Before the doctor will even put me on Tracleer, I'm having to do a lot of medical tests. I've been to my first appointment seeing the doctors who specialize in Pulmonary Hypertension. To go to this appointment, my husband and I woke up at 7:30am to get there at 10am and we didn't get home until 6pm that evening. It was a really long and tiring day.

My checklists of the tests I will be doing are:

1. Blood work including tests for HIV and Liver function
2. Artial Blood Gas
3. Complete Pulmonary Functions testing
4. Chest CT scan
5. EKG
6. Echocardiogram
7. Overnight Oxygen Saturation monitoring
8. Right-side Heart Catherization

I think that about covers it all. They want all this done within the next two weeks. I'm so nervous about the heart cath, though I've had them before but never while awake and as an adult.

With the Tracleer, the doctors fill out a request form of some sort and submit it to, I think, my insurance to see if they will pay for it. Remember it cost between $2000 to $5000 a month for this medication. If the insurance doesn't pay for it, then the doctors will help to find programs who offer assistance, some based on how much of an income you have to decide on how much help you may receive.

Luckily for me, my husband's insurance decided to pay for it. I got my first bottle of Tracleer already. I'm so surprised that everything is going so fast. I'm not even going to open the package of the Tracleer because I haven't even finished with my tests first. The doctor said that we would talk about taking the Tracleer after the test results come in.

As I take Tracleer, I will keep you posted on how I tollerate it and what it's doing for me if anything. I will have to go in MONTHLY for a blood test to check on my liver but that can be done locally. The Pulmonary Hypertension doctor is an hour drive from me.

I'm not looking for a miracle but I do hope this medicine will help me more than hurt my liver.

 

 

Wow, Tracleer? This could be good news! The tests sound intimidating, but not awful. I really hope the stuff is more a help than a hinderance for you!!!

I am 66 years old and I have been haveing breathing problems for 5 years. They have me on oxygen 3 liters all night and I had to quit work(a teacher assistant for 27 Years), because I could not walk to each building. I loved my job. But I could not breathe either. Please tell me about the medicine and how it helped you.
Kay Houston

--- Kay, thank you for your comments & questions. I take Tracleer to treat my Pulmonary Hypertension. It is suppose to reduce the pressures within the smaller blood vessels in the lungs to help the right side of the heart pump blood into the lungs a bit easier. It helps the heart from having to work so hard which is a good thing.

With this said, Tracleer is a medicine that I started on last July (2006) which an open mind. My heart was showing serious signs of heart failure. What it started doing for me after taking the medication for about 4 or 5 months was to give my body a bit more endurance. I was able to walk a little further and even talk a little easier while I walked. Anyone who has breathing problems will know that walking and talking can sometimes be a challenge.

Now that I've taken it for a year, my second heart cath has shown a good improvement in the pressures within my heart. It's still not a normal reading but it's an improvement and it's taken me out of the dangerous level of heart failure that I was in. Bonus! Right?

Tracleer is very expensive. It runs around $4000.00 a month. If your insurance won't pay for it or you don't have the money to pay for it, then there is a Prescription Program that people can apply for to help with its cost.

I hope this has helped.
Christine