How many young people experience excess urination, pain at the kidney areas, urine pushed out involuntarily just five minutes after fully emptying the bladder, urinating in small quantities more than twenty times a day, extreme exhaustion immediately after urinating, double voiding, waking multiple times at night to urinate, loss of appetite, muscles around one or both kidneys cramping, a feeling of soreness at the muscles around the kidneys and the lower back, a brief rubbing or pulsing feeling at the kidney, excess thirst and the pain at the kidney area stopping only on consuming water? The problems disappear two weeks after stopping consumption of the trigger food (or rather, the suspected contaminant in the food).
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(edited) photo attribution: John Medlicott on Unsplash |
I'm of the opinion that such symptoms of excess urination and slight bits of urine being pushed out involuntarily, may be important warning signals of the body "screaming" about food contaminants. I wonder if people who ended up with severe health issues remember such early warning signs which they ignored. Such symptoms might be accompanied by skin problems and gastric problems too.
After consuming the problematic foods, it's like as though the body enters state of eliminating toxins, and the manner in which it happens is similar to diarrhea. Therefore, I'm naming it "urinary diarrhea". I know I'll be mocked for this, but instead of focusing on the phrase, it'd help to focus on the fact that people are suffering through this, and even doctors don't know what it is, or how to solve it. I've even come across newspaper articles about a "mystery kidney disease" which presents none of the usual symptoms of kidney failure, but biopsies show damage to the tubules in the kidneys. Online forums on kidney disease, MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome), hEDS and various other such strange diseases are very active with discussions about the struggles of misdiagnosis, no diagnosis and gaslighting, while the diseases cripple people's lives and their potential to earn a living.
What worked for me
This is by no means a solution to the problem. I'm only mentioning how I temporarily managed the symptoms, in case it'd help anyone suffering from the same issues. These were attempted only after doctors ruled out other possibilities, so the first step is to consult doctors and do the necessary medical tests.
- Drank water whenever necessary: The pain at the kidney areas reduced only when I drank water. Only as much water as my body demanded via thirst. Even during the worst phases, I did not need perhaps not more than 3.5 litres of water per day. Trying to hold the urine in is never a good idea. When the body needs to eliminate wastes, it should be eliminated, not matter how frequently it happens.
- Started an elimination diet: Finding out which foods contained the suspected contaminant was necessary, and maintaining a symptom diary was crucial because it's easy to get confused when relying purely on memory, since the symptoms can persist for two weeks, and the recovery of the body could take even upto a month and a half. One by one I had to figure out which foods were safe and which were not, by eliminating those from my diet and finding alternate sources of nutrition. Sometimes I even verified it by placing the problematic food in the freezer and after recovering when I took it out and ate it, the symptoms would re-appear, confirming that I narrowed down on the correct source.
- Reduced food consumption: It helped a little to reduce each meal portion by half or less than half because I assume it reduced the load on the body's filtration system. There were also mornings when I had no appetite (after a severe night of excess urination and exhaustion). I did not force myself to eat anything, because I assumed my body needed some rest, and it was ok not to eat (but drinking water was perfectly fine even then). Whenever feasible, a bit of fasting also helped (but never stopping consumption of water).
- Switched to foods that were easy on the kidneys: During these symptoms, I noticed that temporarily switching to properly cooked semolina and vegetables were a bit less strenuous on the kidney. It seemed to help reducing starchy foods and foods high in potassium.
- Avoided purchased food: As much as possible I consumed only food that I cooked/baked myself.
The problems resolved on their own within a week or two without requiring any medication. I tried "organic" produce too, but so far I've had bad experiences with few purchases. Finding trustworthy sources truly is a struggle, because it's hard to find people with integrity.
A cocktail of possible contaminants
When a person died this year from a brain tumor that killed her within a fortnight, I found it very surprising that doctors said they had no idea what could have caused the glioblastoma. When I did a simple Google search, I came across multiple research papers that tied glioblastoma to pesticides and fungicides. Urologists were not even aware of the recent discovery that Parkinson's disease may originate at the kidney. Why were these doctors not even referring scientific research papers in their field of expertise? A simple search showed me more research papers where so much was already well known.
Then I came across articles about waste water contaminated with heavy metals being used to irrigate some farms, oxytocin injected into fruits and vegetables, farmers being mocked for traditional farming, various kinds of medication being used on livestock, and more. I considered doing tests on the foods that gave me health issues, but realized that I'd have to test every single purchase I made, and it was economically impractical while not having a source of income. Besides, even if I found specific contaminants, the next logical step was to find safe food, and that's what I tried.
When people tell me that certain foods are causing the health issues, I correct them by saying that it's not the food. It's the contaminant(s) in the food. Perhaps medical textbooks need dedicated chapters added about how multiple contaminants individually weaken specific functions in the body, leading to a potential cascade of disruptions over a period of time. It is leaving doctors puzzled at what the cause and cure might be. Where is Dr.House when we need him? :-)
I created a spreadsheet of various organic foods from organic brands and was surprised at how much the prices varied, how less some of the owners were willing to reveal about what stage of conversion the farms were at (farms need to undergo a few years of “conversion” before being certified full organic), how some organic farms got blacklisted during surprise checks, how some owners didn’t care much about going into details, and sometimes refusing to reveal which farms the produce came from. One brand expected customers to compulsorily purchase a certain amount of vegetables and fruits each week and were unwilling to reveal the prices of individual produce. Meat and dairy were unreliable too, which probably meant that despite their promises, they were either missing out on some detail that was affecting my health, or there may be some other source of contamination that I missed noting. I often envy the quality of meat that people like Vilhjalmur Stefansson had access to.
Is there hope?
The issues are grave enough that it actually is sending people to their graves. I wrote to various people, asking for ways of economically testing foods on a daily basis, or having a portable method of using spectroscopy to check foods for contaminants before purchasing them. I even wrote to the researcher of the “mystery kidney disease”. No replies from anyone. Meanwhile, I keep hearing of people I know succumbing to cancer, kidney disease, Parkinson's disease, cardiac arrests, stroke, sporadic skin issues, autoimmune diseases and various other serious health issues that appear to have become far too common in recent times. Ask around. Many hide the fact that they are suffering.
As an advanced civilization, we really should have established a well regulated chain of food supply across the world, with algorithms that estimate demand and supply, transparency of where the food comes from, what checks it has undergone at each stage, effective cold storage, effective utilization of organic and indoor farming knowledge, having honest and knowledgeable people managing operations. I hoped to build something like that, coupled with a trust network, but realized that it requires far more resources and cooperation from people than what I anticipated. Still, we need to start somewhere, so if there are like-minded people, please let me know via this form. I’m happy that there are groups of people growing food on their terraces. I’m happy there are educated organic farmers and groups who are doing what is right. However, these are scattered voices that are merely the tip of the food supply chain iceberg. If “bad guys” can be so well coordinated, shouldn’t there be some way to unite the “good guys” to find solutions?
Wishing you good health
My heart goes out to those struggling with such health issues or those caring for family members suffering through it. I’ve seen how it reduces peoples lives to a skeleton of what it once was. I salute the numerous angels who visit online forums everyday, helping people struggling with issues that doctors could not help with. A decision I’m happy about is that I refused to bring my children into a world where I would be unable to give them something so basic as healthy food to eat, clean water to drink and clean air to breathe.
Meanwhile, pay attention to your kidney screaming at you by means of a urinary version of loose motion. Avoid food contaminants!
