grandmother's diaphram not working

[lulupoiroux]

whoever can help... our grandmother who turned 80 yrs. old this year has been a very robust woman up until a couple of months ago. she started having severe backpains and was taken to several doctors for different treatment including what they explained as epidurals to help relieve her back pain.  about three weeks ago she was admitted into the hospital becuase she started talking funny and they were worrired dhe might have dimensia or suffered a minor stroke. after running several ct's, mri's etc. her doctors concluded she had neither of these. about a week and a half in to her hospital stay they checked her blood work for carbon dioxide poisoning. she was severely poisoned with carbon d. and the doctor believes it had been a slow poisoning from her shallow breathing over several months due to her back pain. they put her on the respirator for a couple of days to clean her system out and then placed her on oxygen. she seemed to be improving and then coded. they put her on the respirator again and ran another mri. they say her diaphragm is not working at all now. they are planning on taking her off the respirator soon and i was wondering if any one had ever heard of this diagnosis. her doctors say there is nothing left to be done except take her off and let her die in peace. please, if anyone knows of anything that could help, i would appreciate the input.

[Sunny602]

I am so sorry....please know that I have been thinking about all of you since your post. I pray for comfort during this very truly sad time for all of you. God bless. Sunny

[lulupoiroux]

thank you for all your responses. unfortunately, our grandmother passed away last night around 7:30 pm. i appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.

[lulupoiroux]

Thank you so much for responding and for your thoughts. the doctors have no idea what has caused this and that is why i decided to write on a forum for the first time in my life because i believe we have exhausted all other outlets but hope is all we have left. i am truly sorry about your condition as well. good luck to you and your family. i am heading to the hospital in just a few moments bc they have taken her off the vent as of this morning. God bless...

[Sunny602]

First of all, I am just so sorry to hear that your grandmother is so ill....I have bilateral diaphragmatic weakness and because of this, I live on a vent. I have a funky type of muscular dystrophy along with other health issues, being place on a vent was my only viable option. My age plays a factor in this, I am 36 years old and have two children, at the time I was placed on a vent to live they were just 10 and 12 respectively. If I were much older, I probably would have not chosen to be vented.

I think that because your grandma is so advanced in age that this wouldn't be a good option for her. Living on a vent full time takes alot of work and opens up the body to many infectionsl. Unfortunately whenever there is bilateral failure of the diaphragm there isn't too much that can be done for it except for supportive care. I am not a doctor, so please take what I say for face value. Do the doctors know what caused this in your grandmother?
I can't think of anything else except that I will keep her, yourself and family in my thoughts. I can understand how this must be so difficult for all of you. Sunny