Dealing with hypertension and high cholesterol problems

Hypertension and Pulmonary hypertension are two different things. While both deal with high blood pressure, pulmonary hypertension deals with the lung vessels only. People diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, often referred to as PH, often have very normal blood pressure readings when taken with the conventional arm cuff.
While many symptoms can indicate PH, the only way to confirm the diagnosis is with a pulmonary artery pressure reading. Normal range for the pulmonary arterial pressure is below 30. PH can be genetic, familial (which means it runs in that family but the gene for it has not been found yet), secondary to another disease or cause such as asthma or pulmonary blood clots, or primary, meaning for no reason.
In Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, or PPH, often the blood vessels in the lungs have shrunk and hardened, creating smaller harder vessels for the blood to flow through. The blood circulating from the heart to the lungs is pushed by the right side of the heart, usually the smaller side. The right side of the heart is not designed to push hard, and the added pressure of the constricted vessels forces the right side of the heart to 'bulk up' which actually weakens it.
Generally, the cause of death in PH patients is heart failure, even though it is the lungs that is the problem. The right heart just works too hard and wears itself out.
Treatment is not easy for many patients. One of the most effective medications, Flolan, can only be administered with a catheter that is inserted and left in long term. The end of the catheter tubing is pushed through the vessels until the tip of it sits just inside the heart cavity, so when the medicine is dispensed, by a pump connected to the other end of the tubing, it will drip directly into the heart and be used immediately to help open and relax those constricted vessels. This catheter can remain in place for several years, and the pump runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - even in the shower. Infection rates for the catheter site are high.
The medication in this pump has a very short shelf life, so a person on this medication must mix the medicine fresh every day, and connect a new container of the mixed medicine to the pump, every day. The mixing is done with clean area with mask in place and hands washed thoroughly.

One can learn a lot about a disease when it is effecting a person in their household - my husband was diagnosed with FPH, familial pulmonary hypertension, in September of 1997. His mother and his brother both died from the same disease, within 3 years of their being diagnosed. My husband has been living with this disease for almost 10 years now, but the long term effects of the disease and medications have yet to be fully explored, and I for one can tell you, altered mental status may very well be an issue.