Hey my fellow GPA blog family members!
We’re back from our trip to Asia, and we’ll share some photos with you soon, but first I’m going to share with you a question we received from a reader.
Here’s the question:
Is there any diuretic that does not have sulfa in it?
With a question comes an answer – here ya go!
“Thanks for submitting a question! Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner – I’m out traveling around. It’s a nice vacation from the pharmacy, and what’s great is that I can take GetPharmacyAdvice.com along.
To answer your question, there is one diuretic that does not have sulfa in it – ethacrynic acid.
The brand name would be Edecrin, but to be honest, I’ve never seen the brand version dispensed in the pharmacy and I’m not sure we even have it on the shelves (I’ll look into that when I get back to work).
Ethacrynic acid is a great alternative to all the sulfa-containing diuretics. Even if you’ve had a severe reaction to the other diuretics, you will not have that reaction to ethacrynic acid (there is no chance of what’s called cross-reactivity)!
However, if you cannot get your hands on ethacrynic acid for whatever reason (there was a shortage on it at one point), it would be very rare that you would have an allergic reaction to the sulfa-containing diuretics even if you have an allergy to sulfa. This is true even if you experienced an allergic reaction to a sulfa-containing antibiotic.
If you have had an allergic reaction to diuretics and you can’t get your hands on ethacrynic acid, a physician may be willing to do what’s called a dose-graded challenge.
In this situation, your doctor would start at a very low dose of the offending diuretic and increase the dose over a certain time interval (i.e. every 15 minutes). They would increase the dose until the target dose is reached, you would be monitored closely, and they would be well prepared for a possible severe reaction (epinephrine injection and antihistamines on hand!).
If by chance you truly have an allergic reaction, physicians could also try to make your body less sensitive to the sulfa-containing diuretic by using a similar method as the abovementioned dose-graded challenge.
I think that’s it for now. I hope this was helpful to you and not too confusing!”
Whoop, there it is!
Any questions, any questions at all? If so, e-mail me at cate@getpharmacyadvice.com or comment on this post!
And no worries, our FREE video course on how to save the moolah on your prescription drugs is still available. Get it instantly by going to http://www.getpharmacyadvice.com/freegift.html!
Happy savings!
thank you for the information. it was very helpful. my doctors nurse says that most insurance companies will not pay for this medication and i really need it. i do believe that i have become sulfa sensitive because he has put me on two different diuretics now and after about ten days i become severly ill. my mother had had a major allergy to sulfa drugs. is this medication very expensive and why won’t insurance companies pay for it? it is not my fault that i have become allergic to sulfa drugs. what can i do i need for my ins. to pay for this because i am on so many other drugs.
thank you
connie surratt
Hi Connie,
This is when insurance companies can become super frustrating! The best thing to do, if the insurance co has already said they do not cover it is to
1) Request letter from your physician about your need for a specific medication and why (with specifics)
2) Contact your insurance company directly on phone, email and letter to request drug to be covered
3) Reach out to your insurance agent and request their help -that is what they are there for
Insurance companies can sometimes be difficult to deal with but the truth is we pay them for coverage. If this is your only option, they should cover it -however to get them to do so can be a long, tedious process.
Good luck!!