NIRVANACDRX@AOL.COM
I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW OF ANY LINK BETWEEN USE OF OXYCONTIN AND PULMONARY HYPERTENSION. I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE
PROGNOSIS FOR THIS CONDITION.
I have not heard of oxycontin causing PH but it's not a disease often discussed. I have heard of cocaine causing it as well as diet pills. Often times it is difficult to diagnose and not caught early. The arteries in the lungs become narrow and then they increase the bld pressure in the pulmonary artery. This is the artery which takes oxygen poor blood from the right heart into the lungs to be oxygenated and then back through the heart to the body. The high pressure can cause blood to get stuck in the right heart which eventually enlarges the right heart and causes failure because it cannot pump effectively. Causes of PH are varied and often not known but may include drugs, liver failure, mitral valve disease, copd, thromboembolic diseases to name a few. Symptoms like swelling of the feet, dizziness, fainting, fatigue, shortness of breath, etc. I think sometimes it is mistakingly diagnosed as asthma. The prognosis use to be pretty poor. However, now days they are doing some better. My sister had primary pulmonary htn., PPH diagnosed when she was 33. She had to have a heart double lung transplant because it was caught at end stage. She lived almost 10 years after transplant. They are improving with the meds. Hopefully people will do better with better treatments. I hope this helps.
PM
PM
