What should I do if a cardiovascular patient is infected with COVID-19 (famous doctor lecture hall)

　　Many friends suffering from cardiovascular diseases are very worried about the aggravation of their illness after being infected with Covid-19. For patients with cardiovascular diseases, especially those with hypertension, coronary heart disease, heart failure and after interventional therapy, prevention is the first priority. If there are no contraindications, COVID-19 vaccine should be actively inoculated.

　　What should patients with cardiovascular diseases do if they are infected with Covid-19?

　　First of all, don’t panic. At present, the symptoms of infection caused by Covid-19 Omicron mutant are relatively mild, so it is enough to deal with them actively. If you have persistent discomfort, you should go to the hospital for examination and treatment in time.

　　Some patients with coronary heart disease usually take lipid-lowering drugs, antihypertensive drugs or antiplatelet drugs step by step, and consider stopping taking these drugs after infection to "concentrate" on fighting Covid-19. This kind of practice is absolutely unacceptable. Blood coagulation tendency may occur after human body is infected with Covid-19. For patients with coronary heart disease, if the use of antithrombotic drugs is suddenly suspended, it is easy to form thrombus in a short time and induce myocardial infarction. If statins suddenly stop taking lipid-lowering drugs, blood lipids will also rise rapidly.

　　From the current clinical experience, only a high fever may have a certain impact on the treatment of a small number of patients with heart disease, and other treatment methods are relatively safe, such as commonly used drugs for clearing away heat and toxic materials and relieving muscle soreness, and no adverse reactions have been found after being combined with cardiovascular treatment drugs.

　　If infection occurs, patients with coronary heart disease can deal with various discomforts caused by COVID-19 infection. If you have fever symptoms, in addition to taking antipyretics carefully (for example, taking them staggered with other drugs, starting from a small dose when using antipyretics, etc.), you should also replenish plenty of water or choose physical cooling; If you have sore throat, avoid spicy food in your diet and use some buccal tablets to relieve discomfort; If you lose appetite or taste, you can eat more sour food. Daily advice is to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.

　　Many hypertensive patients have increased blood pressure after being infected with Covid-19, fearing that this is caused by the virus attacking the cardiovascular system. In fact, there may be many reasons for blood pressure fluctuation, which may not be directly related to Covid-19.

　　After being infected with Covid-19, especially in the acute phase, the human body will have a stress reaction, and the heart beat will increase, thus pushing up blood pressure. Generally speaking, after the acute phase, this stress blood pressure increase will gradually ease. After infection, many people say that they are sore all over, have sore throat, and even feel uncomfortable and can’t sleep. These symptoms are also common causes of hypertension.

　　Finally, I would like to remind you that once patients with cardiovascular diseases have obvious chest tightness, chest pain and other symptoms, especially if they are not sure whether it is caused by Covid-19, they should go to the hospital as soon as possible without delay.

　　(The author is the chief physician of the Department of Cardiology, Beijing Hospital)