Diuretics, often known as water pills, are drugs that increase diuresis, or urination, to transfer water and salts out of the body. Antidiuretics are drugs that help the body retain water by lowering urination.
What are diuretics?
Definition:
Diuretics, commonly referred to as water pills, are drugs that increase diuresis, or urination, which is the process by which water and salts are removed from the body.
Origin:
Diuretics are not manufactured by the human body. They are exogenous in nature and are taken faithfully once or twice a day for best therapeutic efficacy.
Uses:
Diuretics are medications that are used to treat excessive blood pressure and excess fluid in the body. The mainstay of treatment for heart failure, kidney failure, and pulmonary edoema is diuretics. These medications are used to treat excessive intraocular pressure and intracranial pressure.
Examples:
Thiazide diuretics such as hydrochlorothiazide and chlorthalidone, as well as loop diuretics such as furosemide and bumetanide, are examples of regularly used diuretics.
Side effects:
Diuretics can cause dizziness, weariness, hypokalemia, hyponatremia, erectile dysfunction, gout, hyperglycemia, tachycardia, dehydration, and muscle cramps as side effects.
What are antidiuretics?
Definition:
Antidiuretics are drugs that help the body retain water by lowering urination.
Origin:
Our bodies naturally create antidiuretics. Antidiuretic hormone, also known as vasopressin, and oxytocin are two examples. These hormones can be administered exogenously as medications to treat a variety of disorders.
Uses:
Diabetes insipidus, abdominal distension, hemorrhagic shock, and gastrointestinal bleeding are all treated with antidiuretics.
Examples:
Argipressin, desmopressin, terlipressin, oxytocin, vasopressin, chlorpropamide, and carbamazepine are examples of common antidiuretic drugs.
Side effects:
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, vertigo, pallor skin, hyponatremia, abdominal cramping, chest discomfort, tremors, tachycardia, pulsing headache, and bronchoconstriction are common antidiuretic side effects.
