What is Drug Holiday?
A drug holiday is a period of time when a patient stops taking the drugs for a specified amount of time, which might range from a few days to a year or more. A doctor may suggest a drug holiday to help the patient maintain sensitivity to the medication, evaluate how the body functions without it, or reduce the risk for adverse effects.
Drug holidays may be planned or unplanned. Planned drug holiday are done by the doctor based on the patient’s current condition. When unplanned, the drug holiday can lead to adverse health outcome.
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and Drug Holiday
Patient suffering from chronic conditions are more prone to go on drug holidays. CKD Patients have to maintain a certain type of daily routine to slow down disease progression. They are advised to follow a proper balanced diet, lifestyle along with strict medication routine. They often have to take more than three pills at a time.
Intentionally or un-intentionally, patients do take drug holidays. There can be many reasons for this- getting relief from side effects of the drugs, or inability to manage so many drugs and appointments etc. These drug holidays when unplanned can derail the course of treatment of CKD patients. They can fuel kidney disease progression.
Acute Kidney Injury and Drug Holiday
Along with filtering wastes from the body and maintaining the salt balance, kidneys also filter out drugs. People suffering from chronic illness have to take drugs for a lifetime. These drugs put additional load on the kidneys. The drugs affect kidney function by reducing blood supply to the kidneys, blocking urine production and causing problems directly related to kidney itself.
In such patients there is a risk of developing Acute Kidney Injury. People at risk of developing AKIs include-
As a primary measure, to reduce the risk of AKIs, doctors guide the patients to take drug holidays. That is, temporarily stopping medications that become harmful to the kidneys during episodes of acute illness or reduce burden on kidneys for some amount of time. Such planned drug holidays are helpful in-patient management.
