Replied by Art from California on 05/26/2023

peter,

I was very recently discussing how melatonin is protective of major organs, including the kidneys, that are failing during sepsis here :

https://www.earthclinic.com/cures/blood_poisoning.html#melatonin

More specifically to your wife's proteinuria, this study discusses how one of the kidney protective effects of melatonin is to reduce elevated proteinuria as discussed here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10047594/#:~:text=There were several beneficial aspects, in the expression of anti-

Here is a relevant quote from the review :

' The efficacy of melatonin therapy was also assessed in a group of patients with membranous nephropathy. There were several beneficial aspects during melatonin treatment: a significant reduction in proteinuria, an improvement of glomerular damage, a decreased deposition of immunocomplex, a decrease in the subpopulation of CD19+ B cells, and proinflammatory cytokines with a one-step increase in the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, the secretion of reactive oxygen species was minimized. All these findings show that melatonin treatment prevents the development of membranous nephropathy using many different pathways [170]. '

Art

Replied by Art from California on 05/26/2023

peter,

I forgot to mention that your wife will need to get permission and supervision from her doctor because she has had a kidney transplant which means she is likely on anti rejection medication and she will need her doctor's approval to make sure melatonin will be compatible with all of her medications.

Also, has her doctor checked her magnesium levels? This would be important regarding her kidneys and also for diabetes.

Art

Replied by Peter from chicago on 05/27/2023

Art, thanks!

She has been taking 10 mg melatonin with B per your email back months ago. They gave her melatonin when she was in the hospital. I have been putting magnesium oil under her foot nightly. I added ginger with lemon water daily also. Blood pressure and sugar has been good.

Replied by Art from California on 05/27/2023

Peter,

Is she still taking the Carditone and Berberine?

Regarding melatonin, when you are actually trying to remedy a specific health situation, it may take more than 10 mg. I take 132 mg a night as a preventative. Recent studies have shown 50 mg more beneficial than 10 mg. If she can not tolerate higher doses of melatonin, she can also get earlier morning sun exposure to increase her melatonin levels and this way comes without side effects that some people report from supplemental melatonin. If it is cold, she can get that early morning sun wearing warm clothing as the infrared red rays from the sun tend to penetrate clothing. The infrared light will improve mitochondrial function and increase melatonin levels. If she still needs a further reduction of proteinuria, I can make another suggestion, but melatonin is a very healthy way to do it because of its many other health benefits.

Regarding the mag oil, while it does penetrate the skin, the topical application to her feet may not be enough, but may work well together with magnesium glycinate to raise her magnesium levels including tissue levels. The magnesium is important and her doctor has probably already told her this, because kidney issues can cause deficiency and diabetes is a common cause of magnesium deficiency.

As in my previous reply, you will need her doctors approval for everything we have discussed due to her transplant situation and the associated medications.

Art

Replied by Art from California on 05/27/2023

Peter,

Regarding the ginger, although it is noted for improved kidney function in most studies, one study found that it increased proteinuria as discussed here :

https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-022-03768-x#:~:text=showed that ginger reduced lipid, Al-Attar AM et al.

Here is a relevant quote :

' Xu Y et al. and Ramudu SK et al. showed that ginger reduced lipid content in kidney tissues [27, 41]. Therefore, ginger improves renal function and structure by reducing lipid accumulation.

Although proteinuria was decreased based on the current study, it was increased in the study done by Al-Attar AM et al. The ginger used in this study was in oil form, while in the other studies reviewed, powder, extract, or bioactive compounds of ginger were used, one of the probable reasons for different results.'

Do you think there is a correlation between when your wife started the ginger and when her proteinuria started to increase?

Art

Replied by peter from chicago on 05/30/2023

Art, thanks! I will stop the ginger water and Hibiscus tea, I forgot to mention ginger root was added to Hibiscus tea.

Replied by Art from Califoirnia on 05/30/2023

Peter,

Is your wife still on the Carditone and Berberine?

Art

Replied by peter from chicago on 05/31/2023

Art,

She still on Berberine and Torsemide and Losartan.

She took Carditone for awhile and it stabilized her blood pressure. Creatine went down 1.72 last month but came back up 2.12 on the last test. Her blood pressure has been around 130 and sugar 140. She also drinks hibiscus tea everyday with ginger. I will stop the ginger to see what happens and up her melatonin. Thanks, Art!

Replied by Art from California on 06/01/2023

Peter,

Don't forget to ask her doctor about the magnesium, which will help the diabetes.

Art

Replied by Peter Chan from PETER on 06/06/2023

Art,

Doctor agrees to try your suggestion. Thanks.

Replied by Art from California on 06/06/2023

I'm glad to hear it, Peter. Keep us updated on how it goes.

Art

Replied by peter from chicago on 07/12/2023

Art,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2736774/

How should one proceed to use bicarbonate for stage 5 kidney disease?

How long do you wait to measure your blood pressure after taking bicarbonate to see if sodium cause any problem with blood pressure?

What qty do you take for?

Replied by Art from California on 07/13/2023

Peter,

Your link is not working. When I click on it, it takes me to the EC homepage, so I don't know what you want me to look at.

I also don't know if this is a carryover from yesterday's post or if this is just a new inquiry by you not related to yesterday's posts.

The following meta analysis (April, 2023) of multiple studies suggests that sodium bicarbonate (SB) is not an issue for raising blood pressure in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but I think if a person is going to adopt SB as a regular therapy it makes a lot of sense to monitor your blood pressure very frequently for at least the first week to have a more accurate idea of how the individual is going to react to the therapy because you don't want the therapy to further damage the kidneys via elevated blood pressure. For the first day at least, I would check BP every hour as an extra precautionary measure.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36758154/

Here is a relevant quote :

' Our results suggest, with moderate certainty, that sodium bicarbonate supplementation does not adversely affect systolic BP in CKD or negatively influence antihypertensive medication requirements. '

As far as dosing, the study link below used the following :

' Eligible participants were randomized 1 : 1 to oral sodium bicarbonate or matching placebo. Dosing started at 500 mg three times daily, increasing to 1 g three times daily if the serum bicarbonate concentration was < 22 mmol/l at 3 months. '

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7336221/

Just a thought that you can ask your doctor for approval of, is to take the total daily dose of SB and mix it into a 500 ml bottle of water and sip throughout the day to get a slow release effect and a more steady state of SB throughout the day.

As always, anything your wife decides to do in terms of supplements and alternatives, she should get her doctor's approval and or her transplant team's approval.

Art

Replied by Art from California on 07/13/2023

Peter,

Now that your link is fixed, I can see what the study says. You may have missed this article I wrote last year on CKD, but I did mention sodium bicarbonate in it :

https://www.earthclinic.com/cures/chronic-kidney-disease-art-solbrig.html

If you haven't read it already, it is worth the read.

Btw, I already replied to your post.

Let me know your wife's current status and if needed, I can make other suggestions.

Art