HealthInfo Waitaha Canterbury
Self-care for angina
Making healthy choices can improve your angina and reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke. Changes you can make include:
- if you smoke, stop smoking
- move more
- eat and drink for a healthy heart
- reach a healthy weight
- manage stress.
Manage angina episodes
If you know what triggers your angina such as exercise or cold, you can prevent episodes. For example, make sure you have your GTN spray or tablets with you when doing exercise and wear extra clothing it it's cold.
If you have an angina episode, you should follow the Angina Action Plan.
Angina Action Plan used with permission from the Heart Foundation of New Zealand. Angina action plan posters are available on the Heart Foundation's website in English, te reo Māori, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Samoan and Tongan.
If your angina episodes are happening more often, lasting longer or are coming on when you're resting or doing very little, contact your doctor within 24 hours.
Take medication
Always carry your quick-acting medication with you. Make sure it isn't out of date.
Taking preventer medicines for the rest of your life even when you're well, will reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
Keep other conditions under control
Be checked for and keep under control other conditions that affect your heart, such as high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, high cholesterol and diabetes.
HealthInfo recommends the following pages
- Heart Foundation – Lower your risk of heart disease
Steps you can take to reduce your risk of angina and heart attack.
On the next page: Preventing angina and heart attack
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed December 2021.
Review key: HIANG-25275
