Men and PH

What HE Won't Tell You (About His PH)

(July 13, 2016 Guest post by Doug Taylor, leader of Midlands SC Palmetto PHriends support group), PH patient and PHA Board Member -- after a recent discussion with another male patient and attending the men’s medically led session at PHA’s 2016 conference, Doug identified some issues that some men may face after a PH diagnosis. While pulmonary arterial hypertension affects more women than men, men may feel that they face their own unique challenges.

If the pulmonary hypertension patient is a man, there may be some things he isn’t telling you. Regardless of who he is – your husband, your boyfriend, your son, your father, your brother, your nephew, your uncle – he may feel that he needs to keep some things buried. Whether he is single, married, divorced, or widowed, gay or straight, young, middle-aged, or older, here are some things that men with PH may experience:

His diagnosis makes him confused and angry.
He wants to still be “the strong one” in the family.
He doesn’t want to be a burden on anyone.
He doesn’t like to be called “sick” or “disabled.”
He gets angry, sad, and discouraged when he can’t do the things he used to do.
He wonders what he will do now that he is not the bread winner.
He wonders what he will do now that he is on disability.
He wonders how to make ends meet without his income.
He wonders how he can afford his medications.
He wants to see the kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews grow up.
He wants to spend active quality time with you and the rest of the family but is sometimes just too tired.
His PH meds sometimes make him feel worse.
Taking RevatioTM (sildenafil) or AdcircaTM (tadalafil) may help stimulate him sexually, but it isn’t always enough to help him finish the deed, and that can be frustrating both physically and mentally.
He wants to know “how to fix it.”
He is sometimes afraid.

Connect with others living with PH at myPHA, an online community for people dealing with PH, at www.myphassociation.org.