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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Had heart surgery or transplantation, says Karthik Ramani, a nephrologist at Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan. Ramani suggests that prior to taking medications, including over-the-counter and herbal supplements, reach out to a qualified health care provider or pharmacist and do your own research by getting information from verified sources such as the National Kidney Foundation, the American Medical Association, National Institutes of Health and the American Society of Nephrology. “In certain situations, such as when you may need to undergo chemotherapy treatment that could be lifesaving but could also cause some damage to your kidneys, you may decide to proceed with taking the chemotherapy medication even though it can harm your kidneys. You should discuss this type of a situation with your physician and weigh the benefits against the risks of taking medications,” says Michelle Josephson, M.D., a nephrologist and professor of medicine and surgery at the University of Chicago Department of Medicine and past president of the American Society of Nephrology. Derek Owen, a clinical pharmacist with the kidney team at the University of Chicago Department of Medicine, warns not to assume that because a medication can be purchased over the counter, it’s harmless. “Many over-the-counter medications have multiple medications in them, so it’s important to always check the label to make sure each ingredient is safe for you to take,” he says. Here are some of the medications that can affect your kidneys. 1. Common pain medications What they are: Most over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications, part of a category of drugs called analgesics, fall into two categories — nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and acetaminophen. NSAIDs relieve pain, reduce fever and treat some cold symptoms. Their ability to reduce inflammation often make them more effective than acetaminophen, which is used to treat mild-to-moderate pain and to bring
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