Can Patients with IgA Nephropathy Adopt Chinese Herb Bath Therapy?

First, let’s begin with the basic knowledge of IgA Nephropathy.
IgA Nephropathy is a group of chronic glomerulopathy caused by various factors and with the same immunopathological features. It is clinically manifested as gross hematuria or microscopic hematuria in about 40%~50% of the patients and microscopic hematuria accompanied with proteinuria in 35%~40% of the patients. The rest have manifestations of Nephrotic Syndrome and Renal Failure. The etiological factors of IgA Nephropathy are not very clear yet and it is generally believed that IgA Nephropathy is caused by deposition of immune complex.
Then what is IgA Nephropathy in traditional Chinese medicine?
The pathogenesis of IgA Nephropathy in view of traditional Chinese Medicine can be concluded as follows:
I. External attack of wind and heat. The combined attack of wind and heat will retain in the lungs and pass down to the bladder, causing ureteric damage and lower retention of heat in lower abdomen, which will then lead to the external symptoms of swelling (or edema) and hematuria.
II. Deficiency of liver-yin and kidney-yin. This is caused by deficiency of body-yin or excessive trouble and work. Yin asthenia can cause interior heat, which will then impair the renal collaterals and lead to urine blood.
III. Deficiency of spleen-qi and kidney-qi. This can be caused by deficiency of body-qi or overwork damaging the spleen and the kidneys. Failure of spleen to up transfuse the essence of water and grain and failure of kidneys to store essence will result in proteinuria; qi dysfunction in blood control will lead to hematuria.
In short, IgA Nephropathy is manifested principally as deficiency of yin or qi and secondarily as wind, damp-heat and blood stasis. Deficiency of yin is usually accompanied with damp-heat and deficiency of qi with blood stasis.
Thirdly, how does Chinese Herb Bath Therapy take effect?
Micro-Chinese Medicine bath therapy is one of the characteristic therapies of traditional Chinese medicine external treatment. Based on the concept of viewing the body as a whole in traditional Chinese medical science, this therapy makes the bath fluid through a complex procedure including choosing the appropriate Chinese herbal medicine and processing them in guidance of a series of principles like strengthening the body resistance, eliminating pathogen and blood stasis, removing body wastes and detoxication. Human body takes zang-fu (viscera) as its center and jing-luo (meridian, veins and arteries) as the connection, making it a whole including both the internal organs and the external limbs and skeletons as well as striae (of the skin, muscle and viscus). During the process of the herb bath, the medicine will act on the muscular striae and its nature, entering into human body through the acupoints, will flow in jing-luo and reach the internal organs, thus playing its role of promoting qi and blood circulation and regulating yin and yang from the external to the internal of the body.
To explain more specifically, hot steam of the herb bath will fumigate the skin of the patients all over the body, causing them to sweat, which is beneficial for eliminating edema and speeding the excretion of pathological products like blood stasis and toxins. In this way, level of toxic substances in the blood like creatinine and urea nitrogen will be lowered and renal functions and clinical symptoms will be improved, strengthening the organic immune competence.
Finally, we can draw the conclusion.
Therefore, Chinese Herb Bath Therapy is applicable for patients with IgA Nephropathy. On the one hand, it can effectively eliminate the toxins in their body; on the other hand, it will bring the patients a comfortable feeling both physically and mentally instead of painful experience as in some western medical treatments.