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Pyelonephritis

by Cathy L. - November 6, 2009

Hi Steve-

I'm treating an older Golden retr. w/ BWDHW. He seems kid qi def to me- rear end stiffness, many damp signs, hearing loss, not much heat, deep/weak pulse. He responded very nicely to low dose Throxine, which I'm thinking adds to the argument for kid qi def? I added 50% SMS in Sept when his allergies flared.

After ~30 days on this herb combo, he was dx w/ pyelonephritis. Took him off the BWDHW, started Ab and he's feeling much better.

So I'm trying to figure out how this damp heat state (?) ocurred in the kidney on kid qi tonifyng and damp heat draining herbs. I'm reading that the PN would be considered a stasis of qi and blood in the middle jiao?

He's on mostly raw w/ veggies, Renafood (SP), probiotics.He was somewhat better on a 3 day Rimadyl trial, so he is on Turmeric to move blood as well.

Last exam;

-Moving slower in humid weather
-Mild-moderate itch
-Drooling
-Sl. heavy
-Lipomas
-T: wet, thick
-P: Deep, weak
-QAR

He's an earth type temperament, but very quiet prior to Thyroxine.

Not sure where to go from here.

Thanks!!

:)Cathy L.

by naturevet

November 8, 2009

Hi Cathy,

Your approach is somewhat different to mine, in that I don't combine granules of different formulas, since in my hands they tend not to work as well when the wrong herbs are in the wrong bottle together. And I'm not always as smart as the patient in determining in advance what those wrong combinations are.

Essentially, BWDHW warms and hydrates (carefully), while SMS cools and dries. So they are almost opposites. If the pyelonephritis was created when you added the cooling drying influence, and if a cooling influence (antibiotics) were tolerated, the problem must have been drying.

At the same time, we can't ignore all the Damp symptoms. So what wer're after here is a question of degrees. We want moistening and somewhat Damp draining, but not aggressively draining and drying, since that is too much and is injuring Yin.

Thinking now in particular about pyelonephritis, the formulas that I've seen work have been Yin tonics - ZBDHW, YGJ, etc. Given the Damp, and the tolerance for Cold therapies, ZBDHW seems a better initial fit, and is cooling enough to (in hindsight) maybe have combated the itch.

I'm not sure where you were reading about stasis causing pyelonephritis. Did this reference suggest a formula? The only one I can think of that is Damp draining, Moving, yet still hydrating that deals with UT inflammation is Dang Gui Shao Yao San. If the dog's allergies were due to Blood deficiency, likewise it might have been appropriate from that perspective.

So those are my initial thoughts here. Hope they're helpful.

Steve

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