by Matthew Wood
Excessive Urination (Copious, Light Urine): • Agrimonia • Citrus limonum (juice, daily) • Eupatorium purpureum • Geranium robertianum • Hypericum • Linum (older men; fresh ground seed) • RHUS SPP. (sweating and urinating in profusion; anxiety; diabetes insipidus and mellitus type II; brings down blood sugar and high blood pressure) • Solidago (exhausted kidneys, tired feet) • TARAXACUM (to replenish potassium; raw or roasted root) • Verbascum (keeps the feet warm; root).
Deficient Urination (Dark, Scanty Urine): • Achillea (darkish-red, scanty urine; removes proteins and fats; can make the urine cloudy and oily; decoction) • Agropyron (increases water output and dilution of solids) • Eupatorium purpureum • Galium • Solidago (muscular pain in back).
Kidney Infection, Nephritis (take antibiotics as well): • Achillea • Agrimonia (chronic irritability) • Agropyron (chronic renal weakness and inflammation; increases water output and dilution of solids) • Althaea (mucilaginous diuretic; pain, irritation) • Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (astringent antiseptic; acute, sub-acute; dysuria, pyelitis, lithuria, cystitis, mucus, moderate hematuria) • Barosma • BERBERIS (pains radiate from kidneys; urine thick with mucus, or sedimentous) • Chimaphila (with lymphatic stagnation, arthritis; glomerulonephritis, acute or chronic) • Chionanthus (with liver problems) • Cimicifuga (inflammation of kidneys and ureters) • Commiphora myrrha (chronic, non-inflammatory) • Cordyceps • Cnicus (chills and fever) • Dioscorea (kidney colic; pains shooting up the back and down the legs; passing of small stones) • Equisetum (edematous) • Eupatorium purpureum • Gaultheria (acute, mild; with fine hyaline casts) • Glechoma (acute and feverish) • Hydrangea (deep-seated pain) • Juniperus (chronic, non-inflammatory; infection from renal depression; never use during an active infection) • Leonurus • MONARDA FISTULOSA (cool, sweaty skin) • Parietaria (inflammation, infection of kidneys, bladder, nephritis; renal colic) • Petroselinum • Sambucus ebulus (with deficient excretion) • SOLIDAGO (acute, chronic; deep-seated pain; anuria) • Verbena hastata (kidney infection from straining and exhaustion) • Zea (stones; high in potassium; also see “Albuminuria,” below).
Note: Because of the serious nature of kidney infection, always use antibiotics with herbs as a supplementation. Anyone suffering from severe pain in the region of the kidneys should be referred to the doctor first, to determine if there is an infection.
Kidney Infection (Pyelitis): • Agropyron (chronic; tensive) • Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (ascending cystitis; relaxed mucosa; mucus and blood cells in urine) • Barosma (acidic urine; muco-purulence) • Chimaphila (ascending cystitis; relaxed mucosa; alkaline urine; mucus and blood cells in urine) • Dioscorea (chronic; tensive) • Eupatorium purpureum (after passing a stone; painful urination) • Glycyrrhiza (with salt) • Monarda fistulosa • Parietaria • Piper methysticum (after passing a stone; painful urination; spasms) • Solidago (after passing a stone; painful urination, lower back) • Zea (acute, initial stages; with painful urination; alkaline urine).
Note: The information above is primarily from Michael Moore.
Kidney Pain: • Agrimonia (deep soreness or tenderness; sharp, cutting pains—Scudder) • Agropyron (heavy, dull ache; sacral-lumbar) • Berberis (stiffness, lameness in lower back) • Centaurium (chronic colic) • Dioscorea (renal and bladder colic, clonic spasm) • Eupatorium purpureum • Hydrangea (painful lumbar region) • Juniperus (lower back pain; exhausted kidneys resulting in extensive edema; nervous system weak, with heart symptoms) • Lycopodium (severe spasm with atrophy) • Melilotus • Nymphaea odorata • Pinus strobus (exhaustion; external) • Piper methysticum (constriction and spasm in urinary tract) • Solidago (pain over kidneys, exhaustion, tired feet) • Taraxacum • Tsuga (to warm kidneys and lower back; pain, cold, exhaustion; Canada hemlock oil, external).
Kidney Failure: • Ajuga reptans (albuminuria, with rapid pulse) • Agropyron (chronic renal weakness, with inflammation; frequent, scanty, burning, scalding urine; increases water output, dilutes solids) • Apium (languid, debilitated) • Chimaphila (incipient and advanced albuminuria) • CORDYCEPS (“degenerative kidney disease”—D. Winston) • Echinacea (toxic albuminuria) • Eupatorium purpureum • Gaultheria • Juniperus (chronic structural change) • Solidago (weak lower back and kidneys, exhaustion; does not deplete kidney energy) • Taraxacum • URTICA (proteins in urine; has gotten dozens of people off dialysis and prevented numerous others from starting; seed or leaf).
Albuminuria: • Ajuga reptans (with rapid pulse) • Caulophyllum (nervous weakness) • Echinacea (toxic albuminuria) • Leonurus (nervousness; tea, not tincture; small dose).
Kidneys, to protect during chemotherapy and other drugs: • Cordyceps.
Kidney Stones: • AGRIMONIA (pains in the kidneys; pain from passage, holding breath from pain, dribbling after passing stones) • Agropyron (accumulation of “sand” in the pelvis; back pain) • ALTHAEA (sharp, inflammatory pains; lubricates the passages, increases amount of urine) • Ammi (to facilitate passage) • Armoracia (external on kidneys—needs confirmation) • APHANES (dysuria, strangury, edema, stones) • Arctium (with hyperuricemia) • Arctostaphylos (diuretic astringent) • Asparagus officinalis (diuretic) • Apium (decalcifying diuretic) • Barosma (acid, muddy, or brick-dust urine) • BERBERIS (chief remedy for prevention, lodgment of stone; excess mucus, from calculi; gravelly urine, pain in back and loins; tincture) • Beta (dietary for chronic production) • Calluna • Capsella (poor tone; sharp, inflammatory pain; hematuria) • Centaurium (chronic colic from stone passage) • Chimaphila (5–10-drop doses, every three hours) • COLLINSONIA (small dose, when stone causes constriction in passage; large doses consistently, to destroy the tendency) • DAUCUS (decalcifying diuretic) • Dioscorea (passage of stone, with clonic spasms, writhing pains) • Equisetum • ERYNGIUM MARITIMUM (frequency, hematuria) • EUPATORIUM PURPUREUM (dissolves stones, increases capillary profusion of water into kidneys) • Fragaria (traditional antilithic) • GALIUM • Harpagophytum • Hernaria (reduces spasm) • HYDRANGEA (dissolves stones; sharp pain in the kidneys, sallow) • Levisticum • Linum • OCIMUM (passage of stone with “agonizing pain, twists about, screams and groans; red urine with brick-dust sediment”—Clarke) • Ononis • Onosmodium • PARIETARIA (dissolves stones) • Platanus (bark, twigs, or heartwood) • POLYGONUM HYDROPIPEROIDES (or other variety of smartweed) • Rhodiola • Rubia (reduces spasms) • Sabal (reduces spasms; lubricates) • Sambucus ebulus • Senecio aureus • Smilax (worn-down and wasted) • Taraxacum (leaf) • Tribulus • Ulmus (lubricates the passage) • Urtica • Verbena • Veronica • Zea (irritation and sharp, inflammatory pain).
Note: Many claims have been made by herbalists past and present about the ability of plant agents to reduce kidney-stone size and production. Although it has not been scientifically proven that herbs can remove stones, many practitioners can attest to this through their own experience.
Phosphaturia: • Agropyron (pain in kidneys) • Aristolochia serpentaria (aggravated by cold and winter) • Cannabis (irritable bladder) • Capsella (irritable bladder) • Erigeron (pain in kidneys) • Hydrangea (pain in kidneys, pain on urination) • Medicago • Zea (muco-purulent urine).
Prophylactic (needs confirmation): • Agropyron • Citrus limonum • Eupatorium purpureum • Hydrangea, Polygonum spp. • Taraxacum (root) • Zea.
“Weak Kidneys Impeding Recovery of Illness Elsewhere in the Body”: • Agathosma (“hereditary weakness of the kidney or prior illness, specially chill of the kidney, or past STD causing difficulty with the menstrual cycle; delayed, spotting before, emotional lability, migraine, nausea”—Croft) • Arctostaphylos (“combine with Urtica when there is permanent catheterization in a para- or quadriplegic; kidneys become heavily taxed, resulting in hyperreflexia; this combination has a strong energetic effect through the kidneys and spinal cord”—Croft) • CAPSELLA (“strep throat or tonsillitis cycling from tonsils to kidneys; recurrent tonsillitis in child, usually at three-week intervals�
�—Croft) • SOLIDAGO (almost better from acute disease, then it comes back or another starts; recovering from acute disease, urine turns dark, healing stops) • URTICA (urine turns dark and smelly from large amount of proteins after burn, dietary change, or sickness).
Note: I had to make up the above category because it is not found, to my knowledge, in any system of medicine. It was developed in coordination with herbalist Glenda Croft of Wagga Wagga, Australia. The indication for Solidago comes from J.G. Rademacher, as described in my The Book of Herbal Wisdom, and I have often confirmed it in practice.
FORMULARY
Agropyron—with Levisticum, Parietaria, Apium (edema). BHP 1983, 131.
Althaea—with Aphanes arvensis (kidney stones). BHP 1983, 28.
Eupatorium purpureum—with Daucus, Parietaria, Galium, Hydrangea, Eryngium maritimum (kidney stones and kidney conditions). BHP 1983, 78, 85.
Hydrangea—with Eupatorium purpureum, Polygonum hydropiperoides or Verbascum (kidney stones).
Parietaria—with Aphanes, Arctostaphylos, Juniperus, Barosma (kidney stones). BHP 1983, 153.
Urtica—with Phaseolus (pod), Prunella (nutritive diuretic). William LeSassier’s favorite “triune formula” for the kidneys.
KIDNEY STONE PROTOCOL
Rudolf Weiss gives an extensive protocol for the nonsurgical treatment of kidney stones. During the stage of colic: (1) A very hot bath will sometimes dislodge the stone; hot compresses to the kidney region may also be sufficient. (2) Encourage diuresis only when the acute stage has passed; it often flushes the stone. (3) Sip Chamomilla tea slowly, for a spasmolytic and anodyne effect during passage. Aesculus hip. can also reduce edema in the mucosa of the ureter, to help the stone move.
After the colic stage: (4) If the stone has not passed, drink large amounts of warm water, then Taraxacum leaf infusion (1–2 tablespoons per ½-liter), and more water. (5) As a preventive afterwards, take Taraxacum, Agropyron, and Zea, preferably as tea.
This does not exploit the herbal possibilities very thoroughly, so I would add: reduce pain and spasm with hot Agrimonia or Potentilla tea if available, or tincture if not; Eupatorium purpureum to increase profusion of water out of the capillaries into the kidneys; Hydrangea and Citrus limonum to mildly decalcify stones; Althaea root decoction for mucilaginous soothing and lubrication, with mild diuresis; and Polygonum spp., traditional for stone removal. Afterwards, other remedies may be needed to repair lingering tissue damage and pain.
Bladder and Urethra
The urine arriving from the kidneys through the ureters is collected in the bladder, and builds up until the pressure demands release. The bladder is like a large, thick, plastic bag that fits into the space between the organs and muscles as it slowly fills up. When it is full, the muscles that surround the bladder get the signal—“I need to go”—and the search is on for a suitable place. When one is reached, the muscles relax and let go, and the pee comes along.
This process can be interfered with by any of the six tissue state imbalances. Excitation or irritability of the bladder walls, or even autoimmune allergic reactions in the mucosa, can cause inflammation and excessive urging—this is classified as idiopathic (self-induced) bladder inflammation. The bladder is overactive and over-responsive.
In tissue depression, the opposite state, the cells in the bladder walls have a low metabolism; bacteria live off the dying cells, or come up the urethra from outside to infect the cells, spreading exotoxins that shorten cell life. This results in the typical bacterial bladder infection, or cystitis. Women are unfortunately more prone to this because they have a shorter urethra, so the bladder is closer to the outside world and all those darn bacteria. Cystitis causes inflammation, with difficulty emptying the bladder.
The tense tissue state is related to spasm of the muscles around the bladder. It can be due to neuromuscular tensions that often arise elsewhere. Unproductive urges are a typical symptom of spastic bladder. The opposite tissue state, as we usually think of it, is relaxation. This means the bladder muscles and bag are too relaxed to hold the urine, so it runs off easily, dribbles, and/or the person can’t hold it for long. This may be caused by kidney problems as well.
Cystitis: • ACHILLEA (spasm, infection, bleeding, febrile) • Agrimonia (chronic irritation; strangury; burning, scalding) • AGROPYRON (irritation; frequent, difficult urination; mucus in urine; cramps, pain; increases water output, dilutes solids) • Allium sativa • ALTHAEA (inflamed, painful; palliative or curative) • Anemopsis • Apium (languid, debilitated) • ARCTOSTAPHYLOS (antiseptic astringent; relaxed, mucoid discharges; alkaline urine) • Arctium (weak supporting tissue, lower back, and pelvis) • Armoracia • Avena • BAROSMA (acid urine; frequency, mucus, profuse; cystitis, chronic irritability; urethritis, prostatitis) • Berberis (low-grade, chronic infection, ill-health, radiating pains) • Bidens • Calluna • Cannabis (scalding, burning, frequent urination; irritability more than pain) • Capsella • Chimaphila (burning, scalding, urging; chronic irritability) • Chondrus • Crataegus • Cucumis sativus (low back pain, turbid urine, irritable tract, sharp pain in loins) • Cucurbita citrullus (painful, scanty; in infants) • Curcuma (straining; bacterial inflammation from depressed mucosa) • Daucus • Echinacea • Equisetum (acute and chronic; urethritis, cystitis; tissue weakness) • Erigeron (irritation of bladder, uneasy and painful urination) • Eriodictyon (mucus in urine) • Eryngium spp. (cystitis, urethritis, proctitis; frequent urge, burning, itching) • Eupatorium purpureum (chronic; full, uneasy feeling; incontinence; in pregnancy) • Filipendula (urinary weakness, atonicity; acute catarrhal cystitis) • Gaultheria • HYDRANGEA (frequent, painful urination from gravel and alkalinity, with phosphatic urine) • Hydrastis (irritability; tones mucosa, nerves) • HYPERICUM (chronic inflammation) • JUNIPERUS (cold, depressed tissue state, sepsis) • Lamium • Levisticum • MONARDA FISTULOSA (cold, clammy skin; burning pain, tension, straining; idiopathic) • PARIETARIA (infusion of the root is “unexcelled” in cystic “irritability”—Parton) • PETROSELINUM (cloudy urine, pain, frequent urging; fresh parsley, chopped and infused; use for two weeks; avoid in pregnancy) • Peumus • Pinus • Piper cubeba (chronic; burning and scalding; during menstruation) • PIPER METHYSTICUM (urethritis, tension, pain) • Plantago major • Polygonum bistorta (stimulating astringent) • Populus • Sabal (nervous bladder, painful urination, tenesmus) • Senecio aureus (painful urination) • SMILAX (rheumatic or skin problems with cystitis) • Solidago (tired, painful lower back, inflammation, irritability, exhaustion) • Turnera (urinary antiseptic; in women, from intercourse) • Tsuga (strong stimulant; tired lower back) • Urtica (mucoid flow; chronic irritability) • Vaccinium macrocarpon (antiseptic, protective; acute, chronic; urethritis, cystitis; large doses of juice, up to 500 ml/day;) • Viola tricolor • ZEA (difficult or scanty; for children; soothing to urethra; tea of good-quality corn silk).
Mucus Discharges: • Agropyron • Arctostaphylos • Barosma • Chimaphila • Eriodictyon • Petroselinum • Urtica.
Irritable Bladder (Frequent Urge): • Agrimonia • Agropyron • Apis (homeopathic; puffy, swollen, painful, difficult passing urine) • Arctostaphylos • Avena • Barosma (chronic) • Berberis (female especially; burning, cutting, sticking pain in urethra, during and after urination; frequent urge; small doses) • Cannabis (irritability more than pain) • Chimaphila (chronic) • Erigeron • Eryngium • Eupatorium purpureum • Glycyrrhiza • Hydrastis • Lobelia • PARIETARIA (root infusion “unexcelled” in cystic “irritability”—Parton) • Urtica (chronic) • Zea.
Urethritis: • Agropyron (irritation, frequent, difficult urination; increases water output, dilutes solids; mucus in urine; cramps, pain) • Althaea (inflamed, painful) • Anemopsis • Apium • Arctostaphylos (antiseptic astringent; relaxed, inflamed urethral opening with mucoid discharges; highly acid urine) • BAROSMA (frequent mucusy, profuse, acid urine; cystitis, urethritis, prostatitis) • Berberis (see “Irritable Bladder,” above) • Cannabis (sca
lding, burning, irritable, frequent urination) • Curcuma (straining) • Dioscorea (urethral pain) • Echinacea • Equisetum (acute and chronic; tissue weakness) • Eryngium spp. (cystitis, urethritis, proctitis; frequent desire, burning, itching) • Eupatorium purpureum (chronic; full, uneasy feeling; incontinence; pregnancy) • Galium (acute or relapsing; burning, pain, straining; of cystic outlet; in febrile states) • Hydrangea (frequent, painful, from gravel and alkalinity, with phosphatic urine) • Lamium • MONARDA FISTULOSA (cold, clammy skin; burning pain, tension, straining; idiopathic) • Petroselinum (cloudy, painful, frequent urine; fresh parsley, chopped and infused; use for two weeks; avoid in pregnancy) • PIPER METHYSTICUM (tension, pain) • Sabal • Senecio aureus (painful urination) • Solidago (cystitis, urethritis, pain, inflammation, irritability, exhaustion) • Turnera • Vaccinium macrocarpon (antiseptic, protective to mucosa; large doses of juice, up to 500 ml/day; acute, chronic; urethritis, cystitis).
Dribbling of Urine: • Agrimonia (after passing a stone) • Allium sativa (atonic; poor flow) • Betonica (general weakness) • Equisetum (involuntary, in old people; desire without relief) • Eupatorium purpureum (incontinence due to kidneys, bladder, or prostate; in elderly, both sexes) • Lycopodium (general weakness) • Populus tremuloides (dribbling, irritating, reduced flow) • Rhus spp. • Thuja.