What are symptoms of Phrenic nerve damage?

Hi, I've been manually making myself breathe for 5 months now and it's exhausting and anxiety inducing. I do have some changes to my nose as well, so not sure if that could cause my body to switch to manual breathing as it doesn't feel right. I also struggle with sleep. Please do let me know what your doctor says. Not sure how to privately message...?

How did your appointment go?

Does anyone know if phenic nerve damage can cause involuntary breathing to stop and mean that someone has to manually breathe continually?

So now that it is over a year later, what transpired? Did he have the surgery? Did he improve? My husband has had the surgery but has not improved though we pray that he still might.

Just wondering after all this time if you got ahold of Dr. Kaufman. DId he repair the nerve?

God bless you for writing this! Out of the blue, I started having trouble breathing, had shoulder pain, couldn't stop the hiccups, and have been told that my upper stomach sphincter muscle must be bad because I can't eat much.

A scan, looking for other things, showed an Elevated left hemidiaphragm. I didn't even know what this was and then I Google, found out it was caused by the phrenic nerve, and then I found your post.

This may be a year old but it may save my life. Thank you from my very soul!

God bless you and your husband. I hope he is doing okay.

Does anyone have neuralgic amyotrophy with phrenic nerve involvement? Can you share your experience?

I saw your note to everybody with diaphragic problems. Did your husband ever get something done to help him. I’ve had the same breathing issues since 2014 right after I had open heart surgery. I also had a car accident that destroyed my neck. I’ve been to four pulmonologist the mayo clinic for a week three neurologist, my cardiologist and other various specialty doctors along with four thoracic surgeons. None of them can help me except give me a diaphragm of plication on the right side where it’s paralyzed. Did your husband ever get the help he needed. Because I am living here in May 2022 and I’m 75 years old and I can’t breathe I have to wear an oxygen tank when I sleep and like your husband my oxygen levels never go below 90. Most of the doctors here in Montana haven’t got a clue so I have to go outside of the state for anything that I want done.

_removed_

I haven't found anything about how to treat the pinched or damaged Phrenic Nerve, or what kind of doctor is knowledgeable?

My husband had an ablation procedure a year ago. He no longer has AFIB but gets out of breath just walking around now. Could the phrenic nerve been damaged during the ablation surgery? Now they suggest he go to a Pulmonologist for rehab.

The diagnosis of phrenic nerve injury requires high suspicion due to nonspecific signs and symptoms including unexplained shortness of breath, recurrent pneumonia, anxiety, insomnia, morning headache, excessive daytime somnolence, orthopnea, fatigue, and difficulty weaning from mechanical ventilation.

I have been trying to get a doctor to investigate my phrenic nerve and I get no where but an eye roll!

I had cervical spine surgery about 5 years ago and it didn't heal correctly.
In 2019 I had a blood clot go thru my lungs and heart and almost killed me !
While in the hospital for 3 weeks, walked to the nurses station and almost didn't make it to room because of shortness of breath !
I found out later that I had paralysis of the left side of my diaphragm and I'm on oxygen must of the time now ! When I was in the hospital, I was misdiagnosed as having asthma and COPD !

In 2019, had a blood clot go thru my lungs and heart and it almost killed me ! While I was in the hospital for 3 weeks, I walked to the nurses station and I didn't think I would make it to my room because I was gasping for air! My doctor brushed it off to having asthma!
After I got out of the hospital I had tests run and I had paralysis of the left side of my diaphragm!
A cardiac surgeon flopped it done and put stitches across it! I'm on oxygen most of the time now and can't do much of anything for shortness of breath !

The symptoms listed by the OP are consistent with a LOT of problems, including congestive heart failure. A thorough work-up, including chest x-ray, EKG, stress test, echocardiogram and blood work (anemia can also cause shortness of breath) should be undertaken. Phrenic nerve damage can be suspected if there was recent trauma or surgery to the neck. It can also be caused by tumors. While the chest x-ray can show an elevated hemidiaphragm (half of the diaphragm that is not working) a confirmatory test is the "sniff test" which is done with fluoroscopy (an x-ray video) - when you sniff, the functioning diaphragm will pull down to suck in air - but a non-functioning "floppy" diaphragm will move upwards due to the negative air pressure from the functioning diaphragm. There is surgery that tightens up the floppy diaphragm, which helps symptoms, even though it doesn't make it work. Be aware that a lot of people with a paralyzed hemidiaphragm have sleep apnea, so if this is your diagnosis, a sleep study should be done as well. -sb