Simple Measures To Remedy Kidney Failure
The following is an excerpt from chapter seven of Dr. Chris Chlebowski’s new book, The Virus And The Host: How To Protect Yourself from Infectious Disease by Reducing Toxicity, Improving Immunity and Minimizing Chronic Illness. Preorder your copy today!
The kidneys is an organ system dear to my heart; I have helped a lot of very sick people save their kidneys through simple measures. The kidneys can take an awful punch in Chronic Multi-System Degenerative Disease (CMSDD) and many toxins we are exposed to must pass through the kidneys to be excreted. Therefore, if these paired organs aren’t working properly, they will be damaged in the process. I have witnessed many chronically ill people speeding towards dialysis who have no idea that simple measures can bring their kidneys back from late stage (three and even four) kidney failure. I learned from a dear teacher of mine, Dr. Paul Anderson, that the addition of just a moderate amount of B6 (50mg), magnesium (several hundred mg) and L-glutamine (1 gram) to a person’s supplement routine can turn around a failing kidney in a few months. By adding one or two of the following plants, we can often speed the process along.
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)
Walk by any pond, creek, or slow-moving river in North America, Europe, or Asia and you may see Horsetail growing along the banks or in nearby fields. Its long, dark, green, straw-like stalks are easily recognizable. They look like something out of prehistoric times, which is no coincidence since the Equisetidae subclass of plants, of which horsetail belongs, have been around since dinosaurs walked the earth. Horsetails are the last of its kind.
Make sure you pick your horsetail from a place where the water runs quickly and clear and you will have gathered yourself a strong botanical ally in protecting your kidneys. Horsetail is an excellent plant to help removes impurities from the genitourinary tract. As all the blood in our body must pass through the kidneys, this is last stop for many toxins. One of the most common and dangerous toxicants for the kidneys is lead. The slow, almost inevitable buildup of this heavy metal is one of the main reasons I find people developing failing kidney function over the course of their lives. A tincture or tea of horsetail over time will help remove this impurity from our kidneys.¹ Horsetail is also gentle diuretic; it mildly increases the flow of urine. And in the wisdom that only plants have, it completes its diuretic action without stripping the body of minerals and electrolytes.
The kidneys are also damaged in uncontrolled blood sugar and diabetes; horsetail can help reverse that process.² It is also a useful plant in bladder and kidney infections and the toxic accumulations that can occur when this system is congested. You can make a tea or a tincture out of this prehistoric friend. The stalks are hard and fibrous so that they will need to be crushed up finely before you can use it as medicine. You don’t need to take much to have good effect on the kidneys, a cup or two a day of tea will do the trick.
Equisetum is also a rich source of natural organic silica. At least 25% of its dry weight is is silica while also rich in calcium, potassium, sulphur, zinc, magnesium, and manganese – it is an excellent herbal mineral supplement. As a connective tissue tonic, drinking a tea of this plants helps to rebuild cartilage and bones. It is also useful when someone is complaining of loss of hair or brittle or fragile nails as it provides the necessary ingredients for the structure for the hair and the nails.
Nettle (Urtica Dioica)
If you’ve spent much time outside in temperate zones, you have likely encountered this plant. Nettle grows in large stands along bottom lands near rivers and streams in North and South America, Asia, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. It prefers partially shaded to sunny areas in fertile and nitrogen rich soils.
First impressions count and many people’s initial encounter with urticaria is an unpleasant one. Eons ago, Urtica Dioica developed long hollow hairs that contain formic acid and histamine as a deterrent to their ingestion. Even a slight brush up against this plant with bare skin can cause an irritating, albeit temporary, itching rash.
I’m not sure there is anything this plant can’t do for the human body. It has amazing alkalizing, cancer protective, detoxifying, cardioprotective, and antidiabetic properties. It is mostly known for its ability to bind sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and help reduce the size of the prostate gland in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). However, it’s cytotoxic, anti-metastatic, and anti-tumor effects are coming to light as research into its usefulness in prostate, breast, colorectal, and gastrointestinal cancer is conducted. I suspect that we will eventually see that nettle are helpful in most, if not all, cancers.
Acidity of the blood is a root cause of many diseases. It allows our inborn endobiotic bacteria to grow out of balance and creates an environment hospitable for exogenous organisms. It also creates a toxic environment where viruses continue to loop a symptom signal. Nettles can reduce this acidity. Urtica’s first power of detoxification comes from its ability to gently change the pH of our blood helping bring us back into balance.
Nettles also pack a punch as an antioxidant. A 2015 study showed that rats that were pretreated with nettle extract avoided kidney damage when dosed with the common chemotherapeutic agent gentamicin.³ In another study, rats were exposed to mercury. Researchers found that the rats who were given a solution of Nettle leaves had enhanced liver, kidney and testicular glutathione levels when being exposed to this toxic heavy metal.⁴ So not only can nettles change our pH; they have a protective effect on our most important organs of detoxification.
Nettle which is picked in the spring or summer will have its optimal medical value. Nettle works well as a powder. You can add it to just about anything you drink or make it into a tea or a bit of warm water like I do. It also does it job dutifully in a tincture taken at thirty drops, once or twice a day.
Other kidney detoxifying plants:
Corn silk
Burdock
Parsley root
Chickweed
Khella
Plantain
Oat
Ginger
Juniper berries
Uva ursi
Golden rod
Watermelon seeds
Chamomile
Agrimony
Cleavers
Gravel Root
1. Deepak Pant, Virbala Sharma, Pooja Singh, , Pb detoxification in Equisetum diffusum, Toxicology Reports. 2015 May 12;2:716-720.doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2015.04.006.
2. Soleimani Safiyeh, Fathiazarbaijani Fathallah, Nejati Vahid, Shojaei Sadee Habib and Nanghshbandi Nabat, 2007, Effect of Equisetum arvense L. (Equisetaceae) in Microalbuminuria and Creatinine Excretion in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes in Male Rats, International Journal of Pharmacology, 3: 155-159.
3. Nadia Abdulkarim Salih, Effect of nettle (Urtica dioica) extract on gentamicin induced nephrotoxicity in male rabbits, Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
Volume 5, Issue 9, September 2015, Pages 756-760
4. Wafa Siouda , Cherif Abdennour, Can Urtica dioica supplementation attenuate mercury intoxication in Wistar rats?, Veterinary World. 2015 Dec;8(12):1458-65.doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2015.1458-1465.