I thought things were going pretty well with husband - no new aspiration pneumonia for a little over a year. He had been getting aspiration pneumonia every 3 months or so until he completely went to feeding tube only for all food and liquid. But now he's had another aspiration pneumonia that landed him in the hospital. Doctors have told him that he may have chronic aspiration and his only hope may be a tracheotomy, and even that won't prevent aspiration.

Wondering if anyone else suffering from long-term effects of radiation has found anything that helps with aspiration pneumonia, such as therapies for lung health, etc.

Thanks,
Anita

Before you jump to the trach. Does your husband sleep on his side or back? Chronic regurgitation during sleep could result in small amounts being aspirated into his lungs.

I have similar issues and found that sleeping with my torso at 25 degrees or greater angle from horizontal (floor) mostly resolved the problem. (Sleeping in a recliner is not great, but then again, I haven't had to deal with pneumonia since I started to do this.)

Also talk to your doctor about using a crushable version of Previcid or similar medication to reduce the reflux.

Good Luck

My husband had silent aspiration. He did not have any indication that he's aspirating and so could not cough up anything that went in the wrong way. I hope that's not what your husband has. In John's case, the hospital speech path told me that he could have been aspirating on his saliva' it may be a small amount each time but over time, it would catch up with him.

Bjmpittsburgh' suggestion of sleeping at an angle is a very good idea. Please be very vigilant and make sure you take your husband to the hospital if he ever shows signs of fever, or shakes, or vomiting. They are all signs of pneumonia, as you probably know. Don't wait.

Thanks for the responses.
Yes, he's been using a wedge to sleep at an angle for several years.
I don't know how many cycles of aspiration pneumonia you can be treated for before the antibiotics stop working...and/or the body just can't take it anymore.

Hi Anita,
My husband was getting pneumonia frequently. He's 100% tube, too. What has worked for him is sleeping almost sitting up and keeping his mouth very clean. He spends at least 15-20 minutes cleaning his mouth before bed brushing, scraping and rinsing. It lowers the bacteria levels in the mouth.

Yes, the keeping mouth clean component is important.
I think the latest pneumonia was brought on by a virus that resulted in vomiting...and then aspirating vomit. That could be a hard one to prevent.
He sees a good pulmonary doctor at the end of September. I'll bring up the prevention question to him and share anything I learn.

Thanks,
Anita

I think the visit to the pulmonary doctor may have helped with latest episode. We came up with a protocol in the event of aspiration, vomiting, etc. So when he started getting sick a couple of weeks ago, he had antibiotic ready to take immediately, started on nebulizer right away, stopped feeding tube for 24 hours, started on oxygen and hydrated as much as possible. That at least limited the severity of the latest episode and got him back on his feet quicker.

This latest episode was caused by vomiting again. Though I'm still trying to figure out if the vomiting was the cause of the pneumonia or was it a symptom of pneumonia that was already developing.

Anita,

I think the question is best answered by your pulmonary doctor. When my husband contracted pneumonia from aspiration, he had a whole night of vomiting blood (dark, coffee grounds consistency) the night before he was admitted to hospital. The vomiting happened again when he had his second bout of aspiration pneumonia. There were times in between when he would get a virus in his lungs which is not normally found there and which was found when his phlegm was cultured. In those cases, a dose of anti-biotics took care of it.

I don’t know if this makes things any clearer for you, but I would ask the specialist if I were you.

Sadly, my husband passed about a year ago. The aspiration issues, weight loss, etc from treatment became too much.
Anita

I'm so sorry for your loss