Lifelong meds

[LesleyJ59]

Hi All, I had a small heart attack in January, my arteries were clear when I had the angiogram and I have been doing well so am signed off from the hospital and have been handed over to my GP. All the doctors and nurses say I'll be on pills for the rest of my life, but when I try to get a more accurate answer they are vague.

I'm taking Ramipril, Amlodipine, Brilique/Ticagrelor, Atrovastatin and Aspirin. I understand that I can come off the Ticagrelor after a year and will take Aspirin indefinitely. Does anyone have any idea about the others please? I will be going to my GP soon but have to wait for an appointment.

[skid112 Heart Star]

Hi Lesley, two chains of thought here from my end. I am convinced the hospital said aspirin for life, the others review after a year and maybe you can come off. My wife insists all are for life and that conversation never happened. My own is coming up for a year, my GP wants to review the medication and I am hoping to come off some. My appointment is not until the 6th Nov I will let you know

[LesleyJ59 in reply to skid112]

Thanks Skid, I would be interested to know what your doc says. good luck!

[LesleyJ59]

I know flu is a big deal, but I have to say I can count the number of times I've had it on the fingers of one hand. Hopefully I'm still not susceptible...

[LesleyJ59]

Thanks Laura - I appreciate your point of view. I'm lucky that my energy levels are fine for my lifestyle - though I do a lot of Tai Chi and Qigong which might be a positive factor. I do however find it very difficult to attain the levels of cardiac exercise that are recommended by the health authorities.

[Hidden]

Hi Lesley - if you've had a heart attack then it's definitely recommended you would take aspirin for life. Heart attacks are most commonly caused by blood clots that form when fatty plaques in your arteries rupture, so aspirin helps to greatly reduce your risk of this happening again. For this reason, we also recommend taking cholesterol lowering medications, such as statins, for life too as these will help to prevent the plaque in your arteries getting worse or becoming unstable.

Amlodipine and ramipril are to help lower your blood pressure - these medications are important if your blood pressure is high and would in these cases be lifelong. If your blood pressure was brought down to a normal level through lifestyle, for example if you cut down on salt, lose weight (if you're overweight) and exercise then your GP may decide to stop one of both of these medications.

I hope this helps,

Chris

[LesleyJ59 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Chris, that's very clear.

[survivor180717 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Chris, I really want to continue with all my medicine while working on health food and life style. However, I have started tinitus and more recently stomach problem.

When I saw my GP and told him about tinnitus, he said it is like to be because of Asprin and tried to stop but I was too worried to stop the tablet as I had HA only 7months ago and I was told by Cardiologist in the hospital that I need to be on Dual Antiplatlet Therapy (Asprin+Ticagrelor) for at least one year.

Do you know if there are people who do that?

[Hidden in reply to survivor180717]

Hello there - sorry to hear about all the conflicting information you've been given. The vast majority of people who have had a heart attack will be on aspirin for life and take another antiplatelet, such as ticagrelor, for a year. The only time we would usually stop aspirin is if you were having any serious side effects, but it would be replaced with another antiplatelet, which is most commonly clopidogrel.

If you're having some stomach issues this can sometimes be helped by taking a specially coated aspirin rather than a dispersible one, and your GP can make this switch for you if you haven't tried that already. It also helps to take it after food rather than on an empty stomach.

If your GP is thinking about stopping your aspirin and not replacing it with anything else then I think it would be best for them to seek the advice of your cardiologist first.

I hope this helps,

Chris

[survivor180717 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for the quick response Chris. I had dispersible Asprin only for a month. now when I go to collect my medicine I ask them to give Gastro each time and they do give me and I have always taken Asprin just after my breakfast.

My GP did mention clopidogrel but he said becasue I am already on Ticagrelor which similar to clopidogrel. Therefore two similar medicines are not recommended so I just asked him to add Asprin back to my prescription but that was when I just experiencing Tinnitus (suspect of caused by Asprin) but now I also started feeling stomach burning sensation which me lead to ulcer and bleeding, I am trying to educate myself so that I can discuss with GP. Also getting to Cardiologist is not easy as for appointments with Cardiologist I need to get referal from GP.

[Hidden in reply to survivor180717]

Hello there - you shouldn't need a referral back to your cardiologist just for an opinion. Your GP can call them directly or you can contact your cardiologist's secretary to see if you can arrange a telephone appointment.

[survivor180717 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Chris, very useful to know!

[survivor180717]

Hi Mirador19, thanks for sharing the information.

Is there any particular reason you are not on Asprin, usually after heart attack people are advised to take asprin life long. I am asking this because I have been prescribed Asprin along with Ticagrelor. First 4 months I didn't have any side effect but now it looks like Asprin my stomach problems (burning feeling especially when I lie down or after having food.

Thanks

[Mirador19 in reply to survivor180717]

Hi survivor180717, I never had a heart attack but they found severe heart disease and unstable Angina. I also take Trinomia which contains 100mg Acetylsalicylic acid which I believe is aspirin, atrovastatin 20mg and ramipril 2.5mg. I also take omeprazol 20 mg in the morning, and 25mg of Atenalol. I take the Ticagrelor 90mg twice a day. I think I have repeated myself a bit there with the drugs. Sorry about that.

Joan

[survivor180717 in reply to Mirador19]

Many thanks for for sharing details.

[survivor180717]

So Inspirantional!