 What comes in nursing school explain in this video on loop diuretics? Diuretics are medications that we commonly see in the clinical setting and loop diuretics in general are Many times used in the hospital setting. Other types of diuretics are thiazide diuretics as well as potassium sparing diuretics and I'll have those in a different video for you. So loop diuretics here, they end in Ide, I-D-E and very commonly used medication is ferosimide, which is also called Lasix or Bumex, which is Biumetanide. So Ide is an ending for loop diuretics and the way that they work they inhibit sodium as well as chloride reabsorption from the distal loop of Henle of the kidney, hence loop diuretics But then they cause excretion of water as well as sodium and chloride as we learned over here But also potassium magnesium and calcium So this is very important to note here about the anatomy and what the loop of Henle usually does in terms of reabsorption and excretion regulation and these loop diuretics can cause imbalances of all these different Electrolytes, which is what we're going to discuss in a moment and loop diuretics are many times used for a treatment of hypertension But also used to treat edema related to heart failure, renal failure and cirrhosis All those conditions that can cause fluid volume overload or fluid volume excess Now side effects, electrolyte imbalances because we are excreting all these electrolytes We just discussed it can cause Hypo Of all these conditions of all these electrolytes and specifically we're always worried about hypokalemia Now certainly if we excrete a lot of fluid from the patient's body It can lead to dehydration as well as low blood pressure and loop diuretics can also cause dizziness drowsiness and then two specific skin conditions called Steven Johnson syndrome and erythema Multiform so I encourage you to Google search these conditions so that you can become familiar what they look like what does these rashes look like So then you can detect them in your patients if they're on loop diuretics, maybe newly Getting these medications but another side effect is metabolic Alkylosis because we are excreting all these Electrolytes as well as water and then remember that the kidney regulates hydrogen iron as well and bicarbonate and so it can lead to metabolic alkalosis As for nursing considerations as with anything that affects blood pressure We want to check blood pressure and heart rate before we administer the medication Keep a close eye on the patient's intake and output as well as their weight because we're dealing with edema and fluid volume Excess so we need to see how successfully we're able to eliminate all the extra fluid the patient has Certainly keep an eye on their edema in the lower extremities as well as check their lung sounds for possible signs of fluid volume Excess and that would be crackles in the lungs Certainly we want to check their liver as well as their kidney function because we are working with the loop of Henley here So we want to make sure that the kidneys are working properly so that these medications have room to take effect and Then electrolytes because of all the reasons and all these electrolytes that we are excreting now at higher rates When the patient is taking these kind of medications and specifically as always we worry about potassium levels And then especially if the patient is newly on this medication We want to check their skin for these two side effects. We already discussed Additionally Most medication most patients who are on a loop diuretic will require a potassium replacement because it just gets Depleted so quickly. So it's not uncommon to see a patient on let's say late 6 40 milligrams Q day and then also to be on potassium chloride 20 meqs or whatever the provider Determines to be the appropriate dosage for the patient and certainly they won't go Need to go and get their labs checked in at frequent intervals to keep an eye on all their electrolytes as well as the kidney function And another tidbit here is if the patient is also on the joxin Then there is an increased risk for the joxin toxicity because the joxin is very sensitive to Potassium levels and high or low levels of potassium can make the patient ditch toxic And this is very important to note So you always want to check their joxin levels as well as the potassium levels if they're on a loop diuretic And this is something that many times comes up in nursing exams And contraindications for loop diuretics would be an urea So if the patient is not producing any urine at all Then the loop of Henley can't really is not really working and can't really excrete all these different Electrolytes as well as water. So there's nothing to work on so it's contraindicated because it's not even going to work And then also it's contraindicated in severe liver disease because of the risk for metabolic Alkylosis and the associated complications that can occur So, please also watch my other videos on thiazide diuretics as well as potassium sparing diuretics in the pharmacology playlist and I see you right here on nursing school explained next time Thanks so much for watching