Posted: 1/6/2018 6:54:43 PM EDT
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I have had a few kidney stones, and anyone who has, knows they are very painful. One option is a prescription over potassium citrate pill called Urocit-K. This is pretty expensive to use.
My question is for anyone who knows, is Urocit-K the same as OTC potassium citrate you can buy for cheap? I have not found anything that mentions a difference. The mg of the pill may be different, and might need to be adjusted, just not sure if it is the same type potassium citrate. |
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Prescription potassium citrate is extended release, which will be a factor in how it gets used in the body.
The highest dose OTC potassium is usually 99 mg elemental potassium, and contains who-knows-what-else for fillers. Prescription potassium is always dosed in mEq, not mg, which makes it even trickier. 99 mg elemental seems to work out to about 2.5 mEq, so depending on your dose you might end up taking way more pills of OTC to get the dose you need, which could end up being more expensive, and certainly more hassle, then just taking the prescription. Because of the inconsistencies in the OTC formulations, I recommend sticking with the prescription. There should be a generic for Urocit-K, which should help with cost. It's not the cheapest generic out there but way less than brand name. Also, it can pay to shop around at different pharmacies. Often there are big differences in price between different ones. |
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No prob.
I wouldn't mind having to drink lemonade all the time, but who knows how much you'd have to actually drink to get enough citrate (citric acid). Plus all the sugar you'd have to put in it to make it drinkable, even if you like it as sour as I do, would eventually turn you into a diabetic 
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