Medication for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Beta blockers decrease heart rate, reducing the heart’s workload. They prevent the worsening of obstruction that occurs with exercise, helping to decrease HCM symptoms. These medications work by blocking the hormone adrenaline from increasing the heart rate in response to stress or exercise, also known as the “fight or flight” reaction.

Your doctor may prescribe disopyramide, which stops the heart from beating too forcefully. By relaxing the heart’s contractions, disopyramide reduces the obstruction in the heart, improves symptoms, and can also regulate heartbeat.

Calcium channel blockers work by slowing the absorption of calcium by the heart and blood vessel walls. They slow heart rate and may improve symptoms.

HCM causes atrial fibrillation, or irregular heart rhythm, in 25 percent of patients. This can cause heart palpitations, worsen heart failure symptoms, and can lead to the formation of blood clots that have the potential to travel from the heart to other parts of the body. The most serious clots can cause stroke.

Antiarrhythmic medications help the heart beat normally by blocking irregular electrical activity and rhythms caused by the thickening of the heart’s walls. The most common antiarrhythmics used for people with HCM are amiodarone, sotolol, and disopyramide, which is also used to reduce obstruction.

Your doctor may prescribe anticoagulants, or blood thinners, to help prevent blood clots that result from atrial fibrillation. People who take anticoagulant medications are at reduced risk of stroke, but these medications can lead to excessive bleeding. In most cases, the benefits of preventing stroke outweigh the bleeding risk. Your doctor weighs these factors as you make a decision about anticoagulant therapy.

Maintaining low cholesterol can prevent plaque from building up in the arteries, which can lead to coronary artery disease. However, for many people with HCM, dietary changes are not enough to lower cholesterol to the desired level. In these cases, cholesterol-lowering medications such as statins may be prescribed after detailed discussion.