Diuretics and depression

If your doc has you taking a diuretic make sure you take Cal/Mag and a good multi mineral every day since it will strip more than just sodium and potassium out of you. If you have been taking a diuretic and feeling low chances are your minerals are low. Lack of energy? Try taking iron for a few days, don't over do it, but you might be surprised.
I took furosimide for 16 years and it got to the point that 20 mgs would put me in bed for 24 to 36 hours, so I took complete control of my diet, consume approx 500 mg of sodium a day, got of the furosimide and feel better than I have in decade, and since I changed my diet so much I went all the way, lost 25 lbs and 3" off my waist. I occasionally still need a potassium because my water is so highly filtered and my sodium intake so low but I have gotten completely off furosimide, Inspra, and Zoloft to boot. When I do get a bit congestive I take some dandelion and drink more water and reduce it slowly and avoid the side effects. My life is much improved. I hope this helps someone. If I had known this 10 years ago it would have spared me a lot of deep dispare and I would have been nicer to be around than I was.
Thatch

[surfgirl]

GOOD for YOU!  I am impressed.  I take 100mg of lasix a day, and need to get off it.  Please, please, tell me  a typical day's diet that is 500mg sodium.  I try for 400/meal, but have been lax lately.  I exercise daily, and must lose a lot of sodium whilst sweating......but it takes more and more lasix to do the same thing.

[Thatch]

My typical daily intake includes a lot of suppliments with the multi being food based so I can absorb the B vitamins. I have a Vitamix and I usually juce up organic beets and carrots with lots of ginger, thin it with pomegranite juice and use it to swallow the vitamins. I eat little bread since it runs to around 200 to 400 mg per slice. I cook fresh veggies because canned are always salted. Frozen is good. I buy and cook all my meat, chicken and fish though I probably get enough protien from taking wheat grass and spirolina tablets twice a day. I eat the animal protien for the weight in my belly. I typically eat a bowl full of frozen black berries a day thawed in the micro. Purple and red fruits are very good for you.
For things that need salt for flavour I make my own mix using salt substitite which is potassium with table salt in a 85% / 15% mix. I use lots of fresh ground pepper and fresh lemons. I almost never eat anything that I don't prepare and when I do eat out I will get a steak without salt. I make my own salad dressing that has only the salt from some full grain mustard and a bit of anchovy paste and keep a pepper grinder in the car. If I can't get something prepared without salt I get a salad and use my own dressing. For instance in a Mexican restaraunt I would get lettuce, tomato, and avacado, use my own dressing and eat chips if the are not salted, but not eat the picante. I will eat jarred picante at home because it is labelled and I know how much salt there is in it.
I eat a yogurt cheese that is low fat and low salt for dairy, eat yogurt with fresh fruit (the yogurt has 95 mg/cup). I know how much sodium there is every time I eat. Now I have to make a point of making sure that I get enough salt instead of getting too much. My physical and mental health are much improved from the change in diet and getting off the drugs. As long as you don't have a problem with sulphites you can always eat a big salad when you are out with friends. Always eat when you go out. I tried the just sitting there at the table and it just doesn't work out for anybody.
Drink filtered water and it will absorb minerals on its way through you. If you drink lots of water you will flush sodium, as well as everything else, just like you were taking the lasix only it is a very slow flush. If you drink enough water you will need to take minerals and occasionaly your potassium even if you have gotten your sodium under control to the point that you no longer need the lasix. Take a good encapsulated calcium/ magnesium before bed at night for better absorbtion. Really keep on top of this while you are taking the furosimide because if your syrum calcium levels get low it leads to depression and arrythmias. Letting your magnesium levels get low can cause rythm problems too.
Though it tastes pretty nasty it would be a good idea to keep a bottle of colloidal minerals made from humic shale in your fridge so if you start feeling a bit off you have a full range of trace minerals (sodium removed) for rapid absorbtion. Just mix some with a strong flavoured juice and chug it. I don't know how long you have been taking furosimide but it will absolutly strip you of every mineral that you have in your body while you get rid of the sodium. If you replace only the potassium it will lead to problems. Even if you don't feel it (I was in pretty good shape the 1st 5 years at least)  you are going to be coming up short of things you don't even know are in you, thus the need for the colloidal mineral. Humic shale is formed from prehistoric plants from long before all the minerals were leached from the soil. Just think about how big the dinosaurs got when you drink the nasy stuff.
Basically if you want to avoid the side effects of long term diuretic use you have to take absolute control of what you eat. If there is any doubt about whether it is salted or if you don't know exactly how much salt there is in it, don't eat it. Super Green and Super Blue foods are a great base to work from. I am not especially fond of the way barley or wheat grass taste so I take wheat grass and spirolina in tablet form with my fish fat and CoQ10, the blue stuff tastes great since it includes all blue, red and purple fruits so I don't eat a large amount but I do eat high quality and tasty stuff.
A good way to get started is by going through an inner cleansing which takes some real will power to do, but by the time you get done a lot of your craving will be gone. Since you have an exersize regime you must have a good dicipline, so you should be golden.
Thatch

[surfgirl]

YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION!  THANK YOU.