Revlimid And Kidney Stones?

I have been on Revlimid for over 20 months now with fantastic results, however I recently developed three kidney stones which had to be 'blasted' to remove them.  Last week the 'stent' which had been placed in my kidney was removed and the doctor found quite a quantity of 'sand' in the kidney.  This doctor is not an oncologist, but he feels that the reason that I am making the 'sand' is because I'm taking Revlimid.  My question is this:  has anyone else had any kidney problems when taking Revlimid?  I am not prepared to stop Revlimid treatment, and have added a gout medication into the mix to try and stop the sand production. 
Any other suggestions gratefully appreciated.  Many thanks, Cath

 

On 4/21/2008 poppy/cath wrote:

I have been on Revlimid for over 20 months now with fantastic results, however I recently developed three kidney stones which had to be 'blasted' to remove them.  Last week the 'stent' which had been placed in my kidney was removed and the doctor found quite a quantity of 'sand' in the kidney.  This doctor is not an oncologist, but he feels that the reason that I am making the 'sand' is because I'm taking Revlimid.  My question is this:  has anyone else had any kidney problems when taking Revlimid?  I am not prepared to stop Revlimid treatment, and have added a gout medication into the mix to try and stop the sand production. 
Any other suggestions gratefully appreciated.  Many thanks, Cath

Dear Cath,

Don't know if this will help, but it is something you can look up and then discuss with your doctor.  Several years ago, my husband had kidney stones and the urologist put him on a med called Urocit-K, 5 MEQ, three times a day.  He said it was to prevent further kidney stone problems.  It also has potassium, so when his potassium gets low, our doctor increases it to 10 MEQ, three times a day.  It has worked for many years.  Also has not had kidney stones since he has been on Revlimid and he has been on that since July of 2007. 

He also takes the gout med Allopurinol, 300 mg, one tablet per day.  He was put on that when he started the Revlimid to keep his serum creatinine levels where they should be.  The doctors said it would help break down the proteins as the myeloma cells die off and are passed through the kidneys.

Hope this helps.  Take care!

Jan

Thanks for your message Jan -- my urologist has also put me on 300mg of Progout which is a gout medication as well as two sachets of Ural every day in an effort to stop me from producing any more 'sand', so heres hoping that it works.  It sounds similar to what your husband is taking.  He took samples of the sand and its been sent off to the lab so hopefully he will know exactly what we are dealing with before too long.  I'm expecting him to call me when the results come back, but if he doesn't I'll give him a ring in a week or so.  Because Revlimid is so new I'm sure that there will be comments from others in the future regarding kidney stones -- probably not many, but some.  I was speaking to a highly regarded Australian oncologist and he said that my reaction to Revlimid (20mos. paraprotein down from90-8 and NO dexamethasone) is very unusual, however he does have one patient who has been on it for 4 years with a paraprotein of 2 and its still working well.  I hope that this continues for me, but I do need to find ways of getting rid of the kidney sand production without giving up the Revlimid!!  Thanks again for your message!! Cath