|
Grateful Mother Pleas for
Studies into Aloe
I always thought that doctors can fix you.
Well, I knew that cancer is horrible and sometimes they can’t fix that, but for most other things, I always figured that doctors had medicine or surgery or some other miracle to fix whatever was wrong. And then our two-year-old daughter got sick and the nightmare started. It hit us like a slap in the face. Doctors couldn’t fix it and we couldn’t help her.
Many of you parents probably know that terrible feeling.
Kylie was a perfectly healthy baby for two years. Suddenly, her eyes became very puffy and the doctors said it was just allergies, so we gave her allergy medicine. Next, her feet and tummy started to swell. Again, the doctors called it allergies. But then one morning she woke up and we were startled to see no urine in her diaper after long night of sleep.
We rushed her to the doctor, who admitted her for what became four miserable days of tests and worry. Finally, the diagnosis: Nephrotic Syndrome.
Our nephrologist was wonderful, caring and knew what he was doing. We could page him at any hour, day or night and he personally returned the call. I will be forever thankful for him. After Kylie got repeated bladder infections, he did a test called a VCUG and diagnosed her with bladder reflux stage 4. We all hoped a daily antibiotic would solve this problem, but it did not and she had to have surgery.
Kylie was put on steroids for the Nephrotic Syndrome, but they didn’t help they way we hoped. She relapsed over and over again and was not able to come off of the steroids completely. There were five other children diagnosed with this condition within the same month as Kylie, said the nephrologist, and Kylie was probably the worse case of them all. He fully expected her to be steroid dependent, and to go on to stronger medications.
Meanwhile, I was doing research on the Internet trying to find something, maybe a natural medicine that would help Kylie. I was desperate, ready to try anything with promise. I saw an article on a doctor forum about a woman who had given her son aloe vera juice after relapses. The woman asked that scientists do some research on this. Kylie's nephrologist said that he had heard reports of people trying aloe vera with and without success. While he didn't really think it would help, he thought it would not hurt her if we wanted to try it.
I bought some aloe vera juice from the health food store, making sure it did not have any added sugar, sodium, etc. We were not going to stop the steroids (Prednisone) in favor of aloe, but we started giving Kylie the aloe juice only when she began to relapse. It did not seem to work. My mother, who is a big believer in natural medicine, suggested that we had to do more than just give it to Kylie after relapse, that maybe she needed it all the time to help heal the problem rather than just cover up the symptoms. I decided that I would give it to her all the time.
I started giving her 2 ounces twice a day and did this for three months but again, nothing seemed to happen. Strangely enough, Kylie wanted it, asking for it when I would forget to give it to her, so we continued. After about five months, she went into her first remission and went off edicine. I continued giving her the aloe juice and all told she was on it eight months straight.
Kylie now has been in remission for three years! Her nephrologist is absolutely shocked at her progress. Out of the five children diagnosed when she was, she is now doing the best. He has asked over and over what we did, I told him I really believe it was the aloe vera. He isn't so sure. I truly believe in my heart that the aloe vera (along with lots of prayers, of course) is what has helped my daughter.
I am sharing her story because I want other people to hear about our wonderful experience. I would be happy to share this with doctors who are doing studies (or want to) about aloe vera and Nephrotic Syndrome.
But this story isn’t over. About a month ago Kylie started spilling protein (3 plus on the dipstick) for two days. I gave her some aloe vera before calling the nephrologists and by the third day of aloe vera, she was down to trace protein. In addition to whatever the nephrologist decides to do, I plan to put Kylie back on aloe vera, becausethis is a chronic condition and we want to do all we can do.
I’m no scientist and I listen to whatever our doctor tells us because we need to do all we can do. But he says aloe vera will not hurt Kylie and we believe it helps. You can be sure she will be drinking it as long as sheneeds help.
If anyone knows of a doctor studying aloe vera juice and Nephrotic Syndrome, please email me at gruvygrover@peoplepc.com because this I want to share our story with them. We have no proof about what worked for our daughter or why, but weknow what we believe and we would like others to have the same success. Thank you for reading our story.
Melinda Tumolo
gruvygrover@peoplepc.com
|
