Kidney Failure
Can You Wreck Your Kidneys With NSAID Pain Relie…
Most people take their kidneys for granted...until something bad happens. When your kidneys fail, though, your life hangs in the balance. Short of dialysis or a kidney transplant, kidney failure rapid…
Doctors Deny That PPIs Can Cause Kidney Damage
It can take years or even decades to discover serious drug side effects. Think of it as a long-running drug experiment. Proton pump inhibitors like esomeprazole (Nexium), lansoprazole (Prevacid) and o…
Show 1341: Lessons Learned from Long Illness
You may not have thought much about long illness, but chances are you know someone who is suffering with one. The CDC estimates that some chronic condition afflicts as many as one in six American adul…
Will a Diet of Mostly Plants Help Your Kidneys?
Chronic kidney disease has been increasing in the United States and now affects 14 percent of adults. This might be explained by the widespread use of medications such as NSAIDs or PPIs that can cause…
Generic Furosemide Disappoints | How to Afford L…
Ask any doctor about the importance of furosemide (Lasix) and you are likely to get an earful. The FDA approved this diuretic in 1966. It is considered an essential medicine by the World Health Organi…
For Healthy Kidneys, Avoid Sugary Drinks
Usually, people are advised to drink plenty of liquids to keep their kidneys healthy and functioning well. A new study suggests, however, that sugary drinks are more of a problem than a help. What Is …
Do People Who Eat Fish Grow Old More Healthfully…
Does eating fish or taking fish oil make any difference for your health? For decades, researchers have touted the anti-inflammatory benefits of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. They have sug…
The Dangers of Diclofenac and Other NSAID Pain R…
Doctors love NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). That’s largely because they don’t have a lot of other tools in the toolkit when it comes to treating pain and inflammation. Opioids have…
When Is High Sodium a Heart Attack Risk?
Despite the controversy about the safety of sodium restriction, there is one group of people for whom high sodium can be very dangerous. People with Kidney Disease Are at Risk: People with chronic ki…
Medicare Struggles to Pay Soaring Drug Bills
The 5,000% increase in the price of Daraprim, the drug for toxoplasmosis, has received a lot of media attention. But many other drugs have had hefty price increases in the past year, and this has hit …
Kidney Patients Get Heart Benefits from High-Fla…
Cocoa flavanols, compounds derived from the cacao bean used to make chocolate, have been shown to increase blood vessel flexibility in healthy individuals. (You can read more about that here.) These m…
Pomegranate Extract Lowers Blood Pressure in Dia…
Pomegranates have a reputation for improving the flexibility of blood vessels and lowering blood pressure. Fresh pomegranates are available for a relatively short season, however, so researchers have …
Iced Tea Overdose Can Damage the Kidneys
A case report published in The New England Journal of Medicine has answered the question, is it possible to drink too much iced tea? The cautionary case was that of a 56 year old man who developed fat…
More Vegetables in the Diet Leads to Better Kidn…
Chronic kidney disease affects nearly 10 percent of adults in this country. The condition shortens life expectancy and contributes to cardiovascular disease and bone problems. New research suggests th…
Eating Beans Instead of Meats Boosts Survival am…
Vegetable protein may be protective for the kidneys. Epidemiologists studied people with chronic kidney disease who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. The volunt…
Kidney Transplant Failure
Q. My husband was hospitalized for acute kidney transplant rejection. The doctor was very concerned when told that he had switched a few months earlier to generic tacrolimus. He had been on Prograf fo…
Low-Carb Diet Stops Kidney Failure in Mice
One of the serious complications of diabetes is kidney failure. Once it has begun to develop, this complication can be difficult to stop. New mouse research suggests a simple dietary intervention may …
NSAIDs Can Cause Kidney Damage
Q. I read in your column that naproxen can cause kidney damage. I want to reinforce that warning. I lost my kidneys as a result of taking prescription strength naproxen in 1995. I took this anti-infla…