Patient Education / For nurses / Patient handout
Patient handout · CardiovascularLiving With Coronary Artery Disease: Your Heart-Healthy Guide
Coronary artery disease means fatty buildup narrows the blood vessels that feed your heart. Healthy daily habits and your medicines slow this buildup and protect your heart.
Stop smoking
- Stop smoking and vaping. Stay away from other people's smoke.
- Ask your care team about medicines and programs that help you quit.
Know your numbers
- Blood pressure goal: below 130/80 mm Hg, or ____________.
- LDL (bad cholesterol) goal: ____________.
- If you have diabetes, your A1C goal: ____________.
Eat for your heart
- Fill your plate with vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, nuts, and fish.
- Cook with olive oil instead of butter. Limit fatty red meat and full-fat cheese.
- Keep sodium below 2,300 mg a day, or ____________ mg.
Move every day
- Aim for 150 minutes a week, such as a 30-minute brisk walk 5 days a week.
- Ask your provider before you start a new exercise plan.
- Work toward a healthy weight. Get a flu shot every year.
Take your medicines
- Take your statin (cholesterol pill) every day, even when you feel well.
- Keep taking it when your cholesterol improves.
- Take aspirin only if your provider tells you to.
Call your provider today if you have
- Muscle pain, soreness, or weakness you cannot explain
- Dark, tea-colored urine
- Blood pressure or blood sugar often above your goal
Call 911 or your local emergency number if you have
- Chest pain, pressure, or squeezing that lasts more than a few minutes or comes back
- Pain in your arm, back, neck, or jaw, with sweating, nausea, or shortness of breath
- New chest pain, chest pain at rest, or pain that feels different from usual
- Fainting
- Do not drive yourself to the hospital.
This handout supports, not replaces, advice from your own nurse or doctor.
For nurses and nursing students: the teaching guide behind this handout →