Wilkie Wages War: October 2006
Wilkie Wages War: October 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.
October 2006 . . .
| High or Low | Blood checked for | Reading is: | What should be: |
| H | Cystatin C | 3.41 . . . First time I’ve had this test run; more accurate than creatinine. | .5 – 1 |
| CRP | 0.3 . . . First time I’ve had this test run; checks inflammation. | < 0.5 mg/dL | |
| H | BUN | 54 . . . A unwelcomed increase of three points.(blood, urea, nitrogen – from the breakdown of protein. BUN increases as kidney function decreases.) | 10 – 20 mg/dL |
| H | Magnesium | 2.4 . . . Up a tenth of a point into abnormal readings. As I understand it, too much magnesium can adversely affect heart just as can too much potassium. | 1.7 -2.3 mg/dL |
| Calcium | 8.8 . . . Up a little more and that’s good. | 8.5 – 10.3 mg/dL | |
| L | CO2 | 18 . . . A drop of 2 points. Why??? Damned if I know. | 24 – 33 mEq/L |
| H | Creatinine | 5.1 . . . Down by two tenths of a point, at least that’s the right direction, but it is still too high. | <1.2 mg/dL |
| H | Phosphorus | 4.6 . . . Up a tenth of a point, but not too many worries about leaching calcium from bones yet. | 2.7 – 4.5 mg/dL |
| Potassium | 4.9 . . . Down a little and still normal. This is very good news. | 3.5 – 5.3 mEq/L | |
| Sodium | 134 . . . Steady as she blows. Normal, even if barely. | 133 – 145 mEq/L | |
| L | GFR * | 9 or 11 . . . still have muscle mass so I’ll take the 11! Of course, this is based only on the creatinine reading, so IF for any reason that’s off, so then is the GFR. 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. | >59 mL/min |
| L | Hemoglobin | 9.4 . . . No change since last month. Maybe miracles are continuing, still too low, but at least it hasn’t continued that drop I had been experiencing. | 11.5 – 15 g/dL |
| L | Hematocrit | 29.2 . . UP another six tenths of a point. Still too low, but again this reading is UP! Miracles, anyone? I’m ready!!!!! Ready for my kidneys to start producing erythropoietin. (Erythropoietin is a hormone that is produced by healthy kidneys, which in essence tells the brain to tell the bone marrow to produce the necessary red blood cells. Kidney failure means failure of the production of red blood cells, hence anemia. When one’s red cell counts get too low, one doesn’t get the oxygen delivered to all the organs . . . doctors have an artificial way of stimulating that hormone. I’m trying to handle all this without drugs as long as possible. | 34 – 46 % |
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