I thought I was having a heart attack with shortness of breath, fatigue, etc and went to a nearby ER. They admitted me to the hospital and did extensive tests to rule out heart attack, stroke., etc. Someone noticed on my chest x-ray that my left diaphragm was elevated and called in a thoracic surgeon. He ordered a pulmonary function test and SNIFF test (fluroscopy), which showed clearly my left diaphragm was paralyzed. The SNIFF test is the gold standard test to see if your diaphragm is paralyzed. Because paralyzed diaphragms are rare, it takes some people months and years to get a proper diagnosis, so I was REALLY lucky. I have no idea about the rest of your question. The only treatments for paralyzed diaphragms I've read about are plication surgery, diaphragm pacing, and nerve grafts. I do know that on my Pulmonary Function Tests to test how well my lungs are working, they spray something to see if it helps me breath more easily. Whatever that was didn't seem to make a difference for me.