Diuretics are a type of medication that are used to help to lower blood pressure in both men and women. They also serve other functions and are even secreted by your body in certain medical conditions such as diabetes. There are foods that have diuretic effects such as alcohol, tea or coffee. Even though you are drinking a product you will lose more than you drink when the product includes caffeine or alcohol, which is why they are called diuretics.

So, diuresis is a process of forming urine by the kidneys, which causes the person to urinate more and loose extra fluid. Some diuretics work by inhibiting the kidney from reabsorbing sodium, which means more is lost through the urine taking water with it. Others work by helping more sodium and chloride to be excreted in the urine and still others block the exchange of sodium for potassium, which are called potassium-sparing diuretics. These diuretics are best used for patients who have heart disease. Potassium is an important electrolyte in the electrical conduction of the heart.

So how diuretics lower blood pressure is to take out the extra fluid in the blood volume, which helps the heart by having less blood to push through the system. This is a delicate balance of decreasing the extra fluid while not becoming dehydrated.

Many patients with congestive heart failure have difficulty with retaining extra fluid so how diuretics lower blood pressure with these patients is to work to correct a problem that already exists in their system. However, physicians and patients must strike a balance between too much and too little. To that end most patients using diuretic medications should weigh themselves each morning to monitor their fluid balance. Fluid has weight. As patients retain more weight they will gain weight or if they are becoming dehydrated the weight will drop precipitously without any change in diet. This can signal a serious complication that must be addressed quickly by your physician.

There are very few over the counter diuretics because of the potential for abuse and the danger. There is one that is most commonly used for the fluid retention associated with menstruation. Unfortunately there are those people who mistake weight loss from water weight with weight loss from loss of real weight. Using diuretics for weight loss is a dangerous process that often leads to your body retaining more fluid and the medications damaging your kidneys.

How do diuretics lower blood pressure without the negative effects that others find when they use this type of drug for weight loss? Diuretics used for high blood pressure are monitored by a physician and are usually much stronger than the over the counter type. The doctor will monitor how much fluid a patient is carrying and how much they are losing using diuretics which will decrease the negative effects on the kidneys and fluid retention.