What Causes Chronic Diarrhea While On Metoprolol, Lisinopril, Metformin, Furosemide And Potassium Chloride?

Posted on Sat, 16 Dec 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 16 Dec 2017 Answered on

Fri, 18 May 2018 Last reviewed on

Question : I take medication and cannot take pills so I cruch them and put them in water and wait til they dissolve then drink it my medication list is metoprolol tartrate 50 mg I daily.i also take metformin hcl 1000 mg 1/2 tablet twice a day lisinopril 10 mg 2 tablets daily furosemide 40 mg 1 tablet daily and potassium 20 meq 1/2 tablet twice a day I take all at one time then the second half later in the evening The problem is I have diahrea and don't know what is causing it. my email is YYYY@YYYY

this has been an ongoing sistuation

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (33 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
metformin and potassium may be causing it

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

although I can't diagnose anything from afar it seems very likely that a chronic diarrhea without any other symptoms may be caused by either metformin or potassium or their combination (even more with that) as diarrhea is a common side effect for these drugs. Metoprolol and lisinopril are other potential offenders as they may cause diarrhea in up to 5-10% of patients taking them.

Some basic tests should be done to exclude common causes like a stool culture and microscopic examination. If they're both clear and your problem started after initiating any of the aforementioned drugs then a side effect is very likely.

I hope you find my comments helpful!
Kind Regards!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar