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Most people who have heart failure need to take medicines. These medicines treat your symptoms. Others may help prevent your heart failure from becoming worse and prolong survival.

How to Take Your Medicines

You will need to take most of your heart failure medicines every day, some just once per day, and others two or more times per day. It is very important that you take your drugs the way your health care provider told you to. This includes the time of day.

NEVER just stop taking drugs for your heart, or any other drugs you may take for diabetes, high blood pressure, or any other medical conditions you may have without first talking to your health care provider.

Your health care provider may also instruct you to either take certain medicines or take more medicine when your symptoms get worse or your weight increases from too much fluid in your body.

Do not take any other drugs or herbs without asking your health care provider about them first. These include ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), Sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra), and tadalafil (Cialis).

Ace Inhibitors and ARBs

Ace inhibitors(angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors) and ARBs (angiotensin II receptor antagonists) work by opening blood vessels and lowering blood pressure. This can reduce the work your heart has to do, help your heart muscle pump better, and keep your heart failure from getting worse. These medicines may also prevent or reduce changes to your heart muscle.

Common side effects of these drugs include:

Dry cough
Lightheadedness
Fatigue
Upset stomach
Edema
Headache
Diarrhea

When you take these medicines, your doctor will order blood tests to check how well your kidneys are working and to follow your potassium levels.

Beta Blockers

Beta blockers slow your heart rate and decrease the strength with which your heart muscle squeezes or contracts. Beta blockers help your heart failure from becoming worse and ultimately may help strengthen it.

Common beta blockers used for heart failure include carvedilol (Coreg), bisoprolol (Zebeta), and metoprolol (Toprol).

Do not abruptly stop taking these drugs. Doing so can increase the risk of angina and even a heart attack. Other side effects include lightheadedness, depression, fatigue, and memory loss.

Water Pills or Diuretics

Diuretics help your body get rid of extra fluid. Some also have other beneficial effects. They are often called "water pills." There are many brands of diuretics. Some are taken 1 time a day. Others are taken 2 times a day. The 3 common types are:

Thiazides: chlorothiazide (Diuril), chlorthalidone (Hygroton), indapamide (Lozol), hydrochlorothiazide (Esidrix, HydroDiuril), and metolazone (Mykrox, Zaroxolyn)
Loop diuretics: bumentanide (Bumex), furosemide (Lasix), and torasemide (Demadex)
Potassium-sparing agents: amiloride (Midamor), spironolactone (Aldactone), and triamterene (Dyrenium)

When you take these medicines, your doctor will order blood tests to check how well your kidneys are working and to follow your potassium levels.

Other Drugs for Heart Failure

Many people with heart disease are asked to take either aspirin or clopidogrel (Plavix). These drugs help to prevent blood clots from forming in your arteries, lowering your risk of a stroke or heart attack.

Coumadin (Warfarin) is recommended only for patients with heart failure who have a higher risk for blood clots. You will need to have extra blood tests to make sure your dose is correct and be careful about what you eat.

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