What Drugs Should Be Avoided In Heart Failure Patients?

— -- Question: What drugs should be avoided in heart failure patients?

Answer: That's an excellent question. Of course, patients that have alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy should avoid the use of alcohol. Anti-inflammatory drugs might be harmful to some patients. And paradoxically, patients that take inotropes -- inotropes are those drugs that help your heart to beat stronger -- but in the long term use of those drugs, they may make your heart actually deteriorate faster. So we now understand that we should try to slow the heart, as opposed to make it run faster in patients who have heart failure.