Water Pills??????

shellyj · December 12, 2003

hi i have recently met some 'successfull bandsters' from the same dr i have and they told me one of the ways they lost weight (LIKE 40 POUNDS!!!) was by taking Water pills you get from dr ( PCP not lapband dr)

one of the ladies has been banded 6 months and has lost 106 pounds (i DO NOT want to lose that fast!!!) our dr removed some of her fill because of the quick loss but she said it is from the Water pills. she was losing average before but the weight fell of her when she got the script it was for lasix (sp) when she went back for another fill the removed some beacause of the drastic loss. she started at 301 and is 195 today.

do any of ya'll take them? just wondering if i was missing something? in the past month i have had 5 banded people tell me this??? telling me 'i bet you could lose alot with them' ??? does the weight come back? how do you even know if your retaining water?

GeezerSue · December 12, 2003

Shelly,

i can't imagine people taking "Water pills" to make a dial on a scale move. The concept escapes me.

I take a diuretic (what some people call a "water pill") because of congestive heart failure. My heart cannot keep up with the demands--many of them related to weight and being out of condition--being placed on it. What the heart "gives up doing" (because it can't do everything) is pumping the body fluids back UP the legs and arms. When that happens, I get edema--my feet and ankles are swollen, my knees get so sore they can hardly bend. Also, my fingers are swollen, rings and bracelets don't fit, and I can't hold a pen very well. It has been (before the band) so bad that the excess fluids "wept" through the skin on my legs. The diuretic I take is Demadex; it's a little more powerful than Lasix. And as I have lost weight, I have decreased the amount of Demadex I take.

The diuretics have to be taken on a regular basis, but only as needed to assist the heart in doing its job. And caution is crucial. Many diuretics are NOT potassium sparing, that is, they deplete the potassium from your system which can cause immediate cardiac problems.

Now, to the "successful" bandsters. I think they are wrong...and possibly not too bright. There is no cumulative weight loss from diuretics. All they do is make the kidney work harder, and nobody's lost weight from that. On a really bad day before I took a diuretic on a regular basis, I found myself puffed up and feeling like I was walking on sponges. I went to the doctor and took a 20mg Demadex. Within eight hours, I "lost ten pounds." But that was not "excess weight." That was about a gallon and a quart of excess Water in my body, that almost kept me from moving. Ten pounds of "water." But NOBODY loses 100 pounds on diuretics.

It's too bad--on several levels--that those "successful bandsters" believe that they are losing weight from diuretics. One reason it's too bad is that they are doing something right, but have failed to identify it. So they are not likely to rely on a good behavior they cannot identify. Another reason is that diuretics are tough on the kidneys and the heart. You absolutely have to regulate the body's potassium level when taking diuretics. They are not toys. Also, it's a wonderment to me that they have PCP's who would prescribe diuretics to people who don't understand why they are taking them.

I'll look for a couple of links.

Sue

Edited to add:

http://www.tmc.edu/thi/diurmeds.html

http://www.gwu.edu/~cade/diuretics.html

http://www.e-kidneys.net/diuretics.html

http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/top/001840.cfm

shellyj · December 12, 2003

hey sue

thanks for the clarification. i will print this out and the next time i see them or talk to them i will read this. i knew something wasnt right. it suprised me they said they just CALLED their dr and said 'hey i am retaning water' and got a script for 50 Water pills.

the girl who has lost 106 lbs in 6 months said all she eats is corned beef hash? i have no idea if this is healthy but she said the doc removed some of her fill and she has no restriction. the only way food sticks with her is if it is corned beef hash. i am from the south but my parents are from the north and one is south american so dont know what this dish is. i know its southern. i think. lol

i am a firm believer in 'if it sounds to good to be true it probably is' but after 5 bandsters told me this i had to post to see what i was missing.

shellyj · December 12, 2003

when i lookded on the net all i found was info on selling OTC Water pills. thanks for the links sue...

What else should I tell my doctor?
Talk to your doctor about your medical history before you start taking a diuretic. The risks of taking the medicine need to be weighed against the good it will do. Here are some things to consider if you and your doctor are deciding whether you should take a diuretic.

You have allergies to other medicines.

You are thinking of becoming pregnant, you are pregnant, or you are breast feeding your baby.

You have diabetes. Thiazide and loop-acting diuretics can increase your blood sugar levels.

You become dehydrated easily.

You have pancreatitis. Loop-acting diuretics can make this condition worse.

You have kidney problems.

You have lupus or a history of lupus. Thiazide diuretics can make this condition worse.

You have gout or are at high risk for developing gout, especially if your doctor is going to prescribe a thiazide diuretic.

You have menstrual problems. Potassium-sparing diuretics can make these problems worse.

What are the side effects?

Sometimes a medicine causes unwanted effects. These are called side effects. Not all of the side effects for diuretics are listed here. If you feel these or any other effects, you should check with your doctor.

Common side effects:

Weakness

Muscle cramps

Skin rash

Increased sensitivity to sunlight (with thiazide diuretics)

Throwing up

Diarrhea

Cramps

Dizziness or lightheadedness

Joint pain

Less common side effects:

Impotence or decreased sexual desire

Rare side effects:

Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia)

Again, tell your doctor right away if you have any of these side effects. Do not stop taking your medicine unless your doctor tells you to. If you stop taking your medicine without checking with your doctor, it can make your condition worse.

GeezerSue · December 12, 2003

Originally posted by shellyj
...the girl who has lost 106 lbs in 6 months said all she eats is corned beef hash? i have no idea if this is healthy but she said the doc removed some of her fill and she has no restriction. the only way food sticks with her is if it is corned beef hash...

Okay, then. This chick is overdosing on salt...betcha. Corned beef (you can find it with canned meats, like the canned roast beef from Argentina or canned chicken) is traditionally beef that is "cured" or preserved in a salt brine. It's not really a regional dish, as much as a pre-freezer way to preserve meat. To make hash you chop up onion and potato into teeny tiny pieces, fry them up and add the already cooked corned beef, also chopped into tiny pieces. So it's fried meat and potatoes. You can find canned corned beef hash, too, but it's really bad. Anyway, one cup of this stuff (according to FitDay) has half of the sodium most people need in a day. (And enough to make me immobile!)

So, she sounds like she might even "need" a diuretic, given the high sodium intake she's involved in. (The actual cure is to stop eating so much salt.) The corned beef is why she's "retaining Water." The diuretic simply counteracts the effects of the excessive salt she's eating. Not the best plan.

But she is losing weight for some other reason. Because what she is doing is eating a lot of sodium (salt), which causes her to "retain Water, " and then taking a diuretic to make her kidneys work overtime to dump the water in spite of the sodium. Nothing in that equation causes any long-term weight loss. Before she got to that, she'd end up with severe dehydration. If she 'fesses up to the doctor, she might even find out what she's doing RIGHT!

shellyj · December 12, 2003

the person who lost 100 + pounds read this and said that i didnt report this correctly. to her I AM SORRY. i was just trying to gain more info from other banded people.

she stated that she does not eat cbh only (which i figured no one would eat 3 meals a day of) but thats the only thing that gives a full feeling.

anyhow- ive had enough of the subject and wont be taking any Water pills or asking questions about them.

GeezerSue · December 13, 2003

Then, let me put it another way...if we could REALLY lose weight via diuretics, who would need WLS?

IMHO, the person who lost 100+plus pounds is doing something right and just hasn't figured out what it is.

tackleberry · December 13, 2003

I really can't imagine that anyone is stupid enough to advance this kind of notion. The potassium concern is the most serious one, but also, if you are properly tightened with that band, hydrating yourself becomes a day long activity every day. So, with the diuretics you are counteracting your own efforts to stay hydrated.

Insomuch as the one possibly being a "sodium addict", there is a simple way to fix that -- STOP!!! I can speak from experience, as I was a saltaholic. Give me a plate of salt, I'd salt it. I was as swollen as anybody could be, edema of +2 and higher in my feet and legs.

Since banding, my feet are normal size, and the only sodium I eat is that which is naturally in the food itself. NO CORNED BEEF!!! :rolleyes: