Edema: Spironolactone or Lasix (Furosemide)

When I was told I had edema a few years ago they gave me spironolactone which works to rid your body of extra water so you don't drown in your lungs from Edema. I remember the Physician's assistant saying to me: "It's important to know that eventually this drug goes sideways."

I wasn't sure exactly what she meant? But, I found out several years later this spring. I was starting to have severe cramps in my muscles as a side effect of spironolactone and started to read about potential side effects at this point and learned that one of the side effects is to become paralyzed from these cramps. Well. I decided that stopping taking spironolactone immediately was my best solution before I got potentially paralyzed from this stuff. But, there was one problem in my thinking: my heart specialist was very hard to get an appointment with and the one I got his office canceled because of a heart surgery emergency. So, I went to my primary care physician who is an excellent diagnostician who told me: "Well. it's really good you came in because you were only a day or two from having to go into the hospital."

It turns out that stopping taking the medicine was far more serious than I realized and that my problem with edema was far more along than I realized too. So, they put me on 40 mg of Lasix "Furosemide" and told me I also had to take a tablet of Potassium every day too.

This is the reason why they likely put you on spironolactone first because most people might not understand that if they don't also take the potassium pill every day you might die from not doing this within a week.

However, the good part of this is many people can then be on Lasix the rest of their lives and often live into their 90s or beyond on this drug (as long as they take potassium too).

So, it took me April and May to get my heart health back and I had to send my wife and two daughters to Ireland, England and Scotland for 3 weeks without me while I stayed in my daughter's place in Portland and was nursed back to health by my son who is a trained nurse.

So, remember if you have edema that spironolactone eventually goes "sideways" and then likely they will put you on Lasix or something else then. And the reason they usually put you on Spironolactone first is because if you forget to take your potassium too with Lasix for very long it is fatal.