What is a safe method to detox or clean one's kidneys?

@johnjacobson Welcome to Mayo Connect! We are a diverse group of people here, patients, caregivers, and family members alike. We are not medical professionals and cannot diagnose nor give medical advice on situations. We can give you our experience and support! The four main types of kidney stones are calcium, cystine, uric acid, and struvite. As you have found out, they can be pretty danged painful! My suggestion is to check with your doctor and find out what you were stones have been made of, and get your doctor's advice on how best to steer clear of these stones developing. This may be a dietary change or perhaps a medication addition. For example, I have a tendency towards gout. I know that I need to have medication to temper my uric acid so it does not turn into stones. I hope this helps, and that you will come back to us and tell us what your doctor may say to you for treatment.
Ginger

@johnjacobson
Hi there,
Sorry to hear you had to go through such misery, hope you never get another one. I've had 7 Kidney Stones. My last one was 27mm.
My stones are Calcium Oxalate, the most common.
Your doctor probably already told you all this but.......

1️⃣ Drink lots of water, lemonade, orange juice or something citric. I drink lemonade and take Potassium Citrate.

2️⃣ Get plenty of calcium. Lack of Calcium can increase oxalates leading to stone formation. Since your name is John I assume your a guy so you should get 1,000mg of Calcium a day if your over 50 and about 800-1,000mg of Vitamin D to help your body absorb
Calcium. You should get your Calcium through your food, not supplements since they can cause stones.

3️⃣ Kick salt out the door. A high-sodium diet can cause kidney stones since it increases calcium in the urine. Sodium should be limited to 2,300mg a day. My doctor recommended 1,500mg. Reducing sodium will also be good for your blood pressure and heart.

4️⃣ I was distressed when my doctor said to cut down on animal protein. Red meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood, increases the uric acid levels and may lead to kidney stones. It reduces levels of citrate which helps prevent stones.

5️⃣ Avoid foods high in oxalate's. I can't find my list but some I remember are yams, beets, chocolate, spinach, rhubarb, tea, most nuts and colas have phosphate with Brazil nuts having the most. Phosphate can contribute to kidney stones.

6️⃣ Vitamin C supplements taken in high doses may increase the risk of kidney stones. Our bodies convert vitamin C into oxalate.

Good luck,
Jake

@johnjacobson
Hi there,
Sorry to hear you had to go through such misery, hope you never get another one. I've had 7 Kidney Stones. My last one was 27mm.
My stones are Calcium Oxalate, the most common.
Your doctor probably already told you all this but.......

1️⃣ Drink lots of water, lemonade, orange juice or something citric. I drink lemonade and take Potassium Citrate.

2️⃣ Get plenty of calcium. Lack of Calcium can increase oxalates leading to stone formation. Since your name is John I assume your a guy so you should get 1,000mg of Calcium a day if your over 50 and about 800-1,000mg of Vitamin D to help your body absorb
Calcium. You should get your Calcium through your food, not supplements since they can cause stones.

3️⃣ Kick salt out the door. A high-sodium diet can cause kidney stones since it increases calcium in the urine. Sodium should be limited to 2,300mg a day. My doctor recommended 1,500mg. Reducing sodium will also be good for your blood pressure and heart.

4️⃣ I was distressed when my doctor said to cut down on animal protein. Red meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood, increases the uric acid levels and may lead to kidney stones. It reduces levels of citrate which helps prevent stones.

5️⃣ Avoid foods high in oxalate's. I can't find my list but some I remember are yams, beets, chocolate, spinach, rhubarb, tea, most nuts and colas have phosphate with Brazil nuts having the most. Phosphate can contribute to kidney stones.

6️⃣ Vitamin C supplements taken in high doses may increase the risk of kidney stones. Our bodies convert vitamin C into oxalate.

Good luck,
Jake

Jake, thank you for your calcium oxalate diet changes post.
For a woman who has spent 7 decades eating anything and everything while maintaining constant weight and health, the past 11 months have been a rollercoaster of new challenging diagnoses and diet changes.

A self-imposed Diabetes II diet and Metformin brought my values back to normal range within three months but unexplained continuing nausea and weight loss started other tests.

Ultra sound and additional blood/urine labs indicated renal disease. Request for nephrologist revealed scary Stage 3 CKD but nephrologist refused referral to dietician “because my lab values weren’t abnormal enough to merit one” No appetite stimulant/supplements; told to “eat more food”. Started a renal diet and in 2 mos, my GFR went from 54 to 68 and other values improved.

Research and gingerbread and tabs along with learning side common nausea
effect of Metformin stopped the nausea but weight loss continued. Another self-imposed diet of calorie rich foods and second request to pcp for appetite stimulant/supplements and dietician referral got me to a dietician who provided great handouts on combined diabetic/ckd diet. The prescription for appetite stimulant worked and after 7 mos and 17 lb wt loss, I began gaining weight. Yes!

However, the lung ct scan pcp ordered at that visit showed kidney stones. Doc said they were too small to treat. This began the search for learning about oxalates for the kidney stones.

Steady weight gain for 3 mos until what doc and I thought was appendicitis. Instead, a
ct abdominal scan revealed acute diverticulitis. Had this been ordered first, instead of the ultra sound, I wouldn’t have known about the kidney disease or kidney stones.

Yet another diet. This one for liquids only and 2 prescriptions for 3,800 mg of antibiotics for 7 days. After 5 days stopped the scripts when dry heaves and rapid b.p. drops had me holding onto chairs to prevent fainting. Had begun introducing soft foods to diet.

Now, 5’8” and 124 lbs at Jan. annual exam, I’ve lost again to 98 lbs because of the miserable diverticulitis.

As a grateful newbie to this great forum and to the HealthUnlocked for Kidney patients,
I am learning more about how to better care for myself.

I am sharing my experience because I have proof that proper diet changes can improve chronic health conditions. We really are what we eat and if we can make the correct adjustments to our diets, our lab values and conditions can be helped.

However, because of the many diet changes made over the past 11 months, I had to stop and think about which condition my research on oxylates had been for. Jake, you
get the credit or discredit…smiles…for triggering this long sharing.

Perhaps the most important lesson learned is that a patient must become a persistent and informed patient advocate in working with her medical team. Haven’t counted but probably made too many and too frequent big diet changes over the past 11 months. However, I’ll never again rely solely on a quick scan of lab reports and blindly rely on whatever the doc does or doesn’t do as the last word on what affects my health.

Just yesterday ran into a friend who commented that her difficulties with what docs kept telling her was acid reflux might have been resolved much earlier if only she’d told one doc that she was on Boniva. He stopped the Boniva immediately and she is now symptom free. Best to all as we learn together.