I’ve been taking a diuretic for about two months because my blood pressure was on the high normal side and I had some swelling in my hands and feet.
Apparently, yes… your body can become dependent on it… This site has info on the long term use of diuretics, and how you should seek the assistance of your doctor before coming off of them… http://www.foodanddiet.com/NewFiles/diuretics.html
Also, how much water do you drink? We tend to retain water when we don’t drink enough of it, and especially more if we have salt, sodas, a lot of artificial sweeteners, etc. The body could be retaining water for all of these, and maybe the diuretic was the only thing not keeping it from retaining water. Try avoiding all of those things I mentioned, and drink plenty of water. Back when I was diagnosed with D, my blood pressure was a bit high, as well… and yes, I believe I was retaining quite a bit of water. I was also quiet heavier (I’ve lost 70 lbs), and yeah… I drank lots of diet soda, etc. Made my shoes fit tight, etc… Puffed up my face.
Thanks for the link. I probably need to drink more water, but fortunately I kicked the diet pop addiction in December… I’ll try and up my water intake and hopefully that’ll help (though I’ll still be taking the diuretic, obviously). Plus the current heat wave doesn’t help any 
Oh, it doesn’t! I can feel my fingers plumping up when I go out for walks with my husband… even late at night.
It hasn’t really changed much. It was normal the other day but tends to stick around the high normal range. I haven’t put much effort into cutting salt though, so I take the blame for it not improving more.
I think that “dependent” is a word that brings up bad connotations or addiction, or somehow needing it because you’re weak.
I mean, I have to take insulin every day for the past 30 years… does that mean that I’m “dependent” on it? I don’t think dependent is the right word. I’m not weak because I need insulin; I’m alive and healthy because I take insulin.
If you had swelling before taking the drug, and the drug made the swelling go away, and then the swelling comes back when you stop taking the drug… how is that different from me needing insulin to live?
True. Good point. I’m just wondering if this is something I’ll have to take forever because I need to, or if by taking it I lose the natural ability to get rid of fluids… if that makes sense?
I think you could, but you would need a doctor to help you out with getting off the meds, because it’s dangerous to just go off of them… or so it seems.
And I disagree that dependent is such a bad word… We get so PC over everything, it’s too much sometimes. I mean, we are DEPENDENT on oxygen, or we die… Our body DEPENDS on it, for it’s needs. No, it wouldn’t be strong without it…
And no, we wouldn’t be strong without insulin. Our bodies ARE weak… even the best kept bodies. They DEPEND on a ton of things, or else they die. It’s just a fact. It doesn’t mean our resolve as people, or who we are, is weak. We read waaaay too much into everything.
Many people think that medicines are there to “cure” the disease. But with many diseases there’s just treatment, no cure.
This is a distinction lost on those who don’t have a chronic disease. They think the medicine is there to cure the disease. I have many relatives who can’t believe that I’ve been taking insulin every day for 30 years and I’m still not cured; they think it’s just outrageous and can’t believe I put up with it. Or that somehow I’m a “bad” diabetic and that’s the reason I’m not cured - because surely any “good” diabetic would’ve been cured by now.
That sounds more like a lack of education, clearly. I think a diuretic and insulin are in different realms. You obviously can’t stop taking insulin because part of a system has stopped functioning. If I can stop the swelling by changing diet, lifestyle whatever, then I’d like to do that. I’m just not sure if taking the pill now will hinder my body’s natural ability to do what it needs to in the future.
I’m type 2 and don’t require insulin, so I don’t know what that experience is like.
Yup. Agreed.
There are some things that “good living” or “upgright character” won’t fix.
Psychologically moving beyond “I wouldn’t have to take this medicine if I were a good person and could change my diet or lifestyle” to taking the medicine and keeping yourself healthy, is important.
But it can be hard, and a lot of the internet sites and things we read in the popular press (e.g. “cure diabetes by eating these muffins! Prevent heart disease by being morally good!”) don’t always help. Some of this drivel is obviously being promoted by the Scientologists, for example, and I don’t really want to think that we’ve become a world or nation dependent on drugs, but if they really do make things better for us in a way nothing else can, then what’s wrong with that?
I’m sure that someone is going to accuse me for being a shill for the drug companies. But I’m not. I’m just trying to say that some of us have moved beyond the stage of “I will keep myself healthy purely by my own good actions” and accepted that we need the medicine.
For better or for worse, eating disorders related to diseases are very super duper evil. Take diabulimia as a particularly evil example. My own brain wanders in that direction often enough that I see others falling into the trap of “don’t take the medicine and be healthy” because my own brain keeps getting pushed in that direction too. It’s complicated. It’s not just health, or food, or diet, or psychology, but all of them mixed together, in a way that spins my head in tight circles. So I can see how others have their head spun in similar tight circles by the loops of food, medicine, health, popular press, body image.