If you have been diagnosed with PPH as a result of Fen-Phen use, you have several options available for treatment depending on how far advanced your disease is and how healthy you are in other respects. Other considerations such as allergies are also an important factor in determining whether you will be treated with Flolan or another similar drug.
Primary Pulmonary Hypertension is caused by increased blood pressure in the lungs, which in turn has a variety of causes, one of which is known to be prolonged use of the diet drug Fen-Phen. The high blood pressure in the lungs puts extra strain on the heart of the affected individual, and causes shortness of breath, fatigue, fainting, dizziness, and cyanosis (a blue tinge to the skin of the feet, hands, and lips).
Drugs used for PPH treatment are, therefore, typically targeted to expanding lung blood vessels and increasing blood flow to the lungs in order to ease the strain on the heart and provide relief from the symptoms of the disease.
Determining which of these drugs is the best to use for PPH treatment can be a lengthy process. Individual reactions to each drug can vary quite widely, so a patient may have to try several different treatment options before an effective long-term treatment can be established.
Approximately 25% of patients can be treated effectively with oral medication using drugs called calcium channel blockers; however for those that do not respond to this medication, stronger oral medications or intravenously-administered drugs such as Flolan are needed to treat PPH effectively.
While Flolan is an effective medication for the treatment of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, it does have some disadvantages. Flolan is administered intravenously directly into the patient's bloodstream, via a catheter which must be surgically implanted into a chest vein.
Once the drug is injected, it functions for only five minutes in the body, and this means that a patient being treated with Flolan must be continually injected with new doses of the drug (via the catheter) to maintain an optimum level of treatment. People receiving Flolan treatment wear a small battery-operated pump which injects Flolan into the catheter at a pre-determined rate.
All of this means that for people who have had and would like to maintain a very active lifestyle, Flolan may not be the best choice for PPH treatment. The preparation that is injected must be prepared daily, as the drug has a very short life-span, and the pump must be kept cold with mini ice packs if the supply of the drug is to last longer than eight hours without being renewed.
The pump itself can also interfere with daily life. Certain sporting activities, such as swimming and other water sports are made more difficult, and high impact activities such as contact sports are not recommended due to the possibility of the pump or catheter being displaced. The effects of sudden withdrawal of Flolan treatment, even if for a short time only, can be quite severe, and may cause breathing difficulties as well as dizziness and weakness.
Despite its disadvantages, Flolan treatment has some advantages when compared to treatment with other medications such as Tracleer. The side effects of Flolan are typically less severe than those of some other medications used for PPH treatment, particularly for long-term use. Tracleer, for example, can cause liver damage and is known to be harmful to unborn babies.
Flolan can improve the quality of life for people with PPH quite dramatically, and can improve the long term prognosis for the disease as well as enabling individuals to achieve a normal level of physical fitness and activity. Flolan treatment is also known to slow down the progress of scarring in lung tissue caused by Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, and it is now viewed as an effective alternative to lung transplantation (which was once used as a last resort for PPH treatment and carries its own set of risks).
One final advantage of Flolan treatment is one of cost. Flolan is currently considered a PPH treatment rather than a prescription medication. For this reason, Flolan treatment is usually fully covered by Medicare and health insurance, as long as approval is gained before treatment begins.
Since the 1990s, the field of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPH) has made considerable advances, with several new drugs available for people with the disease. Both quality of life and long-term prognosis for people with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension is improved thanks to drugs such as Tracleer. There are several options available for PPH treatment, and the best treatment for each individual will depend on their lifestyle and how serious their condition is.
Primary Pulmonary Hypertension can be caused by a variety of different means, including prolonged use of the diet drug known commercially as Fen-Phen. PPH results in increased lung blood pressure, decreased blood flow in the lungs, and excess strain on the heart as it works harder to pump blood into the lungs. Most PPH treatment medications work to relax blood vessels in the lungs. The blood vessels are then able to more easily pump blood into the lungs, and the heart no longer has to work overtime to keep up.
Individual patient responses to each PPH treatment drug vary quite widely. Ultimately the only way of finding out which of the available drugs is the best for a given situation is to try them all in turn. It can take quite a long time to establish an effective treatment plan, but unfortunately there is currently no other way of determining which drug will work most effectively.
Around 75% of people with PPH require the use of strong oral or intravenous treatments to slow the progress of the disease and alleviate symptoms. Two of the most commonly-used PPH treatment medications are Tracleer and Flolan. In some respects, Tracleer treatment is the better option, however it does have some risks that Flolan does not. The best drug for any given situation will depend mostly on how well the patient responds to each.
Perhaps one of the most significant advantages of Tracleer treatment is its ease of use. It is an oral medication that is very easy to take, especially when compared with other available PPH treatment medications. Flolan and Remodulin, for example, are both administered intravenously. The user must carry around a small battery-operated pump to ensure a continuous supply of the drug. Tracleer treatment is a better choice for people who want to maintain an active lifestyle, and the drug creates virtually no limitations on what can be achieved while taking it.
It also causes less severe withdrawal symptoms if drug use is discontinued. Flolan must be continuously administered, because it lasts only a very short time in the body. This means that if the supply of Flolan is suddenly discontinued very severe withdrawal symptoms can result, because there is no residual supply of the drug in the body. Because Tracleer is an oral medication taken several times a day, the effects of a sudden discontinuation of the drug are much less serious (however, regardless of which drug is taken for PPH treatment, it is important that treatment is not discontinued unless your doctor advises it and monitors your condition closely).
There are some disadvantages associated with Tracleer treatment. If you are pregnant at the time you are diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, using it as a PPH treatment will not be a safe option for you. It is known to cause birth defects if taken during pregnancy and the drug is unsafe to take if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. Most PPH treatment drugs require similar precautions; however the effects of Tracleer on unborn babies are much stronger. In addition, it interacts with most forms of contraceptive pill, injection and implant to make them less effective. Women of child-bearing age taking it must use at least two very reliable forms of birth control in addition to taking monthly pregnancy tests to ensure pregnancy does not occur.
Another clear disadvantage of Tracleer treatment is that it can cause serious damage to the liver. People with any type of abnormal liver or kidney function cannot take it. Those who do take the drug must undergo regular liver function tests, and must look out for certain warning signs that indicate liver damage. It is thought, however, that this type of treatment does not cause permanent liver damage. Those patients who stop taking the drug due to liver damage almost always find that the damage reverses itself once this treatment stops.
Although it does have some clear disadvantages, it is a very effective option for treating Pulmonary Primary Hypertension. Tracleer treatment is so effective that it is now considered a long-term alternative to lung transplantation.