The key difference between diuretics and antidiuretics is that diuretics are medications that help people move extra fluid and salt out of the human body through urination, while antidiuretics are medications that help people control the movement of extra fluid out of the human body by reducing urination.
Diuretics and antidiuretics are two different medications that help people maintain fluid balance in the human body. However, diuretics and antidiuretics have opposite effects on the fluid balance in the human body. Moreover, both these medications are available as over-the-counter pills or in prescribed forms.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What are Diuretics
3. What are Antidiuretics
4. Similarities – Diuretics and Antidiuretics
5. Diuretics vs Antidiuretics in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Diuretics and Antidiuretics
What are Diuretics?
Diuretics are also known as water pills. These medicines help people move extra fluid and salt out of their bodies by urinating more frequently. Generally, these medicines are taken in the morning. People need to take diuretics once or twice a day at the same time each day in order to get their full effects. The mechanism of these medicines involves making the kidneys take away the extra salt and water from the body by adding them to urine. Diuretics are recommended for people with high blood pressure or too much fluid accumulation in the body. The other health conditions that may require diuretics include heart failure, cardiomyopathy, renal failure, pulmonary edema, nephritic syndrome, diabetes insipidus (DI), high intraocular pressure, and high intracranial pressure.
Figure 01: Diuretics
Thiazide diuretics such as hydrochlorothiazide and chlorthalidone are the some commonly used diuretics. Though diuretics are generally safe, they may sometimes cause side effects, including urinating more than usual, dizziness, tiredness, headache, gout, difficulty getting erections, low potassium level, muscle cramps, heart palpitations, high blood sugar, dehydration, and unbalanced electrolytes levels.
What are Antidiuretics?
Antidiureteics are medications usually used to control the fluid balance in the human body by reducing urination. They control the movement of extra fluid out of the human body by reducing urination. These medicines have the opposing effect of diuresis. The major endogenous antidiuretic substances are antidiuretic hormone (ADH or vasopressin) and oxytocin. Both of these substances can also be administered externally as medications to aid individuals whose bodies require assistance in regulating fluid balance. In addition, there are several other antidiuretic drugs available that are molecularly close to ADH or oxytocin. They are called antidiuretic analogs. Antidiuretics can be used in health conditions such as diabetes insipidus (DI) and to reduce urine volume. They can also be used in other health conditions and other methods like abdominal distension, vasodilatory shock, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, and abdominal roentgenography.
Figure 02: Antidiuretics
Some well-known examples of antidiuretic medications include argipressin, desmopressin, lypressin, ornipressin, oxytocin, terlipressin, vasopressin, chlorpropamide, and carbamazepine. Although they are generally considered safe, they may also cause some side effects such as diarrhoea, nausea, weakness, abdominal cramps, sweating, vertigo, allergic reactions, angina, irregular heartbeat, tremors, uterine contraction, circumoral pallor, pounding sensation in the head, bronchial constriction, and hyponatremia.
What are the Similarities Between Diuretics and Antidiuretics?
- Diuretics and antidiuretics are two medications that help people to maintain fluid balance in their bodies.
- Both these medications are available as over-the-counter pills or in prescribed forms.
- Both these medications are very cheap.
- These medications have side effects.
What is the Difference Between Diuretics and Antidiuretics?
Diuretics are medications that help people to move extra fluid and salt out of the human body through urination, while antidiuretics are medications that help people to control the movement of extra fluid out of the human body by reducing urination. Thus, this is the key difference between diuretics and antidiuretics. Furthermore, diuretics induce diuresis process while antidiuretics suppress diuresis process.
The below infographic presents the differences between diuretics and antidiuretics in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Diuretics vs Antidiuretics
Diuretics and antidiuretics are two common medications used in the fluid balancing of the human body. These medications have opposing effects. Diuretics are medications that help to move extra fluid and salt out of the human body through urination, while antidiuretics are medications that help to control the movement of extra fluid out of the human body by reducing urination. So, this summarizes the difference between diuretics and antidiuretics.
Reference:
1. “Diuretics (Water Pills): Types, Side Effects, Risks.” WebMD.
2. Li, Yong-Hui, et al. “Diuretic and Antidiuretic Bioactivity Differences of the Seed and Shell Extracts of Alpinia Oxyphylla Fruit.” African Journal of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicines: AJTCAM, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 12 Aug. 2016.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Renal Diuretics” By Haisook at English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “2709 ADH” By OpenStax College – Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site, Jun 19, 2013. (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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