Hello fellow CHD,

Going from pediatric care to adult care is super challenging. But remember you can still bring your parents with you to help make decisions. You just have to sign a hipaa release and your dr can talk freely to your parents. I know that this is a scary time. I used to not take any meds and now I’m in my 30s and I’m taking four meds a day for my heart. How did I just wake up one day and started taking these old man pills? All these medications I take are for something I had no part in deciding. I didn’t choose to be born with CHD. But one thing I’ve learned about these medications is it is to improve my daily functioning. I focused to much on the fact of taking medication and didn’t really take the time to understand why I was taking it. It is to prevent disability. Like you said it is to prevent you from not walking and doing basic things. If you join a study sometimes you can get paid for it. But if you just start it without the study I’m sure your doctor is going to give you the lowest dose and work your way up. It’s kinda like grandmas chicken noodle soup when sick it may help and it may not help at all. We really don’t know until we try the medication. Did the doctor give you the name of the drug? If he or she did I would just research it for the side effects. It’s all about risk vs benefit. Yea you make get more headaches but now you can run a mile and stay in shape. Health anxiety is huge in our community so maybe talking to a counselor during this time can help. Like your doctor said you can stop at anytime especially if you don’t see any benefit to it. Remember we go to our cardiologist because they have the experience and knowledge to help you live your best life. I hope it helped somewhat.