Editor’s Note: We are excited to introduce our guest blogger, Dr.Jenna C. Henderson, a kidney patient and Founder of Holistic Kidney. Licensed as a naturopathic doctor in the state of Connecticut, she helps her kidney patients with holistic and natural treatments. In today’s guest blog post, she shares her personal story on how advances in technology have allowed products such as Renadyl™ to make a difference for her and her patients’ lives.
100 years ago it would have been hard to envision my life now. For most of human history, kidney failure was the end of life. The kidneys are so essential and yet so vulnerable. We take them for granted so easily and face so many difficulties when they no longer work. But here I am 15 years past kidney failure, not just surviving but thriving as a doctor with a busy practice. I’m grateful for this life and all of the breakthroughs in kidney care that made it possible.
New ideas and innovation have driven kidney care
New ideas and innovation have driven kidney care in dialysis and transplantation, so when I heard about Renadyl™, I was intrigued. Was this a huge breakthrough that could change renal care? Could something as simple as a probiotic have a profound effect on our renal health? Like most kidney patients I’m eager to try just about anything with a reasonable chance that will stack the odds in my favor.
It makes sense that a probiotic could be an important breakthrough in kidney care. When I was in medical school, we learned an interesting fact–the bacteria in our bodies outnumber our own cells 10 to 1. A 10 to 1 ratio is phenomenal to think about and the implications for our health are tremendous. If we have the right bacteria in our systems, it has a huge impact on our health. We live in symbiosis with our bacteria. It only makes sense that we could use bacteria to our advantage.
I was already on dialysis for several years when I first tried Renadyl™. No, Renadyl™ didn’t get me off dialysis. But it did shift my blood markers in a very positive way. BUN, blood urea nitrogen, is one of the uremic wastes that build up when the kidneys no longer work. And dialysis patients will always have a high BUN because the dialysis will never work as well as the human kidney. But once I used Renadyl™, my BUN levels went down significantly.
Why does BUN matter so much? BUN is a waste product that comes from protein in our diets. For many lowering BUN requires cutting back on protein.But protein is important in the diet. Without adequate protein our muscles waste, our immune system won’t function and our blood sugar jumps up and down. And for children with kidney disease, adequate protein is needed for them to grow.
I’ve seen many patients, myself included, try a very low protein diet and the results are often not good. Many of us have spent a long time in a hospital bed and can’t afford any more muscle wasting. Kidney patients often feel torn between the low protein diet that would be favorable to their kidneys and the high protein diet that would supply nutrition to the rest of the body.
By significantly reducing the BUN, Renadyl™ can go a long way to improving the health and quality of life for kidney patients. BUN, a direct waste product from protein, is something no one wants to have built up in their system. A simple probiotic is truly the innovation that can significantly make our bodies less toxic.
About Dr.Henderson:
As the Founder of Holistic Kidney, Dr. Jenna Henderson has been studying renal disease since 1993. A kidney patient herself, Dr. Henderson knows the process of kidney failure first hand and applies her experience to help kidney patients worldwide. She graduated from the University of Bridgeport and is licensed as a naturopathic doctor in the state of Connecticut. She works hard to help kidney patients live a long, happy life and stay off dialysis. Her safe and effective therapies are holistic and natural, and they help to preserve kidney function naturally.Her advice is sought by many patients and practitioners when other approaches to kidney disease have failed. She has been interviewed on several radio shows and has been published in Natural Medicine Journal and Naturopathic Doctor News & Review. Over 3,500 people follow her updates on Holistic Kidney on Facebook.
You may wish to visit Dr. Jenna Henderson website:
at http://www.holistic-kidney.com/ or reach her at holistickidney@gmail.com.