“What drugs prevent heart attacks?”
I am a 37 year old male. I want to know what drugs prevent heart attacks?
2 Answers
There are no medications that can actually prevent heart attacks. There are drugs that can diminish the chance of having an attack. Aspirin, 81mg a day taken before bed time can help by diminishing platelet aggregation which can cause blood clotting. Aspirin, however, has side effects such as gastrointestinal bleeding, so some people with GI problems should not take this drug. There are other anti-platelet meds such as plavix, or brilinta which are used in patients with known heart problems. Drugs such as beta blockers can help prevent heart attacks by decreasing the demand on the heart muscle. All these meds except aspirin are by prescription only and should only be used under a doctor's care. The best way to prevent heart problems is to control the risk factors. Don't smoke, exercise regularly, eat healthy, and make sure that blood pressure is controlled.
This is a very interesting question.
First and foremost the best way to prevent heart attacks is to lead a healthy lifestyle.
That means do not smoke! There are drugs to help stop smoking.
That means eat properly, a Mediterranean or DASH diet and not adding salt to your food and avoiding food that you know has a lot of sodium. No junk food. Avoid altogether or at least limit food that is high in saturated fat and refined carbohydrates.
That means exercise regularly, at least 3-4 times per week.
That means minimize stress in your life. Understandably very difficult during these times. At least try to have relationships with family and friends that are constructive, helpful, and relatively conflict-free. That requires work but hopefully not stressful work if everyone is on board.
That means getting enough sleep, also not always possible. At least 7 hours a night.
That means avoid excessive screen time. It frequently is not relaxing. Find books to read and shows to watch that do not add more stress to your life, that serve to some extent as an escape from the stresses of everyday that we all inevitably face.
That means get enough vacation time. Get away from it all! That means finding activities that relax you whether it is a sport with friends or fishing or gardening or stamp collecting, dancing, star-gazing, bird watching, whatever.
I am well aware that for too many of us these recommendations are not possible, now more than ever.
The goal of drug therapy is to minimize the risk factors that remain even after the life-style changes (I hate that expression!) I have recommended.
One risk is your weight. We have no drug that will safely and over the long run help with that but you should attempt by following the life-style recommendations above to optimize your weight.
Another risk is your lipid profile. That is something you will have to go to a doctor to check. If, after doing the best you can with achieving a healthy life-style, your lipids are still not optimal, there are drugs that help optimize lipids like the statins, ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors, bempedoic acid, and icosapent ethyl, a fish oil derivative. Some of these are not generic and very expensive. There are others but they are not as well tolerated as these. They would have to be prescribed by a doctor. I believe that, in general, a cardiologist should manage the more complicated lipid problems.
Blood pressure must be kept under control. There are many drugs that are used to accomplish that, too many to list them all. Your doctor would have to prescribe them. A good internist should be able to manage all but the most complicated hypertension problems.
If you have diabetes, it must be well-controlled. That is done by the life-style recommendations and drugs. Once again, a doctor would have to prescribe. There are many drugs.
If you have a bad family history of vascular disease, you cannot change your parents so all other modifiable risk factors must be aggressively addressed.
You cannot change your sex and men have more risk of coronary disease than premenopausal women.
Your risk profile should be assessed by your doctor and if after everything is done you still have a significant risk of a coronary event, I would recommend a low dose aspirin every day but that would be most unusual in someone 37yo.
First and foremost the best way to prevent heart attacks is to lead a healthy lifestyle.
That means do not smoke! There are drugs to help stop smoking.
That means eat properly, a Mediterranean or DASH diet and not adding salt to your food and avoiding food that you know has a lot of sodium. No junk food. Avoid altogether or at least limit food that is high in saturated fat and refined carbohydrates.
That means exercise regularly, at least 3-4 times per week.
That means minimize stress in your life. Understandably very difficult during these times. At least try to have relationships with family and friends that are constructive, helpful, and relatively conflict-free. That requires work but hopefully not stressful work if everyone is on board.
That means getting enough sleep, also not always possible. At least 7 hours a night.
That means avoid excessive screen time. It frequently is not relaxing. Find books to read and shows to watch that do not add more stress to your life, that serve to some extent as an escape from the stresses of everyday that we all inevitably face.
That means get enough vacation time. Get away from it all! That means finding activities that relax you whether it is a sport with friends or fishing or gardening or stamp collecting, dancing, star-gazing, bird watching, whatever.
I am well aware that for too many of us these recommendations are not possible, now more than ever.
The goal of drug therapy is to minimize the risk factors that remain even after the life-style changes (I hate that expression!) I have recommended.
One risk is your weight. We have no drug that will safely and over the long run help with that but you should attempt by following the life-style recommendations above to optimize your weight.
Another risk is your lipid profile. That is something you will have to go to a doctor to check. If, after doing the best you can with achieving a healthy life-style, your lipids are still not optimal, there are drugs that help optimize lipids like the statins, ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors, bempedoic acid, and icosapent ethyl, a fish oil derivative. Some of these are not generic and very expensive. There are others but they are not as well tolerated as these. They would have to be prescribed by a doctor. I believe that, in general, a cardiologist should manage the more complicated lipid problems.
Blood pressure must be kept under control. There are many drugs that are used to accomplish that, too many to list them all. Your doctor would have to prescribe them. A good internist should be able to manage all but the most complicated hypertension problems.
If you have diabetes, it must be well-controlled. That is done by the life-style recommendations and drugs. Once again, a doctor would have to prescribe. There are many drugs.
If you have a bad family history of vascular disease, you cannot change your parents so all other modifiable risk factors must be aggressively addressed.
You cannot change your sex and men have more risk of coronary disease than premenopausal women.
Your risk profile should be assessed by your doctor and if after everything is done you still have a significant risk of a coronary event, I would recommend a low dose aspirin every day but that would be most unusual in someone 37yo.
