Are you ready to learn about some drugs that can mess with your body’s ability to get rid of waste? Well, buckle up because we’re diving into the world of creatinine secretion.

So, you know how your kidneys help filter out waste in your body? Well, some medicines can actually interfere with the process and make it hard for your kidneys to get rid of everything they need to. This can make your creatinine levels go up, which is a type of waste in your blood.

Some of these drugs include trimethoprim – which is an antibiotic usually given in UTIs, or to transplant patients, dronedarone which is a medicine used for irregular heart rate called atrial fibrillation, and cimetidine (which is used for upset stomachs). There are also drugs used for treating HIV, like dolutegravir and cobicistat, that can mess with creatinine secretion. And if you’re taking medicine for cancer, like olaparib or rucaparib, those can also increase serum creatinine and decrease estimated GFR due to decreases in creatinine secretion.

I would like to especially mention Tyrosine Kinase inhibitors like Imatinib, Dastanib, etc which are commonly used to treat leukemia, but recently have been used as senolytics. Senolytics are drugs that help get rid of old cells in our body. As people get older, cells that cannot divide anymore start to build up in different parts of their bodies. This can cause health problems and diseases. These cells make a lot of bad chemicals that make us sick. These drugs also inhibit the pathway of creatinine secretion thereby increasing creatinine levels.

So, what does all of this mean? Basically, if your creatinine levels are too high, it can give doctors a false idea of how well your kidneys are working. And that’s not good! But don’t worry, there are ways for doctors to adjust for this and get a better idea of your kidney health.

So, the next time you’re at the doctor and they mention creatinine levels, you’ll know what they’re talking about! And always make sure to let your doctor know what medicines you’re taking so they can keep an eye on things