Fosrenal - how do you keep from choking on it?

[KT0930]

  I won't tell if you don't! I'll be curious to know how your labs look.

[jbeany]

Jbeany, how are you doing on it?

This week's labs - a lovely 4.8 - after a week of on the run, take out and Mexican with too much cheese and refried beans.  Hooray!  I now have normal potassium and phosphorous both.  It was even lower last week when I wasn't eating junk all week.  Now I'm getting regular doses of Hectorol, thanks to the lower phos, so hopefully my PTH will finally start dropping as well.

I like it a lot better than the renagels - I actually find it easier to take when I'm on the run - no need to order a drink at all - just chew it up and eat my meal.

[keefer51]

I was picked as one the "trials" for Fosrenol at my clinic. They even gave me a pen and blanket and other freebies. I didn't mind the way i had to take them. However throwing up every other day didn't help. I found out that the pen and blanket tasted allot better. I only took Fosrenol for a year. I am now on Phoslo and Renagel.

[Earlinda]

I have a supply of fosrenol, renagel and phoslo.  I find that switching off if one becomes more than I can stand to choke down works for me.  I actually think that the crushing and putting into banana or maybe even a little applesauce might be something more palatable.  I never thought of doing it that way.  Thanks for the sugestion Aharris!!!     Do let us know what your labs say Ro I am interested to see if the banana made a difference or not.

Earlinda

[cherpep]

My nutritionist suggested placing a few Fosrenol into an Altoids container with the Altoids.  They tend to pick up the flavor.  I haven't tried it yet, but I thought it might be a good ideal.

[okarol]

I went to a Kidney Symposium yesterday and spoke to the rep from Fosrenol. As mentioned, he said that you can add candy or mints to the Fosrenol container and the Fosrenol will absorb or take on the flavor of the candy so it's not as bad to chew. For example, he said add Mike and Ike (a fruity jelly bean like candy) or Altoids. The other suggestion was to make Jello, pour into a ice cube tray, refrigerate and as it starts to gel, add one ground up Fosrenol to each cube. Refrigerate until firm, pop them out of the tray and keep in a bag (refrigerated) until you need one. Not too handy on the go, but sounds like it might make it easier to swallow. Thats the best he could come up with!

[KT0930]

My nutritionist suggested placing a few Fosrenol into an Altoids container with the Altoids. They tend to pick up the flavor. I haven't tried it yet, but I thought it might be a good ideal.

I went to a Kidney Symposium yesterday and spoke to the rep from Fosrenol. As mentioned, he said that you can add candy or mints to the Fosrenol container and the Fosrenol will absorb or take on the flavor of the candy so it's not as bad to chew. For example, he said add Mike and Ike (a fruity jelly bean like candy) or Altoids. The other suggestion was to make Jello, pour into a ice cube tray, refrigerate and as it starts to gel, add one ground up Fosrenol to each cube. Refrigerate until firm, pop them out of the tray and keep in a bag (refrigerated) until you need one. Not too handy on the go, but sounds like it might make it easier to swallow. Thats the best he could come up with!

Wish I had heard some of these when I still needed to take it. They sound like great ideas!

[aharris2]

My nutritionist suggested placing a few Fosrenol into an Altoids container with the Altoids. They tend to pick up the flavor. I haven't tried it yet, but I thought it might be a good ideal.

I went to a Kidney Symposium yesterday and spoke to the rep from Fosrenol. As mentioned, he said that you can add candy or mints to the Fosrenol container and the Fosrenol will absorb or take on the flavor of the candy so it's not as bad to chew. For example, he said add Mike and Ike (a fruity jelly bean like candy) or Altoids. The other suggestion was to make Jello, pour into a ice cube tray, refrigerate and as it starts to gel, add one ground up Fosrenol to each cube. Refrigerate until firm, pop them out of the tray and keep in a bag (refrigerated) until you need one. Not too handy on the go, but sounds like it might make it easier to swallow. Thats the best he could come up with!

For us, the problem is texture, not taste. The fosrenal-spiked jello cubes is intriguing and we may try it sometime.

As promised, we are sharing Rolando's labs (they are midmonth, so it is only phosphorus and calcium):
Phosphorus = 2.3 (down from 3.2, we may actually have to back off a little!)
Calcium = 8.7

We will share the potassium # at the end of the month. It is always on the high side because Rolando is a potato fiend and is quite fond of forbidden fruits. I don't expect that the banana will have a noticeable effect. We also tried mixing the crushed fosrenal into a boiled carrot. It was not as tasty as the banana, but it too was effective in capturing the offending itty bits of the crushed tablet.

[lamillinger913]

I guess my stomach pH was wrong for the Renagel, because I was taking 3 or 4 of them with each meal, they weren't controlling the phosphorus that well, and they made me nauseated. Fosrenol really worked well for me. I would chew them until they were almost liquid, as others here have said. Usually I'd wait until near the end of the meal, then take a couple of final bites to get the taste out of my mouth. That seemed  to work for me.

[aharris2]

The results are in:

Phosphorus 3.3
Potassium 4.9 (Keep in mind that Rolando likes  and eats potatoes - mashed, baked, Arby's potato cakes...)
Calcium 8.8
iPTH 385

So, Fosrenal mashed into banana is effective and not too hard on potassium levels. Super for us!
 

[kitkatz]

Shhhh...don't tell anyone, but if you take a banana and mash it up and add marshmallows and chocolate chips, you get a really super dessert idea!  Shhhhhh! Don't tell them where you got the idea.