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In a message dated 03/01/2001 1:37:15 PM Central Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << [log in to unmask] >> Annie, I read your message now. My computer has been down, and it is quite likely that your husband has been diagnosed already and that my information will not help or comfort you. I have pulmonary hypertension, and I have been through the same tests as your husband. I have low blood pressure and my last EKG was fine; my pulse is very low. My blood from the lungs to the heart goes too fast, and the doctors don't know why this happens but they suspect it is congenital. This causes slow, but progressive, damage to my heart. There are different types of pulmonary hypertension; some types are very easy to treat and are not very harmful. I have ":the bad kind," where the doctors don't know the cause and they don't have any treatment for the pulmonary hypertension; they monitor me and literally wait for damage to the heart to occur. I have taken Sinemet for 3 and one-half years. I do breathe funny, at times; I have difficulty catching my breath, at times. Those times have never been connected to the taking of the Sinemet or the wearing off of the Sinemet. I do think that when I notice any irregularities in, or problems with, my breath is when everything is quiet and I am not doing anything; I think those times would tend to coincide with the times the medication is wearing off or I am scheduled to take another dose of the medication. It might be that your husband's breathing difficulties are also coincidental rather than connected to, or consequential to, the taking of this medication. I am very careful, and my doctors are very careful, about the medications I take and the side effects of those medications. A nuerologist/movement disorder specialist at the Mayo clinic prescribed the Sinemet for me, and my doctors in Green Bay, another neurologist/movement disorder specialist,a pulmonary specialist, a cardiologist, a psychiatrist, and an internist had a telephone conference--notice I wasn't on the phone--and gave thumbs up to the Sinemet. There may be something out there that would say your husband's breathing difficulties are caused by this medication, but I haven't seen it or heard about it. It is clear to me that the medication is not connected to my heart condition, and, with the information I have now, I think that my PD and my heart conditions are separate. and with the heart condition preceding the PD. Of course your husband's case could be totally different. There also has been some very interesting information on the list recently about PD and its effect on the heart. I would guess by now your husband has also been given a cardiac cath and you and your husband have a diagnosis or some idea of what is going on with your husband and his heart. I would have responded earlier if your urgent message had been available to me earlier. I thought that, at a minimum, I had to tell you that I thought my heart condition was not connected to the taking of the medication. And if your husband's doctor tells him and you that there is a connection between your husband's heart condition and the medication, please let me know ASAP! Your recitation of your husband's symptoms, his tests, and the results of his tests could have come from my chart--I do hope that you and your husband get better results than I did. If you have any questions, comments, information--or you need to vent--please keep me in mind. I will pray for you and your husband, and I have contacts with various prayer circles that are always willing to pray for two more--after all, they pray for me on almost a continual basis. Good Luck to you and your husband, fortunately or unfortunately, your journey is just beginning, Katie Wolfe