Furosemide (Lasix® for example) is a diuretic drug used in acute or chronic heart failure. For what indications to take it? Does it make you lose weight? What dangers?
What is furosemide?
Furosemide is a drug from the family of diuretics. “This is a fairly old drug, it has been around for several decades. It is the existing singular diuretic that remains irreplaceable in the management of heart failure“, says Pr Gérard Helft, cardiologist at Pitié-Salpêtrière.
Furosemide increases diuresis, i.e. the volume of urine. It therefore acts in the kidneys by increasing the volume of urine from the blood that arrives there. “As it is quite powerful, it is used mainly when one needs to induce a significant diuresis, which is especially the case when one does acute pulmonary edema“, indicates our interlocutor. Indeed, in cardiological emergencies, when there is a pulmonary overload due to heart failure, furosemide, administered intravenouslyallows the patient to urinate in a very short time and relieve the overload of water in the vessels.
What are the indications for furosemide?
Furosemide is a drug whose acute heart failure are the main indication, i.e. when the heart is suddenly unable to carry out its function as a blood pump. It is also used in chronic heart failure which appears gradually. In these cases, we try to give the lowest dose. Furosemide is also used in edema of hepatic or renal origin. “There are liver diseases that also give edema and furosemide will act in the same way, eliminating excess water“says Professor Helft.
Does it make you lose weight? Is it diuretic?
Since it has diuretic properties, furosemide makes you lose weight only if you have fluid overload, up to several kilos in a few days. If you have a fat overload, the weight remains unchanged. Please note that this medication should not be taken for weight loss. There are specific instructions that should be followed.
Is it effective against heart failure?
Furosemide is a drug whose acute heart failure are the main indication, i.e. when the heart is suddenly unable to carry out its function as a blood pump. It is also used in chronic heart failure which appears gradually. In these cases, we try to give the lowest dose.
What medicines contain furosemide?
What are its side effects?
The main potentially dangerous side effect ishypokalemia, that is to say a decrease in potassium in the blood through the urine. “Hypokalemia can cause heart rhythm disorders and therefore, when using furosemide, the level of potassium in the blood is monitored and often it is necessary to prescribe a potassium supplementation“, adds the cardiologist. Another side effect can be the occurrence of muscle cramps.
What are its contraindications?
“There are no real contraindications to furosemide. Allergies remain exceptional“, reassures our interlocutor. We will not administer furosemide in the event of dehydration (especially in the elderly) and when breastfeeding. Treatment with furosemide requires special monitoring and an appropriate dosage in case :
- of one low blood pressureespecially in patients at risk of cerebral and coronary ischemia or other circulatory insufficiencies
- of one hepatorenal syndrome (kidney failure associated with severe liver damage)
- of one hypoproteinemiaespecially in the case of nephrotic syndrome.
If in doubt, do not hesitate to seek advice from the prescribing physician and/or pharmacist.
Thanks to Professor Gérard Helft, cardiologist at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, spokesperson for the French Federation of Cardiology