Comment from: kherrell, 45-54 Female (Patient)Published: January 14
I woke up with spontaneous pneumothorax, it got worse as I fed the horses in cold weather, shortness of breath and felt like a ton of bricks sitting on my chest. Pain all subsided when I lay down, I didn't go to the doctor until the following day, they had to insert the chest tube, called a procedure in the ER. That hurt, the tube in there was very uncomfortable but worked. Removal was quick but painful too. Glad to have it out though. Former smoker, but I quit and thought my lungs would rejuvenate! I have a very severe case of scoliosis also, and blame every ailment on it. I'm a 50 yr old female.
Comment from: trackstand, 19-24 Male (Patient)Published: January 13
I am 21 and recovering from my second pneumothorax. The first was 50% on the right; the second 30% on the left, but I opted for the preventative surgery after the second one. I also got a lung resection/reduction on the left side for some cysts that kept my lung from closing up and making it collapse all over again. I am an athlete, a student, and my job as a messenger required me to be very physical and ride a bike. Right now, all those things hang in the balance of whether the preventative surgery takes. Based on the last X-ray, I have a residual pneumothorax that's complicating the efficacy of the surgery. By the way, for those who get their lungs stapled, such as myself, the cold air can be unnerving for a while. This article should mention more about the VATS surgery.
Comment from: KC, 19-24 Female (Patient)Published: December 08
I am still recovering from a spontaneous pneumothorax. I was home for six days with a tube in my chest, which was not fun. After that did not work, I went in for surgery where they removed a part of my lung and scuffed up my chest wall to re-stick the lung to the wall. Apparently, spontaneous pneumothorax can be hereditary. My dad, my brother, and I have all had it; the only difference was that I had it on my left side, and they had it on their right side. If you experience any symptoms, go to the ER right away!
Comment from: chipUSMC, 25-34 Male (Patient)Published: November 29
I was recently unfortunately able to experience a pneumothorax. I fell down some stairs, fracturing three ribs and collapsing my lung. When I got to the hospital, the lung was 20% collapsed. By the time I was seen, it had gotten to 75% collapsed. A chest tube was placed. A couple days later, I was released and went home. I had many problems in the days to come. The Percocet wasn't enough to treat the pain. After going to the hospital a number of times, I was finally put on Dilaudid.
Comment from: Genie, 35-44 Female (Patient)Published: October 16
The symptom that I had when I experienced a spontaneous pneumothorax was a sharp back pain in my upper right back. Though initially it was extremely painful, which led me to the emergency room, the pain abated. That almost caused me to leave the hospital without being checked. By the time the triage nurse got to me, my right lung was completely collapsed and the left lung had only 35% capacity. I think it is important to mention that a symptom could be back pain as well.
Comment from: Jeff O, 45-54 Male (Patient)Published: September 30
Recently, I was diagnosed and treated for a spontaneous pneumothorax. While the chest tube was in place (very painful), I was as active as I could be. I went walking as often as I could. What I felt happened and made my condition worse was that I felt the pain increase as if the tube was rubbing against the inner wall of my chest. My advice is to stay still, and let the chest tube do its thing.
Comment from: Cparrish, 55-64 Female (Caregiver)Published: January 13
I pray that anyone with a history of pneumothorax is under the care of a specialist. My brother, 57, had a collapsed lung in October of 2002 and again in March 2003. He stopped smoking after the first incident but had to have surgery to bond the thinning tissue after the second collapse. In July of 2003, he started coughing violently, and by the time paramedics arrived got, it was too late. They were not able to get the tube down this blocked throat to incubate.
Comment from: dunesgrl1, 35-44 Female (Patient)Published: January 13
This occurred with me when I was having a surgery for T.O.S (thoracic outlet syndrome). My surgeon bumped my lung with the rib bone he was taking out. After they repaired that, I had a tube out the side of my chest. It didn't bother me, until they took it out. That was extremely painful. For a month after, I would wake up in the night gasping for breath, unable to breathe. I don't know if it was my own fear of being unable to breathe or a symptom. It has been eight years, and I still only have 50% lung capacity. I have a lot of problems breathing. If I had been told to do breathing exercises immediately after, I think it may have helped more. I also now use an inhaler. If I don't I cough all the time. Doctors need to educate their patients on what to do after this has happened for a better outcome. Also we must ask more instead of assuming. I'm only 40 and really wish I could breathe normal again.
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Chest pain is a common complaint by a patient in the ER. Causes of chest pain include broken or bruised ribs, pleurisy, pneumothorax, shingles, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, angina, heart attack, costochondritis, pericarditis, aorta or aortic dissection, and reflux esophagitis. Diagnosis and treatment of chest pain depends upon the cause and clinical presentation of the patient's chest pain.
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is a disorder that persistently obstructs bronchial airflow. COPD mainly involves three related conditions, chronic bronchitis, chronic asthma, and emphysema. Symptoms of COPD include chronic cough, shortness of breath, frequent respiratory infections, wheezing, morning headaches, and pulmonary hypertension. Treatment of COPD is focused on the related condition(s).
Pleurisy, an inflammation of the lining around the lungs, is associated with sharp chest pain upon breathing in. Cough, chest tenderness, and shortness of breath are other symptoms associated with pleurisy. Pleurisy pain can be managed with pain medication and by external splinting of the chest wall.
Cystic fibrosis is a disease of the mucus and sweat glands. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease. The outcome of the disease leaves the body malnourished, bulky and fouls smelling stools, vitamin insufficiency, gas, painful or swollen abdomen, infertility, susceptible to heat emergencies, and respiratory failure. There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, treatment of symptoms is used to manage the disease.
Pulmonary edema (swelling or fluid in the lungs) can either be caused by cardiogenic causes (congestive heart failure, heart attacks, abnormal heart valves) or noncardiogenic causes such as ARDS, kidney failure, high altitude, pneumothorax, pleural effusion, aspirin overdose, pulmonary embolism, and infections. The treatment of pulmonary edema depends on the cause of the condition.
Pleural effusion is an excess fluid between the two membranes that envelop the lungs. There are two classifications of causes of pleural effusion; transudate and exudate. The treatment of pleural effusion depends on the cause.
Chronic bronchitis is a cough that occurs daily with production of sputum that lasts for at least three months, two years in a row. Causes of chronic bronchitis include cigarette smoking, inhaled irritants, and underlying disease processes (such as asthma, or congestive heart failure). Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, and wheezing. Treatments include bronchodilators and steroids. Complications of chronic bronchitis include COPD and emphysema.
A chest X-ray is a radiology test that involves exposing the chest briefly to
radiation to produce an image of the chest and the internal organs of the chest.
An X-ray film is positioned against the body opposite the camera, which sends
out a very small dose of a radiation beam. As the radiation penetrates the body,
it is absorbed in varying amounts by different body tissues depending on the tissue's composition of air, water, blood, bone, or muscle. Bones, for
example, absorb much of the X-ray radiation while lung tissue (which is filled with
mostly air) absorbs very little, allowing most of the X-ray beam to pass through
the lung.
What is a shadow on a chest X-ray?
Due to the differences in their composition (and, therefore, varying degrees
of penetration of the X-ray beam), the lungs, heart, aorta, and bones of the
chest each can be distinctly visualized on the chest X-ray. The X-ray film
reco...
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I woke up with spontaneous pneumothorax, it got worse as I fed the horses in cold weather, shortness of breath and felt like a ton of bricks sitting on my chest. Pain all subsided when I lay down, I didn't go to the doctor until the following day, they had to insert the chest tube, called a procedure in the ER. That hurt, the tube in there was very uncomfortable but worked. Removal was quick but painful too. Glad to have it out though. Former smoker, but I quit and thought my lungs would rejuvenate! I have a very severe case of scoliosis also, and blame every ailment on it. I'm a 50 yr old female.
Related Reading: pneumothorax | scoliosis