identify the problem. Your diet is NOT sufficient and while the issue of carbohydrates and gluten are valid in many cases, they are NOT the only possibilities for what is causing your problems. You need to realize that folks are willing to give medical advice without the benefit of the education to back up that advice. It is unsafe to assume that advice you receive here will in any way do you a service other than to tell you to seek competent medical advice, even if it is from a "specialist" rather than one of us "family doc's" who just don't know all that much (according to the specialists, that is.)

//BT//
Trim sends urgently

 

[Farmfresh]

Extreme bloating can be a sign of malnutrition. Ever see an African child that looks pregnant?

My MIL decided to starve herself to death (elderly anorexia) a few years back and she had the bloating and the edema until her legs literally wept. When your minerals and proteins get severely out of whack the cells begin to collapse. Again malnutrition ... what ever the cause.

Get the testing done pronto and I would probably go to a GI expert and not a family physician.

Yeah, us family doc's aren't all that bright...or else we'd be "real doctors i.e. specialists...HUH?

Trim sends urgently

I beg humble forgiveness because I have once again stepped right in it.

I should NEVER make a generalized statement like that especially since one of the wisest and best doctors I know, my own dear cousin, is a family doctor. She absolutely ROCKS and has helped my family with her skill more than once even though she lives too far away to be our actual doctor.

It just sounded to me like she needs to seek ... shall I say another (?) opinion.


Wise words Trim.