Recognizing diuretic drugs: functions, types of drugs, side effects

Have you been prescribed a diuretic? This type of drug may sound familiar to some people, including you. Intrigued, what are these diuretic drugs for and what side effects can they appear? Check out the explanation below.

What do diuretic drugs do?

Diuretic drugs, also known as water pills, are medicines designed to reduce the build-up of body fluids in the urine.

There are basically 3 types of diuretics in the recipe. Diuretic drugs are often prescribed to lower blood pressure. This medicine will reduce the amount of fluid in your blood vessels and this helps lower your blood pressure.

In addition, it can also be used in other conditions, namely treating swelling of the ankles, lower legs, fluid buildup in the stomach due to liver damage, or certain cancers, and eye conditions such as glaucoma.

Diuretic drugs can also be used to treat congestive heart problems. For example, this heart condition prevents the body from pumping blood effectively around the body. As a result, this causes a buildup of fluid in your body called edema.

Diuretic medication that will immediately reduce this buildup of fluid.

Types of diuretic drugs

There are 3 types of diuretic drugs, namely thiazides, loop and potassium-sparing diuretics. All of these drugs generally work on the same principle of making your body excrete more fluid as urine.

Thiazide diuretics

This type of drug is the drug most often prescribed by doctors. This type of medication is most often used to treat high blood pressure. These types of drugs not only reduce fluid in the body but also cause the blood vessels to relax. Examples of thiazide types of drugs include:

chlorothiazide
chlorthalidone
hydrochlorothiazide
metolazone
indapamide

Loop diuretic

This type of drug is often prescribed to treat cases of heart failure. Examples of these drugs are:

torsemide
furosemide
bumetanide
ethacrynic acid

Potassium-sparing diuretic

This type of diuretic drug can reduce the amount of fluid that builds up in the body without eliminating potassium and other important nutrients. This is the difference between this type of diuretic and others.

In other types of diuretic drugs, in addition to your fluid levels which will be reduced as well as the potassium levels. This type of diuretic is prescribed for people who are at risk of having low potassium levels, such as those taking other medicines with the side effect of depleting their potassium levels.

This type of medicine does not actually help lower blood pressure, so usually if you have blood pressure too, the doctor will give you other blood pressure drugs, not depending on this type of drug. Examples of this diuretic are:

amiloride
spironolactone
triamterene
eplerenone

Do diuretic drugs have dangerous side effects?

Every drug will have side effects. But of course the severity of the side effects will vary.

Mild side effects

Too little potassium in the blood
Too much potassium in the blood (a potassium-sparing diuretic side effect)
Low sodium levels
Headache
Dizzy
Thirsty
Blood sugar increases
Muscle cramp
Increase in cholesterol
Skin rash
Thirsty
Diarrhea

The side effects are serious

Allergic reactions
Kidney failure
Irregular heartbeat

Can everyone take diuretic medicines?

Not everyone can be given diuretic drugs. For people who have difficulty urinating this medicine is not recommended. Because, diuretic drugs will make you pass more urine, whereas if there is a problem with the urinary tract this will actually add to new problems.

In addition, there are several conditions that also do not recommend using diuretic drugs, namely:

Have severe liver or kidney disease
severe dehydration
Have an irregular heartbeat
Are in the third trimester or have experienced high blood pressure during pregnancy
Age over 65 years or older
Have gout
Have an irregular heartbeat
Have allergies to sulfa drugs, such as Septra and Bactrim
Have ever taken drugs that damage hearing such as cancer drugs, salicylates, or aminoglycosides drugs.

If you have any of the conditions above, tell your doctor immediately before taking diuretic medicines.

Drug interactions that can occur

Many drugs can interact with diuretic drugs. Therefore, double check with your doctor or pharmacist to make sure that you are not taking more than one diuretic at a time. Unless, indeed in certain cases it is carried out under the supervision of a doctor.

In addition, you should not take loop diuretic drugs if you are using the drug Tikosyn (Defetilide).

Be sure to monitor your potassium levels carefully if you are taking thiazide and loop diuretics or any other drug called digoxin. There should also be adjustments regarding the dosage of insulin and diabetes medications, on your use of diuretic drugs.

Also tell your doctor if you are taking a mood-stabilizing drug that is lithium. Tell your doctor also if you are taking any medicine that causes you to feel dehydrated to adjust the dose.