What is life support? Do people "recover"?

Question

Hi, I was wondering if people who are put on life support ever "recover" from that condition. My grandmother was taken to the hospital because of breathlessness that was a combination of old age and a respiratory infection. Apparently, she was stabilized thereafter. However, I've now heard that she is on life support. Is this a way to help her "recover" from the respiratory infection or just a way to prolong the inevitable?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Life support is a slang term. I suppose what most people are refering to is a mechanical ventilator. This is a machine that breaths for a person. There are a number of reasons why a person is placed on a "vent". Top to bottom ...

The brain is not commanding the body to breath. This is either because of brain injury or sedation. Brain injury can be from trauma, stroke, infection, tumor. This is serious and given the specific circumstances the person might not recover. Sedation is like when you go in for surgery and you are put under. In this case when the sedation is turned off you wake up and start breathing on your own.

The body is not strong enough to move air in and out. The brain is commanding the body to breath but sometimes the body can't do the work. This is true in muscular dystrophy, extreme malnutrition, or trauma/injury. This too may be the beginning of the end.

The third reason to put some one on the ventilator is when the lungs aren't absorbing oxygen well enough. In this case the brain and body are moving the air but the lungs aren't doing their part. This is the case in old smoker's with emphysema whose lungs have been eaten away by smoking. This can also be the case when you have pneumonia and the lungs are infected. The vent can increase the amount of oxygen going in and increase the pressure of each breath which can often assist the noninfected part of the lung in doing more work than its used to. If the body can fight off the infection the vent can buy a person extra time to win. In this case as they recover the can come off the ventilator.

Sounds like your grandmother has an infection. With medical support she very well may overcome it and be going home in a week or two. But sometimes older folks have a hard time fighting off pneumonia. Visit her if you can to wish her well.

Good luck.

Answer 2

The term life support means that a person is not able to provided enough oxygen into their lungs by themselves, so a machine does this for them. That patient is sedated meaning they are put in a medicine induced coma. The reason they do this is because people have a gag reflex and they cant tolerate the tube that goes in through your mouth and into your lungs. Your grandmothers doctor is the best person to ask this question. Older folks usually have to go on life support because they have pneumonia (respiratory infection) or a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Yes some do recover and go home. But it could very easily happen again and eventually getting them of life support. If your grandma was so sick that her quality of life would be painful after she was taken of the ventilator then the doctor should tell you that and you could have orders that if she ever needed a ventilator again they would not use one and basically let her die naturally. Generally a person that is already on a ventilator is not taken off of one unless they are brain dead. See your grandma hold her hand and pray. If the good lord wants her he will take her. If she lived a good life then death is really not a bad thing we all have to face it one day. As far as anyway to recover from the respiratory infection; your grandmother is getting IV antibiotics that will cure the infection and then once she is cured she will slowly be weaned off of the life support machine.

Answer 3

Yes, people can come off of life support. No, they don't always die. It really depends on many factors, like age, health status, and if further complications occur while the person is on life support. Life support usually means that they are on a ventilator and, or drips to maintain homeostasis in the body. A person is usually intubated when they r having difficulty maintaining their airway due to respiratory problems or respiratory failure. A person can only have an endotracheal tube for a certain time. In our hospital its 2 weeks. If they are unable to wean from the ventilator to breathing on their own, their lungs need a little more time to recover. A tracheostomy will be preformed to maintain the airway and the et tube (the tube in the mouth) will be removed. There may be a nasogastric tube in the nose (a tube that goes from the nose into the stomach, and occasionally from the mouth into the stomach) This tube is how the patirnt will get medications and nutrition, but even this tube can't stay in forever. If there is a need to keep the tube for a long period of time, they will put a tube directly into the stomach through the abdomen (PEG tube) or they will put a tube directly into the intestine through the abdomen (J tube). There is always hope and a chance for recovery. Sometimes it just takes longer than people want it to. If they are able to wean her off the vent, don't push her too hard to recover quickly and get back to being the person that she was before. Let her recover at her own pace.

Answer 4

I am a respiratory therapist that works with people on life support. Typically life support is considered the use of a ventilator, or respirator, which is a machine that breathes for the patient. But life support is not limited to the ventilator. It also often involves the delivery of medications that keep the heart beathing stongly and evenly, and medications that sustain the blood pressure, called "vasopressors". It could also include the use of invasive devices such as left ventricular assist devices and intra-aortic balloon pumps. I can't say what all your grandmother is on, but it sounds to me like they at least have her intubated and on a mechanical ventilator. I assure you that hundreds and thousands of patients are removed from ventilators and other life support measures each day across America. It does not necessarily mean your grandmother is terminal. However, not knowing her situation, I cannot say with any guarantees that she won't ever come off. It is different for each patient, depending on their particular situation. I would strongly suspect from the information you've given that she is being treated temporarily with "life support" due to a pneumonia, and has an excellent change for recovery. A much higher percentage of people DO come off life support than DON'T. The odds, I believe, are greatly in her favor. I hope this helps.

Answer 5

This is a very difficult question to answer since I don't know the big picture, but people recover from respiratory infections everyday. Now since we are talking about your grandmother I am going to guess that she has other medical problems like diabetes which may make her recovery longer. Maybe she is pretty sick and won't recover which is sad, but you have to remember her before she was sick. You don't want her to suffer....As for life support I am assuming you mean mechanical ventilation where you have a tube in your throat and a machine breathes for you...You can get off of life support............NOT EVERYONE WILL, but there are many cases where people have recovered after being on the machine...happens everyday.

Answer 6

Life Support Statistics

Answer 7

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is life support? Do people "recover"?
Hi, I was wondering if people who are put on life support ever "recover" from that condition. My grandmother was taken to the hospital because of breathlessness that was a combination of old age and a respiratory infection. Apparently, she was stabilized thereafter. However, I've...

Answer 8

Yes there is recovery from life support in your grandmas case. She is on life support probably to save her stress and energy so she can recover. Life support is likely to inflate the lungs while the antibiotics work. As the lungs clear and her strength improves she will be taken off the respirator.

Always be prepared for the worst, but hope for the best. Go visit her, give her a kiss and read her something she would enjoy!

Answer 9

Honestly, it depends on the whole picture. Sometimes people are put into drug-induced comas, therefore on life support - in order to give their body time to heal - this way it doesn't expend any unnecessary energy. Some people are in natural comas and do come out of them.

I think it depends most on your grandmother's condition to begin with - was she sickly and frail or pretty healthy for her age, aside from this infection? That will make a big difference.

Good luck!

Answer 10

I'm sorry honey. This happened to husband's g-pa and my daughter. It may have to do with their will to live. My daughter did not become dependant on it and she fought to recover. His g-pa, however, was not so lucky. He became dependant because he was old and apparently weak. My husband regrets not going to make his peace with the situation. I know that it is hard to hear this, Be strong. Everything happens for a reason.