Chest Pain? Try Our Symptom Checker When your doctor sends you home from the hospital, you’ll no doubt have some heart medication prescriptions. But you’ll also have strict instructions to change your lifestyle to healthy, or healthier, habits to keep those newly grafted blood vessels clear and free of plaque. Tips for Healthy Living and Clear Blood Vessels A healthy lifestyle is the key to keeping blood vessels clear following coronary artery bypass surgery. Here’s what you can do to minimize fat and cholesterol buildup in your blood and blood vessels:
Trim the fat and cholesterol from your diet. When you eat fatty foods, some of the fat flows through your bloodstream, where it can stick to the walls of your blood vessels. Eventually it builds up and forms a hard, sticky plaque, which clogs blood vessels — the reason you had bypass surgery. To keep blood vessels clear after bypass surgery, avoid foods high in fat and cholesterol, such as whole milk, cheese, cream, ice cream, butter, high-fat meats, egg yolks, baked desserts, and any foods that are fried.Shed excess weight. Maintaining a healthy body weight is important to keep your heart healthy and blood vessels clear. Weigh yourself regularly, and track your weight. Let your doctor know if you gain even a few pounds very quickly. And use diet and exercise to lose excess pounds and keep them off.Exercise regularly. Exercise not only makes your heart stronger, but it helps to minimize your heart disease risk. You probably will be enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation program which involves a gradual return to exercise. Follow your doctor’s instructions for getting regular aerobic exercise — walking, jogging, biking, swimming — to get your heart pumping. You will probably be advised to exercise at least three to five days each week, for at least 30 to 60 minutes per session.Manage your stress and prevent depression. Your mental and emotional health can affect your physical health, and stress and depression can strike after coronary artery bypass surgery. Keep your stress levels under control, and battle depression with regular exercise, staying socially active, getting plenty of sleep, and talking to friends or members of a support group about what you’re feeling. Some people may also benefit from a prescription anti-depressant.Participate in cardiac rehabilitation. Cardiac rehab can help you manage all of these lifestyle changes. Your cardiac rehab team will assess the strength of your heart to be sure it’s improving, and teach you how to eat well and get plenty of exercise to help you lose weight and strengthen your heart.
Medications to Keep Blood Vessels Clear Lifestyle changes play an important role in keeping your heart healthy and blood vessels free of plaque buildup, but often lifestyle changes aren’t quite enough by themselves. You’ll probably need medications to help. Make Sure You Follow Up After a Heart Attack Your doctor may want you to take something as simple as a daily aspirin. Aspirin therapy has many benefits for people wanting to prevent heart disease, including:
Decreasing the risk of dying from a heart attack or strokeHelping to manage pain from other conditionsPreventing dangerous blood clots
Other medications your doctor may prescribe following coronary artery bypass surgery include:
Cholesterol-lowering medicationsBlood pressure-lowering medicationsOther antiplatelet drugs, such as clopidogrel (Plavix), to prevent blood clots
Learning to live a healthy lifestyle — coupled with the right combination of medications — can help keep blood vessels clear and you off the operating table. Learn more in the Everyday Health Heart Health Center.
