Acetazolamide

Acetazolamide, sold under the trade name Diamox among others, is a medication used to treat glaucoma, epilepsy, acute mountain sickness, periodic paralysis, idiopathic intracranial hypertension and heart failure, and to alkalinize urine. It may be used long term for open angle glaucoma and short term for acute angle closure glaucoma until surgery can be carried out. It is taken by mouth or by injection into a vein. As a first generation carbonic anhydrase inhibitor it lowers the fluid and osmolality in the eye and so reduces pressure inside it, by decreasing the formation of hydrogen ions and bicarbonate from carbon dioxide and water. Common side effects include numbness, ringing in the ears, loss of appetite, vomiting and sleepiness. It came into medical use in 1952 and is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.