Q: My father is a diabetic for the past 20 years. In part due to the agent orange used in Vietnam, he has renal failure, and he is currently on dialysis. He has been recently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder. He is taking Zoloft for depression, and he is taking Kloinapan for panic attacks that come with the PTSD. He has recently been upped to 10 mg per day. According to my research, I think this is not a good drug for renal failure. Is this right?

A:Please be careful while giving the names of medicines. There is no brand called Kloinapan. I suppose you are referring to Klonopin. It contains a medicine called clonazepam. Zoloft is the brand name; the name of the medicine is sertraline. Both clonazepam and sertraline are eliminated from the body via kidneys. Hence if there is kidney impairment, there is a risk of too much medicine accumulating in the blood. It is for your doctor (both psychiatrist and kidney specialists) to keep this factor in mind.