Teen Diagnosed with Stunted Growth Kidneys

February 22, 2020   Medical Issues

Medical tests recently revealed our 16 year old son has small kidneys for his age. Doctors say his kidneys appeared to stop growing when he was about 10, so he has kidney’s the size of a 10 year old.

We now wonder if antibiotics or Miralax could be the cause?

When he was about 5, his doctor put him on some strong antibiotics (cefuroxime).  At one point she prescribed antibiotics which were so strong, walmart pharmacy would not even fill them. This alarmed us so much we stopped seeing that doctor and went to a different doctor.

The 10 Worst Medications for Your Kidneys – GoodRx

Medications that can directly damage the kidneys are known as “nephrotoxic medications.” Learn more about these medications here.

According to an article “The 10 Worst Medications for Your Kidneys – GoodRx”

“Aminoglycoside antibiotics are known for causing kidney injury—even at low doses. People with chronic kidney disease, dehydration, or those who have been taking these antibiotics for a long time are at particularly high risk. The most toxic aminoglycoside is neomycin, followed by gentamicin, tobramycin, and amikacin”.

From an early age, our son also had constipation. His pediatrician (the same doctor which prescribed the strong antibiotics) told us to give him Miralax, which he took for several years.

We recently found out about his Kidney condition as a result of his  doctor ordering blood tests for another unrelated medical issue.

We had no idea he had any kidney issues because he seemed healthy.

He is now seeing Pediatric nephrologists who are monitoring his kidney’s health. They told us he may eventually need dialysis. We have made major changes to his diet to keep his kidneys as healthy as possible for as long as possible so hopefully he won’t need dialysis anytime soon.

We now wonder if antibiotics or Miralax could be the cause?

I searched all over the internet for articles about Stunted Growth Kidneys in children and could find none, so I decided to post this short article about our experience with this issue.

If anyone else is familiar with possible causes of Stunted Growth Kidneys in children, please post your comments below.

 

MiraLAX Problems and Children (and COVID)

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has been conducting a study on polyethylene glycol 3350 (PEG 3350), the active ingredient in MiraLAX, and its effect on a child’s brain. The study …

9-14-2023 update: I just found the above article which stated “Multiple pieces of evidence to provide biologically plausible mechanisms linking oral ingestion of polyethylene glycol-3350 to acute kidney injury from oxalate nephropathy”.

Full quote: Potential MiraLAX kidney injuries? MiraLAX is composed of polyethylene glycol-3350. This compound is composed of individual units of ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol is a well-known cause of oxalate nephropathy. Polyethylene glycol once inside the body is capable of causing acute kidney injury from oxalate nephropathy. The literature contains multiple pieces of evidence to provide biologically plausible mechanisms linking oral ingestion of polyethylene glycol-3350 to acute kidney injury from oxalate nephropathy.

 

Growth Failure in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease | NIDDK

Growth failure is a complication of CKD in which children do not grow as expected. When a child is below the third percentile-meaning 97 percent of children the same age and gender are taller-he or she has growth failure. 1 CKD is kidney disease that does not go away with treatment and tends to get worse over time.

 

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