Kidney Function

Safety

Our kidneys remove waste products in our bodies. Also waste products from medications. They keep our bodies healthy. Pharmacy helps tailor medications to your kidney function. The doctors we work with and your pharmacy exchange (if you give permission) kidney function values. This allows your pharmacist to determine if it is necessary to adjust your medications. He then consults with your doctor or specialist about a different dose. Or about replacing it with another medicine with the same effect. Do you have impaired kidney function and doubt whether the pharmacy is aware of this? Call us.

If your kidneys function less well, the removal of waste products is slower. Medications then stay in your blood longer. The amount of medicine in your body becomes higher than it should be. This puts you at greater risk for side effects. Kidney damage can also worsen. This can happen, for example, with certain antibiotics, medicines for high blood pressure and diabetes medicines. So it is important that you keep us informed!

Read also this article on nieren.nl.

Causes of kidney damage

Kidney damage is usually caused by high blood pressure or diabetes. But kidney damage can also be caused by kidney disease or an inherited disease. In 10 to 20% of people with kidney damage, the cause is unknown. The most common causes are:

• High blood pressure: high blood pressure is a major cause of kidney damage. But you can also get high blood pressure from damaged kidneys.
• Diabetes mellitus: it is one of the most common causes of kidney damage. People with diabetes are more likely to have serious kidney damage.
• Medicine use: medicines do their job properly and safely only if your kidneys are working properly. Are your kidneys no longer working properly? Consult your pharmacist for safe medication use and avoid unnecessary risks.
• Kidney diseases: kidney damage can be caused by kidney disease. But disorders elsewhere in your body can also cause kidney damage.
• Lifestyle: the way you live can affect your kidneys. Do you live a healthy lifestyle? Then the risk of kidney damage is small. An unhealthy lifestyle increases the chance of kidney damage.

What you can do:

• Is your kidney function newly measured? Give the results to your pharmacy. With this information, your pharmacist will check if you can safely use new or current medications.
• Are you going to the hospital? Ask your pharmacist for a free chart of your medications. If your kidney function is known, it is also on this overview. This prevents ambiguities and errors.
• Always get your medicines from the same pharmacy. That way your pharmacy keeps a good overview of the medicines you are taking.
• Purchase non-prescription medicines at the pharmacy.
• Some painkillers, such as ibuprofen (Advil), naproxen (Aleve) and diclofenac (Voltaren), can be unsafe if your kidneys do not work properly.
• Do you buy them at the drugstore? The drugstore has no record of other medications you may be taking and thus lacks important information to properly check whether you can safely use the non-prescription drugs.

Do you recognize these symptoms? If so, contact your doctor.