My boyfriend is at a point where we cannot get him off the respirator because he has panic attacks and cannot get to the next level if he doesn't try to push through it. The RT's say that he is capable of doing it and needs to get over his anxiety fast. Does anyone have any experiences with this or have any advice on how to calm him down?

I'm not sure if this will help at all but Brady(my husband) had some panic attacks wile in rehab and what seemed to help him was him telling him self I can do this, i'm going to be ok. It not at all a perfect fix to it but it did seem to help him some.

google - midwest center - they're great

putting him on a strecther and getting him outside. he needs to get some fresh air. they can and should do it.

Not that I've had the vent from SCI but I have from pneumonia & asthma. In the case of asthma it's different cuz they don't really wean you off.......they figure out when you should be able to start doing it on your own & then they take you off. But the sensation along with feeling as though my lungs got ripped out along with the tube, was the feeling as though I couldn't breath......the RT gave me high flo oxygen through a mask with a big hose on the end but the feeling as though I was suffocating slowly started to go away, the chest heaviness stayed for a few days. Could this be part of his problem? The FEELING as though he isn't able to breathe? It is a different way of breathing for quads. Though as I said I was only on it for a few days with pneumonia so I'm just trying to take a stab at it. But you could ask him if that is part of the problem......perhaps he can't articulate to you how he is feeling?