By Serena Lawrence: Complete Post through this link…
When I was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, I learned that it was a rare disease. I had never heard of pulmonary hypertension before my diagnosis, and I learned that none of the people in my life knew about the disease either.
For those who might want, or need, to know, here are some points to keep in mind:
1. Pulmonary hypertension is different from asthma.
A few of my friends tried to sympathize with me when I was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension by saying, “I understand how you feel. I have asthma.”
I’ve had asthma attacks, to the point where I was hospitalized for a week. From my experience, asthma and pulmonary hypertension are very different diseases, even though they both cause breathing problems.
I am not trying to downplay the severity of asthma. Asthma can be a very dangerous disease, but generally, in my experience it has been a manageable disease.
2. My lifestyle and diet didn’t cause pulmonary hypertension.
Most people know what regular hypertension is. Most people do not know what pulmonary hypertension is, and how it differs from regular hypertension.
I found that after diagnosis, many people thought I had done something “wrong” to cause my pulmonary hypertension.
Some thought my diet must have been bad, others asked if I smoked. (I never smoked a day in my life and was a vegetarian who tried to eat mostly healthy foods when I was diagnosed.)
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