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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Is Caffeine Bad For Health With Decreasing GFR's & Increasing BUN & Creatinine Levels?

is caffeine bad for a patient with decreasing GFRs and increasing BUN and Creatinine levels? Also, I am on metformin, metoprolol, benicar, occasional HCTZ, and livalo (cholesterol). I believe some of these are nephrotoxic. I am an RN who does much research on these issues. Thank you.
posted on Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Twitter Thu, 9 Jun 2016 Answered on
Twitter Mon, 13 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on
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Addiction Medicine Specialist,  's  Response
Yeah, metformin cannot be used in the context of kidney dysfunction. It goes out thru the kidney and will accumulate if it can't get out. This is associated with really serious fatal effects on the kidney and liver. One hundred millileters per minute flow is an estimate of normal kidney function at peak health. If the kidney function is below half of that (clearance of 50, creatinine of 2.0) then metformin is not given. Slight kidney problems may be handled with a reduction of metformin dose. Benicar may make the flow of blood through the kidney less and make it seem like the kidney is failing. It may interact with metformin for this reason, but actually, by lowering the work it does, it protects the kidney. You still can't take it and metformin together if the kidney effective flow is below half of normal.
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Is Caffeine Bad For Health With Decreasing GFR's & Increasing BUN & Creatinine Levels?

Yeah, metformin cannot be used in the context of kidney dysfunction. It goes out thru the kidney and will accumulate if it can t get out. This is associated with really serious fatal effects on the kidney and liver. One hundred millileters per minute flow is an estimate of normal kidney function at peak health. If the kidney function is below half of that (clearance of 50, creatinine of 2.0) then metformin is not given. Slight kidney problems may be handled with a reduction of metformin dose. Benicar may make the flow of blood through the kidney less and make it seem like the kidney is failing. It may interact with metformin for this reason, but actually, by lowering the work it does, it protects the kidney. You still can t take it and metformin together if the kidney effective flow is below half of normal.