This guide is for you if you have coronary heart disease (coronary artery disease), which affects the heart’s arteries. Maybe you had a heart attack, or you get chest pain when you exercise, but your symptoms don’t change.
His coronary heart disease is in a “stable” state. That means your symptoms haven’t changed or gotten worse.
Your doctor commends in addition a medicine called an ACE Inhibitor or an ARB blocker.
you do not takings medicine for high blood pressure, also called “hypertension.”
This guide will not help you if.
You are making decisions about other medications you might take for your coronary heart disease.
This guide remained created after reviewing many research studies conducted on this topic. The information provided here remains intended to help you choose between the various options based on the available evidence.
Table of Contents
Know your illness
What is Coronary Heart Disease?
The picture shows what coronary heart disease looks like. The arteries that carry blood to the heart muscle have become narrow or clogged. When that happens, it makes it harder for blood and oxygen to get into the heart. When a vessel becomes clogged, you may feel some chest discomfort (such as pain, pressure, or tightness) from exertion or exercise. It is what doctors call “angina pectoris.”
What are the Possible Problems?
People with coronary heart disease can have serious problems, such as:
heart attack
heart failure (heart problems)
leak
Any of these problems can cause death or require a long recovery time and prevent you from working or doing other activities.
How can I Protect Myself from Potential Problems?
Although there is no cure for coronary heart disease, some medications help protect you from a heart attack, heart failure, or stroke.
Your doctor may ask you to take one or more medicines, such as:
low-dose aspirin or medications that prevent platelets in the blood from sticking together.
Medication to lower cholesterol levels.
Medicines help lower your heart rate (heartbeats per minute) and blood pressure, such as beta-blockers.
Medicines that prevent blood clotting, such as warfarin.
Other medicines to treat high blood pressure or diabetes.
What Should I Know about ACE Inhibitors and ARB Blockers?
These two types of medications, ACE inhibitors and ARB blockers, have been studied to see if they can also help prevent other problems in people with stable coronary heart disease. Both types of medications lower high blood pressure and have remained used to treat heart failure.
ACE inhibitors. Your doctor may also call these drugs “angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors” or “ACE inhibitors.”
BRA blockers. Your doctor may also call these medications “angiotensin receptor blockers.”
Know your Options
You and your doctor can decide whether to add an ACE inhibitor or an ARB blocker to your other medicines once:
understand and compare the benefits of the treatment, and
determine whether the help of the treatment outweigh the possible side effects.
Is the ACE Inhibitor Right for Me?
You and your doctor may prefer to add an ACE inhibitor to your other coronary heart disease medications because:
Doctors are better aware of ACE inhibitors’ benefits and side effects than they do of ARB blockers.
For most people who take ACE inhibitors, the side effects are only mild.
What are the Benefits of Adding an ACE Inhibitor?
Adding an ACE inhibitor to your other coronary heart disease medications can offer the patient four possible benefits:
The lowers your risk of dying from a heart attack or heart failure.
Reduces your risk of a non-fatal heart attack.
That reduces your risk of being hospitalized for heart failure.
It reduces your risk of needing surgery or other procedures to increase blood flow to the heart muscle. It is what is called “revascularization.”