Herbal therapies have become a popular form of self care for many people of all ages. There are herbal remedies advertised for everything ranging from common cold to cancer.

        Herbs are defined in several ways depending on the context in which the word is used. Herbs can be accurately defined as, "crude drugs of vegetable origin utilized for the treatment of disease states, often of a chronic nature, or to attain or maintain a condition of improved health."

        Since they are nothing but crude drugs, contrary to the common belief, they do have risks and side effects as do the more refined 'drugs'. Since herbal medications are not subjected to same stringent regulations, approval and monitoring by the FDA, their product information may be inadequate.

        There is little or no information pertaining to the safety and efficacy of herbal therapy for the kidney disease or other diseases in the presence of poorly functioning kidneys. The following questions remain unanswered:

            
            *How much potassium, phosphorus, sodium and other deleterious minerals 
                and unknown toxins are present?
            *How are they digested to be absorbed as various chemicals by the body?
            *How are they metabolized?
            *How are they ultimately disposed off by the body and does it require 
                normal kidney function to dispose them of?
            *Do they come out of the body during Dialysis?
            *Or due to poor kidney function and / or by not being cleared by dialysis, 
                do they build up to toxic level and create other complications?

        A specific example of concerns relates to the group of herbs classified as diuretics. In reality, the classic herbal diuretic drugs are not diuretics, but are more accurately defined as aquaretics. They increase the volume of urine by increasing blood flow in the kidneys, thereby raising glomerular filtration rate. (Forcefully increasing the glomerular filtration rate itself is deleterious to the kidneys in the long run.) Unlike the more commonly prescribed diuretics, they  do not reduce the salt (and other electrolytes) absorption by the kidneys to increase the volume of the urine. Therefore, salt and other electrolytes are retained in the body and are not eliminated from the body. This means that herbal 'diuretics' are not really suited for the treatment of edema (swelling due to salt and water retention) or high blood pressure (hypertension) especially in the presence of kidney disease.