Pulmonary Hypertension

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Well, the results of my sister's echocardiogram shows that she has moderate pulmonary hypertension instead of---or in addition to---congestive heart failure.

Her ejection fraction is pretty good (62%) and she doesn't have any pericardial effusion, but I'm not at all happy with this diagnosis. To be honest, I don't know a great deal about the disorder, mainly because I haven't seen much of it; but I've been doing some research, and none of it is particularly encouraging. Long-term survival rates are lousy, and evidently it's fairly difficult to diagnose the cause, which in turn makes it hard to treat effectively. In the meantime, she's scared to pieces, her blood pressure's still too high despite being on multiple meds, she keeps having these episodes of acute shortness of breath, she's tired all the time, and she looks pale and drawn.

What I need to know is if any of you have experience with patients or family members who have had this condition.....and if so, how long do people actually live with it? And what on earth could cause such a thing in a 58-year-old woman who hasn't been sick a day in 10 years, who has only mild high blood pressure normally, and other than the stress from her job doesn't have any heavy psychological or mental health problems?

Any help you can give me, any light you can shed on this puzzling disorder, would be sincerely appreciated. She's looking to me for answers, and I have none to give her. We're not all the way through the diagnostics, either; she has an adenosine myoview scheduled for the 5th, and I suppose cardiac catheterization might be in her future as well, but beyond that, well......who knows.

Thanks! :uhoh21: