Is Japanese cold medicine likely to damage the kidneys? Chimei Pharmacist reminds kidney patients to pay attention to five important things when taking medicines

Pharmacist Chen Youchen of Chimei Pharmacy reminds kidney patients to be more cautious when using medications.

Grandpa Chen, who is over 70 years old, has a history of high blood pressure and gout. He usually uses Japanese-made comprehensive cold medicine when he catches a cold. After the pharmacist checked the ingredients of the medicine, he found that it contained non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics (NSAIDs). People with poor kidney function may increase the burden on the kidneys if they use it on their own or improperly. In particular, Chinese people like to travel to Japan and often go to drugstores to buy regular medicines, health products, etc.

Pharmacist Chen Youchen of the Chi Mei Medical Center Pharmacy Department reminds kidney patients to be more cautious when using medications. From prescription drugs, patent medicines to Chinese herbal medicines, etc., they should first confirm the ingredients and dosage, and do not take them casually.

Another case is: 68-year-old A Mingbo has gout and chronic kidney disease. He has been taking uric acid-lowering drugs for a long time to control his condition. During the medication evaluation, the pharmacist found that he did not take the medicine regularly. When asked, he found out that he had mistaken the word "pain" in the Chinese trade name of the uric acid-lowering drug for analgesics. He was worried. Taking it when you are not in pain will hurt your body and you will have to reduce the dosage on your own, which will lead to repeated attacks of gout. After learning that it is a drug that controls uric acid and prevents gout attacks, it needs to be taken regularly even if there is no pain. After Aminbo adjusted his medication habits, the uric acid level remained stable and the frequency of gout attacks was significantly reduced.

In order to improve medical quality and care efficiency, the Pharmacy Department of Chi Mei Medical System has recently fully digitized the pre-end-stage renal disease (Pre-ESRD) pharmaceutical care process, replacing paper records with standardized electronic forms, allowing data to be retained in a structured manner and instantly queried. It also reduces problems caused by unclear handwriting or missing data, saving about 50% of work time.

Chen Youzhen mentioned that the team is currently working on introducing AI technology to assist pharmacists in automatically comparing cloud medication records, such as checking whether patients have used anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs in the past three months. It is expected to save another half of the operating time, and the overall estimate is about 75%, allowing pharmacists to use the saved time to communicate with patients and solve more related medication issues.

Chen Youzhen also emphasized that not all analgesics and antipyretics are harmful to the kidneys. For example, the common acetaminophen is relatively safe when used at the recommended dose. However, it should be noted that most compound cold medicines already contain acetaminophen. If you take other medicines containing the same ingredients at the same time, it may cause repeated use. Therefore, it is best to confirm the ingredients or consult a doctor or pharmacist before purchasing any medicine.