Hi dude,
massive long mail -sorry!
It's very cool that you're being so objective about this; it's probably reducing the severity of symptoms : )
Anyway, your readings are normal so the great news is it looks like no infection; therefore something else is hassling these kidneys. Three possibilities remain:
1 allergy. Earl gray tea makes my kidneys hurt; it's the oil of bergamot. I love it, but it hates me. Consider whether you recently started imbibing something you didn't eat or drink before, and whether you could be allergic to it. Consider than something you've bee eating for years may suddenly have been genetically modified into something you're now allergic to. The biggest culprits to look for are corn starch, soy, or tree lignin genes, but I'm aware they don't have to label in the US. This is happening more and more as time goes by. The peaches you are buying may no longer, strictly speaking, be peaches; they are now corn starch & tree lignin plants that look like peaches, taste sweeter, and have bugger all nutritional value. I know you're an environmentally-interested person and I'd like at some point to talk about this.
The clue here is, you'd get sudden acute attacks between 5 minutes and 45 minutes of drinking or eating whatever it was, so watch out for that and backtrack what you ate before each experience.
2 delayed injury. Consider, have you fallen over or had any accidents before all this started, and maybe didn't notice anything right away, because internal bruising can take time to manifest. It's likely though that this would get steadily worse, rather than come in repeating 'waves'. Things that come in waves are usually homeostasis- or circadian-related.
3 sudden chemistry change. Consider have you stopped doing anything and failed to replace it with something. I once gave up tea and didn't replace it with anything and my kidneys hurt like hell for 3 days. Ditto smoking or any other kind of medication that your kidneys had 'gotten used to'. Remember most drinks and drugs that humans take, right from tea to nicotine to sugar to coca cola, are diuretics. If our kidneys have been boosted by diuretics for several weeks or months, they're going to expect the same chemistry now. We get withdrawal symptoms from diuretics just like people who get hooked on sleeping pills or laxatives. You're likely to get constipation too if this is the case.
Waves of epinephrine; acute 'attacks' rather than chronic ('a linear worsening progression) suggest to me the latter problem may be particularly likely. If so, lots of plain water and simple meals of veg, fruit and protein (no cereals) will help it pass quicker. Mild diuretics such as green tea can also help the kidneys make the transition.
There is a particular symptom to watch for if this is the answer: do your kidneys hurt more right after meals? If 'yes', they are recovering from previous diuretic excess.
Re: input: When you say 'cranberry juice', is it 'made from concentrate'? If so, stop drinking it. Definitely stop drinking cider vinegar -you want to aim for an alkaline body chemistry right now. Eat fruit & veg by all means; your safest juicer is your teeth. Honey is safe.
Remember its also possible to over-hydrate, which causes similar problems to dehydration. We need the goldilocks zone : )
In your position I would probably not be skiing, but you know your body better than I do. Resting alternating with gentle walking is pretty safe regardless of what's going on, but stretching the system is dodgy when it's already compromised in some way. If you are having great fun, it may be wise to continue for the immunity-boosting aspect though.
'Ativan' is the new brand name for Lorazepam which as you probably know is a benzodiazepine, they enhance GABA, and if you feel tempted to take any don't mix with alcohol as that's a popular sixties cause of death for rock guitarists.
From the current BNF (british national formulary /advice for doctors), we find:
SIDE EFFECTS: Addiction, drowsiness, dizziness, loss of coordination, headache, nausea, blurred vision, change in sexual interest/ability, constipation, heartburn, or change in appetite may occur. Cancel right away if patient has any unlikely but serious side effects, including: mental/mood changes (such as hallucinations, depression, thoughts of suicide), slurred speech or difficulty talking, vision changes, unusual weakness, trouble walking, memory problems, signs of infection (such as fever, persistent sore throat), trouble breathing (especially during sleep). Cancel right away if patient has any rare but very serious side effects, including: yellowing eyes or skin, seizures. A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is rare. However, cancel right away if you notice any symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, including: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing. This is not a complete list of possible side effects.
...is it just me or does the proposed cure cause more symptoms that the problem...? : )
Realistically this does need to be hacked, so stay with us and keep up the feedback. Anyone else with any experience of this sort of thing, do pile in. This is exactly what we're here for -to help each other hack problems!
Finally, a chest cold putting bacteria into your system would have shown up in the pee test, so no worries, but cold in itself is a stressor for humans -every degree below 19 (centigrade) puts more stress in the immune system; a perfect room temperature is 20c.
Stay calm, we'll sherlock-holmes this one out : )
Best,
AR
Forum 
Details later. Thanks for all the quality tech support ;)
