Answer. Patients should use caution when taking any medication filtered by the kidney. The list of medications is quite lengthy, and it is best to ask your physician. Over-the-counter (OTC) medications may appear harmless, but occasionally these can have negative effects in kidney patients. In particular, OTC medications in excessive doses may cause kidney failure. Your physician will need to know your level of renal function and your glomerular filtration rate (GFR), when advising you regarding the loading dose and maintenance dose. The loading dose is the additional medicine you might receive the first time you start a new prescription. The maintenance dose is the daily amount of medicine prescribed.

Answer provided by Stephen Z. Fadem, MD, FACP, who serves as a member of AAKP’s Medical Advisory Board and the AAKP Board of Directors. Dr. Fadem is a practicing nephrologist in Houston, Texas.

The American Association of Kidney Patients presents Ask the Doctor, an opportunity for readers to submit kidney related health questions to healthcare professionals who specialize in an area of concern. The answers are not to be construed as a diagnosis and therefore, alterations in current healthcare should not occur until the patient’s physician is consulted.

This article originally appeared in the June/July 2004 issue of Kidney Beginnings: The Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 2.

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