ICU patient cannot breathe

[dandl1999]

I am posting in an attempt to find someone who may have a clue that will lead me in the right direction toward helping my mother. The doctors don't have a clue as to what is wrong with her.  She has been in the hospital for almost a month and is now in ICU.  

First, I’ll give a bit of background about her condition.  She is 54 years old and, over the past 8 months she had lost a considerable amount weight, experienced frequent bouts of dizziness, causing her to fall, and would also become disoriented and confused.  She had complained of pain and had been taking huge amounts of oxycontin.  Upon arriving to the hospital, she suffered a mild heart attack and then developed pneumonia and blood clots in her lungs.  Her breathing got shallow and weak and she was put in ICU.  

After being in ICU for about two weeks on the respirator, she had a tracheostomy.  But, she still is only able to breathe for about 4 minutes without aid.  Her x-rays showed that her clots and pneumonia are clearing, but the doctors have no clue as to why she can't breathe on her own.  Last night, her lung collapsed, but she has been stabilized.

The doctors say that their immediate aim is to get her breathing on her own.  I am just praying that perhaps someone out there has seen symptoms like this and can point us toward a solution or even just an idea of what the underlying problem may be.  Thank you so much.

[dandl1999]

Thank you so much for such a thoughtful response.  Best wishes

[Cecil290]

  What a KIND person you are !

[Sunny602]

I remember this question on another forum, but I will put my answer here too. I worked in a critical care unit (was a nurse) with vented patients. We did come across some that were hard to wean, which sounds like your mother. There are alot of reasons why she might be having a hard time coming off of a vent;
One is the obvious, are relaxant drugs completely worn off?
Others...is your mom's sedation significant? IF she is fairly sedated, then it will impair with her breathing efforts.
The next I would think of would be if your mom has evidence of diaphragmatic weakness. This can happen for several reasons...one reason would be prolonged administration of IV steroids (commonly given). If she has weakness in other muscles, then diaphragmatic weakness could be a possiblity
Also, is her pneumonia resolved? If a person is still fighting an infection, that can take away from the ability to wean as well.
Motivation to wean is something to consider too...even depression issues can hinder weaning efforts.
The last thing I can think of offhand is her nutritional status...malnutrition or low electrolyte levels can make weaning a problem too.
REmember, I am not a doctor, just a nurse who has seen this before and am just throwing some common causes of failure to wean. I pray that they find the answer soon so that they can come up with a plan as to weaning her successfully...I know it must be hard to see a loved one go through this. Sunny  

[dandl1999]

I forgot to add in my original post that when taken off the respirator her heart beat rapidly increasesto a critical level and she has to be given sedation and pain medicine to slow her heart rate.