Hi!!! I am new to this board and really need help re: my grandmother. She's 87. No spring chicken I know, but I love her and she has all her mental faculties in tact.

She has diabetes, osteoporosis, and CHF. She also recently suffered a hip fracture for which she has been mostly bedridden after replacement. She was hospitalized Saturday after having shortness of breath, possibly due to pneumonia or to her CHF. My dad asked me Friday (I'm a pharmacist) if she could take anything to prevent the head cold from going into her lungs and I told him pseudoephedrine (I was scared because I didn't want her dying of pneumonia). I told him to monitor her blood pressure and she was at worst 120/60 after taking it... but 24 hours later, she had severe shortness of breath and needed to go to the hospital.

Now, she has renal failure (ESRD). Her GFR is 14 today after hovering around 16 yesterday. My dad told the hospital staff she was given one psuedoephedrine tablet and they discounted it. But now they are telling her she needs to go on dialysis.

Do you think I should push the issue about the pseudoephedrine? I have not yet spoken with the doctor as I am out of state. It just seems FIRST THINK DRUGS makes sense here. By the way, she had a renal function around 30 mL/minute in the past.

She is producing about 40-150 mL of urine a day.