Furosemide Injection

Uses of Furosemide Injection

Furosemide injection is used to help treat fluid retention (edema) and swelling that is caused by congestive heart failure, liver disease (cirrhosis), kidney disease, or other medical conditions. Is also used to treat congestion (blockage) caused by excess amount of fluid in patients with chronic heart failure.

Precautions and Warnings

Before using furosemide injection, tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to furosemide, sulfonamide medications, any other medications, or any of the ingredients in furosemide injection. Also, if you are using the furosemide on-body injector, tell your doctor if you are allergic to any adhesives. Ask your pharmacist or check the patient information for a list of the ingredients.

Tell your doctor and pharmacist what prescription and nonprescription medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medications or monitor you carefully for side effects.

Tell your doctor if you have kidney disease, liver cirrhosis (a disease which causes scarring of liver tissue), or ascites (build-up of fluid in the stomach area). Your doctor may not want you to use furosemide injection.

Tell your doctor if you have or have ever had any condition that stops your bladder from emptying completely, an electrolyte imbalance in your blood, including low levels of potassium in your blood, hypertension, diabetes, gout, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; a chronic inflammatory condition), or liver disease.

Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding. If you become pregnant while using furosemide injection, call your doctor.

If you are having surgery, tell the doctor that you are using furosemide injection.

Plan to avoid unnecessary or prolonged exposure to sunlight and to wear protective clothing, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Furosemide may make your skin sensitive to sunlight.

You should know that furosemide may cause dizziness, lightheadedness, and fainting when you get up too quickly from a lying position. This is more common when you first start taking furosemide. To avoid this problem, get out of bed slowly, resting your feet on the floor for a few minutes before standing up. Alcohol can add to these side effects.

If you are using the furosemide on-body injector, tell your doctor if you will be having a magnetic resonance imaging exam (MRI; a medical test that uses powerful magnets to take pictures of the inside of the body).

Dosage

The dose of this medicine will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor’s orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of this medicine. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so.

The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine.

For injectable dosage form:

Adults—30 milligrams (mg) injected under your skin for the first hour, followed by 12.5 mg per hour for 4 hours. Each cartridge contains 80 mg furosemide. The amount of medicine delivered is pre-programmed with a single-use on-body infusor.

Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.

Side Effects

Common side effects:

• frequent urination
• blurred vision
• headache
• constipation
• diarrhea
• injection site pain