Hi everyone. I am a new to this board - a polycystic kidney disease patient with an interest in homeopathy. Obviously I am extremely interested in this thread.

I run a support group for PKD patients and have to point out that, although some patients never reach end stage renal failure, more than 60% do. Other complications can include aneurysms, mitral valve prolapse, frequent infections, chronic flank or back pain, pancreas or liver cysts, kidney stones, groin or abdominal hernias and diverticulitis - although it would be very unusual for any one individual to have all of these problems! Most PKD patients have autosomal dominant PKD - i.e. a 50/50 chance of each child having the disorder - but there is a much rarer, recessive form of the disease, which tends to follow a more severe course. It is not clear which form we are discussing here.

The fact I find most interesting is that there are still around a third of PKD patients who never develop end stage renal failure. A fact which has led me to focus on the potential role of dietary strategies and of homeopathy. It seems that on an individual level there are factors other than simply inheriting the PKD gene which could be crucial.

I would love to hear from anyone who has had any experience in treating PKD patients. There are a lot of us out there (between 1 in 800 and 1 in 500 affected) and conventional medicine, as you probably know, has little to offer patients with this slowly progressing, chronic disease.