Unless your condition greatly improves the meds are a part of life and better to determine which specific brands or types provide the least in terms of side effects. At least it is easy to find this information with the many Web sources.

This includes sites with detailed information on drug interactions as with a heart condition people are taking multiple drugs. In my case the question of which P2Y12 antiplatelet medication to take was important as I also take a statin.

With a stent implanted my risk factors increased five-fold and so I needed to review which medications and in which dosages to continue to take. I switched from clopidogrel to ticagrelor and reduced my statin dosage by 50%.

Despite the extra work to research drugs and protocols I am glad that there are so many more options than I would have had 10 years ago and so many drugs are now available in generic form. The regular ticagrelor sold for $450 in the USA and the generic form at Costco costs me only $8 per month.