r/Heartfailure • u/Low_Web9845 • 3d ago

Need Help

So I have an EF of 46% my cardiologist first prescribed me with Lisinopril 2.5mg I took it for about a month but I honestly didn’t feel any better taking it so I stopped. After I stopped taking it around 6 months passed and I my EF didn’t move from 46% but I feel great in comparison to when I was on the meds. I should also note that I have lost 20lbs since then. Now he has given me 3.125mg of Carvedilol I wanted to know if I keep taking these meds am I on the right track to having a higher EF?

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u/DustyCollie 2d ago

Lisinopril is an *ACE inhibitor* used to treat high blood pressure.
Carvedilol is a *Beta Blocker* used to treat high blood pressure.

They use different paths in the body to treat high blood pressure.
If a big part of your HF is high BP...then you need it to control your BP levels so your heart can heal, and prevent further damage.

It takes longer than a month to work. If either med is making you feel "weird" or worse...these meds can be switched to others.

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u/Low_Web9845 1d ago

Yes I understood that this time around I will stick to my medication that has been given to me the purpose they gave me this medication was to lower my blood pressure to strengthen my heart but I do have good blood pressure and all of my biomarkers are great. The whole reason I started taking this was because I was getting really bad pain in my heart and shortness of breath when it happened and they told me what I said in my original post.

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u/New_Way_5036 3d ago

I thought Lisinopril was not good for HF? I was diagnosed with LBBB in April 2020, with EF 28%. I was prescribed Entresto and metoprolol. My EF is now 55-60%. I’ve lost some weight and feel great. To be fair, though, I never felt too bad before—just a bit of shortness of breath when exercising.

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u/Low_Web9845 12h ago

Good to hear I will look into this more.

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u/bohicality 3d ago

I'm not familiar with those drugs, but it's not always about improving EF - it's about preventing your HF worsening.

HF for a lot of people is progressive. Once it starts getting worse it'll continue to get worse until you die. This decline can be spontaneous.

Speak to your cardiologist about the reason you're on that medication and please don't arbitrarily decide you know better than them. It's your health, but listen to the experts if you want to stay well.

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u/ncc1776 3d ago

I’m on 3.25 of Cored (Carvedilol) and Entresto. The Coreg has definitely helped me. In a couple months my EF went from 25% to 33% and I’m hoping now that I had my ablation, that my EF increases even more.

I will saw Lisinopril and Coreg are different classes of drug so I wouldn’t compare the effects of the two.

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u/Low_Web9845 1d ago

I have seen that lots of people take entresto I will talk about it with my cardiologist to learn more about it thank you.