A diuretic in most cases is referred to as a water pill and in this instance, refers to medicines that help your kidneys release more sodium into your urine. The sodium helps remove water from your blood, decreasing the amount of fluid flowing through your veins and arteries. This reduces blood pressure.
There are 3 types of medicinal diuretics, Thiazide, Loop and Potassium sparing. Each affects a different part of your kidneys.
After you take a drink, both the liquid and alcohol contents of the beverage pass through your stomach lining and small intestine into the bloodstream.
If you drink on an empty stomach, alcohol can be absorbed into the bloodstream within minutes. But if you drink water or eat while you consume alcohol, it may take much longer.
After it enters your bloodstream, alcohol can travel anywhere in your body. This includes your brain, which is why you feel woozy and your judgement is impaired when you’re buzzed or drunk.
Alcohol can even get into the lungs and be released when you exhale. This is why breathalyzers are often used to check if someone’s driving while intoxicated. This test measures blood alcohol concentration (BAC), or the amount of alcohol in your blood.
When it’s processed by enzymes in the liver, alcohol is converted into a large amount of acetaldehyde. This common substance can become toxic in high doses. In order to break this substance down and remove it from the body, your liver does most of the work of turning it into acetate.
Alcohol also reduces how much vasopressin your body makes. Vasopressin is an antidiuretic hormone. It causes the body to hold onto water, which typically limits how much urine your kidneys make.
The action of suppressing this hormone exacerbates the diuretic effect and leads to dehydration.
Acetate and other waste products are then removed from the body as carbon dioxide and water, primarily through lungs. Although the kidneys remove waste products, most of the water loss is due to the effect of vasopressin.
Water is flushed out much faster than alcohol is processed. This can increase your BAC significantly if you don’t replenish your body’s supply with a few sips of water as you drink.
If you consume more alcohol while your body is still processing your previous drinks, your BAC can rise quickly.