What are the nephrotoxic Chinese medicines?

Many Chinese medicines are nephrotoxic. Therefore, for friends who often take Chinese medicine, it is necessary to understand the relevant knowledge about nephrotoxic Chinese medicines. So what are the nephrotoxic Chinese medicines? Next, this article will introduce you to the relevant content about nephrotoxic Chinese medicines for your reference only. Friends who want to know more about this can take a look!

In clinical practice, there are many kinds of drugs that can cause drug-induced renal damage. In addition to various Western medicines, traditional Chinese medicines that are generally believed by the general public to have small toxic side effects are also on the list. The clinical manifestations of drug-induced renal injury are varied. Some will experience lower back pain; some will experience changes in urine color; some will experience changes in urine volume, which may be more or less: sometimes the amount of urine increases at night, and the patient feels that they have to get up more often at night than before; some will also find that there is more foam in the urine than before, and it is not as easy to dissipate as before; some will experience edema of the eyelids or lower limbs; some will even develop anemia and high blood pressure; some patients will have non-specific manifestations, such as fatigue, loss of appetite, etc.; of course, some people do not feel anything, but only discover kidney problems due to occasional physical examinations or doctor's examinations.

What are the nephrotoxic Chinese medicines? Research on the toxicity of traditional Chinese medicine has found that nearly 50 types of traditional Chinese medicine are toxic to the kidneys. In summary, there are three types of traditional Chinese medicine that can cause kidney damage.

The first category is plant-based Chinese medicine, including Tripterygium wilfordii, Aconitum kusnezoffii, Akebia trifoliata, Quisqualis chinensis, Leonurus japonicus, Xanthium sibiricum, Melia azedarach bark, Radix Trichosanthis, Seed of Pharbitis chinensis, Root of Cherry Blossom, Fritillaria thunbergii, Aristolochia manshuriensis, Schizonepeta tenuifolia, Croton, Aloe vera, Clematis chinensis, Acer truncatum, Trillium gracile, Datura stramonium, Oleander, Folium Isatidis, Alisma orientalis, Stephania tetrandra, Gelsemium elegans, Senecio tenuifolia, Clove, Uncaria rhynchophylla, Psoralea corylifolia, Pulsatilla chinensis, Camellia sinensis, Sophora flavescens, Achyranthes bidentata, Rhizoma Cibotii, Cottonseed, and Root of Wintersweet.

The second category is animal-based Chinese medicine, including blister beetles, fish gall, scorpions, centipedes, snake venom, etc.

The third category is mineral Chinese medicines, including arsenic-containing ones (arsenic stone, arsenic trioxide, realgar, red alum), mercury-containing ones (cinnabar, mercuric chloride, calomel), lead-containing ones (red lead) and other minerals (alum).

The above is an introduction to the nephrotoxic Chinese medicines. I believe that after reading the above introduction, you already know which nephrotoxic Chinese medicines are. From the above introduction, we can see that many Chinese medicines are nephrotoxic. Therefore, everyone should not drink Chinese medicine casually! If you want to take Chinese medicine, you must take it under the guidance of a Chinese medicine practitioner.