What are symptoms of Phrenic nerve damage?

I have hiccups, wondering if I have nerve damage? Thoughts?

Interested in your post Nicole. I have had what I thought was burping for years and have just found out it is actually the diaphram expelling air from the chest and I had an ablation when I had a pacemaker fitted 12 years ago. The "burpiing" is continuous every time my heart is in AF.

Hi ,
I too injured my phrenic nerve in a whiplash / head injury . I see a postural physical therapist who helps me position my body in ways to release it and works with me on breathing. Do you ever suffer from extreme indigestion and abdominal pains

Thank you so much for your detailed post. I think you may have saved a lot of readers from all of the initial paiinstaking measures that your husband has had to go through. I hope your husband will get the help he needs. Being short of breath, etc., can limit us so much.

i have a question on this strange subject too. I know my sister who lives in Australia has this problem of dysfunctional phrenic nerve. When she has it she has difficculty breathing at same time as talking. I find this very enlightening to me because myself and my siblings are finding out that we are cnnected with many illnesses and health problems and as i come from a large family of 8 siblings and my Dad from a family of 17 it becomes very confusing. I have been diagnosed COPD by a rheumatologist but when I cannot breath and think I need an asthma spray it does me no good . I also have cervical spondylitis which was discovered after I had a car accident I wonder if this is all connected

Nicole G, thanks for the post. I have a paralyzed left diaphragm and docs so far are not familiar. Did your hubby get to the New Jersey doc yet? If so, was it helpful? Thank you,

Shellie

Phrenic nerve can be inflamed by a chronic viral infection. Usually it is one or more of 61 different strains of the Epstein-barr virus. Medical research can only test for a few of these strains. The virus is difficult to heal but it can be done if you follow the information. This could and probably will solve your chronic breathing issue. This is life changing information that u should take very seriously.

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Nicole!!
11 months ago this says. Please tell me what happened!! I KNOW now after 6yrs of my own research and pain and misery what my surgeon could have warned me (disclosed) about before surgery or had the human decency of telling me what he did after the surgery. came across Dr Kaufman too and live in NJ but put it on back burner bc I'm so afraid any intervention will make "suffocation" worse, In my case , pain from surgery injury of phrenic causes spasm or palsy and I stop breathing....full stop, So I've been kept alive for 6yrs by keeping pain under control with pain meds. Without them I die and I had to find all this out on my own. been to tons of doctors. Please please respond !!!
Kelly

Hi, I’ve had neck problems for a long time, lately I started getting pain around my diaphragm area. It was so bad and laboured my breathing that I was in a&e today ! The gave me a ct scan to rule anything out and told me I need endoscopic test. So since being at home I felt it didn’t make sense! I have been reading up on the link of neck and diaphragm pain and bingo I think this phrenic nerve might be my problem.. reading all your stories has been very enlightening and I will go back armed with this information!! I’m feeling more positive already.. I had no reason to have pain suddenly in my abdomen.

Thank you very much.

Phrenic nerve is important for breathing, as it passes motor information to the diaphragm and receives sensory information from it.

This nerve controls the diaphragm muscle, which controls the breathing process. When diaphragm contracts, the chest cavity expands and creates room for inhaled air. And its the phrenic nerve primary function to carry out this process.

There are numerous causes of phrenic nerve lesions:

• Mechanical trauma: ligation or damage to the nerve during surgery. • Compression: due to a tumour within the chest cavity. • Myopathies: such as myasthenia gravis. • Neuropathies: such diabetic neuropathy.

Paralysis of the diaphragm produces a paradoxical movement. The affected side of the diaphragm moves upwards during inspiration, and downwards during expiration. A unilateral diaphragmatic paralysis is usually asymptomatic and is most often an incidental finding on x-ray. If both sides are paralysed, the patient may experience poor exercise tolerance, orthopnoea and fatigue. Lung function tests will show a restrictive deficit.

Has this been done yet? I have the same issue, but insurance will not cover...how much does this cost? Any estimate?

Have you seen Dr. Kauffman yet.

Hi Nicole, any updates?

Hi there, my mother had an operation over a year ago for atrial fibrillation. Unfortunately the surgeon damaged her Phrenic nerve whilst trying to rectify the procedure and this has basically ruined her life. She can barely walk up the stairs, any hills and some days are worse than others. Even walking gently is a problem for her. She also coughs a lot especially in the mornings. She is always out of breath and trying to catch her breath terrifies her.. Basically there isn't anything they can do when the nerve is damaged. If I was your friend I would get a lung test done and ask them to check the nerve isn't damaged. They may try fobbing you off because it's probably expensive but demand it. Good luck. ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** posting of web addresses is not allowed*** Please read our Terms of Use