I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Samantha Ramirez (236)

The phaware® interview

Former pulmonary hypertension patient and lung transplant recipient, Samantha Ramirez discusses her PH diagnosis because of over-the-counter diet pills and the need for continued need for PH awareness.

Hi, my name is Samantha Ramirez and I’m from Orange County, California. I was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension back in April, 2006.

My weight has always been a battle for me since I was a teenager. Off and on through high school, I used diet pills. Back in that time, lots of young ladies were using fen-phen. I didn’t want to use fen-phen because it was very scary hearing of all the horror stories of women just dropping on the floor and dying because of using diet pills. So, I just started using over-the-counter diet pills and that is something that they don’t put on the bottle, that it’s going to give you pulmonary hypertension or any sort of rare lung disease.

I visited my primary care doctor, because I was working out to Tae Bo; so for those of you that don’t know what Tae Bo is, back in the day…