Thiazide diuretics

What you need to knowThiazide type and thiazide-like diuretics are effective antihypertensives, and are useful for mild hypervolaemia, or for potentiating loop diureticsThey are first line medications for treating hypertension in many countries, but not in the UKMeasure serum electrolytes and creatinine one to two weeks after initiating a thiazide diuretic to assess for electrolyte disturbances, most commonly hyponatraemiaA 56 year old woman with hypertension and no other comorbidities develops swollen ankles while taking amlodipine. She has normal renal function and you are considering adding a thiazide or thiazide-like diuretic. What issues do you need to consider and what do you need to discuss with the patient?How often are thiazides prescribed and how do they work?Thiazide-type diuretics are those that contain a benzothiadiazine molecule, while thiazide-like diuretics do not. However, both have identical effects on the nephron,1 and will be discussed in this article as “thiazides” unless otherwise noted. Thiazide…
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