ANOXIC BRAIN INJURY (DUE TO LACK OF OXYGEN)

ANOXIC BRAIN INJURY (DUE TO LACK OF OXYGEN)
My father had a heart failure on April 6th. He lost oxygen for 12 to 15 minutes in his brain. Now he is in coma. He was admiited to  ICU on 6th. He has not come out of coma. Neurologist are not very hopeful of his recovery. They say his brain is damaged due to lack of oxygen. His diagnosis is anoxic brain injury. He has some reflexes his brain stem is OK, His heart rate, blood pressure and breathing is stabilized. He does not respond. He opens his eyes but does not have any cognitive functions.  
I would like to know which hospital can I take him for the best treatment?.  What types of treatment are available for anoxic brain injury?. Is there any chance of recovery?  We all are very worried and anxious. I have some hope.

History
My father had angioplasty surgery at Stanford University in February, 2007. Surgery did not go as well as planned. Doctor punctured the chamber while clearing the clot in artery. Therefore, he was given antinclotting medicine to clot heart. Doctor stopped his anticlotting medicine for the brain which he was taking for stroke.

He had a minor storke in January 2006. He recovered from storke last year. He was taking anticlotting medicine before the angioplasty in February, 2007.

He shows some reflex actions on being moved like opening his eyes (but has blank stare), some blinking, very little finger movement, some yawning & biting movements when tube is put in his mouth. No other movement except a couple of hand & toe movements seen today.He is tube fed & using laxatives. They are trying to keep his heart rate /Oxygen/ breathing stable for now.

As of now 4/18/07 his heart rate is around 48, BP 110/60, Oxygen Saturation 94%. Last two days doctors had suspected swelling in his brain and gave him Mannitol & Decadron. His heart rate is stable now. Stomach is distended and white blood cell is high around 28. They have done an X-ray on his abdomen and have found upper intestine.

[mamta]

Hello Neil ,

Hope your dad is doing  better ,
My Dad is also in COMA since the 7th of April 2007 after an Heart Attack .
The hospital is not doing anything for the Anoxic Brain Injury .We just wanted to know of any place, any thing which could help him .Do your doctors beleive there is hope for your Dad .
My dad has had a trach put in and also feeding tube into his stomach.
He is breathing on his own .But has been getting fever and his blood pressure falls sometimes in the past few days .
Please help with any information.He never had any history of heart related problems .

[johnnybgoode]

Contact the Coma Recovery Association - the number is ( 631 756-1826.  They also have a website.  They can help you find information and resources.

[jfr18]

hello,my mother just recently had cardiac arrest and now suffers from anoxic brain damage /constant vegitable state she also has a trach and feeding tube she is in a coma and does not respond she does however open her eyes whenever somebody will say mom or wake up she bites down and is also said to have pausturing issues from the lack of oxygen she was without medical help for three to five minutes but was without oxygen for 45minutes to an hour the doctors say She has a poor chance      
Of recovery she just recently got of life support and has developed a uti from the cathedire,she has been in the hospital for more then a month now and I was just wondering if anybody could help find a good place that can help my mother and make sure she is being takin care of I just turned seventeen and I'm so confused about all of this one minute were in wal mart the next minute I'm at the er having a docotor tell me my mom has died and come back to life and has a very poor chance of surerving this if you have any answers for me please email me with some information about a safe place for my mom my email is ***@****

[dispy]

Hi, my step-daughter has had a very similar injury during surgery.. Lost oxygen for 30-45 minutes and doc's aren't giving any prognosis for how she will recover. She is responding in same way you describe.. I was wondering how she has responded so far...

[Angel2_cleo]

my father is elderly 83 years old i had to call and ambulance to take him to the hospital one day cause he wasnt feeling good and he couldnt walk well. My father has a rhytmia plus problems with his kidneys. Now in the hospital we found out that his arteries in his neck currodid artery i think thats how its spelled were 99% both closed so he went into surgery to clean one did fine but through all this and before i noticed his speech was slurred so they did check for stroke no stroke. so anyways he got out of icu back in his room nurse walked past heard him moan went in and he wasnt breathing so they started CPR immediately. He was talking and joking with the nurses in the afternoon and just all of a sudden cardiac arrest. He is now in the CICU unit. They put him through the 24 hour hypothermia and when they warmed him up they didnt get any response from him. He since the arrest is not breathing on his own on the ventilator has kidney disease, his heart being controlled with medicine, and after the eeg they did i was told that his brain is severely damaged. Well now two days after the hypothermia when the nurses turned him he opened his eyes but they are  a stare plus his right eye is dialated and the left is dialated but is oblong size and sideways. The nurse yelled his name one nite and he did open his eyes and he blinks. They did the pain test on his fingernails pressing hard on them but he couldnt feel it cause his tips of his fingers are numb and have been for a long time. so i did my own thing. I tickled the bottom of his feet and his toes wiggled then i did my own test. I took and flicked my finger on his toes and he moved his toes and acctually pulled his leg back and didnt like it. He now opens his eyes a little more not just when hes being turned. They put a feeding tube in and i saw a tear in his when it was closed so i know he is feeling pain so he has feeling he is somewhat reacting but now they are talking eventually we will have to put in a trach. This is so heart renching for me. I keep my wits about me though i have been through alot of this before. My brother died from cancer i took care of him my mom died from cancer i was her caretaker 3 yrs ago my brother 6 yrs ago i let mom be at home we had that choice so and my brother was home up until his last two days but i stayed with him in the hospice. So all this trama is nothing new so i stay in my caretaker state to keep going for my dad hes all i got left of our immediate family . It was the 4 of us. So anyways i would appreciate any input from others going through this type of thing. The doctors are saying that his quality of life isnt there but in my gut feeling i know this is what dad wants me to do till it cant be done anymore The doctors were discussing with me that they sugguest shutting off the ventilator and letting him go i say give it a little more time cause im seeing some improvements im so confused right now so any help would be great ty

[iloveujesse]

my brother oded off methadone. and his wife goes to the clinic to get that drug , she got take home n gave him  some ,she left him layn in bed for 3 days.. so she came home n he was in the fetal possion.. and decides to finally call an ambulance .. so 3 days in the icu an waking up from the coma he was doin good, walkn with help, talking ect.  they decide to move him out of icu, no test back at this point on what happend we were al baffled. the wife  didnt say nothing..sooo he wasnt on moniters n he suffered a heart attack 1 day out of icu... 2 days after the heart attack they brought him in for mri hes and SOMEHOW his life support got pulled out and lost his oxygen for appox 15 min... they jumped him, another heart attack ... now hes in veggie state :[ n sayn theres no hope.. he is only 27!!! anyways i did a research n discovered hyperbaric oxygen therapy ...an were goin to try that road n im writing this to let u all no about it. dnt give up hope..i will write l8er to say it worked?

[Gar59]

My wife suffered heart failure 7-26-05.They estimated she stopped breathing for 15 to 20 minutes.She was in a coma for 9 days.The doctors gave her little chance for recovery.They said if she did come out of the coma,she at best would be able to do very little.She suffered complete short term memory lose.She suffered throat damage,due to pulling her tubes out 20 + times.The nurses kept on telling my wife if you need anything just press the infamous RED button.So,everytime there was a nurses change.I had to inform the nurses,my wife has no short term memory.We had her throat operated on at another hospital later that year,but she did regain a whisper but not much.The brain injury is hindering her ability to spaeak according to some doctors.It a tough situation seeing the new person in my wife even after almost 5 years.The toughest thing is seeing my wife miss out on our grand kids(she simply loved kids)Now she has little interest in them.We keep her safe and happy as possible,but not being able to speak is the hardest thing.Because her change in personality,memory lose and her unability to let us know exactly what's going on with her.Is a everyday challenge.She wakes up everyday as a young girl and we explain to her everyday who we are,ie she thinks I'm her dad and the kids are her brothers and sisters and where she is.The up side is that she is capatible of going to the store and on short trips to the beach.She does say she gets tired easily.it's a catch 22.She does need more exercise but she tired on the time.I guess what I'm trying to say is be prepared for an all new person with mixed up memory.Love them alot and help them cope.Because they got a second chance at life and can't live or do things by them self.In closing don't try to figure out why this happened just commit to helping your love one to a happy and healthy existence.It's almost a bigger challenge to keep yourself in a good mind and body,because she needs me so much.God bless.

[loumc86]

hi everyone i have a similar story my brother aged 19 had an operation in january for an aortic valve replacement he had the op which we thought went well untill about 5 weeks later when he was at hoe he started being sick and having really bad shakes similar to fits? we took him back the hospital on march the 20th were he was diagnosed with an infection called endocarditas a really bad infection  they kept him in hospital to clear it with antibiotics for 1 month on the 21st of april he thought he was going home but he had a scan the showed his new valve flopping round an not connected properly dur to the infection going straight to the foriegn body, he went back in for a emergency op on the 23rd of april during the op there was a lack of ozygen to the brain when he was meant to come round he never he was in a coma for nearly two weeks hes out of the coma now but only has movement in his legs an he can also smile at funny jokes he has no use of his arms an has a trach but is now breathing fully for himself he is also on a peg feed its very sad due to him only being 19 hes fighting strong an is makin very slow progress, he is due to go to hightbank in bury a strokes an neuro rehab, does anyone else have better suggestions thanks

louis

[jackieoo7]

hi my name is Jackie. A year in ahalf ago my grandaughter Alexi fell in .the pool. she has anoxic brain injury... she is almost 4 years old now. she cannot walk or talk. she also has a feeding tube. we live in augusta georgia. My question is for anyone out there is there any chance of a better recovery for her? She has also out grown her crib and cannot sleep in a normal bed, because she rolls alot. do the make beds for her? and who sells them. we have little money.. but we do have well care insurance...... can some please send me some information on where i can get some help for her?my email address is.... ***@****  please help.God Bless.

[kimo4990]

My brother Mike (45) suffered a cardiac arrest (due to blood clots) on 9/16/10 and was without oxygen up to 16 mins.  He has a Glasgow score of 8 and has no cognetive responses (he does open his eyes - blank stare).  He has also had the Neuron Specific Enolase Test done with a score of 28.9 (not good).  Is there any help for this type of brain injury?  Hyperbaric Oxygen Thearapy (HBOT) or what about stem cell replacement?  

[scook123]

My 19 yr old daughter was overdosed on fentynal patches..Doa when rescue got to her not sure how long she was down for...this happened 7-10-10...doctors call her condition persistant vegetative state and will never recover from it...its been 6 months now and i heard about the hyperbaric o2 chamber...does anyone know anything about this???? i would do anything to get her back to me...

[carole222]

I did try hyperbaric for my son.  It did not work.  He was in a loss of oxygen coma for 11 years.  I finally let him go.  I took care of him at home but after so long the bones were starting to go through his skin so I let him go to a beautiful hospice and go to Heaven.  It was the hardest thing I ever had to do and I feel guilty and I also feel guilty I let him lay there for 11 years like that.  But I miss him so much.   I don't know what is really the right thing to do.  Its the unthinkability of letting them go, when they are there but not there, with their eyes open but not responding to you.   It has been 3 years now and I still can't start a new life, I was too use to taking care of him.  I cry every day and wish things like this didn't happen to people.  I think hyperbaric only works if you get them in immediately.  In Europe they have them in the emergency rooms, and that one in West Virginia the coal miner guy they got him in one right away.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to until years later and it didn't work.  Best of luck to all of you and I am so sorry.  I know what you are going through,  There just is no help out there for loss of oxygen.  

[ruback79]

You made a tough choice.
My son suffered a near drowning april 2012
He is in a coma and I dont know what to do, It's hard to see them suffer and let them go.

Jackie

[ruback79]

How is she doing now?

[leslie113]

My Sister in law is 28 went in for a rutein tubal litigation but had an asthma attack/heart attack.  The doctors said that she lost oxygen for 10 minutes and is brain dead she is on life support and not breathing on her own.  what is this considered what should we do?  My brother refuses to unplug her she has 5 kids? 06/20/12

[cheke]

Hello all,  
My mother is in ICU, she went into cardiac arrest four days ago, she had CPR for twenty minutes and was brought back to life.  However her brain was with out oxygen for too long and she is not waking up or responding.  She had a "hypothermia protocol procedure" done when she arrived to the ER.  She has not waken up, today is the 4th day.

What can i ask the Neurologists to do??????
Any help????
E.C.

[Tammi5252]

My heart goes out to you. My hubby had a similar experience last sept.  is she finished with the therapeutic hypothermia protocol yet?  Have they tried to waken her yer?  I understand your anguish.  It took them 2 weeks to successfully awaken my hubby ....have faith!  Here if you need support...tammi

[dtomlin]

Dear Cheke, My father had 20 min of CPR just 3 days after open heart surgery, the day before he was to start rehab (nobody knows or will say how long he wasnt breathing before the CPR).

Today is 4th day since CPR event & he can open eyes but only look straight ahead and has gag reflexwhen you pull out breathing tube - I know he sees me but can move any part .  He  can breath on his own but they want to trac his neck to remove breather from mouth.  his limbs are non responsive and my mom is a wreck over the situation.  If I may ask, did your mother make it? If so what should my family expect in 1 week, 1 month etc...   my father is 81 yrs old.  I know my father would rather have died than be in his current condition, but I love him and since he is alive and here I want to prepare and help my mom.   Dan

[ssandi11]

my 31 yr old son had heart attack this june will be 2 yrs ago and now has anoxic brain injury. it took 80 minutes to revive him  and his prognosis was not good the drs told me he would be a vegetable and he had no brain activity at all. We decided to take him off life support and when we did he came back.  he woke up but still there was not good news from the drs now they told me he would never be the same again. Well i can now say that Miracles do happen after hard work reteaching him how to eat drink walk talk he does it al and remembers all of us and his long term memory most of it came back his short term is not all there but he is working at that he cant remember names of things but know what to do with it. but everyday he gets better and better.