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Ayurvedic Treatment of Kidney Disorders – Avoid Dialysis

Overview

Kidneys are reddish-brown bean shaped organs in our body. It is located on both sides in the retroperitoneal space at a slightly oblique angle. Right kidney is slightly lower than the left kidney and also smaller in size than the left. Kidneys receive about 1300ml of blood per minute. Kidneys contain approximately one million Nephrons, which is the structural and functional unit of kidneys. The main functions of kidneys are to filtration the blood and excrete the waste products through urine and maintain electrolyte balance in our body. In this article we will discuss the Ayurvedic Aspect of Kidney Disorders.

Introduction

Kidney disorders means your kidneys are unable to filtrate the blood normally or unable to remove the waste particles from our body. Kidney problems include various health conditions such as glomerulonephritis, polycystic kidney disease, kidney stones, ureteric stones, chronic kidney disease, urinary tract infections, nephrotic syndrome and ultimately leads to kidney failure.

Kidney disease affects the body system badly. It will affect the body’s ability to filter the blood and extra water from your body and hampers the blood pressure. It also affects the red cell production and vitamin D metabolism. In kidney disorders our kidneys are not able to excrete out the waste from the body. So that the waste products and fluid can build up in your body and cause swelling in your ankles, face.

kidney failure

Etiology/Causes

Kidney disorders are generally caused in these conditions

Diabetes
Family history
Recurrent kidney infections
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Cardiac disorders
Aging
Any kidney injury
Drug toxicity
Smoking
Prolonged obstruction of urinary tract due to any ureteric stone or prostatitis or cancers

Clinical Features/Signs and Symptoms

Kidney disorders easily go unnoticed until the symptoms become severe. So the common clinical features of kidney disorders are:

Poor appetite
Nausea and vomiting
Fluid retention
Constant fatigue
Increase or decrease in the frequency of urine
Hyponatraemia (decrease sodium level in blood)
Hyperkalemia (rise in potassium level in the blood)

Ayurvedic Aspect of Kidneys

In Ayurveda we termed kidneys as Vrikka. Vrikka is made from rakta (blood) and medha (fat) dhatu. Vrikka is the source for Medovaha strotas. So anything which affects the Rakta and Medha dhatu will affect the functioning of the kidneys and one example for this is Prameha (Diabetes). When kapha dosha blocks the strotas (channels) i.e. mutravaha strotras which further leads to various kidney problems. Now we will discuss the Raktavaha and Medovaha strotas dushti.

Raktavaha Strota Dusthi (Blocked Blood Channels)

Causes Of Vitiated Raktavaha Strotas1

Kidney Failure

This shaloka states that when a person eats unfavourable or contaminated food, consumption of excessive hot or liquid food stuffs, excessive exposure to sun and fire and wind then raktavaha strota get vitiated and cause kidney disorder.

Medovaha Strotas Dusthi (Vitiated Fat Tissue)

Causes of Medovaha Strotas Dusti2

Kidney Failure Treatment

This shaloka states that the medovaha strotas are affected due to lack of exercise, day sleep, intake of too much fatty food and excessive alcohol consumption.

Treatment for Vrikka Roga (Kidney Disorders)

Ayurveda is a part of ancient traditional medicine which is derived from knowledge and wisdom of Ayurvedic Acharyas and this path has served the patients since 5000 years. Ayurveda is the ancient and pure form of treatment which treats the disease from its root cause.

This ancient pathway treats the patients without any side effects. Allopathy doctors believe that kidney disorders are neither reversible nor they do have permanent treatment. They said that disease progress could be slowed but after reaching the end stage the only solution for this disease lies in dialysis and at last kidney transplant.

But Ayurvedic experts believe that kidney diseases are not only reversible but also treatable if detected earlier. Ayurveda divides the human body according to doshas (vata, pitta, kapha) and dhatus (rasa, rakta, mansa, meda, asthi, majja, sukra). Unlike allopath, Ayurveda doesn’t focus on treating the symptoms of the disease but also treats the whole body. For the treatment of kidney disorders we have to manage or open or clear the blocked channels of Raktavaha and Medovaha strotas

Treatment of Vitiated Raktavaha Strotas3

Kidney Failure Herbal Remedies

This shloka states that in the diseases caused by vitiated Raktavaha strotas (kidney disorders) one should do the treatment which evacuates the blood and do procedures like purgation, fasting and blood-letting.

Treatment of Vitiated Medovaha Strotas4

Kidney Failure Herbal Remedies

Above quoted shaloka means that for this condition we should do emesis, purgation, blood-letting, physical exercise, fasting, sudation, herbal formulated smoking. Use of haritaki (Terminalia chebula) powder with honey and mostly use rough food grain.

At Last We Have To Follow Pathya or Apathya Ahara-Vihar To Manage This Disease

Pathya Ahara (Favourbale Food)

People Who Are Suffering From This Condition Must Follow The Following Diet Chart

Red rice
Wheat
Raddish
Ochra
Goat milk
Ghrit
Amla (Emblica officinalis)
Banana
Grapes
Coconut water
Jaggery

Apathya Ahara (Unfavourable Food)

Patients Must Avoid Following Food Items

Tila (Sesamum indicum)
Urada (Vigna mungo)
Kulthi (Macrotyloma uniflorum)
Curd
Salt
Sour products
Avoid fish consumption

Pathya Vihara (Favourable Lifestyle)

One Must Follow This Lifestyle for Managing Kidney Disorders

Do light exercises
Morning and evening walk
Apply sandalwood paste over body
Detoxification of body by vamana (induced vomiting)
Get exposure to cold wind

Apathya Vihara (Unfavourable Lifestyle)

One Must Avoid These

Exposure to sunlight and fire
Suppresses the natural urges
Heavy exercise
Sudation therapy

Some Yogasana And Pranayama Are Also Helpful In Kidney Disorders. Some of the Yogasana and Pranayama Are

Yogasana

Chakraasana
Gomukhasana
Vajrasana
Dhanurasana

Pranayaamas

Bhastrika pranayama
Kapalabhati
Nadi shudhi

These Asana Are Followed By 5 Minutes Of Shavasana. These Must Be Done For Approx 5-10 Minutes.

Planet Ayurveda

Planet Ayurveda provides herbal products for the treatment of kidney disorders.This is the manufacturing company which manufactures various herbal products for the treatment of various disorders. These herbal products are made from pure and standardized products of natural and potential herbs and made under the guidance of expert ayurvedic physicians. These are 100% natural and vegetarian products. All these herbal products are made from natural herbs with ancient time tested formulas.

Planet Ayurveda provides 2 packs for kidney disorders.

Revive kidneys pack
Revive kidneys pack for advanced stages

1. Revive Kidneys Pack

Herbal Remedies for Kidney Failure

This Pack is Beneficial in Mild Symptoms of Kidney Disorders.

This Pack Includes

Varunadi vati
Mutrakrichantak churna
Rencure formula
Punarnava mandoor

2. Revive Kidneys Pack for Advanced Stages

Herbs for Kidney Failure

This Pack Is Helpful In Severe Cases of Kidney Problems

This Pack Includes

Mutrakrichantak churna
Varunadi vati
Rencure formula
Punarnava capsules
Phyllanthus niruri
Echinacea capsules
Nephralka capsules

Conclusion

At last we concluded that by following these ayurvedic regimens one can get permanent relief from kidney diseases. As said above that according to allopath kidney disorders are irreversible and have no permanent treatment. But in Ayurveda there is a treatment for kidney disorders without any side effects. These herbal remedies are very effective in the Treatment of Kidney Disorders and save patients from harmful dialysis and transplantation procedures.

References

Charaka vimansthan 5/13
Charaka vimansthan 5/15
Charaka sutrasthan 24/18
Charaka sutrasthan 23/8-9

Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) Treatment in Ayurveda

Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR): Glomeruli is part of the renal system in the body. Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) is the rate at which fluid filtered by the kidney passes through it, taking out waste and extra water. It is checked by the creatinine levels in the blood as per age, gender, body type. If GFR is low that means kidneys are not functioning well. The sooner the problem is detected the better it is as in early stages there is a better chance of slowing or stopping the progression. The doctor may also check for eGFR if you have signs of kidney problems.

Those Signs are:

Having problem in peeing, pain during peeing
Less pee or more pee
Frothy, blood-colored or deep yellow pee
Pain in back
Puffiness around eyes, wrist or belly or ankles

	Stages of kidney function	GFR		STAGE OF Kidney FUNCTION
1	Damage With Normal Impairment	90 AND ABOVE		90-100%
2	Mild loss of function	89-60		89- 60%
3	Mild to moderate loss	59-45		59-45%
4	Moderate to severe	44-30		44-30%
5	Severe	29-15		29-15%
6	Kidney failure	Less than 15	Less than 15%

In normal times GFR at different ages is to be recorded and compared on medical grounds on the following basis

AGE (Years)	Average estimated eGFR (mL/min/1.73m2)
20-29	116
30-39	107
40-49	99
50-59	93
60-69	85
70+	75

Functions of GFR: Why we need to keep in order?

Glomeruli is part of the renal system. 20% of plasma that comes to glomeruli moves out or is sent to Bowman’s capsule by the glomeruli for filtration and re-absorption by peritubular capillaries. It helps in secretion of urine from the blood plasma that enters into it every minute. Urine formation is very important for the clearance of waste material from the body. If these toxins are not cleared, the person may die of toxicity after having a lot of pathological conditions.

So we need to have urine processed out of our body and GFR is a big contributor to that mechanism. So if something wrong happens with the GFR it means something is wrong with the kidneys, which leads to the development of the waste product in the body and our kidneys are not able to excrete them. So urine formation is a result of 3 mechanisms filtration, reabsorption, and secretion. Whereas the excretion is a result of secretion + filtration –re-absorption.

GFR is dependent on 2 processes:

Net filtration process ( NFP)
Filtration coefficient (KF)

These are the two primary levers that are operated which change the Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR), Whenever GFR is changed up or down, either of the two levers or both have changed.

Any pathological issue or physiological conditions of the body will change NFP and or KF and will affect GFR.

KF is out of the question for day to day changes for GFR. But it is NFP too. There are 3 things which we have to focus on to know changes in GFR. We have 1 million glomeruli in each kidney, so in total, we have 2 million glomeruli working for us every minute to secret waste in the form of urine from our body. KF depends upon the surface area and permeability or hydraulic pressure.

In case of high blood pressure, when excess blood is pumped by heart every minute it exerts more pressure on the glomerular basement membrane to pass excess of plasma and hence the basement membrane gets filled with a lot of trashy substances that create damage to the membrane. That trash also damages the channels which were being used here for filtration. So the surface area is gone, the thickness is increased and conductivity is reduced. So hypertension is another example where there is a huge impact on permeability.

What is Chronic Renal Failure?

Say if there are 1 million nephrons working but due to failure there are reduced to 500000 i.e. half million are left now, so the surface area is only half left. Normally there are 2 types of disruptions here,

where a part is destroyed
When fully Surface Area gets finished

Women are at more risk than men. 50% of people with diabetes will have renal function affected.

How many people in the world are affected by the disease?

It is a grave concern as there are no symptoms of renal failure until it becomes chronic. People suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes, continuous occurrences of infections, injury to the kidney, and women are more prone to recurrent infections because they have a shorter urethra. There can be many reasons for kidney failure and only regular checkup of blood and urine can help to detect it early. Between 8-10% of the adult population has some form of kidney damage and millions die prematurely of complications related to chronic kidney disease.

Tips and Tricks to keep Renal health in control

Sadly there is no cure, but the good news is that it can control the situation by slowing the progression of the disease and hence avoid the serious conditions from developing.

The most important is to understand the importance of diet and medication. In early stages, if proper care is taken and proper diet is maintained, then this can be controlled.

The permanent treatment is dialysis or transplant. But when the problem has progressed and it has reached a stage of kidney failure, regular dialysis is done to remove toxins from the body, which is very time consuming and the patient needs to revisit the hospital on a regular schedule.

In extreme cases, the kidney transplant is advised by the doctor that depends upon the availability of the kidney of the compatible blood group.

Herbal Remedies

Ayurveda has various herbal extracts which when administered to the patient along with the diet helps to heal the disease. These herbs help the body to clean the toxins and help keep blood flow regulated. The kidneys are healthy when the heart is healthy, the afferent or efferent arteriole, the Bowman’s capsule, and the health of glomeruli are maintained. The basement membrane health is good to ensure the filtration of toxins.

The herbs we have chosen focusing all the symptoms and functions that get affected by the malfunction. All are focused on your overall health and create balances of hormones and fluids in the body.

Mutrakrichantak churna.
Varunadi Vati.
Indian Echinacea.
Rencure Formula.
Punarnava Capsules
Phyllanthus Niruri
Nephralka Capsules