Are you sure you want to start dialysis?"
Well, what's the alternative?
I...
I don't know - said the doctor.
Doctors believe dialysis is always the best answer.
Because it's what they're used to deal with.
But what if there were not just one, but 5 alternatives to dialysis for people with stage
5 kidney disease?
Hello, Katherine from 00kidney here, welcome to our journey together to a better kidney
health.
I've been working with people suffering from kidney disease for 8 years now but seeing
patients having to start dialysis always hits as hard as the first time.
But there are 5 little known alternatives to dialysis you should know about.
I've made several videos recently about forthcoming treatments such as the bioartificial kidney
or 3d printed organs.
But today's video is different.
Because while those kidney replacement therapies are supposed to revolutionize the world of
transplant in the next few years, what I want to show you today are already available dialysis
alternative.
Therapies people suffering from chronic kidney disease around the world are doing RIGHT NOW
to avoid spending the rest of their lives tied to a machine.
Because when they reach end stage kidney disease, many patients have to face a choice.
According to many doctors, the only two possibilities are doing dialysis or... doing nothing.
Well, there are other options.
Some of these have been shown to give to stage 5 patients up to 4 years without dialysis.
Let's see what they are.
First of all, there is what we call 5) Maximal Conservative Management (MCM) or
nondialytic care This is the option that 77-year-old CKD PATIENT
Mrs Smith chose.
She was suffering from heart disease and having undergone a bypass surgery, Mrs Smith was
also diagnosed with kidney disease 10 years ago.
She was supposed to start on dialysis when her condition worsened in 2016.
Mrs Smith daughter said "It has been a year since her conservative management and my mother's
condition is still stable.
If she had opted for haemodialysis back then, it would require her to go for another surgery
to reduce the burden on her heart.
This would be too much for her aging body."
Ok guys, choosing nondialytic care is not uncommon.
Today there are even clinics specialized in this kind of therapy.
So, what does Maximal Conservative Management consist in?
Usually, conservative management is used in those patients with a short life expectancy
- but it's not always the case.
The goal would be managing other health problems caused by kidney failure, such as anemia and
symptoms such as nausea and tiredness while preserving kidney function for as long as
possible.
Diuretics are also a common part of a management plan, also with an anti-hypertensive medication.
While this was considered a death sentence just a decade ago, some doctors were able
to give their patients even years free from dialysis, with a good quality of life as well.
In particular, there's a home remedy, a powerful detoxifier that has been used with success
as a part of a clinical trial on stage 5 ckd patients.
4) It is
Activated charcoal Activated charcoal is really popular as a
detoxifier.
People use it every day in small dosages as a home remedy against bloating, gas, diarrhea
and ... also to get their teeth whiter.
Emergency room doctors, on the other hand, use it to treat overdoses and poisoning.
All this is possible because activated charcoal is extremely good at binding to toxins in
the digestive system and removing them.
It so good that there's a study conducted on 9 stage-5-patients who refused to start
dialysis and decided to use this remedy instead.
They were treated with activated charcoal and nondialytic care for 10 months.
The results are shocking.
In the study, patients with kidney disease stage 5 were administered 30 grams of Activated
charcoal per day.
Basically, this treatment was able not just to prolong the life of their kidneys, but
to improve their function.
The treatment was so effective that all of them had a significant decrease in blood urea
and creatinine levels.
Take a look.
This is a study published on a respectable peer reviewed paper and - frankly - really
gives me hope.
So, what makes activated charcoal so effective as a kidney protector?
This fine, black powder is a real detoxifier.
Activated charcoal seems to be especially effective at removing toxins derived from
urea, uremic toxins and phosphorus.
Uremia, excess of uremic toxins, in particular is the cause of most symptoms associated with
stage 4 and 5 of kidney disease, including itching - or uremic pruritus - but also swelling,
trouble breathing and nausea.
It's basically the worst enemy of people with kidney disease.
So it's clear that if this remedy is able to help you get rid of it, it will be incredibly
helpful.
It would remove a lot of burden from the kidneys.
And there are several animal studies to show that activated charcoal may prevent damage
correlated to kidney disease.
Researchers noted that AC can effectively reduce the level of serum phosphorus, serum
urea and creatinine and can be clinically applied safely, with few side effects
Now, activated charcoal seems so effective at removing excess phosphorus it has even
been studied in stage 3 and 4 CKD patients with hyperphosphatemia.
Test subject were given 0.6-1.2 g of activated charcoal three times a day with food and the
phosphorus levels were noticeably lower.
Now guys, activated charcoal is extremely powerful at getting rid of excess uremic toxins.
But the best way to protect the kidneys and avoid dialysis is not putting those toxins
in the body in the first place.
How to do this?
3) VLPD The VLPD or very low protein diet, is mostly
used for treating advanced stage, pre dialysis, kidney disease.
But it's even more useful when the patient wants to avoid dialysis completely.
The VLPD was a very important part of the treatment given to the 9 stage 5 CKD patients
that were able to live for 10 months without dialysis thanks to activated charcoal.
Now, the biggest advantage of the VLPD treatment compared to the other treatments of this video
is that it has been used on thousands of CKD patients, not just on a few.
It's still not very common in many parts of world, including the US.
But where it's used, including Italy, the VLPD is showing impressive results even alone
with Conservative Management but without any other detoxifier.
I've met people who have been in stage 4 for 20 years without significant deterioration
of their kidney function.
And that's impressive.
But I'm not the only one saying that it works - a large review of studies, conducted on
2996 people and concluded that, "very low protein diets reduce the number of people
with CKD stage 4 or 5, who progress to end stage kidney disease."
So, on almost 3000 people, those following the VLPD had less chance of having to undergo
dialysis Now, the very low protein diet works based
on the notion that the kidneys are damaged by protein.
Once you remove protein from the diet almost completely, the kidneys will improve.
I know this sound easy on paper, but it's not.
A very low protein diet is not something you can self-prescribe: it requires very precise
calculations and a special supplementation.
It's a big topic and I've made a whole video about it, it's up here if you want to watch
it.
Also guys, let me know if any of you is already following any kind of low protein diet - including
the vegan diet or plant based - and if you would be interested in watching a video about
what works and what doesn't in this kind of diet.
I'm asking you this because I'm going to make more content about low protein diets and I
want to know how much you are interested in knowing more.
Now, there's another detoxifier that's even more powerful than activated charcoal plus
the VLPD.
I can tell that it's more powerful because it has been used to stave off dialysis for
up to 4 years.
2) gum Arabic Also known as gum Arabic is the gum that is
exuded from the acacia tree.
It's soluble dietary fiber - an indigestible substance that acts like a brush in the intestine
- removing scores and waste.
Gum arabic can be found in many every day products, ranging from candies to cosmetics.
Used as a remedy, it may help with diabetes, high cholesterol, weight loss and high blood
pressure - according to studies.
The very interesting part about gum arabic is that it has been used to completely avoid
dialysis in a 11-year-old girl with almost no kidney function.
According to the study, the girl was able to live 4 years free from dialysis and also...
she continued experiencing improved well-being and good participation in outdoor activities,
had never been acidotic or experienced significant uremic symptoms.
This this is the longest period of dialysis freedom reported in patients with stage 5
kidney disease.
And this clearly makes gum Arabic the most powerful kidney detoxifier on earth.
The girl was also treated with other therapies to support her kidney function, including
the VLPD we talked about earlier.
Now, consider that, while gum Arabic as a home remedy is readily available and cheap
- many people are already using it for its anti-cholesterol properties - it is not an
approved treatment for stage 5 kidney disease.
Yet.
Still, after this incredible achievement, Gum Arabic was subjected to more research.
Very recently, a study was performed to investigate the kidney protecting properties of Gum arabic.
Now, this is study that was published on the Journal of Functional Foods...
I think one week ago.
It was conducted on stage 3 and 4 chronic kidney disease patients.
Enrolled patients had their normal diet supplemented with 25 g of Gum Arabic daily for twelve months.
And the results are frankly shocking.
Now, when a patient is in stage 3 or 4 of kidney disease, their GFR is supposed to slowly
go down.
Instead, when researchers started to administer gum Arabic to patients, their GFR jumped up
in just 3 months.
Incredible.
Even more incredible, one year passes, treatment is suspended.
GFR doesn't start to go down again - it goes up instead!
Amazing!
Researchers think this is due the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects of gum Arabic on
the kidneys.
There's still the need for more research before this may become an approved treatment but
this is amazing nonetheless.
Now guys, if you think this is good news, it's time to spread the awareness.
Please share this video with anyone you know who suffers from kidney problems or whose
relatives suffer from kidney problems.
We really need to focus on the awareness about this new kind of extremely cheap and effective
treatments if we want them to become available for all the kidney patients around the world.
Now, guys, before I show you the number 1 treatment to completely replace dialysis,
there are some thoughts about this whole dialysis vs no dialysis debate.
I've been working with people suffering from kidney disease for many years and not for
all of them dialysis is the best option.
Many doctors believe dialysis is always the appropriate response to kidney failure.
Because they believe dialysis always prolongs life, and prolonging life is all that matters.
Experience has given me different lessons.
Dialysis may not be the best option for everyone with kidney failure.
Several European studies have shown that dialysis does not guarantee a survival benefit for
people over age 75 who have medical problems such as heart disease in addition to end-stage
kidney disease.
In fact, it often worsens their quality of life.
One study found out that elderly people who had dialysis lived on average a year longer
than those who didn't - but almost all of this added time was spent in the hospital,
traveling to and from dialysis, or undergoing dialysis treatments.
This is why there are also doctors who believe in alternative treatments instead of dialysis.
And it would be crucial for anyone wanting to avoid dialysis finding a doctor with enough
knowledge about dialysis alternative to guide them.
Because the biggest problem here is that the patient always has to follow the doctor.
if your doctor thinks dialysis is the only way, you have to follow his orders OR to find
a different doctor.
BECAUSE there are also doctors that believe in alternative therapies and clinics that
can administer them.
Now, there's another way to avoid dialysis that I want to show you - this one is the
most widely accepted in the US today.
It's a little known way to receive a kidney transplant FAST.
THE Paired Kidney Exchange program It's really difficult for people in need of
a kidney to find a compatible donor.
This program is aimed at bridging the gap.
Let's say that you need a kidney and you're so lucky that a relative, your spouse or maybe
a friend is willing to donate you one of theirs.
Well, there's no guarantee that they will be able to do so.
Kidney donors must have a compatible blood type with the recipient.
If the donor's blood type works with your blood type, the donor will take the next blood
test (tissue typing).
If everything is fine, they will finally be able to donate.
But if there's no blood compatibility, or no tissue compatibility, there's no match.
This may be finally over.
To overcome this problem, an increasing number of kidney donors and recipients are turning
to paired kidney exchange.
In a paired exchange, an incompatible donor/ recipient pair (such as a husband and wife
that don't have compatible blood types) are matched with another incompatible donor/recipient
pair for a "swap".
Each donor gives a kidney to the other person's intended recipient.
This could be done with four people, six people or sometimes even more.
Now, what should you do if you are interested in a paired exchange program?
Contact your transplant hospital or a transplant hospital that has an exchange program.
I've put a link in description to the complete list of hospitals in the US hosting these
programs.
If this doesn't work, contact an organization such as the Alliance for Paired Donation or
the National Kidney Registry.
They may be able to help you.
Ok guys, this was our last one for today.
A new video is coming next Friday - I hope to see you there.
In the meantime, keep taking good care of your kidneys and be good to yourself.
This is all for today, thank you for watching!