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New and confused?!
I get so confused about all of this. I think I have it all down, then somebody asks me to explain what my health problem is and I get all twisted up. I was diagnosed with secondary PH in 2014. I’ve had asthma most of my life but suddenly one day while standing still outside I was short of breath and my heart was racing. After all the usual testing of my heart and lungs the diagnosis was secondary PH due to my COPD. Treating the COPD has shown to be successful in my PFT but I’m feeling much worse. It’s like the engine purrs until I try to put it in gear.
My regular pulmonologist says that is the signal that it’s time to treat my PH directly and that PH is the cause of my major symptoms. This happened a couple of days ago so I’m still digesting the change. Maybe I’m confused because everything overlaps and I’m trying to put it all in neat little columns.
I see the terms PH and PAH used. I know the difference, sort of. Since my cause of PH is pretty much under control (COPD) have I gone from PH to PAH or does it even matter?
I hope I’m not the only one that had this muddle of info in the beginning. I’ve been referred to a Dr Rajat Walia at St. Josephs in Phoenix and hope for some answers.
Thanks for having me here and I look forward to getting to know all of you!
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1 Reply
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Hi Donna,
It’s great to have you on the forums and thank you for reaching out and sharing about your story. I’m sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis. Your doctors certainly have been doing the right thing by trying to get the underlying cause of the PH under control of better treated but it seems like that has caught up with you. I hope that the new doctor that you are going to see is a specialist in PH and would be able to tell you exactly what is going on now and how they are going to start treating the PH. Were you given a right heart cath that showed an increase in your pulmonary pressures? Are you on oxygen currently or no? Looking forward to getting to know you more.
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