Health Home > Urinary Health > Thiazides for kidney stones

Thiazides for kidney stones

Healthwise
By Monica Rhodes

Did you find this helpful?

Rate this article:
50% of users found this article helpful.

Examples

Brand Name Chemical Name
Thalitone
Esidrix, Microzide, Oretic

How It Works

Thiazides reduce the amount of calcium in the urine, which may prevent calcium kidney stones.

Why It Is Used

Thiazides may prevent the formation of calcium kidney stones, especially if changing your diet and drinking more fluids have not helped.

How Well It Works

People who take thiazides get fewer than half as many calcium stones as they did before taking this medicine.1

Side Effects

Possible side effects of thiazides include:

See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)

What To Think About

You can prevent lower levels of potassium in the blood by taking potassium citrate with the thiazide.

Eating too much salt reduces the effect of thiazides.

Use of thiazides for kidney stones is an unlabeled use of these medicines. But doctors have found that thiazides safely and effectively prevent kidney stones in some people.

Complete the new medication information form (PDF)Click here to view a form.(What is a PDF document?) to help you understand this medication.

References

Citations

  1. Spector DA (2007). Urinary stones. In NH Fiebach et al., eds., Principles of Ambulatory Medicine, 7th ed., pp. 754–766. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

Credits

Author Monica Rhodes
Editor Kathleen M. Ariss, MS
Associate Editor Pat Truman, MATC
Primary Medical Reviewer Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer Philip Belitsky, MD, FRCSC - Urology
Last Updated May 30, 2007
Last Updated: 05/30/2007