Back to Treatment Report

What is indapamide?

Indapamide is a thiazide diuretic (water pill) that helps prevent your body from absorbing too much salt, which can cause fluid retention.

Indapamide treats fluid retention (edema) in people with congestive heart failure. This medication is also used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension).

Indapamide may also be used for other purposes not listed in this medication guide.

Precautions

Do not use this medication if you have:

  • severe kidney disease or are unable to urinate;
  • severe liver disease; or
  • low potassium levels in your blood (hypokalemia).

If you have certain conditions, you may need a dose adjustment or special tests to safely take this medication. Before using indapamide, tell your doctor if you have:

  • kidney disease;
  • liver disease;
  • gout;
  • lupus;
  • diabetes; or
  • an allergy to sulfa drugs.

FDA pregnancy category B. This medication is not expected to be harmful to an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant during treatment.

It is not known whether indapamide passes into breast milk or if it could cause harm to a nursing baby. Do not use this medication without telling your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.

Avoid becoming overheated or dehydrated during exercise and in hot weather. Follow your doctor’s instructions about the type and amount of liquids you should drink. In some cases, drinking too much liquid can be as unsafe as not drinking enough.

Back to top

Instructions

Seek emergency medical attention if you think you have used too much of this medicine.

Overdose symptoms of a indapamide overdose may include nausea, weakness, dizziness, dry mouth, thirst, and muscle pain or weakness.

Take the missed dose as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and take the medicine at the next regularly scheduled time. Do not take extra medicine to make up the missed dose.

Back to top

Side Effects

Get emergency medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat.

Stop using this medication and call your doctor at once if you have a serious side effect such as:

  • dry mouth, thirst, nausea, vomiting;
  • feeling weak, drowsy, restless, or light-headed;
  • fast or uneven heartbeat; or
  • muscle pain or weakness.

Less serious side effects may include:

  • dizziness;
  • headache; or
  • mild skin rash.

This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

Back to top

Interactions

Before taking this medication, tell your doctor if you are using any of the following drugs:

  • lithium;
  • baclofen (Lioresal);
  • other blood pressure medications;
  • steroids (prednisone and others);
  • insulin or diabetes medicine taken by mouth;
  • salicylates such as aspirin, Disalcid, Doan's Pills, Dolobid, Salflex, Tricosal, and others;
  • an ACE inhibitor such as benazepril (Lotensin), captopril (Capoten), enalapril (Vasotec), lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril), ramipril (Altace), and others;
  • NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), diclofenac (Voltaren), indomethacin, naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), piroxicam (Feldene), and others; or
  • amiodarone (Cordarone, Pacerone), bepridil (Vascor), chloroquine (Arelan), cisapride (Propulsid), clarithromycin (Biaxin), disopyramide (Norpace), dofetilide (Tikosyn), droperidol (Inapsine), erythromycin (Erythrocin, E.E.S), haloperidol (Haldol), pentamidine (NebuPent, Pentam), pimozide (Orap), procainamide (Procan), quinidine (Cardioquin, Quinaglute), sotalol (Betapace), sparfloxacin (Zagam), or thioridazine (Mellaril).

This list is not complete and there may be other drugs that can interact with indapamide. Tell your doctor about all the prescription and over-the-counter medications you use. This includes vitamins, minerals, herbal products, and drugs prescribed by other doctors. Do not start using a new medication without telling your doctor.

Back to top

Disclaimer

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Cerner Multum, Inc. ('Multum') is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. Multum information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States and therefore Multum does not warrant that uses outside of the United States are appropriate, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Multum's drug information does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. Multum's drug information is an informational resource designed to assist licensed healthcare practitioners in caring for their patients and/or to serve consumers viewing this service as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgment of healthcare practitioners. The absence of a warning for a given drug or drug combination in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safe, effective or appropriate for any given patient. Multum does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of information Multum provides. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.

Copyright 1996-2004 Cerner Multum, Inc. Version 2.05. Revision date 8/23/04