Patient Stories

Lisa’s Diagnosis

“My name is Lisa. I live with pulmonary arterial hypertension, and this is my PAH story.”

Like many people with PAH, Lisa first knew something was wrong when she experienced shortness of breath. It’s fairly common; you’re taking your dog for a walk, trekking up a flight of stairs, or even just walking around the house, and then all of a sudden you can barely breathe.

“The first thing that led me to see a doctor was shortness of breath. I noticed simple things like going from my car to my office, I was just totally spent. And then at home, just dressing myself became impossible. My husband, who was in the medical field, turned to me one day and said, ’Babe, there’s really something wrong.’”

PAH can often be misdiagnosed as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, or other diseases. There are several reasons for this. One of the reasons is that PAH has symptoms similar to other more common diseases. PAH can also be masked by another coexisting disease.

Doctors are often told, “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras” (that is, think of the more common possibilities before the rarer ones). PAH is a zebra, in that it is a rare disease that appears similar to more common diseases.

“I first went to my regular physician. He ran some tests and said something was definitely wrong. He referred me to an internist who then referred me to a cardiologist, and after two weeks of endless tests, I was finally diagnosed, and it was pulmonary arterial hypertension.”

Read more of Lisa’s story:

Part 2: Dealing with the diagnosis
Part 3: Lisa’s PAH story includes Letairis
Part 4: Lisa on living with PAH