Water Retention

I am taking bumetanide prescribed for heart failure but I think it is making me dehydrated and giving me water retention at the same time. My muscles feel weak and I get light-headed but I always feel better when I drink water. If my ankles swell up and I take a bumetanide to help get rid of the fluid, I can only pee if I drink water first. And then I will immediately pee out all the water I have drunk.

I’m wondering if the dose is too high and making me lose too much minerals and fluids and if this is also causing water retention by making my body hold on to water?

Answer

You could ask your doctor if you think the dose is too high. It’s true that if you don’t need diuretics they can make your water retention worse. But when prescribed for heart failure they are often essential. When the heart is losing its pumping power the kidneys are fooled into thinking they can also slow down. This causes water retention all over the body.  Diuretics help by telling your kidneys to step up their work.

Most diuretics do make you lose minerals as well as water but you can help to replace the minerals by drinking a lot of fruit juice and tomato juice. The herb hawthorn, although gentle, has been well-researched for helping people with heart failure, so ask a local herbalist about this. It is not a treatment for water retention but  it does help to strengthen the heart.

Related posts:

1. Water retention, heart failure, water pills
2. Are Diuretics The Best Medicine To Treat Water Retention?
3. How Do Diuretics Cause Water Retention?
4. Natural Diuretics
5. How Much Water Do I Need To Drink Every Day To Prevent Water Retention?

Tags: diuretics, heart failure, minerals, water retention