I Hate Dialysis Message Board

Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions) => Topic started by: Rerun on October 05, 2005, 07:31:44 PM

Title: Medications
Post by: Rerun on October 05, 2005, 07:31:44 PM

What medications are people on?  I am still on anti-rejection drugs.  They are starting to wean me off.  After 17 years of taking 100mg of Imuran a day I stopped on October 1.  Weird.  Next the Prograf gets cut in half for 3 weeks then I quit that.  Then we work on stopping the prednisone.  I was on 3 different BP medications, but dialysis has helped lower my BP, so I'm only on one now.

Starting with Dialysis I now have to take:

Renagel Tablets with meals to bind my phosphorus
Nephrocaps: They are some kind of vitamin
Quinine Tabs:  For Cramping during or after dialysis
Zemplar:  During Dialysis it is injected into my lines and it is vitiman B to help with the calcium and phosphorus balance
Epogen: Given during Dialysis to help produce red blood cells
Lipitor:  This is for cholesterol and I've been on it for about 5 years.

Am I missing anything?

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: ohhmygolly on October 05, 2005, 09:16:25 PM

i must say ( good for you and i mean that)  i do wish all patients knew what medication they were on and why and
i would like all patients to take a active part of there health care--some do so don't

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: O in on October 05, 2005, 11:48:29 PM

hi dear
try this lot for size

LOPERAMIDE HCL  Ca 2mg (PAC)      Not to exceed four caps daily

CARTIA  100mg          ONE tab non dialysis days

FRUSEMIDE4  tabs 40mg      TWO tabs daily (ONE hour before/after food)

FOLIC ACID tabs 5mg (APO)      ONE tab non dialysis days

MULTIVITE BPC (HEA) tabs      ONE tab non dialysis days

OSTEO-500 tabs 1.25         TWO tab TWICE daily

LIPEX  tabs 20mg           ONE tab after evening meal (avoid grapefruit)

DURIDE60 tabs 60mg         ONEHALF tab daily

METOPROLOL succ. TA 47.5mg CR (ASZ)   ONE tab daily (swallow whole)

QUININE sul. Ta 300mg (PAC)      ONE tab daily (noct)

439567/3 RECOMO 0.2      Inject ONCE weekly
(Eyrthropoietin Beta)         (Green Lane haemodialysis)

DERMOTOLOGY SCRIPT

LOCOID LIPOCREAM         Apply once a day

AQUEOUS CREAM  BP (AFT)      Apply after showering

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: Rerun on October 06, 2005, 02:47:02 PM

O in ----  Wow --- you drugie!!!  ;D

I don't know how to do this myself, but can you go back into your post and add what each of those are for?  I only recognized a couple of them.

I thnk I should be on folic acid......  I wonder why I'm not?

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: O in on October 06, 2005, 04:13:48 PM

Rerun
Hi dear

Here is the info u wanted    yeh I am a druggie as you say but when one gets up close to ones use by date things seem to start and malfunction and just 2 keep going need a little help –

 oh 2b young and virile again

LOPERAMIDE HCL  Ca 2mg (PAC)      Not to exceed four caps daily
Inhibits small bowel bacterial overgrowth syndrome which in turn induces diarrhoea

CARTIA  100mg                ONE tab non dialysis days
Asprin  is a blood thinner

FRUSEMIDE 4  tabs 40mg            TWO tabs daily (ONE hour before/after food)
Loop diuretic   
Loop diuretics encourage the kidneys to remove more water from the blood and pass it into the urine, so producing more urine. This process reduces the volume of circulating blood, which decreases the workload on the heart. At the same time, diuretics cause fluid to be drawn out of tissues that are overloaded (as the lungs can be in heart failure).
Loop diuretics work by encouraging the kidneys to filter out more sodium and potassium, drawing more water with them. The body automatically keeps the amount of water in the blood and in the tissues in balance with each other. So when water is removed from the blood, water tends to be drawn out of the tissues to dilute the blood, relieving symptoms of fluid overload -
FOLIC ACID tabs 5mg (APO)         ONE tab non dialysis days

For good info on folic acid go to Ohio State Uni web Page at
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5553.html

MULTIVITE BPC (HEA) tabs         ONE tab non dialysis days
Just a combination of various vitamins that my doc thinks I need

OSTEO-500 tabs 1.25mg            TWO tab TWICE daily
Calcium tabs

LIPEX  tabs 20mg                 ONE tab after evening meal (avoid grapefruit)
Cholesterol control

DURIDE60 tabs 60mg            ONEHALF tab daily
Duride is used to prevent angina.
Duride belongs to a group of medicines called nitrates. These medicines work by widening blood vessels, letting more blood and oxygen reach the heart.
METOPROLOL succ. TA 47.5mg CR (ASZ)   ONE tab daily (swallow whole)
Metoprolol is used alone or in combination with other medications to treat high blood pressure. It also is used to prevent angina (chest pain) and to treat heart attacks. Extended-release (long-acting) metoprolol also is used in combination with other medications to treat heart failure. Metoprolol is in a class of medications called beta blockers. It works by slowing the heart rate and relaxing the blood vessels so the heart does not have to pump as hard.
QUININE sul. Ta 300mg (PAC)         ONE tab daily (noct)

quinine exerts relaxant effects on skeletal muscle. It increases the tension responses to a single maximal stimulus delivered to the muscle directly or through the nerve but it increases the refractory period of muscle so that the response to tetanic stimulation is reduced.
Recumbency leg muscle cramps and myotonia congenita are thus effectively relieved by treatment with quinine.




439567/3 RECOMO 0.2ml            Inject ONCE weekly
(Eyrthropoietin Beta)            (Green Lane haemodialysis)
Erythropoietin, (EPO), a glycoprotein hormone produced primarily by cells of the peritubular capillary endothelium of the kidney, is responsible for the regulation of red blood cell production. Secondary amounts of the hormone are synthesized in liver hepatocytes of healthy adults. In premature as well as full term infants, the liver is the primary site of EPO production. The kidney becomes the primary site of EPO synthesis shortly after birth. EPO production is stimulated by reduced oxygen content in the renal arterial circulation. Circulating EPO binds to EPO receptors on the surface of erythroid progenitors resulting in replication and maturation to functional erythrocytes by an incompletely understood mechanism.
DERMOTOLOGY SCRIPT

LOCOID LIPOCREAM            Apply once a day
LOCOID is used on the skin to relieve the redness, swelling, itching and discomfort of skin inflammation such as:
·   Psoriasis (a skin disorder with raised, rough, reddened areas covered with dry, fine silvery scales)

AQUEOUS CREAM  BP (AFT)         Apply after showering

Aqueous cream is a light, non-greasy moisturiser that provides a layer of oil on the surface of the skin to prevent water evaporating from the skin surface.

It is made from a mixture of emulsifying ointment (which contains paraffin oils) and water, with phenoxyethanol as an antimicrobial preservative.

Dry skin results from lack of water in the outer layer of skin cells known as the stratum corneum. When this layer becomes dehydrated it loses its flexibility and becomes cracked, scaly and sometimes itchy. The stratum corneum contains natural water-holding substances that retain water seeping up from the deeper layers of the skin, and water is also normally retained in the stratum corneum by a surface film of natural oil (sebum) and broken-down skin cells, which slow down evaporation of water from the skin surface.

The skin dries out when too much water evaporates from its surface. This increases as we get older, and is made worse by washing, because hot water and soap remove the layer of natural oil on the skin surface.

Moisturisers such as aqueous cream are helpful for all dry skin conditions, particularly eczema and dermatitis, which get worse when the skin is allowed to dry out. Used regularly they help restore the skin's smoothness, softness and flexibility by helping the skin retain moisture. They should be applied frequently to prevent the skin drying out.

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: Rerun on October 06, 2005, 08:04:08 PM

You are a Physician aren't you!!  ???

Thanks for the great information.  I'm sure anyone who reads this site will learn something.

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: O in on October 06, 2005, 08:53:11 PM

no dear

got it all with a google search

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: Epoman on October 13, 2005, 03:11:26 PM

I take only a few:

2 different blood pressure meds
Renegel
Thyroxine (Thyroid replacement)

I have been on many others but no need to bore you with the details.  >:D

Oh and I get EPOGEN, IRON, and CALCIJEX through the machine.

Title: Transplant Drugs??
Post by: Rerun on November 06, 2005, 05:38:50 PM

Can anyone explain to me why they can stop my transplant drugs and my transplanted kidney stays in?  If the drugs lower your immune system so your body doesn't recognize the foreigh organ, why won't it notice it now?

Title: Re: Transplant Drugs??
Post by: Epoman on November 06, 2005, 10:21:15 PM

Quote from: Rerun on November 06, 2005, 05:38:50 PM

Can anyone explain to me why they can stop my transplant drugs and my transplanted kidney stays in?  If the drugs lower your immune system so your body doesn't recognize the foreigh organ, why won't it notice it now?

I'm a bit confused. If you have a transplanted kidney you will need to stay on anti-rejection drugs the rest of your life or the kidney WILL reject. However they may be able to and will gradually lower the doses of the drugs.

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: Rerun on November 08, 2005, 09:31:29 PM

Epoman:  That was always my understanding.  You are on the drugs the rest of your life or until the kidney rejects.  I lost my transplant to high BP.  Now they are slowly taking me off, yes completely off my drugs.  I stopped imuran on October 1.  I stopped Prograf on November 1 and I start lowering the prednisone November 15th from 10mg to 7.5 then to 5 then to 2.5 then zero.  My nephrologist said "rarely" they will have to take a kidney out due to rejection.  It just lays dormant.  Maybe it quits sending out signals?

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: Jamie on December 01, 2005, 02:34:58 PM

My medications are as follows:

Calcium Carbonate 1250mg (six tablet's with each meal)
Nifedipine XL 30mg (three tablet's at night time)
Labetalol 200mg (two tablet's twice a day)
Lisinopril 20mg (one tablet at night)
One Alpha 0.25mcg (one tablet at night time)

I also get (E-Prex) Epo every Wednesday in my machine during my treatment all the med's I was on during my transplant were stopped about a month after the kidney was taken out.

Personally I think pill's suck well wait a minute Morphine was O.K. for a while but that's a different post......Jamie-G

www.jamiegmagic.com

Title: Re: Medications and rejected kidney
Post by: LifeOnHold on December 21, 2005, 08:40:01 AM

Rerun,  when your kidney rejects and they take you off of the immunosuppressors, eventually the kidney will atrophy and shut down.  It will shrink to the size of a peanut and cause no problem to your other internal organs.


That's in MOST people... I'm one of the 'OTHER' people.  My transplant had to be removed because it turned into a hunk of jello that my surgeon put his hand through when he tried to remove it.  (It had to be vacuumed out of me because it kept shredding into smaller pieces every time he tried to pick it up.)  It was a combination of rejection and a weak renal artery that basically exploded.  I needed two units of blood when I got out of the operating room. Uncontrollable high blood pressure (150/100 for almost the entire 3 years I had the kidney) also contributed to the renal artery problem-- high blood pressure can be lethal to transplanted kidneys.

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: Jamie on December 24, 2005, 07:48:38 PM

Bye the way I also hate taking all these pill's even with our food it really sucks........Jamie-G

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: donnia on April 02, 2007, 07:38:45 AM

I  am not yet on dialysis... but this is what I am taking now:

Lipitor    40mg   once daily
Famotidine  40 mg   once daily
Estradiol   1 mg once daily (hormones.. had hysterectomy 10 years ago)
Hydrochlorothiazide    25 mg   once daily
Furosemide   40 mg   once daily
Calcitriol   .25  mcg   once daily
Norvasc   10 mg    once daily

When you are on dialysis... how many Renegal are yall taking?

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: angela515 on April 02, 2007, 07:52:07 AM

Since transplant I obviously have different medications now... here they are:

Prograf 2mg - Twice a day
Valcyte 450mg - Once a day
Pepcid 20mg - Twice a day
Multi-Vitamin - Once a day
Rapamune 2mg - Once a day
Metroprolol 25mg - Twice a day
Requip 0.50mg - At Bedtime (If needed)
Ambien 10mg - At Bedtime (If needed)

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: Amanda From OZ on April 02, 2007, 07:59:20 AM

Caltrate- Two tablets with every meal.

Sensipar- 30mg Every second day

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: okarol on August 09, 2007, 11:45:39 AM

Dialysis medications: What they do, what to watch for

If you need dialysis, various medications can help you maintain your quality of life. Here's an overview.

Dialysis is an artificial way to remove waste products and extra fluid from your blood when your kidneys can no longer do so on their own. If you need dialysis — either hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis — your doctor will prescribe various medications to help you maintain the highest quality of life.

Here's a list of medications commonly prescribed for people receiving dialysis. The medications your doctor prescribes for you may vary depending on the circumstances.

Anti-itching medications

Common choices: Diphenhydramine (Benadryl), hydroxyzine (Atarax, Vistaril).

Why you need them: To control or reduce the itching that may occur due to dry skin or a high phosphorus level.

Precautions: If you take antihistamines during hemodialysis, arrange for someone else to drive you home. Antihistamines can cause sleepiness.

Blood thinners

Common choices: Heparin sodium (Heparin), warfarin (Coumadin).

Why you need them: To prevent blood clots in the hemodialysis machine, access point and tubing or to keep the peritoneal catheter free of fibrin — the protein formed during normal blood clotting. If fibrin builds up in the peritoneal catheter, it can block the flow of dialysis fluid into and out of your abdomen.

Precautions: If you're injured, tell the emergency team that you're taking blood thinners.

Blood pressure medications

Common choices: Atenolol (Tenormin), captopril (Capoten), losartan (Cozaar), benazepril (Lotensin), clonidine (Catapres).

Why you need them: To control your blood pressure.

Precautions: If you're receiving hemodialysis, ask your doctor when to take your blood pressure medication. You may need to wait until after your treatment.

Calcium supplements

Common choices: Calcium acetate (PhosLo), calcium carbonate (Tums, Os-Cal 250, others).

Why you need them: To control the level of calcium in your blood and promote strong bones.

Precautions: For proper absorption, take calcium supplements between meals. Don't take calcium and iron supplements together.

Erythropoietin

Common choices: Epoetin alfa (Epogen, Procrit), darbepoetin (Aranesp).

Why you need it: To stimulate your bone marrow to produce new red blood cells, which helps prevent anemia.

Iron supplements

Common choices: Ferrous sulfate (Feosol, Slow Fe, others).

Why you need them: To increase the amount of iron in your bloodstream, which helps assure the production of red blood cells.

Precautions: For proper absorption, take iron supplements between meals. Don't take iron and calcium supplements together.

Multivitamins

Common choices: Water-soluble multiple vitamins with folic acid (Dialyvite, Nephro-Vite).

Why you need them: To restore vitamins removed by dialysis.

Precautions: Take only the specific vitamin supplements your doctor prescribes.

Phosphate binders

Common choices: Calcium acetate (PhosLo), sevelamer (Renagel).

Why you need them: To prevent the buildup of phosphorus in your blood. Too much phosphorus draws calcium from your bones and may lead to dangerous calcium deposits in your blood vessels, lungs, eyes and heart.

Precautions: Take phosphate binders with meals so that the medication can bind with the phosphorus in your food.

Sedatives

Common choices: Zolpidem (Ambien), alprazolam (Xanax).

Why you need them: To manage restlessness, anxiety or difficulty sleeping.

Precautions: To avoid dependency, take sedatives exactly as prescribed.

Stool softeners and laxatives

Common choices: Docusate sodium (Colace), polyethylene glycol 3550 (MiraLax), bisacodyl (Dulcolax).

Why you need them: To manage constipation.

Precautions: Avoid laxatives or enemas containing magnesium or phosphorus. These substances will be absorbed into your bloodstream.

Vitamin D supplements

Common choices: Paricalcitol (Zemplar), calcitriol (Calcijex, Rocaltrol), doxercalciferol (Hectorol).

Why you need them: To improve your body's ability to absorb calcium and manage levels of parathyroid hormone.

---------------

From: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dialysis/DA00134

Title: Re: Medications
Post by: boxman55 on August 09, 2007, 06:45:02 PM

Quote from: donnia on April 02, 2007, 07:38:45 AM

I  am not yet on dialysis... but this is what I am taking now:

Lipitor    40mg   once daily
Famotidine  40 mg   once daily
Estradiol   1 mg once daily (hormones.. had hysterectomy 10 years ago)
Hydrochlorothiazide    25 mg   once daily
Furosemide   40 mg   once daily
Calcitriol   .25  mcg   once daily
Norvasc   10 mg    once daily

When you are on dialysis... how many Renegal are yall taking?

I take two with every meal per Dr orders...Boxman