Diuretics and hypertension



tokki

New Member
Apr 18, 2004
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Ive been thinking about this lately. If hypertension is often the result of a state of dehydration, why do doctors put people on diuretics which only make you lose more water? Dehydration does cause an increase in BP, thats been shown. Does this make sense? Ive actually been able to bring my BP way down, from prehypertensive/stage 1 hypertensive levels (140/90..143/84..etc) to 117/74 by drinking 2.5 liters of water a day. I forced myself to drink water until I couldnt anymore. It took under 2 weeks. Why isnt water therapy ever prescribed before the drugs are given? Water itself is a great diuretic that flushes you clean, while on the other hand not ridding your body of the needed water.
 
Hypertension is very rarely caused by volume depletion. (The word 'dehydration' is not really used anymore in medical literature). In these very rare situations, diuretics could be harmful.

Diuretics are a very successful treatment for many people with mild to moderate hypertension. As you said, they work by reducing fluid in the body. Reducing the fluid in the body's vasculature leads to a reduction in intra-arterial resistance and potentially a fall in BP.

For many people with hypertension, they also have some degree of cardiac failure which leads to a tendency to accumulate fluid. 'Water therapy' in such people could be disasterous. For the majority, 'water therapy' would do nothing apart from causing interrupted sleep!