Can I Take Laxative with Kidney Disease
2013-10-27 15:01
Laxative is a kind of medication that can increase bowel movement and thus help to achieve the goal of treating constipation. Constipation is common among kidney disease patients, especially among these who are on peritoneal dialysis. Laxative helps to treat constipation; however, for people with kidney damages, they should be very careful about the medications they take as some of these drugs are toxic to kidney. Therefore, can they take laxative with kidney disease?
Laxatives in small and infrequent amounts are not harmful to our kidneys and other organs, so laxatives can be applied by kidney disease patients to alleviate constipation problem. However, this does not mean kidney disease patients can take laxatives casually, as it is said taking laxatives frequently or in high does will cause health problems and even death in extreme cases. Therefore, before taking the medicine, kidney disease patients should talk to their doctors and get doctor’s permission firstly.
Laxatives help to treat constipation, but at the same time, it can cause some other health tissues. For instance, high does of this medication or taking this medicine frequently will cause electrolyte imbalance, which not only worse kidney condition, but also cause bad influence on other organs such as the heart. Besides, if kidney disease patients take too many laxatives, their kidneys will pass much more water, electrolytes and minerals than usual, which can increase their risk for kidney stone and further kidney damages.
For people with kidney failure, they should try other solutions like making diet changes other than taking over-the-counter laxatives when constipation is caused. High fiber diet helps to improve bowel movement, so trying to eat more vegetables and fruits that are high in fiber is very important. However, as decreased kidney function is always accompanied with high potassium level in blood and high phosphorus level in blood, therefore, knowing what foods are recommended is very beneficial. With different illness, kidney failure patients need to make different diet changes, so if you are a patient of kidney problem and want to know what foods to eat and what foods to avoid, you can send your test report to us: kidney-treatment@hotmail.com. Our nephrologists will help to analyze illness and then offer some practical suggestions.
- Tag: Medicine
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