PKD DIET

Self Monitor Urinary pH

How do you test urinary pH?

To test urine pH: Do this just before going to bed. Do not test it throughout the day. You can get into serum potassium trouble. Low and High Potassium Symptoms.

Tear a piece of pH paper and pass the paper through your running urine stream. Read and compare against the provided color chart. If you are using a reagent test strip (like pHion) the method is a bit more detailed. Carefully remove the strip from the container. Recap the bottle. Fully dip test strip into a cup containing urine, making sure all the pads are moist and saturated. Draw the edge of the dipstix against the cup container. Blot the edge of the strip. Wait for the appropriate amount of time and compare the color to the given chart.

To test saliva pH: Before breakfast and before brushing your teeth, make a ball of spit. Push it out on your lips. Touch the pH paper only to the saliva, not to the tongue, lips or inside of the mouth. Read and compare it against the color chart. If you are unable to do this, get a clean plastic spoon, have the pH paper ready. Collect the spit in the spoon and test by dipping pH paper into the spit.

Monitoring nightly urinary pH is a means for testing alkalinity. Many studies have concluded that maintaining consistent alkalinity can lead to an improvement in health. Alkalinity begun early in life holds the best promise for positive life long outcomes. Testing should be done nightly, as the last thing before going to bed. Use a dipstix, nitrazine paper, or pH paper with a range of 5.5 to 8.0 called Vivid paper. Microessentials has a catalog number for pH paper on a roll; it is 067. Urinary dipstix are called pHion Diagnostic pH Test Strips.

Why Test Urinary pH?

This is a means to self-monitor your health between doctor's visits. One can receive immediate feedback by correlating urinary alkalinity with lifestyle and dietary changes. Testing lets us know how we are doing; testing let us know if the changes are working; testing allows us to see if we are going toward alkaline, toward health. Testing urinary pH gives further information as to which foods, substances, and situations change your own unique body toward the alkaline making it easier for you to correlate this with how you are feeling. Testing urinary pH allows for supplementing with a minimal amount of a potent alkalizer (such as potassium citrate) as the need may arise. Testing urinary pH assures that we are maintaining a balance between the acids produced by the body's cells, between the acids taken in and the alkaline state needed for optimal health.

What urinary pH should we aim for?

Once the urinary pH registers 6.3 -7.5 this is what we aim for. Normally with kidney disease the pH of urine runs about 5 when tested in the laboratory; this is an acidic pH, (a yellow color reaction with litmus paper). All the data points to alkalinity as a healthy state for the body. This is especially true for a body with cystic organs, such as a body with PKD or PLD. By testing our nightly urinary pH we can observe if we are able to change a yellow acidic urinary pH of 5 towards the very alkaline blue pH of 7. Armed with the knowledge of a blue pH paper, we have direct tangible evidence that we have succeeded in keeping the body alkaline and in keeping the body healthy.

By constantly maintaining a urinary pH of 7 (blue) we have decreased the workload upon our cystic kidneys. There are substantially fewer acids needed to be cleared through our kidneys. This in turn gives one the positive feedback that indeed our kidneys are being helped by us. It is a bit like a self pat on the back that success has been achieved by instituting these changes.

By trying the alkaline lifestyle many have experienced a bettering of their kidney functioning; a bettering of their GFR; a decrease in cyst size, a bettering of their liver functioning but most of all, many report they simply feel better. Polycystic kidneys are unable to eliminate many of the acids produced by the body. A body with cystic organs has an increased production of acids: uric acid, oxalic acid, lactic acid, and malic acid. The entire job of buffering these acids falls on the flanks of our cystic kidneys. Lactic acids can easily be blown off by taking deep breathes through the lungs. Many strive for lactic acid ferments in their cooking like in the baking of non-yeasted breads, fresh vegetables and more.

We are  sharing our experiences with PKD/PLD Diet, an adjunct diet envisioning it complementing a physician's prescribed medical therapy. Consider testing this with your doctor's prior knowledge, who can  adjust it according to your own uniqueness by adding it to your current  treatment.

Medical Disclaimer