hi my friend was hit by a car he was drinking and vomited in his lungs he has been in the hospital two weeks they have tryed to take hin of the machine twice what dies this mean he is awake and aware of everything
2006-08-06 07:56:34 · 8 answers · asked by luvboxers2001 1 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Respiratory Diseases
I would assume you mean a ventilator that is breathing for him. When someone vomits into there lungs the acid from the vomit does damage to the lungs. He apparently cannot breath when they try to take him off the machine. He could be awake and aware but that really doesn't have anything to do with the ventilator. Although sometimes they will keep a person sedated while on the ventilator especially if they've had a head injury. Hope your friend recovers soon.
2006-08-06 08:10:04 · answer #1 · answered by paulamcneil1223 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Aspiration is the inhalation of a foreign substance into the lungs....think about it. Your friend was drinking, possibly eating before the accident. He inhaled int his lungs what ever was in his stomach. The substance itself caused "aspiration" pneumonia....and the substance had a great deal of bacteria which probably gave him a secondary bacterial pneumonia...both a critical insult to his lungs. Hence ARDS...Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome. It will take time for him to gain strength in his respiratory muscles because of the lung insult and because he has been on a ventilator and his respiratory muscles have not been used...they've weakened. Barring other injuries...like his diaphram being injured...etc., he has a good chance of coming off the vent. He may need specialized physical therapy/respiratory rehab in order to complete the process, he may not....His family may want to speak to the physician at this point regarding a facility that speacilizes in respiratory rehabilitation. Also at this point a tracheostomy should be discussed...Usually an endotracheal tube stays in for about 10-14 days and then removed after a tracheostomy is performed. The trach will heal after he is able to breath without the need of a ventilator. Just a moment in time can change a life forever. Your friend has a great chance at breathing on his own again.....but it will take time. My thoughts are with you all.
2006-08-07 13:15:28 · answer #2 · answered by lee1946 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He has aspiration pneumonia in addition to the other damage caused by the car accident. The lack of O2 to the brain can cause some damage which also needs to heal. If he is awake and aware that is a good sign! As long as he can fight off infection he has a promising prognosis. He needs more time to heal. He may need lots and lots of rehab. I am not a nurse or doctor but work in a hospital and have seen cases where patients do survive after a long lengthy recovery.
2006-08-06 08:10:48 · answer #3 · answered by petlover 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Okay so I am a respiratory therapist, it is my job in a hospital to manage and treat patients on ventilators. They took him off twice to test his lung strenth, if they put him back on then he is not ready yet. He aspiratated and now probably has a pnuemonia or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. You will know if his situation goes from very fixable to less fixable if they give him a tracheostomy...a tube in his neck. Right now he probably has a tube in his mouth. As long as the other injuries he sustained in the MVA are not life threatening, or did not damage his brain, he should come out of this okay. He is only awake and aware if he is not sedated and does not have a brain injury. If he is receiving Propofal...he dosent know a thing thats going on...
Best of Luck to youer friend!
2006-08-06 21:06:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What other problems does he have? I mean, did he break his neck or anything?
Vomitus that is aspirated into the lungs can cause severe respiratory infection on its own. Trauma can cause Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, a serious and sometimes fatal form of shock in the lungs. Cervical vertebral injury can cause paralysis of the diaphragm.
Basically, without knowing what your friend's injuries are, there's no way of telling how bad off he is. It is not promising that he has not started breathing when they take him off the ventilator, however.
Best of luck.
2006-08-06 08:02:34 · answer #5 · answered by fightintxaggie98 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He basically aspirated and probably now has a condition call ARDS. It may be a while before he can be taken off the ventilator.
2006-08-06 11:30:43 · answer #6 · answered by jt 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At the hospital, ask for a patient advocate. They can help you in many, many ways.
2006-08-06 08:01:06 · answer #7 · answered by Lori N 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not necessarily.
If he's in a comatose state he's probably healing.
Awake? Probably vegetative state.
Peace.
2006-08-06 08:01:01 · answer #8 · answered by angieasee64 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋