Heart failure doesn’t have a cure. The goal of treatment is to reduce symptoms and slow it from getting worse. Many patients with heart failure manage it with medicine. Understanding heart failure medicine can be tricky. With new research underway, keeping up with the latest heart failure medicine can be tricky. Here are five tips that can help.
1. Know Your (Heart Failure) Type
Your organs and tissues need blood to work. With heart failure, they don’t get enough blood. Heart failure reduces the heart’s pumping ability in several ways, which causes different types of heart failure. The type of heart failure you have affects the medications you need, so it’s important to know your type.
Types of heart failure include:
- Left-sided heart failure. The left chambers of the heart’s left side have difficulty pumping enough blood. In some cases, the left side stops working well, which is known as heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. This means the amount of blood pumped per beat is unusually low—40% or lower. In some cases, the left side can’t fill with enough blood between heartbeats.
- Right-sided heart failure. Left-sided heart failure can cause blood to collect in the left side of the heart. The extra blood can cause high blood pressure in the blood vessels between the heart and lungs. This pressure can damage the right-side parts of the heart. The damage may reduce the heart’s ability to send blood to the lungs for oxygen.
There is also congestive heart failure. This heart failure happens when fluid collects in different areas of the body because blood is moving slower through the circulatory system. The fluid retention can cause swelling in the legs and trouble breathing.
2. Learn What Your Heart Failure Medications Do
You may need to take many heart failure medications daily. Knowing what each one does and how it works can help you see its importance and stick with your treatment plan.
Cardiologists and primary care providers use several types of medication to treat heart failure. These medications help reduce blood pressure and improve flow through blood vessels. Better flow improves the heart’s ability to pump blood.
Physicians and other medical providers also commonly prescribe beta blockers to treat heart failure. These medications calm the heart by slowing it down. A slower heart rate makes pumping blood easier.
If you have congestive heart failure, you may need to take water pills. These medicines help reduce excess fluid and sodium in your body, which is important for managing swelling.
More medications that can treat heart failure and related conditions include:
- ACE Inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARB) – blood pressure medicines that research has shown to improve survival in patients with heart failure.
- SGLT2 Inhibitors – a medication used to treat diabetes, but research has shown they may reduce hospitalizations for patients with heart failure.
3. Plan to Be a Good Patient
Your medicine can’t work to its greatest potential unless you take it as prescribed. You have to follow your medical provider’s plan.
Be sure to follow directions. Don’t change how much you take or how often you take it without first checking with your medical provider.
Having trouble keeping track of your medications? Use some simple medication management hacks, such as setting reminders on your phone to take your medicines or using a medication diary, medication tracking app or pill organizer.
4. Speak Up About Side Effects
Heart failure medications can cause side effects that may disrupt your health or quality of life. These medications can cause side effects ranging from feeling tired and dizzy to depression and diarrhea. If you suddenly stop taking these medications, it can increase your risk of a heart attack. That risk is another important reason to always ask your medical provider before changing your medications.
Learn about the side effects your medications can cause. If you experience any side effects, tell your cardiologist or primary care provider as soon as possible. They can suggest ways to manage the side effects or adjust your medications to help limit side effects.
5. Embrace Management Beyond Heart Failure Medications
Managing heart failure takes more than medications. There are important steps you can take to improve your health. These steps include:
- Exercise often, but be sure to ask your medical provider what types of activity are safe for you.
- Follow a healthy eating plan, which, along with exercise, can help you keep a healthy weight.
- Keep up with your medical appointments, so your providers can look for any changes.
- Manage conditions that can worsen heart failure, such as high blood pressure.
- Practice good sleep habits, like following a consistent sleep schedule.
- Quit smoking because smoking can narrow your blood vessels.
- Limit salt in your diet because it can worsen swelling.
- Manage your stress every day.
By making healthy changes and taking your medications properly, you can give yourself a good chance of keeping heart failure in check.
More to Read
- The Pros and Cons of Daily Aspirin
- The Relationship Between Diabetes and Heart Disease
- Living your Best Life with Heart Disease
- What Are Vascular Disease and Vascular Screenings?
Medically reviewed by Abid Fakhri, MD.
