Vents aren't fun but when your really in distress, they can be a life saver.
Theres two types of ventalation support used- invasive and non invasive.
Invasive includes ventilation via trach or via endo tracheal tube- a tube thats inserted down your throat. Generally they give you some sedation for this and because the tube passes through the vocal cords you can't talk. ( as if we wanted to when we're in such distress!)
Non invasive ventilation is becoming more of a first line for us COPDers.. using a BiPap mask. Its like this big face mask . Its kinda hard to talk with it on since it feels like your talking against this big air push.Sometimes ( rarer) they use CPAP- a nasal prong type ventilation.
Vent settings are adjusted to what your needing.. some just need the pressure and O2 to get air in, others need a combination of pressure to get O2 in and exhalation pressure to remove Co2.
Invasive ventilation tends to be a bit harder for us COPDers to get off of in some cases but if BiPap fails its our last choice for help . Personally I much prefer BiPap as its more comfortable and less invasive... plus I hate stuff down my throat! You also in many facilities can be in a step down unit instead of ICU on BiPap.. another plus IMO.

I've never been on a ventilator, yet. But I can remember a few years ago when I had to have a bronchoscopy done, they put me on a BiPap. It breathes in and out for you. I remember that as soon as I quit fighting it, and just let it breath for me, it was quite a relief. It actually felt kind of good. Just my experience.
Hugs, Sue

I was on a ventilator in 06 for 5 days. I don't remember most of it. I know I was restrained & was out most of the time on something that they stopped as I was being weened off the vent. It did cause further lung damage. Something called VALI, but I'd have died if they hadn't done it.

It sounds like it would be easy to catch an infection that's laying around in the hospital with the invasive one.

At what point or what illness could you have that would require you to be put on a ventilator..yikes..would this just be routine for some sickness?

ARDS, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, for one. Not fun:>(

OMG! I don't even want to think about going there, it sounds terrible.

I had open heart surgery last Nov 2010 and after 24 hrs of being off the vent I experience problems with breathing so they put me back on the vent and I remained on it for the next 8 days. This was not fun as I drifted in and out of consciousness from the sedation. Finally they weaned me off and I done very well to the medical staff considering my lung function is at 19%
But one good thing is I went in on 3L of 02 and came out on 1L sometimes with activity I use 1.5L

thanks so much - information is very helpful
have a great day !!!!
Roe

Lighttrays, I was at my PCP's office today & I asked him what would happen if I needed by pass surgery As I seem to take after my dad who had a quadruple by-pass when he was 70. He also has emphysema & is 89. Anyways that's what the Doc said. That I'd be put on a vent during that kind of heart surgery anyways. I really didn't like the ventilator though. I'm still waiting for a cure :>))

deb I also was told that this might be the situation for me but that they have many in the same situation that has the heart surgery done. I was lucky that I did not have to have my chest cracked open as they done the minimal invasive procedure. My cardiologist told me that if they had to crack open my chest and be put on a vent that I more than likely would never have come off the vent.
I personally think had they left me on the vent longer right after the surgey instead of trying to push me like they did a healthier person I might not have had to go back on the vent.
My decision to go ahead with the surgery was a big gamble but I was not able to do anything due to the SOB I was having from the defective valve in heart.So I just prepared my children and myself for the worse and with by the Grace of God he carried me through.
Happy Easter

Our FEV1's are the same too. Mine vary from the teens to the low 20's. Happy Easter! :>))

Not fun!! I have not been on one but my dad was. He went to the doc. because he was struggling to breathe and he asked do you want to be on a vent. and my dad didn't know he just wanted to breathe so he said yes. It sounds like things have changed but for my dad he never got off the vent and was hospitalized for six months and then transferred to a nursing home for one and a half years. Even with the vent it is still a struggle to breathe and you are constantly calling nurses to be suctioned. They originally put it in his mouth and down his throat which is very uncomfortable but they had to move it to his trachea after awhile.

I have been on a vent now twice - once back last year, and once not too long ago. The last one was touch and go...we'd driven to church in the a.m., and had pulled into the parking lot. Told my daughter "i can't breathe, call 911" and passed out. She gave me CPR, someone called 911 and they had to use an external pacemaker to keep my heart going enroute to hospital (about 2 miles). (gotta stop wearing good clothes, they keep cutting them off! ).

The first time, I'd been on for a few days, woke up and the nurses were very good to explain what was going on and giving me something to write with so I could ask questions. The 2nd time, I must have been much weaker, because I remember little between the a drugstore we stopped at enroute to the church and 5 days later, when I left ICU for stepdown. It was at a hospital I'd been at back in 2004 and 2005, so the same doc was assigned to me. He said "you know, you coded in the parking lot, don't you?" He was the same one who when found I knew the Lord told me how the medical symbol got it's start.

Essentially, they will sedate you so you don't get anxious and try to pull out the tubes. When they took me off sedation then put me back on, and I didn't respond as they wanted, they thought I'd had a stroke, so did a bunch of tests...negative all of 'em - except the MRI did find a brain! . I think that I just react differently to medication and sedation.

I think when you fill out forms-----living will type thing------you can choose vent or not. I checked that I did not want one; and pulmonary doctor told me to change it; as I am young enough to come off it.

I am going to write down that I will take a ventilator------but not if I have to stay on it extended period-----I want to pass unhooked from machines. My Dad signed a DO NOT RESUSITATE (DNR) and the hospital my step sisters had him sent to; sent him back home. That IS what my Dad stated he wanted repeatedly---he wanted to die in his own bed, at home. Fortunately, he went into a coma and died later that day. I did not think he suffered. He died from Emphysema.