While it's not recommended for healthy women to take any kind of water pills, there is one exception: to reduce period bloating. Prescriptions water pills can be helpful if you're on your period. It's called diuretic-induced edema, which happens when your kidneys start retaining more sodium and water than they need and your body starts to swell, says Anegawa-kind of the opposite of what a water pill is supposed to do. If you take any type of diuretic over a long period of time, your kidneys will eventually compensate for their use and you'll end up holding on to more water weight than you did before you started taking them. In fact, they might make you gain weight. With a diuretic, you’re just losing water weight, which isn’t really getting you any significant weight loss.” 4. “When you’re looking to lose weight, you’re looking to lose fat and maintain muscle mass. “When you’re weighing yourself, bone, fat, muscle and water,” says Lunenfeld. Once you stop taking them, your kidneys go back to reabsorbing the normal amount of water and salt for your body, so you'll go back to your typical body weight soon after you stop taking them. Sure, water pills help you shed excess water that's making you feel super bloated-but only temporarily. Other scary symptoms caused by dehydration and loss of electrolytes includes heart palpitations, weakness, confusion, and severe dizziness. “ can cause worsening kidney function, and lightheadedness or dizziness as a result of being dehydrated,” says Lunenfeld. When you start taking them on your own without a recommended dosage, however, you could do some serious damage to your body. Water pills aren't habit-forming or dangerous, says Anegawa-again, as long as you're getting them through your doctor. Water pills aren't addictive, but they can be dangerous. (Again, with a prescription, a doctor will be monitoring this.) OTC water pills also haven't been studied in research trials to prove their efficacy, she adds. Going a step further, OTC water pills could even be toxic and interact badly with other medicines you're taking, says Anegawa. “They’re not FDA controlled, so they may not be doing what they claim to and in fact might be making you dehydrated.” (With an Rx, a doctor will monitor your dosage and length of use-that doesn't happen with OTC water pills, hence the dehydration risk.) “The problem with OTC meds like these is that you’re not sure exactly what they’re giving you,” she explains. That's because OTC water pills and prescriptions water pills aren't the same thing. It might be tempting to pick up an OTC water pill at the drugstore if you’re experiencing mild bloating, but Lunenfeld warns against this. OTC water pills are different from prescription water pills. Most doctors recommend against using water pills for those purposes. They're usually given to people with health issues like hypertension, heart failure, and idiopathic edema (unexplained swelling)-not people looking to cure mild bloating or lose weight. Water pills are meant to help reduce blood pressure, prevent fluid buildup, and reduce swelling respectively, says Linda Anegawa, M.D., an internist at Pali Momi Medical Center in Hawaii. Water pills are one of the most commonly prescribed medications. Here's what you need to know about water pills-and why you should definitely skip self-prescribing them. They sound pretty harmless, right? After all, you're just peeing more.Īctually, it goes a little deeper than that. Each class works on a different part of the kidney's nephron where urine is made, says Lunenfeld. There are actually three classes of diuretics that work in different ways, says Ellen Lunenfeld, M.D., an internist with Summit Medical Group in New Jersey-thiazide, loop-acting, and potassium-sparing diuretics. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play
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