How do potassium wasting diuretics work

Diuretics are substances that increase the amount of urine you produce and help get rid of excess water. Here's a list of the 8 best natural diuretics. Water retention involves increased amounts of fluids building up inside the body. Here are 6 simple ways to reduce water retention.

How often you pee can provide clues to your overall health. Find out what's normal and what conditions could affect your urine output. Many medications can be used to treat high blood pressure. Learn about diuretics, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, and others….

If left untreated, high blood pressure may lead to heart failure. We show you how to lower your blood pressure using diet, supplements, exercise, and…. Lifestyle changes can significantly reduce high blood pressure and even lower your risk of hypertension in the future. Learn how garlic and dark…. Learn how diuretics can help treat high blood pressure. Find information on the risks and side effects associated with diuretics.

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, increases your risk of heart attack and stroke. There are a variety of treatments that can help you manage your…. Sometimes when you take a diuretic, you lose too much potassium from your body along with the extra water you pass. This can make your potassium levels low, which can be quite dangerous. The potassium-sparing diuretics help to stop this happening. They can be used on their own but are most commonly used in combination with another type of diuretic.

This is because they are not so strong as loop diuretics and thiazide diuretics. Amiloride and triamterene work by making the kidneys pass out more fluid. They do this by interfering with the transport of salt and water across certain cells in the kidneys.

As more fluid is passed out by the kidneys, less fluid remains in the bloodstream. So any fluid which has built up in the tissues of the lungs or body is drawn back into the bloodstream to replace the fluid passed out by the kidneys.

This eases symptoms such as fluid retention in the legs oedema and breathlessness caused by excess fluid on the lungs. As well as increasing the amount of water that you pass out from your kidneys, potassium-sparing diuretics also help your kidneys keep retain potassium in the body.

They do this by blocking the channels that potassium would pass through. Eplerenone and spironolactone work in a slightly different way to amiloride and triamterene. These medicines block the action of a hormone called aldosterone and this causes the kidney to pass out more fluid and keep potassium. This is why they are sometimes referred to as aldosterone antagonists. When used on their own, potassium-sparing diuretics are weak diuretics.

Loop diuretics and thiazide diuretics are stronger than potassium-sparing diuretics with regard to making the kidneys pass out more fluid. However, they also increase the amount of potassium passed out of the body through the kidneys.

Potassium-sparing diuretics are often combined with either a loop diuretic or a thiazide diuretic. This is because they help to keep the right amount of potassium in your blood and they help other diuretics to remove fluid from the body. The higher the dose, the greater the risk of side-effects developing. Potassium-sparing diuretics can increase potassium levels. This is called hyperkalemia. Hyperkalemia is more likely to occur in people with kidney problems, diabetes, and older adults or severely ill patients.

Hyperkalemia is also more likely to occur when a potassium-sparing diuretic is taken with certain other medications such as ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers.

Symptoms of hyperkalemia include a tingling sensation, muscle weakness, paralysis of the extremities, slow heart rate, shock, and in more severe cases, an abnormal EKG. B ecause untreated hyperkalemia can be fatal, potassium levels must be frequently monitored when taking a potassium-sparing diuretic, and also if the dose is changed or if there is an illness that can affect kidney function.

Do not use potassium supplements or salt substitutes that contain potassium without asking your doctor. Call your doctor right away or seek emergency medical attention if you experience dizziness, diarrhea, vomiting, irregular heartbeat, swelling of the lower extremities, or difficulty breathing. No, potassium-sparing diuretics are not controlled substances. Common side effects of potassium-sparing diuretics include:. Serious side effects of potassium-sparing diuretics include some may be both common and serious :.

Spironolactone is known to have more endocrine side effects such as breast pain, irregular menstrual cycles, and in men, swelling of breast tissue. Additional serious side effects of spironolactone include:.

Additional serious side effects of triamterene:. Report side effects to your doctor. This is not a complete list of side effects. Consult your healthcare professional for a full list of side effects.

Potassium-sparing diuretics are all available in generic form. This significantly reduces the cost, making this class of drugs very affordable. Contact your health insurance plan or Medicare prescription plan for up-to-date coverage information. You can always use a free SingleCare card or coupon when filling and refilling your potassium-sparing diuretic prescription. Skip to main content Search for a topic or drug. Potassium-sparing diuretics: Uses, common brands, and safety information Potassium-sparing diuretics lower the amount of salt and water in the body.

They are used to help treat conditions such as high blood pressure, edema, and congestive heart failure. By Karen Berger, Pharm. Top Reads in Drug Info.

Can you mix Trintellix and alcohol? Does hydroxyzine for anxiety work? Potassium-sparing, aldosterone-blocking diuretics e. Heart failure leads to activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, which causes increased sodium and water retention by the kidneys.

This in turn increases blood volume and contributes to the elevated venous pressures associated with heart failure, which can lead to pulmonary and systemic edema. Long-term treatment with diuretics may also reduce the afterload on the heart by promoting systemic vasodilation, which can lead to improved ventricular ejection. When treating heart failure with diuretics, care must be taken to not unload too much volume because this can depress cardiac output.

For example, if pulmonary capillary wedge pressure is 25 mmHg point A in figure and pulmonary congestion is present, a diuretic can safely reduce that elevated pressure to a level e. The reason for this is that heart failure caused by systolic dysfunction is associated with a depressed, flattened Frank-Starling curve.

However, if the volume is reduced too much, stroke volume will fall because the heart will now be operating on the ascending limb of the Frank-Starling relationship. If the heart failure is caused by diastolic dysfunction , diuretics must be used very carefully so as to not impair ventricular filling. In diastolic dysfunction, ventricular filling requires elevated filling pressures because of the reduced ventricular compliance. Most patients in heart failure are prescribed a loop diuretic because they are more effective in unloading sodium and water than thiazide diuretics.

In mild heart failure, a thiazide diuretic may be used. Capillary hydrostatic pressure and therefore capillary fluid filtration is strongly influenced by venous pressure click here for more details. Therefore, diuretics, by reducing blood volume and venous pressure, lower capillary hydrostatic pressure, which reduces net capillary fluid filtration and tissue edema. Because left ventricular failure can cause life-threatening pulmonary edema, most heart failure patients are treated with a loop diuretic to prevent or reduce pulmonary edema.

Diuretics may also be used to treat leg edema caused by right-sided heart failure or venous insufficiency in the limb. Specific drugs comprising the five class of diuretics are listed in the following table. See www. The most important and frequent problem with thiazide and loop diuretics is hypokalemia.

This sometimes requires treatment with potassium supplements or with a potassium-sparing diuretic. A potentially serious side effect of potassium-sparing diuretics is hyperkalemia.