issue: kidney
10
The HEALTH | AUGUST, 2018
THESEEDCOMPANY.CA
Alfalfa.
Herbal
supplements that
contain potassium
Shifting “D
through
clouds
of worry
and fear
OCTOR, you mean
both my kidneys are
not functioning at all
and I have to be on dialysis for three
times a week with each time cover-
ing four hours for the rest of my life
unless there is a possibility of me
receiving a healthy donor kidney or
advances in medical science?”
This was a question posed by
a bewildered 21-year-old Vanitha
Veeramugam to the nephrologist
standing beside her ward bed
in 2004 at the Universiti Malaya
Medical Centre (UMMC) in Kuala
Lumpur after the doctor had laid
Between
dialysis and
a kidney
transplant
POTASSIUM is a mineral that may need to be limited
in the diet of people with kidney disease especially
for those on dialysis. Herbal supplements that have
potassium include:
• Alfalfa
• American Ginseng
• Bai Zhi (root)
• Bitter Melon (fruit, leaf)
• Black Mustard (leaf)
• Blessed Thistle
• Chervit (leaf)
• Chicory (leaf)
• Chinese Boxthorn (leaf)
• Coriander (leaf)
• Dandelion (root, leaf)
• Dulse
• Evening Primrose
• Feverfew
• Garlic (leaf)
• Genipap (fruit)
• Goto Kola
• Japanese Honeysuckle (flower)
• Kelp
• Kudzu (shoot)
• Lemongrass
• Mugwort
• Noni
• Papaya (leaf, fruit)
• Purslane Sage (leaf)
• Safflower (flower)
• Sassafras
• Scullcap
• Shepherd’s Purse
• Stinging Nettle (leaf)
• Turmeric (rhizome)
• Water Lotus
Torn between
waiting in line
and getting an
organ donor
W
HEN your kidneys fail,
treatment is required
to replace the work
your own kidney can
no longer do. There are
two types of treatment for kidney
failure – dialysis or a transplant. But
what are the difference and how
long does it take?
Sunway Medical Centre Consul-
tant Physician and Nephrologist Dr
Ng Eng Khim emphasised that there
are two ways to get an organ.
“One is called living related
donation – which means one of
the family members step forward
and become the donor which can
happen very fast. So, the moment
it matches and is suitable, with
medical advancement, we can make
Coriander.
BAZAAR FRESH
PERMIES.COM
The pitfalls of
herbal supplements
I
Honeysuckle.
down the bare truth as to the cause
of her illness.
She was earlier rushed to the
medical centre upon an urgent
referral by a medical group in
Klang where her mother had
brought her for treatment following
a recurrence of continuous bouts
of vomiting, diarrhoea and loss of
appetite. Two weeks prior to the
referral she was admitted to the
Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital
in Klang for observation after she
had similar signs of illness. The
hospital in Klang after warding her
for treatment and observation for a
F you’re just starting to
explore the many benefits of
herbal supplements, may it
be traditional, ayurvedic or even
from direct selling products,
think again.
Sunway Medical Centre
Consultant Physician and
Nephrologist Dr Ng Eng Khim
reiterated that most patients
would often say that such forms
of supplements were recom-
mended for better health.
“While it is not easy to proof
the direct cause and effect of such
products on the kidney, we advise
consumers to do a blood test after
three months of consuming the
product to determine if it has any
harmful effect or whether it is
safe for continued consumption.”
“You can easily detect any
abnormalities through blood test
if these substance cause harmful
effect on the health.”
“For someone with diabetes,
heart failure and hypertension
with an already existing kidney
failure not serious enough to
require dialysis, these types of
supplements are not advisable.”
“Sometimes the basic ingre-
dients may be harmless and may
have some health benefits, but for
that product to have a certain shelf
life, the types of chemical process
that the product has undergone is
usually undisclosed.”
“These aren’t sold as a