I'm a Lab Rat . . . :-D
So - you guys, I'm part of a National Institutes of Health medical study! It's about kidney stones.
This is a long post, so I want to tell you up front the main reasons I am participating: (1) kidney stones are less common in women; (2) women are not studied as often as men are; (3) whether or not it helps me, personally, I believe that my participation in the study is going to help other women down the line who struggle with kidney stone disease; and (4) I don't have to cook for like three and a half days ;-) Seriously, I'm down with that even though I love to cook! :-D
I think I've mentioned here before that am a patient of Dr. Coe's here in Chicago - I went to see him in March 2019. Based on my history, the types of stones I've made (I have made more than one type), and - I think - the genetic component (ideopathic hypercalciuria) I have, I was asked by Dr. Coe and the study administrator, Dr. Worcester, if I would consider being part of a National Institutes of Health kidney stone study that is looking at diet, sodium, and potassium citrate. This study is being administered at the University of Chicago.
There are four arms to the study and I have been asked to participate in all four. This week is arm one; arm two has been scheduled for me for September.
I have to eat a prescribed diet for three days that is not only low in sodium, it is mineral-balanced. For the next three days I can only eat the food that was prepared for me. All the food is prepared at the lab at the University of Chicago and is delivered to me. Here are the bags that came yesterday.
It is my understanding that I will have the same diet for each arm of the study (it was altered specifically for me and takes into account my food sensitivities while still be mineral-balanced), but two arms of the study will be high sodium and two arms will not. The high sodium is achieved by added Herb-Ox bouillon. I was also given pills to take with each meal. I do not know if they are placebos or potassium citrate.
The food is pretty good so far. And there is a lot of it. :-D Today for breakfast I had a rather large bowl of oatmeal, sliced peaches, apple chips (instead of apple juice - too much liquid sugar for me), soy milk (instead of cow's milk), and a glass of water. Lunch was a tuna salad sandwich with a very small piece of Swiss cheese, some romaine lettuce, fresh grapes, a glass of water, and some pretzels. I was really looking forward to the pretzels. But they were salt-free so not all that great, really. :-D I need to limit salt and I'm not always all that great at doing so . . . that's part of my problem, too much salt.
Anyway, so I eat what they give me for three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and I take the pills with each meal. Then, on the morning of the third day I start a 24-hour urine collection (I'm not looking forward to having to do this part at work . . . ). And then, after work on Thursday, instead of going home, I go and spend the night at the lab at the university, where I finish the urine collection. On Friday morning, they do whatever tests they need/want to do on me, and then my life returns to normal and I go to work in the afternoon.
Tried to find a good song about kidney stones to share . . . yeah, not a popular topic :-D So I'll leave you with a Jimmy Webb song sung by Linda Ronstadt. Having lost my own singing voice I truly feel for her losing hers. There is a documentary coming out about her soon that I very much want to see. It's called Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.
This is a long post, so I want to tell you up front the main reasons I am participating: (1) kidney stones are less common in women; (2) women are not studied as often as men are; (3) whether or not it helps me, personally, I believe that my participation in the study is going to help other women down the line who struggle with kidney stone disease; and (4) I don't have to cook for like three and a half days ;-) Seriously, I'm down with that even though I love to cook! :-D
I think I've mentioned here before that am a patient of Dr. Coe's here in Chicago - I went to see him in March 2019. Based on my history, the types of stones I've made (I have made more than one type), and - I think - the genetic component (ideopathic hypercalciuria) I have, I was asked by Dr. Coe and the study administrator, Dr. Worcester, if I would consider being part of a National Institutes of Health kidney stone study that is looking at diet, sodium, and potassium citrate. This study is being administered at the University of Chicago.
There are four arms to the study and I have been asked to participate in all four. This week is arm one; arm two has been scheduled for me for September.
I have to eat a prescribed diet for three days that is not only low in sodium, it is mineral-balanced. For the next three days I can only eat the food that was prepared for me. All the food is prepared at the lab at the University of Chicago and is delivered to me. Here are the bags that came yesterday.
It is my understanding that I will have the same diet for each arm of the study (it was altered specifically for me and takes into account my food sensitivities while still be mineral-balanced), but two arms of the study will be high sodium and two arms will not. The high sodium is achieved by added Herb-Ox bouillon. I was also given pills to take with each meal. I do not know if they are placebos or potassium citrate.
The food is pretty good so far. And there is a lot of it. :-D Today for breakfast I had a rather large bowl of oatmeal, sliced peaches, apple chips (instead of apple juice - too much liquid sugar for me), soy milk (instead of cow's milk), and a glass of water. Lunch was a tuna salad sandwich with a very small piece of Swiss cheese, some romaine lettuce, fresh grapes, a glass of water, and some pretzels. I was really looking forward to the pretzels. But they were salt-free so not all that great, really. :-D I need to limit salt and I'm not always all that great at doing so . . . that's part of my problem, too much salt.
Anyway, so I eat what they give me for three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and I take the pills with each meal. Then, on the morning of the third day I start a 24-hour urine collection (I'm not looking forward to having to do this part at work . . . ). And then, after work on Thursday, instead of going home, I go and spend the night at the lab at the university, where I finish the urine collection. On Friday morning, they do whatever tests they need/want to do on me, and then my life returns to normal and I go to work in the afternoon.
Tried to find a good song about kidney stones to share . . . yeah, not a popular topic :-D So I'll leave you with a Jimmy Webb song sung by Linda Ronstadt. Having lost my own singing voice I truly feel for her losing hers. There is a documentary coming out about her soon that I very much want to see. It's called Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.
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