She is having short of breath and did 6 min test which fail. She had chf and bronchitis 2 month ago home from hospital 2 months now. she has no energy and short of breath which she uses proventil and it helps. after 6 min walk test she couldn't do it. no energy sob. the nurse said after 2 laps stop. down hall chair up hall chair x2 when she had the. breathing test show no copd. i keep going to drs with her and i feel like nothing is being done. she goes to lung dr and cardiologist next week. she is on alot of heart meds, too. they make her extremely tired. her vital signs are ok. i told them about the meds they won't change them. anyone go through this please help
My mom fell about a month ago and sliced her head open down to the bone. She was sitting in her chair, 8' away from me, and passed out, fell forward and hit the entertainment center on the way down. Her general practitioner, who has been Mom/Dad's doctor for as long as I can remember (so over 40 years) saw mom in her hospital room without me there to speak for her - and came to the conclusion that she had fallen asleep and fell out of her chair. End of story - for him. When I told him that no, she had *not* fallen asleep, but had passed out - and I knew, because I was THERE - he said, and I quote, "Well, I think she fell asleep and fell out of her chair, and I'm not going to run any more tests."
3 days later, I had to take her back with shortness of breath, at which time he finally decided to do an MRI of her head and xray of her chest - which took yet another 4 days to be done, due to the busy xray department schedule. So by the time we got all the testing done, it was 10 days after she fell. The diagnosis? Congestive heart failure with a large amount of fluid around her heart and in her lungs, and O2 sats in the low 80s. And yet he wasn't going to run more tests.
He's no longer her doctor.
Walking isn't the only test for COPD; x-rays and a test in which she would blow into a machine (can't remember the name of the test) to my knowledge should have been done.
When she was in the hospital, was she on oxygen? If so, was a script written for oxygen for home care? What were her SAT rates? Does she have a pulse ox for home use?
If you're not satisfied with her doctors, find others. We had to shop around and sweetly say "sayonara" to more than a few before we found what we wanted.
How many, and what heart meds is she on? Ask her cardiologist about all these and what can be done to compensate for the low energy they cause, if in fact they are the cause.
Has anyone given her a spirometer to use to increase her lung capacity? Ask the pulmonologist about one. Also ask if the hospital with which he/she is affiliated has a pulmonary rehab program. Ours does. Deep breathing exercises also help.
If it's not the heart meds that are causing the fatigue and shortness of breath, something is. Ask the pulmonologist what will be done to diagnose and treat it. Be firm but polite and explain that you want to get to the bottom of the fatigue and respiratory issues. If you don't get answers, find another pulmonologist.
If there's a PCP or internist or other doctor in whom you do have confidence, explain your concern with the other doctors and ask for referrals for ones who will investigate in an attempt to determine what the problems are.
My mom has CHF and atrial fib. The last time I took her to her cardiologist, he did an ultrasound of her heart and added a new heart med. It slowed her heart down to where her blood pressure was always very low and her pulse was too. She was always tired. So when I took her back, I had a monthly record of her vitals and he immediately agreed and took the new med back off. She's still doing OK at 95.
I'd also have your mom's thyroid tested. My mom's thyroid quit, which we only found out after a trip to the ER for her atrial fib. Once we got her on thyroid meds and got them to the right dosage (it took a few months), she had a bit more energy. Good luck, I know it's hard to watch your mom suffer and feeling like doctors are not doing much to help it.