Kidney Disease

Infection, Inflammation, Gravel & Stones, and Failing Kidney Function

Understanding the Condition

Dr. Christopher called the kidneys “the filters of the blood,” and that is exactly what they are. Every drop of blood in the body passes through them many times a day, roughly 45 to 50 gallons of blood filtered every 24 hours. Each kidney holds about a million tiny filtering units called nephrons. In each one, a little knot of blood vessels (the glomerulus) strains the blood, and a long, thin tubule then takes back the water, minerals and nutrients the body needs to keep. What is left, the waste, acids and excess fluid, becomes one to two quarts of urine a day.

The kidneys do more than make urine. They keep the body’s water, salt, potassium and acid balance steady; they help set the blood pressure; they make the hormone that tells the bone marrow to build red blood cells; and they turn vitamin D into the form the body uses for strong bones. When the kidneys struggle, all of these jobs slip, which is why kidney trouble can show up as tiredness, anemia, high blood pressure, swelling, cramps and weak bones long before anyone thinks of the kidneys.

How It Develops

Kidney disease is seldom one sudden event. It is usually a slow wearing-down of the filters, and it tends to move through stages (see the picture below):

Overload. The most common beginning is simply not drinking enough water, combined with a heavy load for the filters to handle: lots of animal protein, salt, soda, coffee, alcohol and processed food. Urine becomes dark and concentrated, and minerals and uric acid begin to settle out as fine sediment.
Irritation and infection. Sediment and concentrated urine irritate the delicate tubules. Bacteria, most often climbing up from the bladder, find a home there. The tissue swells and heats, bringing the deep back ache, fever and burning that go with a kidney infection (pyelonephritis). Inflammation of the filters themselves is called nephritis; the old books call long-standing nephritis Bright’s disease.
Gravel and stones. Left in place, crystals grow into gravel and stones. Their sharp points tear at the lining of the kidney and ureter, which is where the terrible pain and the blood in the urine come from. A stone can also block the flow of urine, backing pressure up into the kidney.
Scarring and lost function. Each round of infection, inflammation or blockage leaves some nephrons scarred. Nephrons do not grow back, so the ones that remain have to work harder. Over years the kidney can shrink and lose function. This is chronic kidney disease (CKD). The two biggest causes today are diabetes and high blood pressure, both of which damage the tiny blood vessels of the filters; long-term use of some pain relievers and other drugs is another.

The hard part is that, as Dr. Christopher said, “our kidneys cannot talk.” Chronic kidney disease is usually quiet until much of the function is gone. Early signs are easy to brush off: tiredness, a dull ache across the lower back, restless legs and night cramps, puffy eyes or ankles, foamy or very dark urine, getting up often at night, itching, and blood pressure that creeps up for no clear reason. The simple blood and urine tests a doctor runs (eGFR, creatinine and urine protein) show how well the filters are working, and they are the best way to measure your progress.

Diagram of four kidneys showing how kidney trouble builds: healthy filter, overloaded, inflamed or infected, and stones and scarring — How kidney trouble builds. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L.

A jagged kidney stone about 3/8 inch across beside a dime and a ruler — A real kidney stone, passed by Dara’s husband in 2013, beside a dime and a ruler: about 3/8 inch across, with rough, jagged edges. Photo: Dara Dietz, H.E.A.L.

Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing

The kidneys sit high in the back, tucked under the lower ribs on either side of the spine, with the adrenal glands resting on top of each one. Two thin tubes, the ureters, carry urine down to the bladder. Look at the picture below and notice what sits around them: the liver over the right kidney, and the colon lying in front of both.

Diagram showing where the kidneys sit, with the liver, adrenal glands, colon, ureters and bladder around them — Where the kidneys sit, and their neighbors. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L. (not to scale).

Why the neighbors matter. The kidneys never work alone. The liver breaks down poisons and hands much of that waste to the kidneys to carry out, so when the liver is cleansed, the kidneys get extra work. That is why every week of liver flushing should be followed by a week of kidney flushing, so the body can stay on top of the healing. The bowel matters just as much. A backed-up colon sends its waste back into the blood the kidneys must filter, and a full, heavy bowel presses on the ureters and bladder. Keeping the bowels moving is part of every kidney program.

Opening the Way: Flow, Circulation and Warmth

Water first. Fluid is what keeps the filters open and keeps sediment floating so it can pass. Steam-distilled water was Dr. Christopher’s choice, and HEAL’s; it is “empty” and picks up mineral deposits on its way through. A common guideline is at least half your body weight in ounces each day; Dr. Christopher recommended up to an ounce per pound. Let Kidney/Bladder Tea carry much of that amount. (This sheet is not written for anyone on dialysis or with kidney failure; see the box below.)
Kidney Salve pack. Parsley root, juniper, marshmallow, ginger and burdock in a salve, spread on doubled flannel, laid over the kidneys on the back, covered, and warmed with a heating pad for 45 minutes to an hour at bedtime, then left on all night. It does the work of a fomentation without the mess. Alternatives: a hot fomentation of strong Kidney/Bladder Tea, or fresh cabbage leaves laid over the kidneys overnight.
Hot and cold. Hot and cold showers two or three times a day bring circulation through the back and pelvis. For the pain of a moving stone, hot fomentations over the kidneys (wet hand towels heated in the microwave, wrung out, laid over the kidneys and changed as they cool) give the most relief. It needs nothing special; you can put it together in a motel room that has a microwave. In Dara’s practice, people rolling on the floor in agony from a stone have been comfortable within 15 minutes. When urine is held back, alternating hot and cold fomentations over the kidneys and groin can help break up the blockage.
Keep the bowels moving. Lower Bowel Formula (LBF) and plenty of fiber, so the colon is not adding to the load.

Feeding the Kidneys and Helping Them Clear

Kidney Support and Kidney/Bladder Tea. The foundation. Kidney Support (juniper, uva ursi, parsley root, corn silk, goldenrod, horsetail, pipsissewa, burdock root and seed) is food for the whole renal system. Add ½ teaspoon to each 8 ounces of Kidney/Bladder Tea, hot or iced, and drink freely. The tea adds hydrangea and gravel root to discourage stones, and marshmallow to soothe.
Hot Lemonade. In a 16-ounce glass of hot water: 1 teaspoon cayenne, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, and fresh lemon juice and maple syrup to taste. Once or more a day. It keeps the urine from becoming a breeding ground for stones and gets circulation moving.
Parsley. Fresh parsley, parsley tea and parsley in green juices; one of Dr. Christopher’s greatest kidney herbs.
Marshmallow root. Soothing and coating for raw, burning or inflamed tissue, and it helps gravel pass smoothly. Slippery elm does the same job.
For active infection. Herbal Aid 1 is the formula Dara uses for kidney infections; it works best for clearing them. Use it on the schedule from the HEAL Infection Program: 1 teaspoon in hot water every three waking hours for a mild infection, every two hours for a moderate one, and every hour for a serious one. Add 1 ounce of Echinacea in a mug of hot water once a day (once or twice for a serious infection), garlic paste on the feet as needed, and an ELF every few days, or five nights in a row for a serious infection. Keep Kidney Support and the tea going alongside. If you have taken antibiotics again and again for the same infection, expect the clearing to take anywhere from two weeks to three months.
For gravel and stones. Hydrangea root and gravel root, used in HEAL’s Stone Dissolve Routine (Ultimate Kidney Flush). Fresh juices: carrot and cucumber, celery and parsley, or watermelon.

For a Kidney Pain Attack: Dara’s Three Drinks

Kidney pain often feels like a stiff, aching back, so bad you hold onto the furniture to get around. But the kidneys sit at the same level as the lower back, so an ache there can be hard to place: is it the kidneys, or the back itself (or, for a woman, her monthly cycle)? These three drinks answer the question. Drink them one right after the other. As the fluid filters through, it calms spastic kidneys: if the kidneys are the trouble, the ache will be gone within about an hour. If it does not let go, the trouble is most likely in the back, and you can turn to back support instead.

Echinacea: 1 ounce of Echinacea in 16 ounces of hot water.
Herbal Aid 1: 1 tablespoon in 16 ounces of hot water, with honey.
Hot Lemonade: a 16-ounce glass, made as above.

Pain with fever, blood in the urine, or pain that won’t let up still needs medical care (see the box below).

Taking Away the Burden

Careful with rock-based minerals. Most ordinary calcium supplements are ground-up rock (limestone, oyster shell) that weak kidneys cannot handle. Dara’s kidneys went into spasm within four hours of a single capsule. Dr. Christopher’s herbal Calcium extract has given her the calcium she needs with no kidney trouble.

Keep animal protein low, cut out soda, sugary drinks and junk food, go easy on salt and coffee, and avoid alcohol. Ask your doctor about long-term use of over-the-counter pain relievers, which are hard on the kidneys.

When to Get Medical Care

Kidney disease can become serious quickly. Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. Get prompt care for: fever and chills with back or side pain; blood in the urine; being unable to pass urine; stone pain that is severe, does not let up, or comes with vomiting; a sudden drop in how much urine you make; or swelling with shortness of breath.

Not for dialysis or kidney failure. This sheet is not written for anyone on dialysis or with kidney failure. Their care is managed by their medical team.

Level of Commitment

How much work kidney healing takes depends on how long the trouble has been building and how much function has been lost. Be honest about where you are:

Gentle support. For a tired, achy back, dark or cloudy urine, a history of bladder and kidney infections, or simply keeping weak kidneys strong. Daily Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support, Hot Lemonade, plenty of distilled water, a salve pack when the back aches, and taking away the burden foods. Most people can live on this for good; Dara has for over 30 years.
Focused cleansing. For gravel and stones, recurring infections, swelling, or blood pressure creeping up. Add a full Kidney Flushing week (the Kidney Flushing Schedule: the Kidney Flush Drink three times a day, Detox Formula, and 16 ounces of Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support every three hours, on fresh juices). Alternate it with liver flushing weeks so the body stays on top of the healing. For stones, add the 3-day Stone Dissolve Routine.
Incurables Program. For diagnosed chronic kidney disease, nephritis, or kidneys that are failing. The full program: a flush every morning for the first 30 days, alternating a week of liver flushing with a week of kidney flushing; up to six cups a day of Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support; the cold sheet treatment at least weekly; salve packs nightly; and a clean, plant-based diet. This level is done hand in hand with your doctor and your lab work.

A Loose Healing Plan

Weeks 1–2: Build the foundation. Start your Foundational Program (Superfood, Echinacea, Vitamin C, bowel cleansing with LBF). Begin Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support every day and work up to your fluid goal. Hot Lemonade each morning. Drop soda, junk food and most animal protein. Kidney Salve pack at bedtime if the back aches.
If there is infection: start Herbal Aid 1 right away on the Infection Program schedule, with Echinacea and garlic paste on the feet; use the three drinks for a pain attack, add marshmallow root tea for burning, and keep the fluids up. If there is fever with back pain, get medical care the same day.
Week 3: Kidney Flushing week. Five days on the Kidney Flushing Schedule, on fresh juices if you can, with hot and cold showers two or three times a day.
Weeks 4 onward: Alternate. A week of liver flushing, then a week of kidney flushing, for as many rounds as your level of commitment calls for, with gentle-support weeks in between.
For stones: do the 3-day Stone Dissolve Routine. Repeat at one-week intervals if needed; one large stone dissolves more slowly than many small ones, and some cases take two or three rounds.
About 3 months: Check your progress. Have your kidney labs and blood pressure rechecked so you can see what has changed, then settle into gentle support for life.

Stories from the Work

Dara: A lifetime with weak kidneys

Kidney infections were part of my life from childhood. By sixteen, an infection and high fevers put me in the emergency room in convulsions, and I lived on antibiotics for the next fifteen years. When I discovered herbs, I finally began to clear the infections from my renal system completely. Kidney Support in my Kidney/Bladder Tea, along with my hot lemonade, have been my daily supports ever since. I haven’t had a kidney attack or kidney pain in over 20 years. I know my kidneys are a weak spot, so I keep animal proteins very low, and I have no soda, sugary drinks or junk food. The body just doesn’t need that stuff.

Dara: Ground-up rocks and my kidneys

Regular calcium supplements are nothing but ground-up rocks, and my kidneys cannot take that at all. A friend told me about a high-quality calcium supplement that would never affect my kidneys. Within four hours of taking only one capsule, I could not even walk straight; my kidneys were completely spasmed. I had to drink emergency kidney teas and hot lemonade to clear the congestion and calm it down. I never touched those capsules again. Then I discovered Dr. Christopher’s Calcium extract. My mentor at the time talked me into making it, as I was very leery. It has been amazing: no kidney issues.

Dara: My husband’s kidney stone on the road

On a weekend trip to a class in Tennessee, my husband had a kidney stone attack. He had felt a little discomfort before we left, and the lack of fluids on the four-and-a-half-hour drive likely set the stones off. One of the worst things you can do with kidney stones is let yourself get dehydrated. The vessels in the kidneys are lined with nerve tissue; when the fluid falls off, the vessels collapse around the stones and the rough edges rip and tear as they pass. Staying hydrated keeps the stones floating in the center, with much less tearing. Hot fomentations over his kidneys were what really eased the pain. He said they were the only thing that truly helped. He has given birth to many, many stone children over the years, and the stone pictured on this sheet is one of them.

Dara: Kidneys or my back?

During this time of my life, when my back began to ache there were three possible reasons. One was my cycle, which was easy to rule in or out. The other two were trickier. In 1985 I was in a car accident that fractured my lower back. I could go long periods without any discomfort, then out of the blue it would begin to spasm. Since the fracture was in my lower back, right at the same level as my kidneys, I needed to figure out which one was talking to me. When my back began hurting I would do the three kidney drinks. Within an hour, if it was my kidneys, the discomfort would be gone. If it did not go away, I knew it was my back, and I began using the BF&C formula for my back along with Lobelia for the spasm. We were not yet making salves, so my only relief was hydrotherapy and the extracts.

Dara: Hot fomentations for stone pain

I have had people rolling on the floor in agony from a kidney stone who were comfortable in 15 minutes or less with hot fomentations over the kidneys. They are so helpful.

Dara: The night at the cabin door

One night my husband’s boss showed up at our cabin door in severe kidney stone pain. His nephew was on the way to take him to the emergency room, but it would be over an hour before he arrived. I was setting him up for hot fomentations when he threw up blood all over my bathroom. I gave him an ounce of fresh-squeezed ginger root juice and an ounce of Cayenne extract. His stomach settled and the bleeding stopped. I left the mess, got him into bed and put the hot fomentations on his kidneys. About 15 minutes later he had fallen asleep, relaxed and exhausted from the pain. When his nephew arrived, he drove him, now comfortable, to the emergency room, where they could find no hole in his stomach lining and no internal bleeding at all. He later told me there was no way he had thrown up blood in my bathroom; I assured him I’d had to scrub the proof off the walls and floor. For as long as I knew him, he joked that I had tried to kill him with that ounce of Cayenne. It was the only part of the whole night he remembered. It worked.

Dara: A member’s bright idea, the Ultimate Kidney Flush

So many of the healing truths I have learned have come from our members. A member called to order a Kidney Stone Dissolve Kit. When I asked if her stones were coming back, she said no: her blood pressure was ticking up without a real reason, and she knew that clogged kidneys full of sediment make the heart work harder to push the blood through. She wanted an intense kidney flush. What a brilliant thought, an ELF for the kidneys! The stone routine quickly clears sediment from the filters. When the kidneys are free and clear, the heart doesn’t need to work as hard, and everything flows more freely.

From Dr. Christopher’s files: The marshmallow root

One of Dr. Christopher’s students had a teenage son who teased her for studying herbs. One day he was brought home from football practice doubled over in pain, unable to pass his urine. She ran out to the irrigated field and pulled up marshmallow plants, root and all. Too desperate to wait for tea, he asked for a washed root and began chewing it. Within seconds he straightened up, went to the bathroom, and was relieved. He never teased her about herbs again.

More on the Kidneys

This information is for education only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat or replace care from a qualified health professional.