Although pulmonary hypertension cannot be cured, there are medications that can alleviate its symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and chest pain and pressure.

A few common medications are:

1. Blood vessel dilators (or vasodilators): These widen blood vessels which have become narrow. There are two common vasodilators, epoprostenol (Flolan) and iloprost (Ventavis). One dose of epoprostenol keeps the blood vessels wide for just a few minutes. That’s it must be administered constantly. This is done by an intravenous (IV) catheter. Epoprostenol may cause pain in the jaw, diarrhea, cramps in the leg, infection at the spot where the IV is injected and nausea.
Iloprost, on the other hand, does not need to be taken continuously. Instead, it is inhaled through a nebulizer once in every three hours. However, it can cause shortness of breath, pain around the chest, nausea and headache.

2. Endothelin receptor antagonists: A common example is Bosentan (Tracleer). It nullifies the actions of endothelin, which narrows down the pulmonary arteries and capillaries. These medications can worsen the condition of the liver. This makes them especially dangerous for pregnant women.

3. Sildenafil: It also widens the pulmonary arteries and capillaries. A good example is Revatio, which can cause dizziness and complications with vision.