If it's not healthy, it's not green.

Wilkie Wages War: July 2007

3 August 2011 4,936 views No Comment

Wilkie Wages War: July 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 2007

Get a look at that BUN reading. A drop from 73 on June 5, to 27 on July 5! Creatinine dropped a bit too. And potassium . . . Look how low that is on this diet, rich in potassium foods. Of course, I’ve been cautioned to not get too excited until we see a run of months with these numbers holding — or at least, not drifting upwards by too much.

High or Low	Blood checked for	Reading is:	What should be:
H	BUN	27 . . . D O W N !! Wow! Does alkalizing work? It sure looks as if it does. (BUN increases as kidney function decreases.)	10 – 20 mg/dL
H	Magnesium	2.9 . . . This is UP .5 points, which may be reflective of the colon cleanse I was on. I’ll stop that and see what happens in August. As I understand it, too much magnesium can adversely affect heart just as can too much potassium.	1.7 -2.3 mg/dL
	Calcium	9.0 . . . Normal, and, this number too, has improved.	8.5 – 10.3 mg/dL
	CO2	>45. . . . This doesn’t make sense to me . . . and it doesn’t have a flag on the lab results sheet. I’ve always run low in the past. Doctors, however, don’t seem to care about this number reading low.	24 – 33 mEq/L
H	Creatinine	5.09. . . Down one full point since June 5. I’ve been told that creatinine drops slowly. But, I’m very pleased with the one point drop. At least it is in the right direction.	<1.2 mg/dL
	Phosphorus	2.9 . . .A drop from 5.4 to a low normal reading. WOW! As I understand it, too much phosphorus and bones can be leached of calcium.	2.7 – 4.5 mg/dL
	Potassium	4.6. . . Still “normal” and even lower than last month. Yeah!!!! And just think, I’m on a diet of potassium-rich foods. But, I also take in a lot of salt. Himalayan salt that is.	3.5 – 5.3 mEq/L
	Sodium	139 . . . NORMAL!!! I’ve been running low to quite low in the sodium test. 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.	133 – 145 mEq/L
L	GFR	9 or 11 . . . still have muscle mass so I’ll take the 11. With the decrease in creatinine, the GFR rises. 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
L	Hemoglobin	8.3 . . . UP three-tenths of a point from last month. Apparently, 8 is the magic number I’m supposed to remain above and with the help of Floradix, I’m sure trying to get back up around 9 . . . while hoping for higher readings!	11.5 – 15 g/dL
L	Hematocrit	26 . . UP by nearly two points. Yeah!	34 – 46 %