Bronius Bradauskas openly about the disease: “we arrived at the hospital, we already took a stretcher there”

My heart rate altered

77-year-old politician Bronius Bradauskas quarantines the village farm, and while a coronary artery stent was recently inserted, he is trying to move more.

“I do all the work myself, there is no need to hire anyone,” says the former politician. – My wife is angry because I work. But I tell him that if I sit down, I won’t get up. “

B. Bradauskas has had problems with his heart for a long time: he felt it for the first time at the age of nineteen, but did not realize that he was ill. It wasn’t until many years later that he was diagnosed with a microinfarction. “That scar is still on my heart,” says the interlocutor.

When B. Bradauskas was 35 years old, doctors prescribed medication for high blood pressure. Later, when he was fifty years old, his heart was not filled with laughter.

“We drove a car, he got sick, I feel a tuk, tuk, tuk of the heart. He took him to the Ambulance Hospital, he was already carrying a stretcher there … He found a heart rhythm disorder. I drank medicine for a year and did not take a gram of vodka in the mouth. The rhythm is back to normal. “

B. Bradauskas claims that he took medication regularly, but that his blood pressure was rarely controlled, and when it was controlled it was 180, 160 and rarely 140. This continued for many years.

“Once, a year and a half ago, I woke up, my heart was pounding. I had to go to the hospital for a spinal hernia. There he did a cardiogram with other tests; it turns out that his heart rhythm is altered. He took me to Santariškės Intended to insert probes through the mouth, burn the blood vessels to normalize the rhythm. But he managed to fix it with medications. Finally, Dr. Jūratė Barysienė selected the correct medication and regulated his blood pressure, now it is sometimes too low, “he says. B. Bradauskas.

After that time, the politician’s heart rate was altered five more times.

“Now I am taking the medications that were prescribed for me, for blood pressure and anticoagulants, they prescribed me immediately after the heart rhythm disorder. I feel fine, I go hunting, but the” spirits “are forgotten”, laughs B. Bradauskas.

Life-threatening condition

If he did not take drugs that regulate blood clotting, B. Bradauskas would suffer a stroke, because his heart rhythm is altered due to atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation develops when the smooth propagation of an electrical impulse is disrupted, forcing rhythmic contraction of individual parts of the heart into the atria. “Then the atria contract more often than usual and rhythmically, and the blood flows in them slowly and swirls, there is no complete atrial contraction, which leads to clot formation,” explains Assoc. Jūratė Barysienė.

Approximately 11,000 Lithuanians suffer a stroke each year, most due to the formation of a blood clot in the heart. One in three people over the age of 55 is at risk for atrial fibrillation.

It is necessary to take medication

To avoid a stroke, a person suffering from atrial fibrillation must take oral anticoagulants to regulate blood clotting.

Doc. Mr. Barysienė says there are two groups of these drugs. According to health policy, patients start vitamin K antagonists first, the most common of which is warfarin.

Although these drugs save lives for 70 years, they are very “capricious.” When used, the blood may start to clot too hard or suddenly stop clotting, and the person will have a stroke or bleed.

This effect can be caused by a number of reasons, such as taking other medications, changes in your health, and even food. As a result, all people taking warfarin should have a blood clotting test at least once a month. Based on your results, the doctor adjusts the dose of the drug.

“People taking warfarin need to realize that they are at risk of stroke if they miss a test just once. The more often you check, the better, but the maximum time you can’t check is one month. This has been proven by scientific research ”, says the doctor.

If the patient cannot arrange for blood clotting tests to be performed on time, he must be assisted by relatives as prescribed by the doctor.

Most dangerous supermarkets

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions were introduced on health services, making it difficult to access medical facilities, and now, with a strict quarantine, people are afraid to visit medical facilities.

However, doc. J. Barysienė states that it is much safer in a medical institution than in a supermarket, where we buy food, because doctors carefully restrict patient flows, control temperature, require the use of masks and gloves, disinfect surfaces and they are reviewed at least every three weeks.

“The patient has to come to the laboratory to draw blood. It only takes a few minutes. You don’t need to go to the doctor, you can talk on the phone. Your doctor will report the test results, adjust the warfarin dose if necessary, and issue an electronic prescription. Family members can also pick up the drugs at the pharmacy ”, explains the cardiologist.

There are alternatives

A few years ago, oral anticoagulants for antagonists other than vitamin K, another group of anticoagulants, were widely used. They are also used by B. Bradauskas.

Oral anticoagulants that do not contain vitamin K do not have the aforementioned disadvantages of warfarin, but doctors may not prescribe them for all patients because they are more expensive and not reimbursed for everyone. Also, for some patients, such as those with mechanical heart valves, these drugs are not suitable, they are only treated with warfarin.

“Oral anticoagulants for non-vitamin K antagonists do not interact with food, much less interact with other medications, and do not require monitoring of blood clotting rates,” says the doctor.

Unfortunately, doctors must show that warfarin does not help the patient to prescribe oral anticoagulants other than vitamin K antagonists. To do this, the patient must perform blood coagulation tests every month for half a year and at least 30 percent . they must show that the blood is not clotting as it should.

“Many patients who can afford to buy non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants on their own do not want to risk their health. Unfortunately, in this way they lose the opportunity to receive reimbursable drugs in the future, ”says the doc. J. Barysienė.

Regardless of the blood thinners the patient is taking, it is very important to see their doctor regularly, not to stop prescribed tests and treatment during a COVID-19 pandemic to avoid the risk of stroke.