Pulmonary Hypertension treatment

I am a 32 year old mother of a two year old girl. Until a couple of years ago, I lived a fairly ordinary life. Sure, I was less active after the birth of my daughter, but I figured it was just regular post partum. One day in November 2009 I could not keep up walking with my mother. She was pushing the baby, stroller, groceries and bags, but I was the one with the heart pounding gasping for breath. I realized something was wrong. After dozens of medical tests and procedures I was diagnosed in February 2010 with severe Idiopathic Arterial Pulmonary Hypertension, a rare disorder of narrowing of the pulmonary arteries. It causes strain on the heart as it tries to pump blood through tightened blood vessels in the lungs. Western medicine has no cure for the disease and most PH patients die within 2-5 years, usually of heart failure. The cause of my condition is unknown.

Throughout the course of 2010 my condition declined despite having started treatment on Bosentan, a $4000/month designer drug. I would suffer from exhaustion in the evenings, have digestive issues, spells of lightheadedness and had four trips to the E.R. I was starting to occasionally have trouble walking on level ground.

In September 2010 a family trip landed me in the hospital again. I was started on Sidenafil, a second oral medication (a.k.a. Viagra, a common treatment for PH). I was running out of options as I had tried all the oral medications. If Sidenifil didn’t work for me, I would need to consider invasive IV medications such as Flolan, the current gold standard for PH treatment, which involved implanting an open IV line to the heart and wearing a pump 24/7 to constantly supply the drug to my bloodstream.

Shortly after my hospital admission, I started seeing Dr. Che. I was having trouble getting in and out of the car. An echocardiogram showed that my pulmonary pressures were at RVSP = 83 mms/Hg, close to three times the normal limit. During my first session, Dr. Che performed acupuncture. During the treatment, inexplicably I felt an egg sized lump form in my chest at the base of my throat, and then disappear. Dr. Che said the lump was a blockage of Chi that was cleared by his treatment. Amazingly, after about 2 weeks of treatment, I had improved to the point where I could walk around the block carrying two bags of groceries without symptoms!

Through the winter, I continued to see Dr. Che three times a week in addition to my Western.medications. I took Chinese herbs twice each day and had acupuncture treatments three times a week. Along with his treatment of my Pulmonary Hypertension, Dr. Che treated numerous minor discomforts such as sore throat, plugged sinuses and back pain. Often I felt the results immediately after the acupuncture treatment. His natural approach was greatly appreciated as I couldn’t take many cold medicines due to interactions with my Western drugs.

In February 2011, I was tested again and my RVSP had improved to 69 mms/Hg. My heart function had returned to normal and my heart was remodeling itself to a normal size and shape. My PH was downgraded from severe to moderate. I could go shopping in the evenings again, cook and do light chores again and I was recently able to return to work part time. Although I still have a way to go before I can do sports and hiking again, I look forward to continuing to improve in the coming months. I was impressed at how Dr. Che was able to combine TCM treatment with my Western treatments and I am grateful to have my life back and hope for the future.

SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) treatment

I’ve been diagnosed with SLE for about ten years now. My condition mainly involved the kidneys and I’ve always experienced symptoms of fatigue which greatly impacted on my quality of life. For the past few years I’ve been placed on various treatments for my condition, but the results have varied. My specialist eventually informed me that I have practically exhausted the treatment options available for lupus.

I’ve been referred to see Dr Che following the diagnosis of my condition. At that time, along with the use of low dose immune suppressants I was in remission for about 2 years before I experienced another flare-up. My specialist wanted me to experiment with a medication that had an off-label use for lupus; therefore, it was best for me to discontinue the use of all other medications to determine the efficacy of the therapy. As a result, I stopped seeing Dr Che and initiated the novel treatment.

Unfortunately, my results were suboptimal so they decided to place me back on high-dose corticosteroids a year into the therapy. The corticosteroid slightly decreased my symptoms of protein aria but it also led to adverse effects such as hypertension and fluid retention. This is when I started to see Dr. Che again for Traditional Chinese Medication therapy. Six months into the acupuncture and herbal treatments, my symptoms of fluid retention and fatigue have slowly improved. My blood pressure has also stabilized and my specialist eventually decreased the dose of my anti hypertensive medication by half as well.

One year into the therapy, even though I haven’t fully recovered from my condition, my lab tests indicates that my protein aria have also improved; with some of the lab readings at times, reach a level that has never been achieved width use of western medication alone for the past 4 years. Therefore, I’m rely thankful to have Dr. Che as my physician as my quality of life has evidently improved because of his therapies.