What is a beta blocker medication and what does it do for the heart?
Beta blockers are a type of medicine that is used to lower blood pressure, treat chest pain (angina) and heart failure, and to help prevent a heart attack. Beta blockers relieve the stress on your heart by slowing the heart rate and reducing the force with which your heart muscles contract to pump blood. They also help keep blood vessels from constricting in your heart, brain and body. If you have a heart attack, you should get a prescription for a beta blocker before you leave the hospital. Why is it important for certain patients to receive beta blocker medicine after suffering a heart attack and for them to go home on that medicine? Beta blockers are a group of medications that block the stress hormone adrenaline, creating health benefits for heart attack survivors by blocking the harmful effects of adrenaline and slowing the pulse rate. Multiple studies show that early use of this medication consistently reduces the risk of death and decreases damage to the heart muscle (Circulatio
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- What is a beta blocker medication and what does it do for the heart?
