Help??

[landherr32]

On saturday he mowed his lawn and went into the house to rest and went to sit down in his recliner and could not breathe. He immediately stood up and walked around for awhile. He then tried to lay on the couch and could not breathe. We brought him to the emergency room at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and he has been here every since. They diagnosed him with a paralyzed diaphragm but have no idea why. He is 59 years old and he has A-Fib. They have tested his heart and that is fine. His lungs are working perfect and his oxygen level does not go down unless he is trying to lay flat.They have done an MRI, CT, and EMG. They concluded from the EMG that he has nerve loss and they said that it has been there for a while. From the MRI they said that he has spinal stenosis in his neck or cervical spondylosis, which is a narrowing of the bone around your spinal cord. They neuro surgeons still due not believe that this is the cause of his diaphragm paralysis. They keep making it sound like they think he has some horrible neurological disease, but will not tell me what they are testing for. He is very healthy other wise. No numbness, walking difficulties, swallowing difficulties, or anything like this. They said there was a slight weekness of one shoulder but not bad. The only other symptoms he has is a small non-productive cough, and very bad gas( belching and flatulence ). They are sending him home after they do the spinal tap and we will have to go back next week to discuss the results spinal tap. No one seems to have any idea what is causing this and they do not tell us anything.  He has been getting very little sleep since this whole thing started and  we are all starting to get a little worried. I have google'ed everything thing that I can and have found lots of disorders but most of them start with other things and progress to diaphragm problems. Do you have any ideas??

[Dr_Nassim]

diaphragm paralysis and sent home???
I can't understand, sorry but here there is much misunderstading!
Horrible neurological disease but discharged home! That's impossible.
Please be sure that your patient is surely fine otherwise nearby medical staff could never allowed him to go home. So tell me now does he improved since that?
What are the current symptoms now?
Did they though (you mean) about Guillan-Baree?
Rule out:
A pericarditis dyspnea.
A cervical spine problem (1) myelopathy (2) anterior C3-C4 compression (3) multiple sclerosis/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (4) small spinal infarcts because of AFib.
Phrenic nerve neuropathy (caused  for example by a B19 viral infection)
The inflammatory process to diff between MS and ALS will be defined after IgG levels in the CSF (tap)... If high that mean MS (initial episode). Please do the IgG viral serology of CMV, EBV and HSV (lesser suspicions with HIV, HBV and HCV).
Dr Nassim
International Neurosurgery Forum

[landherr32]

They were not really doing much for him in the hospital besides testing. He has no other symptoms execpt that he cannot breathe when he lays down. We got him a bed wedge and have been using pillows and blankets t keep him up right when he is sleeping. He doesn't sleep great but he is getting more used to it. From the MRI they determined that he has cervical spondylosis and spinal stenosis in his c4 and c5. They said that the narrowing is not significant enough that they don't think this is the cause of the paralysis. He also has a family history of brachial plexopathy but they haven't looked into the any further because they don't think that is the problem. He has had some neck pain 2-3 times in the last month but took tylenol and it went away. I have done a lot of research online and I know that they are testing for a lot of things. They said that the spinal fluid looked good when they did the tap. One of the neurologist said that he is 97% sure that it has nothing to do with the cervical spondylosis but I am thinking that is the most likely do to the fact he has had no other symptoms. If the Spinal fluid is normal what else could be causing it?? Thank you!