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Common name
Aldactone (Spironolactone)
Description
Spironolactone is a potassium-sparing diuretic (water pill) that prevents your body from absorbing too much salt and keeps your potassium levels from getting too low. It is used to diagnose or treat a condition in which you have too much aldosterone in your body. Aldosterone is a hormone produced by your adrenal glands to help regulate the salt and water balance in your body.
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Active Ingredients:
Spironolactone
Therapeutic actions:
Aldactone (spironolactone) is a specific pharmacologic antagonist of aldosterone, acting primarily through competitive binding of receptors at the aldosterone-dependent sodium-potassium exchange site in the distal convoluted renal tubule. Aldactone causes increased amounts of sodium and water to be excreted, while potassium is retained. Aldactone acts both as a diuretic and as an antihypertensive drug by this mechanism. It may be given alone or with other diuretic agents which act more proximally in the renal tubule.
What is it used for?:
• Treating swelling and fluid retention in patients with congestive heart failure, cirrhosis, or kidney problems (nephrotic syndrome).
• Treatment of high blood pressure.
• To treat or prevent low blood potassium.
• To treat excess secretion of the hormone aldosterone by the adrenal gland.
Contraindications and cautions:
• allergy to any ingredient in Aldactone;
• difficulty with urination, severe kidney problems, or high blood potassium levels;
• taking a potassium supplement, another potassium-sparing diuretic (eg, amiloride, triamterene), or another aldosterone-blocker (eg, eplerenone).
Side effects:
Serious side effects: severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); deepening of voice; unusual muscle weakness; dry mouth; excessive thirst; irregular or lack of menstrual periods; skin rash; enlarged breasts in men; slow, irregular, or fast heartbeat; ulcers; breast tenderness; unusual tiredness.
Less serious side effects: abdominal cramping; change in sexual ability; clumsiness; confusion; diarrhea; dizziness; drowsiness; headache; frequent urination; nausea; vomiting.
Interactions:
• low blood electrolyte levels may be provoked by corticosteroids (eg, prednisone) or ACTH;
• dizziness upon standing may be provoked by barbiturates (eg, phenobarbital) or narcotics (eg, morphine);
• high blood potassium levels (eg, listlessness, confusion, abnormal skin sensations of the arms and legs, heaviness of limbs, slowed heart rate, irregular heart rhythm, potentially life-threatening slow or irregular heartbeat) may be provoked by angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (eg, enalapril), angiotensin II receptor antagonists (eg, valsartan), cyclosporine, macrolide immunosuppressives (eg, tacrolimus), other potassium sparing diuretics (eg, amiloride, triamterene), other aldosterone-blockers (eg, eplerenone), or potassium supplements;
• Aldactone is effectiveness may be decreased and the risk of kidney problems and high blood potassium increased by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (eg, indomethacin);
• Aldactone may increase the risk of side effects and toxicity of digoxin, digitoxin, lithium, nondepolarizing muscle relaxants (eg, tubocurarine), or quinidine;
• Aldactone may decrease effectiveness of pressor amines (eg, norepinephrine).
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