Pulmonary Hypertension Support Group

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is an increase in blood pressure in the pulmonary artery or lung vasculature, leading to shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting, and other symptoms, all of which are exacerbated by exertion. Depending on the cause, pulmonary hypertension can be a severe disease with a markedly decreased exercise tolerance and right-sided heart failure.

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Heart, Blood & Circulation
/ Pulmonary Hypertension Support Group

Mildly Large Pulmonary Artery

Lvelaz
Lvelaz

Hey All


Hoping you all are doing good! I found this group doing some researching and looking for some advice. The month of September, I got really sick. Experiencing shortness of breath, dizzy, heart palpiatsions and extra tired. Long story short, with 3 ER trips, doctor visits, tests, I had gotten really sick with what they say as different infections and pleurisy. However my pulmonary artery was also mildly dilated. With me taking a month to recover from the infections, and losing my voice. The doctor said another possibility is pulmonary hypertension. However with my other tests showing to be ok, he wants to rule everything else out first.


I struggle at home when I do too much with basics and still have some chest pain and shortness of breath and extra tired after all of this madness. 


I wanted to know what the road to be diagnosed with ph is?  And any advice and if symptoms were similar?




notsopatient
notsopatient
Echocardiogram is the first step. It's like an ultrasound of your heart that lets them estimate the pressure and look for enlargement of parts of the heart in a non-invasive manner. If it shows elevated pressures then they do a cardiac catheterization to directly measure the pressure. They do this by threading a tube into your heart through your blood vessels to check. You may also have some other tests like a VQ scan where they compare the parts of your lung getting air to the parts of your lung getting blood, or a pulmonary function test which measures all kinds of aspects of your breathing, or an electrocardiogram to measure the electrical function of your heart. I was diagnosed with it then undiagnosed so my only real tip would be to not get ahead of yourself.

If you do end up down that path the pulmonary hypertension association also publishes a great patient survival guide. You can order it at http://www.phassociation.org/
neverthesame1970
neverthesame1970
I am sorry about how you are feeling. My doctor gave me blood test, echocardiogram, vq scan. Chest xrays. On the echo they found elevated pulmonary hypertension. They said it was moderate. Enlarged heart and enlarged left side of the heart. After that it took almost was one year until I got back to mild pulmonary hypertension and feeling much better. I have my days off being tired, bit we all do when we work. Don't know about medications because everyone is different. They offered me iv remodulin. I didn't like the thought of having to walk with an iv for the rest of my life. Then my doctor offered me uptravi, then revatio, then letaris. They have side effects, bit it was worth it. The uptravi was the worse one. I tried to take a higher dose but the body pain was soooo severe that my does was left at 200mcg twice a day. This have worked for me. I have PH since 2012 or maybe before the doctor said. When it's mild you don't have symptoms. My scerolderma and lupus caused my PH. Just keep positive because this disease will try and make you give up. Diet and salt is a big factor for being healthy. Sugar too. Eat healthy is the key and less stress is a key to controlling PH. It's up to you which way I want to go. It's a long process but you can do it. Good luck and God bless.