Want to hear from others who have Stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

@billagreste, @darlingtondoll, @colleenyoung, @fiesty76, and everyone else, I can't find my earlier post about blueberries, cranberries, etc, so just in case it really went down the rabbit hole I am reposting what I found out during my research for my renal cookbooks. Please forgive me if my first post actually is here somewhere and I'm repeating myself, repeating myself, repeating myself. . .

Blueberries are a good antioxidant and are low in the minerals ailing kidneys struggle to filter, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium.

Cranberries, either as relish or juice or extract, are a natural diuretic and a mild renal anesthetic and cranberries are thought to kill harmful creepy crawlies in the urinary tract. ("Creepy crawlies" is a good scientific term, no?)

Green tea is nephro-protective, especially from free radicals.

Drinking water is thought to be good for CKD but forcing a lot of fluids also can damage kidney tissue.

Kidney tissue does NOT regenerate. A good renal diet, a healthier B/P, better controlled diabetes - all can take some of the burden from failing kidneys and slow down CKD progression but not "cure" kidney disease.

Any one of the herbs or fruits or plants listed on the supplement ingredients label could lower SERUM creatinine but according to the experts, this doesn't necessarily equal better renal function, it means creatinine has been diluted in the bloodstream and drinking a lot of water can lower creatinine in the urine. In other words, taking certain herbs or supplements actually can skew lab results so that they do not accurately depict what's really going on renally. (So can time of day of the blood draw, which lab does the assay, and what else is going on in your life at time of draw.)

Juniper is considered by some to be nephrotoxic. Personally, I quit using it. Even cinnamon or ginger can have an adverse effect if too much is used. Same with turmeric. And many of the ingredients in the supplements also occur naturally in other foods so be careful not to wind up ingesting too much of a good thing.

I am NOT saying don't take the supplement. I'm merely sharing what kidney.org, daVita, medscape, and the NIH have said. If it works for someone, go for it. Just do as Colleen Young suggests and be careful. Do check with nephrology experts before taking supplements.

Thanks for your informative post, Kamama. I like to eat frozen fresh blueberries as a sweet treat...something like a popcicle but healthier! Smiles

I can’t digest fresh fruits and vegetables. My intestines don’t work very well due to my paralysis, so I can no longer eat berries, which I love. I am severely limited by what I can digest. Even homemade soup is out. Almost everything I used to be able to eat pre-paralysis I can no longer digest.

So regret that for you, Jane. Always humbling to learn what so many have to contend with. One thing's for sure: You make a grab-through-the-screen scrumptious looking choc. cake!!!!

Just curious, how can you be sure the supplements are actually changing your kidney function and not just tricking the test into producing a false reading? Many supplement can alter test results dramatically. Vitamin C supplements sometimes produce false positives for blood in stool and Biotin can mask troponin levels in heart attack patients. It be great if there were a supplement that truly regenerated damaged kidney tissue. What ingredients do you think are helping?

Have you or anyone heard that baking soda helps CKD??