Cardiac Meds: Quick Overview of Heart Failure Pharmacology

We’ll be having a quick congestive heart failure review and we’ll also go over the cardiac meds involved in treating the condition.

Antihypertensive drugs are responsible for relieving pressure that’s being set on the heart. The aim is to basically get the heart pumping normally that it can stretch and squeeze to eject and distribute blood to different parts of the body with as little effort as possible.

Congestive Heart Failure

In congestive heart failure (CHF), there is a lot of pressure from the peripheral veins that is being pushed on the heart. A primary cause of CHF would be increased sodium in the diet. Fortunately, there are tons of medications that can take this pressure off of the heart and promote proper blood flow.

What are the drugs that help in alleviating the pressure from the heart? These drugs are categorized into A-B-C-D. What does each letter stand for?

Cardiac Meds: ABCD Drugs

A is for ACE Inhibitors

ACE inhibitors act on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) in the kidneys, which are responsible for bringing the pressure from the peripheral veins and blood vessels to decrease the pressure experienced by the heart.

B is for Beta-blockers

The basic function of beta-blockers is to block the beta receptors that have sympathetic nervous system response. And since the response is sympathomimetic, it’s basically the fight or flight reaction of the body which causes increased blood pressure and heart rate.

Blocking the beta receptors will result in relaxation of the heart, resulting to decreased blood pressure and heart rate.

C is for Calcium Channel Blockers

At SimpleNursing.com, there is a separate video about calcium channel blockers showing a detailed instruction on how calcium affects your body and, specifically, your heart.

So, when you think of calcium, the first thing that would come to mind is, it’s mainly found in the bones and is required for hardening the bone structure. That said, if there is an overload of calcium, the heart will be directly affected, causing it to harden. And if that happens, it will be very difficult for the heart to stretch and squeeze blood to the different parts of the body. Therefore, calcium channel blockers block the channels responsible for heart calcification, bringing back the normal function of the heart.

D is for Diuretics

You can think of diuretics as the agents that open up the faucet inside your body – the faucet being your kidneys. And because the urinary tract primarily functions to excrete fluid from the body, it is imperative that the kidneys are properly working to relieve the heart of unnecessary pressure due to fluid overload.

Diuretics are effective in opening up these faucets (kidneys) to release toxins and fluids out of the body. Some of the main examples of diuretics are Lasix and hydrochlorothiazide. By decreasing the amount of blood or fluid that is going inside the heart, diuretics reduce stress and workload of the heart. Diuretics are basically calming down the increased pressure being pushed on the heart to the point of normalcy.

On our next discussion, we’ll take an in-depth look at the mechanism of action of ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, and diuretics.

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Also, check out our Congestive Heart Failure NCLEX questions for a more in-depth look at what you’ll be tested on.