CONCLUSIONS ABOUT ALCOHOL AND ANGINA
So what should we conclude about alcohol and angina? Can angina sufferers have the occasional drink? My feeling is that they can, but it has to be under strict control. I would restrict drinking to the odd glass of wine with meals, and I still recommend abstention for three days a week. If you also have high blood pressure, then I would go further and advise only the very occasional drink as a treat.
A final word about alcohol. Probably the busiest times of the year for family doctors are the days after a national holiday such as Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, or Thanksgiving. Special occasions for a family, such as a birthday, anniversary, wedding, or reunion, provide the same circumstances. At times like these, people overeat, usually a meal full of fat, and overdrink. Inhibitions are lost, everyone is very happy, and they go to bed full of food and drink.
During the night, all the conditions for shutting down the blood flow through a coronary artery are fulfilled. The extra fat in the bloodstream makes the blood more viscous, and the flow more sluggish. The blood is more likely to clot. The alcohol that you have drunk ensures that the blood pressure remains just a little higher than usual, and the strain on the plaque sitting in your coronary artery is a little greater. The result, in the small morning hours, may well be a heart attack.
I hate to be a killjoy, but if you have taken the trouble to change your lifestyle to protect your heart, it is a pity to throw all the advantages away just because of one night of overindulgence. You can enjoy a party much better sober than you can even a little drunk, and think of how much better you will feel in the morning.
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