Thiazide diuretics diabetes with

Loop and thiazide diuretics patients with diabetes mellitus Blood glucometer test results for glucose may be elevated (blood) or the urine positive for glucose Contact the primary health care provider if results of home testing of blood glucose levels increase or if urine tests positive for glucose... 

The thiazide diuretics are used cautiously in patients with liver or kidney disease, lupus erythematosus (may exacerbate or activate the disease), or diabetes. Additive hypotensive effects occur when the thiazides are given with alcohol, other antihypertensive drugp, or nitrates. 

Lithium reduces the kidney s ability to concentrate urine and may cause a nephrogenic diabetes insipidus with low urine specific gravity and low osmolality polyuria (urine volume greater than 3 L/day). This may be treated with loop diuretics, thiazide diuretics, or triamterene. If a thiazide diuretic is used, lithium doses should be decreased by 50% and lithium and potassium levels monitored. 

Captopril, as well as other ACE inhibitors, is indicated in the treatment of hypertension, congestive heart failure, left ventricular dysfunction after a myocardial infarction, and diabetic nephropathy. In the treatment of essential hypertension, captopril is considered first-choice therapy, either alone or in combination with a thiazide diuretic. Decreases in blood pressure are primarily attributed to decreased total peripheral resistance or afterload. An advantage of combining captopril therapy with a conventional thiazide diuretic is that the thiazide-induced hypokalemia is minimized in the presence of ACE inhibition, since there is a marked decrease in angiotensin Il-induced aldosterone release. 

If serum Na+ is not monitored closely, ADH antagonists can cause severe hypernatremia and nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. If lithium is being used for a psychiatric disorder, nephrogenic diabetes insipidus can be treated with a thiazide diuretic or amiloride. 

In 686 hypertensive men treated for 15 years, beta-blockers were associated with a higher incidence of diabetes than thiazide diuretics (200). This was an uncontrolled study, but the observation deserves further study. 

A 64-year-old man with type II diabetes, hypertension, and bilateral renal artery stenosis presented with confusion and dysarthria related to profound hypoglycemia (2.2 mmol/1). He was taking naproxen 500 mg bd, ramipril 2.5 mg/day, glibenclamide 2.5 mg bd, metformin 850 mg bd, a thiazide diuretic, terazosin, ranitidine, paracetamol, and codeine. His plasma creatinine concentration, previously 185 pmol/1, was 362 pmol/1 and it fell to 210 imol/l after the withdrawal of ramipril and naproxen. 

Adverse effects Thiazide diuretics induce hypokalemia and hyperuricemia in 70% of patients, and hyperglycemia in 10% of patients. Serum potassium levels should be monitored closely in patients who are predisposed to cardiac arrhythmias (particularly individuals with left ventricular hypertrophy, ischemic heart disease, or chronic congestive heart failure) and who are concurrently being treated with both thiazide diuretics and digitalis glycosides (see p. 160). Diuretics should be avoided in the treatment of hypertensive diabetics or patients with hyperlipidemia. 

In the absence of ADH or when the nephron is unresponsive to ADH, only hypotonic urine can be produced. Large volumes of dilute urine are produced, a condition called diabetes insipidus. This condition can be treated with thiazide diuretic agents. 

If the blood pressure is still not controlled, a second agent should be added, using the opposite pair to the first drug e.g. if the patient is on an ACE inhibitor add a Calcium channel blocker or thiazide Diuretic (A+C or A+D), since both vasodilatation or diuresis will stimulate the renin-angiotensin system and turns nonrenin-dependent hypertension into renin-dependent hypertension). The combination B+D is associated with increased risk of diabetes and should be avoided in at-risk patients (obesity, family history). The combinations A+B or C+D usually produce a less than additive effect on blood pressure, but should be tried in patients still uncontrolled on more standard combinations. 

Erectile dysfunction (ED), the inability to achieve or maintain a penile erection sufficient to permit satisfactory sexual intercourse, is estimated to affect over 100 million men worldwide, with a prevalence of 39% in those of 40 years. Its numerous causes include cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and other endocrine disorders, alcohol and substance abuse, and psychological factors (14%). While the evidence is not conclusive, drug therapy is thought to underlie 25% of cases, notably from antidepressants (SSRI and tricyclic), phenothiazines, cypro-terone acetate, fibrates, levodopa, histamine H -receptor blockers, phenytoin, carbamazepine, allopurinol, indomethacin, and possibly adrenoceptor blockers and thiazide diuretics. 

A series of trials in elderly hypertensive subjects has shown a very pronounced reduction in cardiac events as a result of treatment based on thiazide diuretics. In the European Working Party on Hypertension in the Elderly (EWPHE) trial (13), total cardiovascular deaths were reduced by 38%, all cardiac deaths by 43%, and deaths due to myocardial infarction by 60%. Benefits in the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP) included a reduction in fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction of 25% and major cardiovascular events of 32% (14) and were seen in those with and without electrocardiographic abnormalities at entry. The risk of heart failure was also reduced in patients taking chlortalidone-based therapy (15). Relative risk was similar in patients with and without non-insulin dependent diabetes meUitus absolute risk reduction was twice as great in the diabetic subjects (16). The Swedish Trial of Old Patients with Hypertension (STOP-Hypertension) reported a significant reduction in myocardial infarction and all-cause mortahty (17). In the MRC Trial in elderly adults (18), diuretic treatment reduced coronary events by 44% and fatal cardiovascular events by 35%. 

Erectile impotence is particularly common in men with diabetes (16), who are likely to have difficulties because of autonomic dysfunction. It is unclear whether younger men and women are similarly affected and whether nor-motensive men have fewer such problems (124). Most investigations of the effects of diuretics on sexual function have been characterized by poor study design (125) the majority had no placebo control and relied on comparisons with baseline. The best studies have suggested an increase in erectile dysfunction in thiazides users compared with placebo. Bearing in mind all the confounding factors, it can be concluded that diuretics will sometimes cause impotence, but that in the population as a whole the effect is slight compared with other causes (SEDA-11, 197) (SEDA-11,198). 

The thiazide diuretics can reduce free water formation in patients with diabetes insipidus, in whom large amounts of free water are eliminated. 

Runyan JW. Influence of thiazide diuretics on carbohydrate metabolism in patients with mild diabetes. N EnglJ Med 962) 267, 541-3. 

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