Common pain relievers have side effects
Every day in the practice of primary care medicine, blood chemistries for patients are reviewed. The typical panel contains some 14 tests for various substances such as sodium, potassium, and chloride.
One test, creatinine, is a measure of kidney function. Rising creatinine means declining kidney function. In other words, lower is better. When this number reaches or passes 1.4, doctors become concerned. One reason may be the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs.
This is a common class of analgesic medication used to treat mild to moderate pain. Easily as strong as acetaminophen, or Tylenol, these drugs, such as naproxen and ibuprofen, are also effective at reducing redness, swelling, and feverish tissues, all symptoms of inflammation.
Not unexpectedly, these drugs are frequently prescribed for arthritis patients. Like all medications, they are not without side effects.
Foremost for many clinicians is the impact of NSAIDs on kidney function. The drugs can cause direct, immediate damage to the kidneys: acute interstitial nephritis. More insidious, however, is the silent but progressive loss of kidney function over a long time. This process may occur over years with no symptoms until very little kidney filtration remains.
It then can be too late to salvage kidney function, leading to dialysis.
Aging, of course, is a natural cause of gradually diminishing kidney filtration. Unfortunately, aging also leads to arthritis. The desire for medication to treat painful joints in the aging body sometimes leads to accelerated kidney decline as the NSAIDs hasten kidney decline.
Serum creatinine levels are therefore of special interest in the retirement age population and others known to take high, prolonged doses of these medications.
Another serious complication of NSAID medications is irritation of the gut. The lining of the stomach can become globally inflamed as well as ulcerated. It is not uncommon to find people who rely on NSAIDs to be taking medications for stomach acid as well.
In these cases, clinicians often find a direct relationship as stopping the NSAIDs result in lessening or resolution of heartburn.
Conversely, taking Pepcid, Zantac or Prilosec to protect the stomach during therapy with NSAIDs is a common intervention to avert side-effects.
As for alternatives to ibuprofen, naproxen, and other NSAIDs, surprisingly Tylenol may be the first answer. In some investigations it has been shown to be at least equal in efficacy to the NSAIDs for osteoarthritis.
What Is Creatinine - News
The Premier healthcare alliance today announced that a new agreement in its Point of Care category for creatinine hand-held analyzers has been awarded to Nova Biomedical Corporation of Waltham, Mass. Effective July 1, 2011, the agreement is available
One test, creatinine, is a measure of kidney function. Rising creatinine means declining kidney function. In other words, lower is better. When this number reaches or passes 1.4, doctors become concerned. One reason may be the use of nonsteroidal
Amay Parikh, MD, MBA, MS, Thomas Nickolas, MD, MS, and two other investigators developed two models of testing strategies, one involving serum-creatinine testing alone and another involving the combination of serum creatinine and NGAL testing.
Does the collection of creatinine cause kidney failure? The human body produces waste products such as carbon dioxide, bilirubin, urea, creatinine, etc. Carbon dioxide is removed by the lungs and bilirubin by the liver. Kidneys remove urea, creatinine
The plasma creatinine level had the greatest area under the ROC curve (AUC): 0.83 (95% confidence interval 0.74-0.92), significantly better than the AUCs for, urinary sodium level, the urea to creatinine ratio (UCR), the fractional excretion of urea
It's my party (and I'll cry if I want to...): What is Creatinine?
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What Is Creatinine - Bookshelf
Questions on anatomy, for the use of students
What is the origin of creatine and creatinine? What other matters are formed hy disassimilation ? Name the four outlets for this excrementitious matter. ...Physiology secrets
the clinical setting, creatinine clearance is used to measure GFR. ... How is creatinine clearance used to evaluate GFR clinically? ...Anesthesia and uncommon diseases
In clinical practice, urea, a breakdown product of protein that is partially reabsorbed, and creatinine, a metabolic byproduct of muscle metabolism that is ...Surgical Critical Care Vivas
CHRONIC RENAL FAILURE What is the difference between creatinine and creatine? Creatinine is creatine minus a water molecule (ie the anhydride of creatine). ...Fundamentals of Practical Clinical Biochemistry
CLINICAL ASPECTS Creatinine is the anhydride of creatine that is formed non- enzymatically. Like urea and uric acid, creatinine is a non-protein nitrogenous ...Useful Information Directory
Creatinine Blood Levels – Complete medical explanation ...
Learn more about the creatinine blood test, a test that measures kidney function. ... What is creatinine? Creatinine is a chemical waste molecule that is generated from muscle ...
Creatinine: The Test
Describes how the creatinine test is used, when a creatinine test is ordered, and what the results of a creatinine test might mean
Creatinine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Creatinine (from the Greek κρέας, flesh) is a break-down product of creatine phosphate in ... Creatinine is chiefly filtered out of the blood by the kidneys ...
Creatinine Test - Creatine Urine Test - What Is Creatinine ...
Creatinine Test - Creatine Urine Test - What Is Creatinine? - Altered Urine Sample - drug testing information and drug test products
What is Creatinine?
The creatinine blood test is used along with a BUN (blood urea nitrogen) test to assess kidney function. Both are frequently ordered as part of a ...