RA and Kidney Function

[Mockingbird]

Has anyone had an issue with their Kidneys that resulted from RA? I suspect the meds I took early on may have compromised my kidney function but I am not sure, when I mention to the doc he seems to poo poo the idea. I don't feel so certain any feedback would be welcome.

[malou]

Has anyone had an issue with their Kidneys that resulted from RA? I suspect the meds I took early on may have compromised my kidney function but I am not sure, when I mention to the doc he seems to poo poo the idea. I don't feel so certain any feedback would be welcome.

Ive heard on some medications that it can damage our kidney especially on the anti hypertensive drugs..a second opinion maybe a good idea..

[faith]

Has anyone had an issue with their Kidneys that resulted from RA? I suspect the meds I took early on may have compromised my kidney function but I am not sure, when I mention to the doc he seems to poo poo the idea. I don't feel so certain any feedback would be welcome.

nope not heard of this kind of situation..did you read the possible side effects on the label of the meds? i am sure its listed there..or maybe you can ask your doctor on this..

[naturelover]

I too checked with the doctor of my sister and he is stating that there is a remote possibility of link between the medication for RA and kidney malfunction. But nothing as serious of life threatening.

[naturelover]

As a chronic ailment, does using the medicines prescribed for RA develops urinary infection. I came across a talk about this with one of the patient while waiting for my wife's treatment. The doctor is not confirming, but it is otherwise with patients. Sorry to ask, does anyone had this problem.

[Heather]

It seems like if your body all ready has Rheumatoid arthritis, other things could be inflammed as well. I know some RA sufferers have asthma, other types of arthritis and other inflammation. I don't see why the kidneys wouldn't be affected.

[crimson]

I guess for me it's my first time to hear RA affecting the kidney though there is a possibility that it can occur you better ask your doctor about it.

[Carol]

I have RA my mother also had RA. Per her medical doctor RA was damaging her kidneys. She was losing way too much protein through her kidneys. Her doctor sent her to a kidney specialist but due to her age and frailty she was not a good canidate for biopsy and tests to confirm it was the RA was not an option. This was before they treated RA with anything other than tylenol.

When I was first diagonised with RA my kidney fuction test came back and the RA took me off all medications due to potential kidney failure. These tests were done before I began taking any medications.

Inflamtion of the kidneys is called Nephritis and it caused the kidneys to filter out protien as well as toxins from the body. This is a more common occurance in Lupus than RA.

[kageyd]

For all meds I have taken, and take now, I go to at least three internet sides by plugging in "(the name of the medicine) side effects." It would not be at all surprising to me to find kidney problems as a possible side effect of many RA medicines. "Possible" usually means 2 or 3 percent of the patients, so it's a risk we all take with many of our meds. kagedy

[prasanth5]

I read elsewhere that rheumtoid arthritis may not cause kidney ailments directly. But RA can cause nodules on the kidneys. The connection between RA any sort of kidney disfunction has been disputed in the past.

[jellaine]

I am a new member of this forum and not quite sure how to do all of this.

Anyway, I am hard-pressed to come up with an RA medication that doesn't affect your kidneys (or liver) over the long haul. (I have labs done every 3 months without fail and over the past 8-9 years there were results showing decreased kidney function.) All RA drugs are nasty and have the potential to do harm. Without the drugs I know I'm dead in the water, so to speak. Therefore, the key is to find drugs that can alleviate your symptoms enough so that you can lead a relatively pain-free, active, happy life while at the same time staying on top of what is happening as a result of the drug use and keeping it all in balance. This is never the easiest of tasks. I am extremely proactive as far as my health care is concerned and finding a doctor who could deal with this fact was not easy.

[kageyd]

Welcome, you sound like a good addition to the forum. I couldn't agree more that having a regular doctor who is willing to be honest and open and work with you, rather than just for you, is an absolute necessity. I'm new to RA, and my rheumatologist is big on regular blood tests, so I'll be making sure that kidney function is regularly included, thanks to your post. Kageyd

[kageyd]

Oh, I should also say, since you mentioned it, that this forum is somewhat confusing in that people post things in various places, despite the category titles - especially new folks like yourself. About the only thing I ever fuss with is keeping Lounge free for non-RA things like jokes, football, movies, etc. But there's no way a new person would pick that up easily. Also, sometimes interesting new things get posted way down an existing thread - which is where you post was - and often we have a tendency to ignore older threads in favor of the new. But eventually it works.