HEARThrive – Module 7 – Evaluate Your Medications and Drugs

Your goal with HEARThrive is to reduce or eliminate the need to take any prescription drugs (with consultation with your doctor, of course). Drugs are designed to reduce symptoms of disease. They do not get to the root of the problem of why you are not feeling well. In fact, they often create a new subset of symptoms that make you feel worse. You may be told to take additional drugs to minimize those new symptoms. It becomes a vicious cycle. Often, people with heart disease take aspirin to thin the blood, beta blockers to slow down the heart rate, blood pressure drugs to combat hypertension, and statins to reduce cholesterol. We already covered statins in Module 3 of HEARThrive. Go ahead and check out that module if you are concerned about taking a cholesterol lowering statin drug. Aspirin seems like something safe but it is a drug and carries a risk of bleeding that in rare cases can be life-threatening. You’ll hear about my nephew’s story where he almost died from taking aspirin. Relaxing your heart with a beta blocker sounds sensible, but it might make you feel lazy and less inclined to exercise. That’s counter-productive. If you have high blood pressure, taking a medication could help lower it, but do you really need to take that drug for the rest of your life? Maybe not, especially if you adopt the many strategies in HEARThrive that can help you lower your blood pressure naturally. In Module 7 of HEARThrive you will learn think critically about the drugs you are taking and whether they are truly necessary.