Wilkie Wages War: July 31, 2007

3 August 2011 5,697 views No Comment

Wilkie Wages War: July 31, 2007

Environmental Health Network leader Barbara Wilkie discovered in July 2005 that her chemical injury/multiple chemical sensitivities had suddenly manifested as stage 4 (later stage 5) kidney disease (kidney failure). Despite dire warnings of death within a year, she eschewed dialysis and Western Medicine drugs and took a route of alternative medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and strict dietary changes. She lived well for six years, far beyond the doctors’ predictions. Barb died at home, surrounded by friends and family, on May 31, 2011.

During this time, Barb documented her journey. From diagnosis through June 2008, she created one huge website page packed with details, plus some side documents on diet and other topics. We have divided these works into smaller pieces, by date or topic, to make it easier to read and find things. For dates after June 2008, we have letters, online posts, and other documents.

Barb intended her work to be read and used. We hope this presentation will help you do just that.

Wilkie Wages War on Kidney Disease
(aka Renal Disease or Failure)

OR, AS I SEE IT: Life with yet another facet of living with MCS.
I want to live life while dying.

July 31, 2007

Well, the numbers worsened a little, but not that bad. Kind of holding my own, on this alkalizing diet. The bad one is the blood . . . and to hope to improve that, by greening all the more. We’ll see what next month brings. I’m hopeful for an improvement, as just a couple of days of super greening — starting the day off with chlorophyll for instance — I’ve noticed I can run up steps and not feel that telltale burning in my legs that seems to come with more severe anemia. I’m also taking a Chinese Herbal Syrup, suggested by my acupuncturist: Tang Kwei Gin (aka Dang Gui Gin). We’ll see if this, plus an herbal iron drink and supper greening by drinking chlorophyll makes the difference I hope it will. Stay tuned, the end of August blood test is coming up. — barb

High or Low	Blood checked for	Reading is:	What should be:
H	BUN	31 . . .Up four points, but still not too bad considering that in June, it had been a whopping 73. (BUN increases as kidney function decreases.)	10 – 20 mg/dL
H	Magnesium	2.4 . . . Back down .5 points so I’m again only .1 above normal. As I understand it, too much magnesium can adversely affect heart, just as can too much potassium.	1.7 -2.3 mg/dL
	Calcium	8.9. . . Normal, and, only down .1 point.	8.5 – 10.3 mg/dL
	CO2	The lab forgot to run this test this time.	24 – 33 mEq/L
H	Creatinine	5.48. . . Up from 5.09 on July 5, but close to holding my own. I’ve been told that creatinine drops slowly and that the reading is reflective of one’s exercise also. I was doing some heavy house work the week before this test. I wonder. . .	<1.2 mg/dL
	Phosphorus	4.2 . . .Still normal. As I understand it, too much phosphorus and bones can be leached of calcium, causing them to become brittle.	2.7 – 4.5 mg/dL
	Potassium	5.1. . . Still “normal” but my doctor would rather see me in the 4s. But, I still think this is amazing because I’m on a diet of potassium-rich foods. I also take in a lot of salt — Himalayan salt, that is. How kidney-patient-like is all of this???	3.5 – 5.3 mEq/L
	Sodium	137 . . . Still NORMAL!!! Sodium is important for balancing potassium. Are medical doctors causing kidney problems by taking patients off of sodium? Maybe they should switch their patients to aluminum-free baking soda and to Himalayan Salt, with its 84 trace minerals. Any studies???	133 – 145 mEq/L
L	GFR	8 or 10 . . . Like always, I’ll take the higher number. With the increase in creatinine, the GFR drops. The larger number is assigned to African-American women, as they are seen as having more muscle mass than caucasians. You can see how “painting with a broad brush” can cause errors. White women aren’t supposed to have muscle mass? Ridiculous! My ethnic origins were quite muscular, as am I.	>59 mL/min
	Vit B12	599 . . . As far as I know, this is the first time I was tested for amount of Vit. B 12. Looks like I’m OK on this score.	>200- pg/ml
	Glucose, Random	96 . . . Periodically I’ve been tested for Glucose, and as always in the past, I came out OK on this test.	60 – 159 mg/dl
L	Hemoglobin	7.8. . . Now, this is the BAD news this month — 8 is the magic number I’m supposed to remain above. Already the nasty PROCRIT word has been mentioned. I have chosen to try upping my red blood count by hitting the greens hard and often. I start my day with a shot of chlorophyll and take added greens throughout the day. We’ll see what next month brings. Already, in just a couple of days time, I have realized that I can climb the steps without so much of the telltale burning pain in the legs that comes with severe anemia and our walks up hills has improved for me. Let’s hope . . . Hemoglobin is supposed to fill the red blood cell and the amount in your red blood cells is an indication of how well your blood can carry oxygen.	11.5 – 15 g/dL
L	Hematocrit	24.8 . . . This number also dropped, but it had been even lower on June 5. Hematocrit measures the amount of space taken up by your red blood cells. So, 24.8 means that only 24.8 percent of the volume of my blood contains red blood cells . . . By both counts, hemoglobin and hematocrit, I’ve got the typical severe anemia that comes with kidney disease. And, I’ve had it for some time now. However, I don’t suffer the fatigue, or dizziness or any other such symptoms. Hence, I’m not too anxious to have medical intervention with drugs that can cause my body even more problems.	34 – 46 %
	WBC	4.2 . . . This month marks the first of a series of CBC (complete blood count) tests, so, I’ve no idea what this was like before going on the greening diet. My white blood cell count is still in the normal range, despite an infected hand and arm from an attack by a cat who didn’t feel like getting her insulin shot that particular morning. (Not my cat, but I consider her my grandcat.)	3.5 – 12.5
L	RBC	2.58 . . . Red blood cells are running low in this test too. But, considering my hemoglobin, this is not a surprise.	3.5 – 12.5
	MCV	96 fl. . . . “Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is a measurement of the average size of your RBCs. The MCV is elevated when your RBCs are larger than normal (macrocytic), for example in anemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. When the MCV is decreased, your RBCs are smaller than normal (microcytic), such as is seen in iron deficiency anemia or thalassemias.” Looks like the size of my RBCs is just about right. That is good news to me. http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cbc/test.html	80 – 100
	RDW	12.5% . . . “Red cell distribution width (RDW) is a calculation of the variation in the size of your RBCs. In some anemias, such as pernicious anemia, the amount of variation (anisocytosis) in RBC size (along with variation in shape ‚ poikilocytosis) causes an increase in the RDW.” This looks good to me also . . . I’ll take it! http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cbc/test.html	11.9 – 14.3
	Cholesterol	178. . . According to Kaiser and its info about lab tests, “The body uses cholesterol to help build cells and produce hormones. … BEST is less than 200; borderline-high is 200 – 239; high is 240 or above.”	<239- mg/dl
	Triglyceride	81. . . According to Kaiser and its info about lab tests, “Triglycerides are a type of fat the body uses to store energy. Only small amounts are found in the blood.”	<199- mg/dl
	HDL	55. . . Think of this as “HEALTHY”According to Kaiser and its info about lab tests, “HDL (high-density lipoproteins) is more protein than fat. It helps clear the bad cholesterol from your blood o i does not clog your arteries. A high level of HDL can protect you from a heart attack. … HDL should be more than 40. HDL over 60 helps protect against a heart attack. HDL below 40 increases your risk of heart problems. The higher your HDL, the better. A high HDL number can help offset a high LDL number. … Exercise can raise your ‘good’ HDL.”	>45- mg/dl
	LDL, Calculated	107. . . Think of this as “LOUSY”According to Kaiser and its info about lab tests, “LDL (low-density lipoproteins) is mostly fat with only a small amount of protein. It can clog your arteries. If you have high cholesterol, your doctor will want you to lower your LDL. … LDL should be less than 100. A level of 160 or above is high.”	<129- mg/dl