Kidney general
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Hello kidniggers,
This place is reserved for those of us whose kidneys are suffering, one way or another. As modernity strips us of our collective identity, we might as well embrass any possible substitute, including a new idea of ourselves through our pains and tribulations: yes, our defective kidneys is who we are! This is our thread, our stories!
Okay this is fucked up but yeah you get the idea.
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Might as well start with some interesting anecdote I posted in another thread.
Foamy urine and hypokaliemia
I think that quick heuristics like urine look or pH can be a great tool in a the self-experimenter's toolkit. Body temp, skin condition, urine, etc. should be an overall easy way to get a good picture of one's metabolism.
I've always had foamy urine, especially recently. Like, constant soap-like foam forming whenever I pee, at all time of the day.
I was born with a slightly impaired kidney and it seems that, in fact, I have had a slight hypokalemia for some time (maybe like a year), which is probably related. Just 2mg under the low reference range.
As you probably know, sodium and potassium basically works in tandem, the one helping to process the other. It's usually advised to get a 2:1 ratio of K to Na.I realized I was craving salt a lot of the time, and had a tendency to heavily salt most everything. I also have almost no taste for sugary stuff, which is probably related. I've always been this way. Not peaty, lol.
According to Chris Moggerjohn[1] it'd also do good to limit fructose and sucrose intake, which is probably why I naturally avoid fruits in the first place.
Anyway I decided to try upping my potassium intake, through potassium chloride in water, some limited fruits, and milk, and, lo and behold, my urine stopped being foamy right away.Potatoes are also rich in potassium, I should use them. Light beer is probably a good substitute to water as it's naturally rich in K, and generally low in Na.
It's been 2 days and no foamy urine at all so far. I'm of course not saying electrolyte imbalance is the only reason for a foamy urine, but it's a marker I've been tracking for some time, and the correlation is very clear to me now, so it might be a factor.
Will keep you posted.
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I found this earlier today and thought it might fit for general kidney health. I have no idea if TRT helps foamy urine but I remember Haidut having a post on the old forum demonstrating aromatase inhibitors and/or DHT is effective in restoring kidney function. This is a recent review echoing the idea androgens have a positive effect on kidney health.
"Testosterone deficiency is a prevalent condition that frequently affects individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and those who have undergone renal transplantation. While the etiology of this condition is complex, its implications in this population are far-reaching, impacting various domains such as endocrine profile, sexual and erectile function, bone mineral density (BMD), anemia, and graft survival following renal transplantation. Herein, we review the most recent literature exploring the pathophysiology of testosterone deficiency in ESRD and renal transplant patients, examining its diverse effects on this demographic, and assessing the advantages of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Existing evidence suggests that TRT is a safe intervention in ESRD and renal transplant patients, demonstrating improvements across multiple domains. Despite valuable insights from numerous studies, a critical need persists for larger, high-quality prospective studies to comprehensively grasp the nuances of TRT, especially in this vulnerable population. Proactive screening and treatment of testosterone deficiency may prove beneficial, emphasizing the urgency for further research in this area."
It should be noted that foamy urine is still largely a mystery, as only like 30% of people with foamy urine actually have protein spilling over into it. The potassium and fatty acid theories all make sense to certain degrees, but there's still a lot up in the air with regards to this.
Best thing to do is keep your vitamin D, calcium, thyroid, androgens, and progesterone in optimal levels. And if you have preexisting disease perhaps look into kidney supportive substances like thiamine, niacinamide, TUDCA, pyrucet, and aspirin. Activate charcoal can help too by removing endotoxins.
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@Mulloch94 Very interesting, thank you!
Personally, Peatism made my b*lls double in size and also my voice got deeper, most likely indicating a ramped up testosterone production. So it likely helped according to your study. Took some occasional K2, D3 and collagen too.
So I'd advise any with kidney problems to first get their caloric intake in check, at 3000 to 3500 kcal/day -- that seems to have done the trick for me at least.
Kidney-wise I seem to be doing better the more milk and orange/mandarin juice I drink really.
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@Mulloch94 Anecdotally, when my dad was dying in the hospital they didn't do much to get him his TRT restarted and were shocked Pikachu face when he went from damaged kidneys to nearly failure. In my limited personal experience, androsterone and progesterone both helped pain though I've since moved to 20,000 IU vitamin D a day which includes non-kidney improvements such as T3 response as well.
@HyperTorless I've also seen improvements with getting enough calories and fluids so I second your point.
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Oxalate could be a factor to consider as well. If you reach the point where you have oxalate excess (either because you are consuming a lot of oxalate or your body is producing it), that will definitely make your urine cloudy (not sure about foamy).
I'm not aware of any great info on oxalate that really explains the root cause of a person having oxalate issues. But once you are at that point there are definitely things that can make it worse. Two peaty things that come to mind are collagen (for the hydroxyproline) and OJ (vitamin c). For me at least, both of these things cause noticeably increased cloudiness.
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@NotShanalotte That sucks, I'm sorry about your dad.
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@NotShanalotte said in Kidney general:
I've since moved to 20,000 IU vitamin D a day which includes non-kidney improvements such as T3 response as well.
Yeah when I was hypothyroid I was also deficient in vitamin D. No matter how much thyroid I took my temps would never budge. Once I corrected my D3 deficiency, I light up like a furnace when I take my thyroid now, lol. In my experiences whenever I'm not responding to thyroid it's usually a PTH issue, which I guess makes sense considering Peat called it the primary thyroid antagonist. 20,000 units is a lot though, especially year round. That might make vitamin A requirements go up. I'm still trying to determine what a good ratio of D3:A actually is. The Weston Price foundation said 1:10 of vitamin D : vitamin A, but I'm not sure I trust those recommendations. Very shoddy organization to say the least considering they recommend oxidized cancerous liver oil.
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I think I remember Haidut saying the ideal ratio was more like 1:5 of vitamin D : vitamin A. But I haven't seen that post in a few years so I might be misremembering. I think he cited a study though.
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@Mulloch94 For sure, I wasn't managing at all without taking it every day but I can go about 2 days now so it's progress. I have oysters canned in water or fresh-ish local beef liver when I feel the need for vitamin A aside from fatty dairy.
I miss my Dad. He was the type to do everything his doctor said so unfortunately it was just a matter of time.
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Hello everyone, let's talk about:
Apple cider vinegar
Adding 1 tbsp to a glass of water (preferably filtered or naturally sourced) appears to be an insane lindy trick.
Remember our ancestors mostly drank lightly alcoholic beverages (light beers or wine or posca) throughout the day, to rid of the parasites in untreated water.
According to Dr Eric Berg, ACV :
- helps break oxalate
- dissolves kidney stones (by breaking calcium compounds)
- helps retain potassium
- other little things
While I'm unsure about the mechanism, I trust Dr Eric Berg that it's a simple and easy way to make a change for the better regarding kidney health. See his channel for the whole case: https://youtube.com/@Drberg/search?query=apple vinegar
I am currently testing it to ease out kidney pain in the morning, and I believe it's working -- but I'll report more later. Intense summer heat has me being less optimally hydrated than usual.
I'm doing 1L of water with 1-2 tbsp of ACV.
