Pumping Marvellous

What are Beta-blockers

Beta-blockers have been proven to extend life and improve the symptoms of heart failure. Your doctor may start you on a low dose and increase it over a few weeks or months.

All beta-blockers have names that end in lol. There are several different beta-blockers, including atenolol, bisoprolol, carvedilol and metoprolol.

They work by slowing your heart rate and reducing blood pressure. Your doctor will probably start you on a beta-blocker after you have started taking an ACE inhibitor.

The most common side effects are tiredness, cold hands and feet, insomnia, dizziness or giddiness.

Diuretics

Diuretics used to be known as water pills because they stop fluid collecting in your body and make you urinate more often. These are one of the most common treatments in heart disease. However, there have been only a few large studies into how effective they are in heart failure.

Researchers have combined the findings from smaller studies and concluded that diuretics extend life and improve symptoms of heart failure. Clinicians recommend them for people with heart failure who have signs of fluid retention, such as swollen ankles or breathlessness due to fluid in the lungs. Doctors will vary the dose of diuretic depending on your symptoms.

There are many different types of diuretic, but some of the most widely used for heart failure are bendroflumethiazide, chlorthalidone and furosemide.

The worst attitude to adopt with Heart Failure is just take your drugs as the clinician has told you to. As explained in other posts on this site make sure you know what each drug does, the benefits and the the side effects.

When I was in my teens I always wanted to be a doctor but my Maths was not up to scratch to continue my favourite subjects which were Chemistry, Biology and Physics obviously essential to get me into Med school. This is where my fascination with everything medical started. After being diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy in January 2010 I found that I had a real life patient who was very close to home. I was in the Royal Blackburn Hospital cardiology wards for 3 weeks and if you ask people who know me I am not one for standing still so whilst lying their for days on end I decided to find out what all this Heart Failure was about.

I constantly asked questions around the condition, medication and recovery. The Nurses, Doctors and Consultants must have thought they had a wild one on their hands. What I found was that indirectly they knew I was more interested in Heart Failure than the average punter and although I asked a lot of questions there was more than just a prescriptive relationship between their patient and the clinicians. The feedback I got months have leaving hospital was this “your recovery has been excellent because you really worked with us…..”

What I am trying to say is get interested and inquisitive about Heart Failure. Follow these three guidelines and you won’t go wrong.

Always ask questions about the drugs you are taking and what are the potential side effects
Always challenge your Nurse or Consultant if you are concerned or unhappy – you can if you want to!
It is very important that you work with all Nurses, Doctors and Consultants -this will produce the best result

These reason why I am writing this post is that my nails keep breaking and this is down to one of the drugs I am taking. I have found a solution because I know what I am doing!