Some Medicines cause Acute Kidney Failure

Yes, you heard it right. Some medicines which are used to treat other medical conditions may result in Acute Kidney Failure. If correct treatment is provided at right time then such Acute Kidney Failure is reversible. Some antibiotics, blood pressure medicines, cancer treatment medicines, medical dyes (used in contrast imaging), HIV medicines, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, ulcer medicines and some illegal drugs (such as heroin) can cause acute kidney failure.

Some common Acute Kidney Failure symptoms are:

• Decreased Urine Output
• Fluid retention, that can cause swelling your legs,ankle and feet.
• Other symptoms like drowsiness, shortness of breath, fatigue, confusion, nausea and chest pain are also common in some other diseases.
• Sometimes there are no visible symptoms but only lab tests can detect kidney failure.

25% of Acute Kidney Failure are attributed to medicines used to treat some other disease. If you ever feel some symptoms of mild kidney failure while taking some medication, then you should discuss it with your doctor.

Some common medicines that are known to cause Acute Kidney Failure are:

• NSAIDS (Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) such as ibuprofen, naproxen, Motrin, Aleve, and Advil. They reduce blood flow to kidneys which can cause Acute Kidney Failure.
• Diuretics, also known as water pills, changes water balance in body and thus interferes with kidney function. Jardiance (empagliflozin) is a diabetes medicine which also have diuretic effect and may cause kidney failure.
• ACE Inhibitors (such as Lisinopril, Enalaril, and Ramipril) are usually used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. Names of these medicines usually end with "-il".
• Chemotherapy medicines used for cancer treatment such as cisplatin, carboplatin, and methotrexate.
• Some antibiotics cause swelling in kidney and cause kidney failure.
• Apart from the above mentioned medicines there are numerous others that can cause kidney damage. Some are them are used in treatment of AIDS, cancer, osteoporosis, ulcers and numerous other diseases.

The motive of this article is not mean that you should not take the above listed medicines. Most of the above listed medicines are life saving drugs. But proper usage of these drugs and taking them only on doctor's prescription is necessary if you want to save yourself from any such side effect. Almost all medicines have some side effects associated with them. To save yourself from those side effects it is necessary to take them as prescribed by doctor. You should also keep yourself educated about the medicines you are taking on prescription. Even if you take some vitamin and mineral supplement to keep yourself fit, then you make sure that you know all possible outcomes of that medicine.