silasbaby
New member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2008
- Messages
- 9
- Reason
- CALS
- Diagnosis
- 11/2008
- Country
- US
- State
- Indiana
- City
- Mooresville
Hello Everyone !
My name is Julie and my husband Mike is the PALS. Mike is bedridden and can only lay with his head slighly elevated . Any more elevation causes him alot of pain. I have questions and concerns on using the cough assist and also the suctioning machine. When he coughs he has very thick mucus and cant get it coughed up. Then he goes into choking, so he is choking on mucus. Panic mode sets in when this happens. It is starting to get more frequent. We do have the cough assist and suctioning machine here at home. They have never been used. My questions are as follows:
1. I know the cough assist is to be used to assist him with the cough- but since he chokes on the mucus- is this the right thing to use? Since he cant cough anything up by himself- would using this make him choke that much more? For everyone that is using the cough assist, I would like to ask why and how you are using this machine? Also do any of you have the same problem with the choking on mucas that Mike is having?
2. Now to the suctioning machine- we were told that it was soley to suction out the mouth only? But if the person cant cough the mucas up, would we even need the suction machine? We were told that the suction machine is not to be used to go down the throat since that could cause damage down the throat. So when and how are you using this? Also Mike has a horrible gap reflex- is there any thing we can do to help with this?
I cant tell you how many times I went running in there today due to his choking. My nerves are shot today. I dont want him to choke to death and I feel like if we didnt help him right away he would choke to death. It scares him to- the look on his face is like a deer in headlights.
Thank you in advance for any guidance you can offer. I can already tell its going to be a long night !
Julie
My name is Julie and my husband Mike is the PALS. Mike is bedridden and can only lay with his head slighly elevated . Any more elevation causes him alot of pain. I have questions and concerns on using the cough assist and also the suctioning machine. When he coughs he has very thick mucus and cant get it coughed up. Then he goes into choking, so he is choking on mucus. Panic mode sets in when this happens. It is starting to get more frequent. We do have the cough assist and suctioning machine here at home. They have never been used. My questions are as follows:
1. I know the cough assist is to be used to assist him with the cough- but since he chokes on the mucus- is this the right thing to use? Since he cant cough anything up by himself- would using this make him choke that much more? For everyone that is using the cough assist, I would like to ask why and how you are using this machine? Also do any of you have the same problem with the choking on mucas that Mike is having?
2. Now to the suctioning machine- we were told that it was soley to suction out the mouth only? But if the person cant cough the mucas up, would we even need the suction machine? We were told that the suction machine is not to be used to go down the throat since that could cause damage down the throat. So when and how are you using this? Also Mike has a horrible gap reflex- is there any thing we can do to help with this?
I cant tell you how many times I went running in there today due to his choking. My nerves are shot today. I dont want him to choke to death and I feel like if we didnt help him right away he would choke to death. It scares him to- the look on his face is like a deer in headlights.
Thank you in advance for any guidance you can offer. I can already tell its going to be a long night !
Julie
