Edited

Shelley -'shelleycat', who's had her own forums here (Ask Shelley), had kidney damage, so kidney-related issues was a topic she extensively addressed. This is from two of her posts:

"When there is pain, it's best to get a urine analysis and see what's going on. The problem with kidney herbs is that if there IS something wrong with the kidneys, truly wrong and not just congestion, taking diuretics and such is the absolute worst thing you can do. It's like asking a weak pipe to flow more water. It will burst.

I unfortunately had a naturopath prescribe a kidney herb tea saying that my kidneys were so congested that I should take this tea to cleanse them, but I tested the herbs with kinesiology first and got a huge clear negative.

So I checked with my doctors. Turns out, had I taken these powerful diuretics [the herbs] with my kidney issues, I'd be on dialysis now. Both my regular MD and renal specialist have had kidney issues of their own so they are real experts on kidneys, and they have dealt with people who tried to cure kidney issues with herbs and instead permanently scarred the kidneys. So now I'm very cautious about prescribing herbs for kidneys, or herbs for ANY reason because so many of them have alkaloids that scar the kidneys. they gave me a list of herbs and so far none of the ones I recommend are on the danger list - whew!

So when it comes to our precious kidneys, which do not have the same regenerative powers as the liver, I say this is one of the times where you really do need to take advantage of orthodox medicine."

"Oh geez. I just posted on how you should not use kidney herbal cleanses if you have impaired kidney function. The last thing you want weak tissues to do is work HARDER and every herbal kidney cleanse I've seen has diuretics. Both my doctors told me diuretics are the worst things you can do to your kidneys when they are weak and impaired."
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