When Emma Kate was almost 3, we noticed her swelling. Then she ended up getting sick for days and not eating or going to the bathroom. Thankfully, her doctor was in tune to what I told her, because she called us back in and somehow got a tiny urine sample. The sample showed 3,000+ protein spill with pitting edema.

We went right to the children’s hospital. The next several days were without a doubt some of the hardest in our life. We learned about Nephrotic Syndrome, its mysteries and unknowns. We were so blessed to see her respond to steroids and go home. However, every six weeks she would start to spill again. It was up and down so much that her doctor mentioned putting her on something year round to prevent a relapse. As her mom I was very against this, as I just wanted her healthy and off medications. I began to search and try everything natural I could to “cure” her when she spilled — and a couple times it worked!

That’s when our story turns to hope. Along my journey of researching, we decided to try a gluten-free and dairy-free diet. She never had any allergies before she got sick that I was aware of, but once your body is inflamed it can react to anything. I knew it would be a life change to alter her diet like that, so I opted for delayed allergy stool testing. She reacted to all four categories (eggs, wheat/gluten, dairy, and soy). She was on steroids at the time and they said it may show no reaction, but it did. We were shocked to see her gluten was over 350, when the normal range is less than 10! We started to intensely heal her gut and remove all allergenic foods from her diet. After about six months we added them all back in except gluten, and she has been in complete med-free remission since! And that was over 2 years ago!

I know our story is so different than many others. I know we are beyond blessed. I hope it will encourage others to explore other options though, and maybe find the trigger. If not, then perhaps reduce the amount of inflammation going on.

Don’t give up! There are many natural treatments found through diet change and supplements. It does not work for everyone, but you never know until you try! I created a blog along the way to post details of our journey.