Keeping Kidneys Safe: Smart Choices about Medicines?

Manage your medicines with help from your health care providers
At the pharmacy
The next time you pick up a prescription or buy an OTC medicine or supplement, ask your pharmacist how the product may affect your kidneys or react with other medicines you take.

Fill your prescriptions at only one pharmacy or pharmacy chain so your pharmacist can monitor your medicines and supplements, and check for harmful interactions between your medicines.

Be careful about using over-the-counter medicines
If you take OTC or prescription medicines for headaches, pain, fever, or colds, you may be taking a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). NSAIDs include popular pain relievers and cold medicines that can damage your kidneys if you take them for a long time, or lead to acute kidney injury if you take them when you are dehydrated or your blood pressure is low.

Ibuprofen NIH external link and naproxen NIH external link are NSAIDs. NSAIDs are sold under many different brand names, so ask your pharmacist or health care provider if the medicines you take are safe to use.

Plan ahead to manage pain, flu, or other illness
Almost everyone gets sick once in a while. Your doctor or pharmacist can help you plan ahead to keep your kidneys safe until you get well. Prepare in advance so you know what to do if you have pain or a fever, diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting, which can lead to dehydration.

If blood pressure medicines help my kidneys, why all this extra caution?
In normal, everyday circumstances, taking your blood pressure medicines as prescribed helps protect your kidneys. However, certain situations, such as when you’re dehydrated from the flu or diarrhea, can lower the blood flow to your kidneys and cause harm.

Factors that can add up to cause harm
When you get sick from something like the flu or diarrhea, or have trouble drinking enough fluids, the blood pressure in your body may decrease. As a result, the pressure in your kidneys can be low, too.

In most cases, healthy kidneys can protect themselves. However, if you keep taking your blood pressure medicines when you’re dehydrated or have low blood pressure, your kidneys might have a hard time protecting themselves. The pressure within your kidneys might drop so low that your kidneys won’t filter normally.

Other ways to protect your kidneys
Read about what else you can do to keep your kidneys healthy. If you already have CKD, the steps you take to protect your kidneys also may help prevent heart disease—and improve your health overall.

Clinical Trials
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and other components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conduct and support research into many diseases and conditions.

What are clinical trials, and are they right for you?
Clinical trials are part of clinical research and at the heart of all medical advances. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease. Researchers also use clinical trials to look at other aspects of care, such as improving the quality of life for people with chronic illnesses. Find out if clinical trials are right for you NIH external link.