Wilkie Wages War: Creatinine readings 2006

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.

Creatinine readings 2006:
Jan. 18 — 3.4 . . . Double damn! But then I discovered in Dr. Walser’s book
(given me by Betty Bridges) that one should not test for creatinine without
treating for acid stomach and just guess who was indulging her appetite for pickles.
Pickled onions, okra, cucumbers, etc.

Off of stinging nettles and other herbs for now, but still taking Rehmannia and Co-Q10 and other
stuff. I hope to build a list of supplements to link to, so folks can follow that, as well. And, before
blood tests, I’m also taking TUMS — plain, not artificially flavored or colored — [that was
short lived as I quickly developed adverse reactions to that product] in addition to the
calcium and magnesium. In a further effort to curb an acid stomach, I’m occasionally
drinking 1/2 tsp of baking soda in 1/2 cup of water AND staying away from highly
acidic foods. Hard to avoid my beloved Pub-style pickled onions, though.

Was seen by a holistic doctor in Carmel, and underwent a series of tests. All through the years I
have maintained that my problems were related to petrochemicals. Hydrocarbons! And with the
plethora of products released to market with petrochemically derived flavors and fragrances
that have not been substantiated for safety — INCLUDING PHARMACEUTICALS! — it is
no wonder to me that my health tanked in a workplace that catered to those polluting the air. Now these test results prove that I knew my body and knew what I was talking about!

Which means that that should give hope to so many others who react only to
petrochemically derived products. I was then referred to Dr. Joel Lopez, formerly the
Associate Director of the San Francisco Preventive Medical Group ( his own pages at
http://www.journeytowellness-sf.com/ or synergymedical.com).
[Note 8/2/11: Journey to Wellness no longer exists but you can find Dr. Lopez at Synergy Medical.]
Dr. Lopez has methods for detoxing patients, and he knows about the harmful effects of
drugs for people such as myself..

By the bye, I’m thankful I have medical coverage, but trust me, it does me little good for renal failure!
Kaiser doesn’t cover my holistic/alternative/complementary approaches and so therefore all tests,
office visits, detoxing methods are out-of-pocket expenses. Because these tests and visits are not
covered by Kaiser, they are not covered by Medicare. Nonetheless, my medicare payments
go up and up and up, just like others — except, I have to pay for Medicare out-of-pocket. Every
three months. But other folks have their visits, treatments and prescriptions covered
because they are willing to do the drugs and suffer the consequences. To my mind,
this is not equitable — CalPERS pays Medicare costs for state government employees, but
not for employees of public government agencies — but then, nothing about
chemical injury is equitable for anyone living with it. Nor for those living with those who
have it. Despite it all, I count my blessings — for most of all, I still feel good and can still
enjoy time with family and friends.

Jan. 31 — 3.3. . . . Well, here we go again, a drop by only .1 but it’s only been a
couple of weeks and nurses have told me that creatinine levels are very slow
to drop.

Feb. 7 . . . No blood test at this time — gave him copies of previous
tests — but Dr. Lopez, then with SFPMG [now with his own practice, Journey to Wellness
at, http://www.synergymedical.com or http://www.journeytowellness-sf.com ]
[Note 8/2/11: Journey to Wellness no longer exists but you can find Dr. Lopez at Synergy Medical.]
wanted me to do a 24-hour catch and proceeded to give me a couple of jugs for the catch.

For a 24-hour catch, you do not “catch” your first morning release of urine. However,
you then catch all urine from that point forward, throughout the day and night and
include the first void of the following morning. Then you are done. Simple, really. Then
you take in your fresh catch to be analyzed. That’s it. But I went further than that and
also kept a record of amount of liquid in and liquid out . . . and the numbers
were about even. Kidneys appear to be working better than any blood serum creatinine
reading test I’ve been given by Kaiser. So now for the results, which were given me
on February 23 — a remarkable day anyway, as it is the birthday of my childhood
playmate, my third child and my fifth grandchild . . . and now, it is the day that I was
looked upon as “normal.” Yeah, me! Normal. Well, we’ll use cautious optimism here —
next blood test coming up March 7.

Feb. 23 — 1144 . . . but, the range is: 600 – 1800. Yeah, me, normal!
If only for creatinine in urine.