by Dr Fredric Coe | Jan 20, 2015 | For Doctors, For Patients, For Scientists
This article is long and complex but I think patients will want to trouble themselves to read it. It tells the story of how our diet in the US, Europe, and urban Asia imposes an acid load which the kidneys must remove. That demand forces them to conserve citrate which is a natural defense against kidney stones. The pills neutralize the diet acid, and release the kidneys from their lifelong task of compensating for how we eat. That is why the urine citrate can rise. Removing acid is a major task that affects how kidney cells work. The humble potassium citrate pills have massive and probably beneficial effects on those cells. Of course, diet could the same as the pills, but how can one pursue a diet against the tendencies of the culture? Even with a will, most of us could not get it right – the balance of food, a proper nutrition. I could not advise we try.
by Dr Fredric Coe | Dec 6, 2014 | For Doctors, For Patients, For Scientists
The citrate molecule in urine is thought to protect against formation of calcium stones. This thought began as reasoning from chemistry, and culminated in clinical trials which substantiate the idea. As a result manufacturers produce citrate products for medicinal...
by Dr Fredric Coe | Nov 22, 2014 | For Doctors, For Patients, For Scientists
Potassium citrate, thiazide diuretic agents, and allopurinol are the three medications that have a proven ability to reduce kidney stone formation.
Because fluids are so valuable and safe, we have emphasized their use as a basic treatment for all forms of stone disease. Here, I present the evidence that potassium citrate adds protection. The evidence is in the form of 5 trials that appear well done.
Some of the background for this article was already prevented in our discussion of the costs of this drug. Likewise, that discussion presented alternative sources of alkali that should more or less mimic the protective effects of the drug despite lack of direct trial data. I say this because the drug is a simple alkaline salt.
The article is written for anyone. Physicians will fill in more blanks than patients, but patients can easily analyse the numbers.
by Dr Fredric Coe | Sep 11, 2014 | For Doctors, For Patients, For Scientists
I never have been a remarkable shopper, so those who know me well might wonder at a post about prices. Even so, patients have complained and wanted alternatives to potassium citrate pills which have become too costly for them. I did a bit of web shopping for retail prices, and although they vary, even the lowest seem too high for most budgets. A very brief look at insurance plans under Medicare: Some plans just pay the whole bill; some charge $10.00 for 100 pills; some charge a percentage of retail; some do not pay. So I have put together alternatives which taken in aggregate permit everyone to piece together a replacement for all or at least some fraction of these pills whose price has become just too high.
