I just want to say that on my 6 wk post Watchman TEE this April, there was a dx of mild to moderate pulmonary hypertension, RVSP 50-55. No doctor commented on it to me. Then when I got my 6-mo TEE this July, there was a dx of severe pulmonary hypertension, RVSP 70-75. My cardiologist saw it & had me come in to see him.
Rather than trying any little checks with a transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) in a few months or taking some diuretic to see if there were any changes, he said the gold standard to diagnose this Pulm HTN was a right heart catheterization, so I am getting that next week. Funny thing is I don't have much in the way of symptoms, except that after I got afib and the drs started me on meds for a while in 2019, I first started feeling a tightness when I would breathe deeply. I told all the drs about it, that I could just breathe to about mid-sternum before a dry cough would pop out, stopping the breath. When the meds would be titrated down or off completely & with time after ablations, things went back to normal.
I am fit, trim & exercise a lot, nothing extreme, but just about daily classes or walks or biking. So, it seems even a bit puzzling to my cardiologist as he agreed I did not have symptoms to match severe PH.
He doubled my carvedilol (Coreg) to 12.5 mg BID since my BP was going up some (all the anxiety over this new dx & checking BPs, which I had not done in a long time). BUT, since increasing the beta blocker, I have a stronger symptom back of that same old deep breath, then cough. I know beta blocker is contraindicated in asthma sufferers, but it must be in ppl who also have some kind of COPD, like bronchitis too, because it affects me. Too bad as I just filled a 90-day supply.
I think he mentioned it would either be the carvedilol, which I tolerated well at 6.25 BID or I think he said maybe an ARB (angiotensin receptor blocking agent). I don't know anything about the latter drug category. So we stuck with my carvedilol, but doubled it. I wonder if Bystolic would have the same side effects, even though it is cardioselective. I could not tolerate the cardioselective metoprolol, so don't know about Bystolic (generic nebivolol).
Has anyone else gotten a diagnosis discovered on their TEE like this? If so, what came next for you? It is a confusing diagnosis as one can have it for many reasons or no discernible reason at all. Also, there are so many classes/levels of it. I know one thing I read sounded black & white in that it was incurable. It is a heart/lung disease. But, I wonder if one can just be diagnosed at age 74 (sounds late from what I read) & possibly not progress any more.
I would be interested to hear if anyone else has experience with this.