Here is part two of my story and research on Kidney Stones.
Why did I get a kidney stone?
I have asked that many, many times. I do not eat the typical foods associated with the creation of stones in the kidneys. They do say it runs in families and my dad has had kidney stones and my brother has recurring kidney stones (he thinks it has been about 30 times.) My brother eats the Average American Diet.
There is an emotional side of all dis-ease that happens in the body. Quote from Louise L. Hay’s book, Heal Your Body: “Probably cause, Lumps of undissolved anger. Affirmation: I dissolve all past problems with ease.” I will admit I have unresolved anger, mostly at myself. I think we can all admit we have anger stored up inside of ourselves. The situation, in me, is I always keep everything inside and internalize it and do not express what I am dealing with. This is one of the main reasons 30 years ago I suffered from eczema. I have overcome eczema and do not have it to this day. At that time I had weakened kidneys and my adrenal glands were basically not working. The kidneys and adrenals go hand in hand. The adrenal glands help you deal with stress and when you are really stressed out, you weaken your adrenal glands. (I am not going to go into my story of overcoming eczema here, you can watch my YouTube video about it, link is at the end of the blog.)
I have been under tremendous stress last year and this year. I am working very hard and long hours with no new customers to support my business. This has led to me struggling to pay my bills. Now you can say that there are many things that create stress in a person's life, however to be single and the only person bringing in an income and struggling to pay your bills, month after month causes a huge amount of stress. (I will not go into more detail about this here.)
I wanted to make this point about why people get sick, create dis-ease in their lives or come down with an illness. You can live the best, healthiest life you can possibly create and still get sick. You can eat the best organic, whole foods that are on the planet and still get sick. We are humans. We have emotions that create all kinds of things in our bodies, one of which is stress which can lead to something unpleasant happening to you (such as a kidney stone). Do not judge another person when they get sick. Do not try to figure out why a ‘healthy person’ gets sick. You will just stand in judgment of their lifestyle. Another person has no idea of the thoughts that are going through another person. And we create EVERYTHING with our thoughts. Instead of asking ‘Why did that very healthy person get sick?’ ask the person ‘What can I do to help you?’.
Macrobiotic Viewpoint of Kidney Stones:
They are caused by too much oxalic acid in the blood, too little salt in the body and over consumption of animal proteins. (I am vegan and do eat any animal protein.) (It is interesting to note that most information about kidney stones says it is from over consumption of salt and to cut back, the macro view indicates too little salt.)
Oriental Medicine and The Five Transformations of Energy about Kidneys:
The kidneys are associated with the water/winter element. This element deals with being fluent and flowing with whatever comes at you in life. The emotions associated with water are adaptability, adventurous, resourceful and fear. Water energy is responsible for holding our deepest life force and supporting our vitality. This is where we find our resources to accomplish our passions. If we fall into fear we are left unable to accomplish our passions.
More information about Chinese Medicine and the Kidneys:
https://www.meandqi.com/tcm-education-center/basic-concepts/kidneys#they_store_essence
Quote from, Healing with Whole Foods, by Paul Pitchford:
“The water element emotion is fear. Like the kidneys, fear is deeply rooted, and we are often not consciously aware of even major areas of fear and insecurity about life and also “injures” the kidney. ON the other hand, weak kidneys generate fearful feelings, which in turn block loving experiences. To explain this in terms of the Destruction Cycle: stressful fear-ridden kidneys (water element) fail to remove excess water, which extinguishes the heart spirit (fire element) and its normal expression of love. Many people receive psychotherapy in an attempt to identify and dismantle deep insecurities. Often there is little success because the kidney-adrenal complex has not been renewed. By restoring the kidneys to any significant degree, one typically feels a tremendous elation as the dark cloud of fear lifts.”
The following information is what you can find if you do a google search for information about kidney stones. With all google searches, not all information is accurate. Use your own judgement.
What is a kidney stone?
A kidney stone is a hard object that is made from chemicals in the urine. There are four types of kidney stones: calcium oxalate, uric acid, struvite, and cystine. A kidney stone may be treated with shockwave lithotripsy, uteroscopy, percutaneous nephrolithomy or nephrolithotripsy. Common symptoms include severe pain in lower back, blood in your urine, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills, or urine that smells bad or looks cloudy.
Urine has various wastes dissolved in it. When there is too much waste in too little liquid, crystals begin to form. The crystals attract other elements and join together to form a solid that will get larger unless it is passed out of the body with the urine. Usually, these chemicals are eliminated in the urine by the body's master chemist: the kidney. In most people, having enough liquid washes them out or other chemicals in urine stop a stone from forming. The stone-forming chemicals are calcium, oxalate, urate, cystine, xanthine, and phosphate.
After it is formed, the stone may stay in the kidney or travel down the urinary tract into the ureter. Sometimes, tiny stones move out of the body in the urine without causing too much pain. But stones that don't move may cause a back-up of urine in the kidney, ureter, the bladder, or the urethra. This is what causes the pain.
Symptoms:
Some kidney stones are as small as a grain of sand. Others are as large as a pebble. A few are as large as a golf ball! As a general rule, the larger the stone, the more noticeable are the symptoms.
The symptoms could be one or more of the following:
severe pain on either side of your lower back
more vague pain or stomachache that doesn't go away
blood in the urine
nausea or vomiting
fever and chills
urine that smells bad or looks cloudy
The kidney stone starts to hurt when it causes irritation or blockage. This builds rapidly to extreme pain. In most cases, kidney stones pass without causing damage-but usually not without causing a lot of pain.
There are four main types of stones:
Calcium oxalate: The most common type of kidney stone which is created when calcium combines with oxalate in the urine. Inadequate calcium and fluid intake, as well other conditions, may contribute to their formation.
Uric acid: This is another common type of kidney stone. Foods such as organ meats and shellfish have high concentrations of a natural chemical compound known as purines. High purine intake leads to a higher production of monosodium urate, which, under the right conditions, may form stones in the kidneys. The formation of these types of stones tends to run in families.
Struvite: These stones are less common and are caused by infections in the upper urinary tract.
Cystine: These stones are rare and tend to run in families. What are Cystine Stones?
Source:
https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/kidneystones
Foods High in Oxalic Acid:
This is a list of foods high in Oxalic acid because it is suggested that can lead to kidney stones. I do not eat most of what is on the list and the few foods that I do eat on the list, I eat in moderation, not excessively. And it is absurd to stop eating some of these foods considering how nutrient dense and healthy they are, example: miso soup, buckwheat, navy beans, soybeans, beets, almonds and corn grits. (Note: I do not put much stock in the information in this article, I put it here because it lists foods high in Oxalic Acid. It states in this article: To avoid Hot chocolate and drink chocolate milk instead. That is some of the worse advice I have ever read.)
I do not cook with nightshade vegetables. Nightshade vegetables contain Oxalic acid. I have been teaching about how nightshade vegetables can lead to joint pains and affect people with fibromyalgia also for 26 years.
List: spinach, nightshade vegetables, rhubarb, buckwheat groats, almonds, miso soup, corn grits, baked potato, soybeans, bulgur, beets, navy beans, okra and brand flakes.
https://www.livestrong.com/article/436995-foods-with-high-oxalate-uric-acid/
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Interesting to see all the different possible causes of Kidney stones. When I had them I read that they came from lack of exercise, not drinking enough water and from eating too many things like nuts that could get stuck and turn into kidney stones. As long as I limited the amount of nuts I ate to what I found to be the healthy acceptable amount, that I'd never checked before, my kidney stones never came back and as long as I drank lots of water and got some exercise they went away . I guess everyone gets them for slightly different reasons . I sure hope you are feeling good now.