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People have always been made conscious of their weight. This judgement often led others to believe that having pills, and eating less with no significant work will reduce their weight, while it is true that certain medical conditions cause weight gain or loss and can be treated with pills only, but they are medically prescribed and are guided by professionals’ supervision.
Water pills are often considered a quick fix, a solution with great, superficial, positive results, but they should not be taken lightly.
Ingesting one water pill can help a person lose 1-2 pounds temporarily, yet excessive consumption will cause greater risks.
1. What are Water Pills and their Types?
Before understanding the correlation between water pills and weight loss and whether there is any credibility between them, one must understand what water pills are and how they tend to work.
Diuretics, otherwise known as water pills, are drugs that force the body to excrete body fluids, increasing the production of urine or diuresis, causing the kidneys to work twice as hard.
These are divided into various subclasses-
a. High ceiling diuretics: Also known as loop diuretics, cause 20% substantial diuresis of NaCl and water.
b. Thiazides: They inhibit sodium-chloride symporter, causing water loss via urine.
c. Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors: As the name suggests, they inhibit the enzyme carbonic anhydrase, causing bicarbonate accumulation and decreased sodium absorption.
d. Potassium-sparing diuretics: The potassium is retained, inhibiting potassium secretion.
e. Calcium-sparing diuretics: Reduced rate of calcium excretion causes increased rate in the serum.
f. Osmotic diuretics: Substances increase osmolarity yet have limited cell permeability.
g. Low-ceiling diuretics: A rapid dose effect.
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2. What is the Mechanism of Action of Water Pills?
Water Pills tend to temporarily lose excessive weight gained due to the reduction of water retention in the human body, they are temporary because, unlike fat loss, the body needs fluid and often stores it and hence the weight tends to return.
Water Pills effectively reduce the blood pressure first, and organic anion transporter actions occur thereafter, in which type II transporter interchanges Na and Cl.
Water Pills are mainly used to treat heart failure, liver, cirrhosis, hypertension, water poisoning, and kidney-related diseases.
Usually losing weight has a mechanism to it, the body has a habit of storing the fat we consume in the form of carbohydrates, excess proteins and fatty acids for future fuel, but they remain stored and later remain as fats only increasing the muscle mass which provides excess space for storing the extra fat. The fat loss only occurs when the body moves, that is form of exercise energy is consumed and used up by the body later helping in the digestion of the fat. This is how weight loss occurs, whereas the water pills only excrete the excess water stored in the human body.
The water pills usually take a maximum of 8 hours and cause weight loss overnight. The excess of electrolytes is excreted, not the fats. Hence, the process is called temporary. Losing an average pound is around 3000 calories, and it takes a week of exercise and a lesser intake of fatty foods. Losing it overnight might sound like a very easy approach, but losing weight organically in comparison to losing weight forcibly by consuming pills and excreting essential supplements is a grave mistake.
3. Side Effects of Water Pills
- People suffering from kidney disease or arrhythmia should not consume water pills because they may result in permanent kidney damage, including hydrochlorothiazide or spironolactone.
- Consumption of water pills may result in heart attacks, too.
- For pregnant women, if water pills are consumed under Un supervision, it may cause premature birth.
- Dehydration will lead to fatigue and headache and may cause sudden loss of movement.
- The loss of sodium-calcium balance is the reason behind muscle cramps and will be visible once water pills are consumed.
- No long-term weight loss is visible with the intake of water pills.
- People suffering from gout or having low blood pressure and diabetes should avoid water pills.
- People already consuming doctor-prescribed anti-inflammatory medications or non-steroid medications should not take water pills.
- Eventually, longer consumption of water pills or diuretics will lead to weight gain because the kidneys will become accustomed to the loss of fluid and work twice as much to hold water even more, causing a bloated stomach and an increase in weight.
Stores selling water pills have a lot of options, but all of the mentioned drugs should be first discussed with a doctor before consumption, and if any person is suffering from any chronic disease, they should not opt for water pills on their own.
- Chlorothiazide.
- Chlorthalidone.
- Hydrochlorothiazide.
- Indapamide.
- Metolazone.
- Bumetanide (Bumex).
- Ethacrynic acid (Edecrin).
- Furosemide (Lasix).
- Torsemide (Soaanz).
- Amiloride (Midamor).
- Eplerenone (Inspra).
- Spironolactone (Aldactone, Carospir).
- Triamterene (Dyrenium).
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Closing Remarks
In conclusion, people often believed in finding easy resorts rather than working hard to earn anything metaphorically; as easy as it sounds, water pills were designed to relieve humans from diseases or discomfort, and the only way they may be prescribed is through professionals who understand medicines, losing 1-2 pounds authentically is far more long-term than losing a pound or two temporarily through water pills, not just that, the side effects of it all is far more conniving than it’s advantage.
The sweetness of witnessing the progress of exercises is not just limited to losing weight but has a wide array of other advantages, like better sleep, better skin glow, better health and so on; physique is just a tiny barrier when it comes to life, physical appearance is not just about losing or gaining weights, it should be more than that, at any cost losing pounds should solely be dependent for health purposes only not to look slimmer.
Another thing to keep in mind is that over-the-counter medications for water pills are easier to buy, but they do not work the same as the doctor prescribed. It needs to be kept in mind that OTC medications typically get rid of minor swelling caused in the body due to water holding inside tissues or cells and bloating and do not have any type distinction. Other than that, prescription medications are costlier and serve their proper function of curing disease.
At any cost, consulting doctors are demarcated by every seller before anyone buys any drug medications.
Last Updated on by Rajeshwari_Das
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