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How To Reverse Pulmonary Hypertension Naturally
Adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors may help lower blood pressure in your lungs and ease your symptoms. For example, you can try adjusting your diet, exercising more, and avoiding stimulants.
Pulmonary hypertension happens when blood pressure in the arteries supplying blood to your lungs is abnormally high. Over time, this can weaken your heart and lungs, leading to complications like trouble breathing and tiredness.
While there isn't a cure for the condition, medications, treatments, and lifestyle changes can help.
Read on to learn more about healthy lifestyle behaviors that can assist in managing your pulmonary hypertension.
Regular aerobic exercise can help you keep your heart healthy. This is especially important because keeping your heart and lungs functioning at their best can be difficult with pulmonary hypertension.
A 2021 study suggests that a supervised exercise-based rehabilitation program is generally safe for most people with pulmonary hypertension who are otherwise medically stable. It found that the program could increase their capacity to do more exercise.
The Pulmonary Hypertension Association recommends the following strategies when starting a new physical activity program:
Sodium is an electrolyte that your body needs to function properly. Consuming too much can make you retain large amounts of fluid, which can increase your blood pressure.
By reducing the sodium in your diet, you can help prevent your pulmonary hypertension from getting worse.
A 2018 study suggests that managing fluid retention is a key part of keeping pulmonary hypertension under control. If your fluid levels are too high, your doctor might recommend medications such as diuretics.
In addition to limiting your sodium intake, you should also make some careful dietary choices.
For example, you might want to make sure you're getting enough vitamin D and iron. A 2020 report found that people with pulmonary hypertension were more likely to be deficient in these nutrients. However, only a blood test can tell you actually have an iron or vitamin D deficiency.
Generally, a heart-healthy eating plan — such as the Mediterranean diet or the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet — will provide you with a range of healthy vitamins and minerals. Both diets emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins.
If you have pulmonary hypertension, you might be taking medications that take extra stress off of your heart and lungs. However, it's important to be aware that not all over-the-counter medications are safe for you to take.
Decongestants and cold medicines can contain stimulants such as pseudoephedrine or ephedrine. You should either avoid these entirely or only take them if a doctor says it's OK.
Smoking is not only a major risk factor for developing pulmonary hypertension, but it's also a behavior that can make existing symptoms even worse. Second-hand smoke exposure is also dangerous.
If you need help quitting smoking, talk with your healthcare team about the latest in products and programs that may be helpful.
Even if you've tried to quit before but been unsuccessful, it's even more important to give it a try again if you have been diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. You can also contact the tobacco quit line at 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
Poor sleep is associated with health problems like high blood pressure and obesity. You can improve your health by prioritizing sleep quality and quantity. Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep each night.
Some people with pulmonary hypertension also have a breathing condition called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which means you stop breathing during your sleep. If you have OSA, it's especially important to be aggressive and consistent in managing your pulmonary hypertension.
A 2021 study suggests that about 1 in 5 people with OSA have or develop pulmonary hypertension. Their outcomes tend to be worse than people with OSA and no pulmonary hypertension.
Certain external conditions can exacerbate pulmonary hypertension symptoms because they put strain on the heart and lungs. Therefore, you may need to avoid taking very hot baths or showers and steer clear of saunas and hot tubs.
In addition, spending time in high altitudes can tax the lungs and worsen pulmonary hypertension.
While natural treatments and healthy lifestyle changes may help improve your symptoms, they should not be viewed as replacements for evidence-based treatments.
If you have been diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, be sure to discuss all treatment options and lifestyle adjustments you can make to reverse or at least better manage your symptoms.
It often takes a combination of approaches to control this serious cardiovascular condition.
FDA Approves Potential 'Game Changer' For Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Pictured: Merck Research Laboratories in California/iStock, Michael Vi
Merck's $11.5 billion acquisition of Acceleron Pharma paid dividends Tuesday as the FDA approved sotatercept, the cornerstone of the deal, to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension.
The drug, which will carry the brand name Winrevair, is the first FDA-approved activin signaling inhibitor therapy for PAH, according to Merck's announcement. This new therapeutic class improves the balance between pro- and anti-proliferative signaling to regulate vascular cell proliferation, an underlying cause of PAH.
Winrevair is intended to be used alongside existing PAH therapies to increase exercise capacity, lessen the severity of PAH and reduce the risk of disease worsening.
Merck has priced Winrevair at $14,000 per vial before insurance, according to multiple sources.
The drug came into Merck's possession with the 2021 acquisition of Acceleron. "[Winrevair] was the main opportunity that we saw with the Acceleron acquisition," Mahesh Patel, VP of global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, told BioSpace. "We have been so fortunate in how well things have gone in the acquisition, executing on the clinical development program and seeing paradigm-changing clinical trial results through it."
In October 2022, Winrevair hit the primary Phase III endpoint, eliciting a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the 6-minute walk distance test after 24 weeks. The drug also reached statistical significance in secondary endpoints, including time to patient death or the first occurrence of a clinical worsening event.
Patel said that before Winrevair, treatments for PAH had only dilated the arteries, opening blocked or narrowed blood vessels and allowing more oxygen to flow. However, earlier medicines have not addressed the root causes of the disease. Winrevair has the chance to "dramatically change" patients' physical function and quality of life, Patel said.
Tuesday's approval follows that of Johnson & Johnson's Opsynvi, a single-tablet combination of macitentan and tadalafil, which received the FDA's green light on March 22 for adults with PAH.
But Jeremy Feldman, director of the pulmonary hypertension program and medical director for high-risk care at Summit Heath, who was also involved in Winrevair's Phase II and III trials, expressed more excitement about this medicine.
"Without a doubt, sotatercept is a game changer," he told BioSpace. "I think the way that that will impact patients is very different than the availability of a combo tablet that doesn't advance the care of patients. It may advance the convenience of patients a little bit." He added that Winrevair is a particularly effective agent on top of the approved therapies and is particularly well-tolerated in terms of day-to-day side effects. "I think there's a question mark that still has not been fully answered about the long-term safety of the medication, but that's not an unfamiliar space for us to be in with a disease process that has still a very high mortality."
Winrevair's label lists warnings for erythrocytosis, which may increase the risk of thromboembolic events and hyperviscosity syndrome, and severe thrombocytopenia, which may increase the risk of bleeding.
Winrevair and Opsynvi enter a growing PAH market, which Prophecy Market Insights projects will be worth $12.2 billion by 2032. An increasing geriatric population married with global increases in chronic diseases has led to a rise in the need for PAH medicines, according to the report. As of December 2023, approximately 129 drugs were in development for PAH by 110 companies, institutes and universities, Pharmaceutical Technology reported.
Patel said Merck plans to investigate Winrevair for other unmet needs in PAH, including on trial its potential use within one year of diagnosis and a second trial in patients who potentially are at very high risk for progressive morbidity and mortality.
Tim Noyes, CEO of Aerovate Therapeutics, which is also developing a PAH candidate, said this is an "exciting" time to be in the space. For the past 20 years, the "bedrock" of care has been using dilators, or vasodilators, Noyes told BioSpace. While this has made a difference for patients, the underlying problem with PAH is cell proliferation with arteries narrowing from the inside out, he said.
"To get to that next level, to allow patients to really start to have an agent that addresses the underlying cause of their disease, it's anti-proliferative agents and [that's] why there's so much enthusiasm for sotatercept," Noyes said.
Aerovate's candidate, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is a dry-powder aerosol version of Novartis' cancer drug Gleevec. Noyes sees the drug as complementary to Winrevair as opposed to being necessarily a competitor. "Each has its . . . Specific benefits to patients, entirely different mechanisms," he explained.
Winrevair will be available to patients at select pharmacies at the end of April, according to Merck's announcement.
"A diagnosis of PAH is a life-changing experience for patients and families due to its chronic, progressive nature. Patients with PAH experience limiting symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue," Matt Granato, president and CEO of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, said in a statement. "We are excited to see industry research leading to a better understanding of PAH and the development of a medicine in a novel treatment pathway that expands options for the patient community."
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.Patchen@biospace.Com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
Correction (March 27): This story has been updated from its original version to reflect that Aerovate does believe that its candidate, if approved, could be used in combination with Winrevair. BioSpace regrets the error.
Finding Answers For Pulmonary Hypertension
DENVER, COLORADO (NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH) - Pulmonary hypertension, or high blood pressure in the lungs, is a dangerous condition that disproportionately affects women, especially the most severe form of the disease that often leads to heart failure. Experts are uncovering the mysteries behind pulmonary hypertension and working to improve diagnosis, develop new treatments, and ultimately halt disease progression to save lives. Barb Consiglio has the story.
Kira Cronk thought weight gain was to blame for her shortness of breath.
"My lips were turning blue. It was harder for me to walk up and down stairs," stated Kira Cronk, a pulmonary hypertension patient.
Kira's condition deteriorated to heart failure as she waited for answers. Finally, she was referred to doctors at National Jewish Health, where she underwent extensive testing to find the source of the problem.
"They sat down with me after they checked out the results, and he explained to me that I had pulmonary arterial hypertension," added Cronk.
It's the most severe form of pulmonary hypertension, or high blood pressure in the lungs, which causes blood vessels to constrict or thicken, forcing the heart and lungs to work harder and causing more damage the longer the disease remains untreated. But symptoms like shortness of breath and fatigue are often mistaken for things like asthma or even mental health issues.
"Because of these nonspecific symptoms, there's really a significant delay, and studies have shown that often it takes up to two years or even longer for patients to get diagnosed," explained Dr. Tim Lahm, National Jewish Health.
Doctor Tim Lahm and his team are working in the clinic and in the lab to improve recognition of the disease, uncover why women are more susceptible to it, and develop targeted treatments to halt progression or even prevent pulmonary hypertension from developing.
"We are able to ask specific questions based on what we see in the clinic, and then take these questions to the lab and try to design experiments to answer that," added Dr. Lahm.
Those answers then come back to people like Kira, who is now able to enjoy the moments once lost to her disease.
"I honestly didn't think that I would live to see 40. And now I'm 40 years old, and I have a great life," stated Cronk.
Copyright 2024 by Lima Communications Corporation. All rights reserved.
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