Laboured breathing in adults with CP — Scope | Disability forum
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Laboured breathing in adults with CP

G1970
G1970 Community member Posts: 3 Listener
edited December 2021 in Cerebral palsy
Hi, I wondered if anyone has experienced or aware of any adults having experienced laboured breathing. My 53 year old brother has CP and dysphagia but more recently he has shown to have laboured breathing at times, almost trying to catch his breath. SaLT has assessed him and feels that it will be linked to him getting older and his posture (he uses a moulded seat wheelchair) but that there is nothing untoward that is concerning her but if concerned then to make a GP appointment which we are trying to do - but I thought I would ask the question whilst trying to arrange GP as I’m also mindful they won’t necessarily have the answers as they are general practitioners and I would hope they would refer to a specialist, anyway as I say I thought I would post. Appreciate any response. Thank you

Comments

  • G1970
    G1970 Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    edited December 2021
    Hi, I wondered if anyone has experienced or aware of any adults having experienced laboured breathing. My 53 year old brother has CP and dysphagia but more recently he has shown to have laboured breathing at times, almost trying to catch his breath. SaLT has assessed him and feels that it will be linked to him getting older and his posture (he uses a moulded seat wheelchair) but that there is nothing untoward that is concerning her but if concerned then to make a GP appointment which we are trying to do - but I thought I would ask the question whilst trying to arrange GP as I’m also mindful they won’t necessarily have the answers as they are general practitioners and I would hope they would refer to a specialist, anyway as I say I thought I would post. Appreciate any response. Thank you
  • calcotti
    calcotti Community member Posts: 10,010 Disability Gamechanger
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Rules may be different in other parts of UK.
  • Ross_Alumni
    Ross_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,652 Disability Gamechanger
    edited December 2021
    Hello @G1970

    Wishing you a warm welcome to the community, I hope you are well and had a nice Christmas. 

    Thanks for posting, and sorry to hear about what your brother is experiencing at the moment, that must be quite concerning for you both. 

    This is not something I have any particular experience of myself, but I will tag our CP specialist @Richard_Scope into this discussion in case he has any suggestions for you. 

    I hope you manage to arrange a GP appointment soon, and please note that if you become incrasingly concerned about your brother's breathing then you can always call 111 for some more immediate medical advice.

    Furthermore, I have moved your discussion over to our Cerebral Palsy category, which you might like to browse through for other discussions about CP.
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  • Richard_Scope
    Richard_Scope Posts: 3,638 Scope online community team
    Hi @G1970
    Thanks for posting and joining us in the community.

    Does your brother have assistance to clear his chest, respiratory therapy? From what I have read in your post it could possibly be his seating position or that he has or has had an infection/illness recently. Also, food aspiration is common with dysphagia and can cause breathing difficulties. 
    Scope
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  • G1970
    G1970 Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    Hi Richard

    Thanks for your response. My brother has not been unwell and does not receive/require respiratory therapy. I do wonder if his seating position along with the fact he is getting older is partly responsible. He received a new spa chair last week so can spend more time out of his wheelchair and we finally managed to get a GP appointment which took place this morning and they do not have any concerns. So this combined with the SaLT review is reassuring although not quite specifically answering the exact cause. However I live 200 miles away so having this info for my elderly parents I hope will eleviate some of their concerns, in addition to mine. 

    Thanks again for responding.
  • nightjars
    nightjars Community member Posts: 10 Courageous
    Hi @G1970,  I am sorry to read about your brother but its great that you as his sister ,are looking out for him.  My experience with GPs is they no nothing at all about CP. Any specialist referral , would be to an appropriate department in hospital.  Sometimes with CP, any problems are wrongly  thought to come from posture. It just might be worth asking your brother if he has any other symptoms at all? No matter how small. My sisters problems with her breathing were down to infections, hernia, asthma etc I had to fight to get anyone to take it seriously. Family is so paramount in keeping an eye out. I hope one day that there might be more Doctors who are geared up for CP patients. I hope that your brother gets it seen to.

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