Priority Medications
The person I interviewed is a 70 year old man who lives alone, his wife passed away about 4 years ago. He has a history of hypertension and has been taking Lisinopril since 1989. He has high cholesterol and is currently on simvastatin. He had a triple heart bypass in 2005 and was started on carvedilol after the surgery. He also takes aspirin, vitamin D3, calcium and Zoloft. With his cardiac history his top four priority medications are carvedilol, …show more content…
768). Carvedilol is a beta blocker. Beta blockers block beta 1 and beta 2 receptor sites (Kee, Hayes, & McCuistion, 2015, p.608). The effects of the sympathetic nervous system are decreased because the action of epinephrine and norepinephrine are blocked thus causing decreased heart rate and blood pressure (Kee, et al., 2015, p.608). If heart failure is left untreated the chambers of the heart dilate because of the blood left in the chamber after diastole (Lewis, et al., 2014, p. 768). Over time the heart muscle thickens due to the increased work load and thus needs more oxygen to work, causes poor contractility and coronary artery circulation (Lewis, et al., 2014, p. 768). Because this individual has a history of heart failure and triple bypass surgery we already know there is damage to his heart. Taking this medication is important for this individual to decrease his risk for further damage to his heart such as thickening of the heart muscle due to overworking of the …show more content…
666). The statin drugs work by inhibiting an enzyme called HMG CoA reductase, when this enzyme is inhibited cholesterol biosynthesis is inhibited in the liver (Kee, et al., 2015, p. 666). This group of drugs has been helpful in decreasing coronary artery disease (CAD) and reducing mortality rates (Kee, et al., 2015,p. 666). High cholesterol is one of the causes of coronary artery disease which is a type of cardiovascular disease (Lewis, et al., 2014, p. 731). Chronic endothelial injury from hypertension, etc play a central role in the development of CAD. When there is already damage done cholesterol accumulates in the smooth muscle of the vessel called a fatty streak (Lewis, et al., 2014, p. 731). The next two stages are fibrous plaque and complicated lesion (Lewis, et al., 2014, p. 731). The vessel narrows due to this process which reduces the blood flow to tissues (Lewis, et al., 2014, p. 731). Elevated cholesterol levels are one of the greatest risk factors for CAD and is also modifiable (Lewis, et al., 2014, p. 733). Keeping this individual’s cholesterol level low is important in slowing future development of