Lokelma™

I picked up my prescription for Lokelma today. It is a new medication UCLA prescribed to lower my potassium in case they want to prescribe Losartan. Interestingly, I used to take Olmesartan, which like Losartan, is an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB). ARBs are usually prescribed for high blood pressure, but UCLA wants to use it to treat my high hemoglobin.

I was expecting another pill to take, but Lokelma turned out to be something you drink. Instruction says to mix with 45 mL (oddly precise) of water and drink it. Not sure why AstraZeneca did not make a fast dissolving pill, and went with a powdered drink instead. I took a dosage about 15 minutes ago. There was really no taste, even though the water turned milky white.

From the website, the only side effect seems to be edema due to high sodium content. Unfortunately, each 5 g dose has about 400 mg of sodium. That is about 15-20% of a normal person’s daily sodium intake.