Don't believe everything about heart problems and medicines that you read on the Internet or in a magazine or newspaper. Bring in your Web site information and talk about it with your health care team.

Heart medicine basics

The kinds and dosages of medicines your health care team prescribes for you depends on your:

current health
exact heart problem
other medical problems
reaction to each medicine itself

You may have a friend or family member with a similar heart problem who takes different medicine types and dosages. Although there are some general guidelines for each type of heart problem, your medicines will be chosen for your situation.

Expect it to take time to adjust to your medicine. Your body needs to get used to the medicine, and your doctor needs to adjust the dosages to find the most effective prescription for you.

It's common for a doctor to start with one medicine, add others, switch to new ones and adjust dosages. Try to be patient as you and your health care team work together to find the:

right medicines for you
right dosages for you
best times of day for you to take medicines