I am a 28 year old girl and i recently suffered a spontaneous pneumothorax twice. The first time was in May of this year, i was in hospital for a week with a chest drain in, it was my left lung that had collapsed + the doctors could not get it 2 re-inflate. After a week in hospital they let me home + said as i was still young my lung would re-inflate itself. This was not the case and my lung collapsed again around 4 weeks later. I was admitted into hospital for another week with another chest drain in then i was refered 2 another hospital for an operation.
I had the operation where they used pleurodesis (talc 2 stick the lung) aswell as this they also stapled my lung. I was supposed 2 b discharged from hospital 2 days after the opp, but had a slow recovery so turned out i was in for another week. I was so relieved 2 eventually get out of hospital, but i have stiil not got back 2 normal + this was around 10 weeks ago. I am still in a great deal of pain, chest + back pain, terrible rib pain + my rib is still poking out + swollen, i suffer shortness of breath and have also started suffering from panic attacks which i have never suffered from previous 2 this. i have been 2 A+E so many times in the past weeks convinced my lung ha went again, but fortunatly it has not. The symptoms i am suffering now are the same as i had the both times my lungs collapsed.
I feel there is no help out there for you after this has happened. The doctors say im fine now + my lungs are fine, but cannot explain the pain i am experiencing. I feel like you should be given more information of the side effects of the operation before being released from hospital.
I would like to know if there is anyone out there who is suffering the same or simillar symptoms as me.
I used 2 b a happy, outgoing, carefree girl and now i am a paranoid emotional wreck and cannot enjoy a normal life.
I would not wish a collapsed lung on anyone, it is horrendus
sorry to read about this painful experience Nikki. I hope someone here can give you some encouragement
tigress
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A quote from a book on Su-jok Onnuri acupuncture:
" ... For example, a collapse of left lung.
Lungs are controlled by energy of Dryness, and left lung is Hetero.
Thus one need to sedate Homo and tone up Hetero on the last
joint from the palm of index finger of right hand."
Practically:
You imagine a cross-section of this joint as a clock and
you're viewing it from finger's top, it has 4 points at 90*
to each other, size 3 mm.
Point 1 is at 6.00 hours on such clock, point 2 at 12.00,
point 3 at 9.00,
The massage of points by something like a round tip of a pencil
in the sequence:
1 - point 1, tip working anticlockwise!
2 - point 2, clockwise!
3 - point 3 - short rotational movements left-right-left right
the pressure is so that not too much pain at the points.
Very essential to not confuse the points and direction of pencil
tip rotation as this will cause further collapsing.
2 times a day, at least 1 minute for each point.
You may tape a small red stone like red garnet onto both points1 and 2
and a green stone onto point 3, and massage the same way
by the stones.
This is general treatment for lung collapse, may be
additional schemes for the pain relief and panic
attacks.
It's sounds like you've had a rough time recently. My partner suffered a collapsed lung about 6 weeks ago. He got a sharp pain in his chest, neck and shoulder and thought he was having a heart attack at first but it turned out to be a collapsed lung. They gave no reason for it happening. He didn't have to stay in hospital and they managed to reinflate it (well mostly) and he had to keep going back to the hospital each week for an x-ray to watch the progress. It took about 4 weeks to re-inflate properly and get back to normal and in the meantime he had pain around the ribs, shoulder, chest and shortness of breath. This area of the body seems to take quite a while to repair.
I'd go back to your GP or consultant and speak to them about it. Did they say how long it would take for a recovery?
Also, if you are not happy with the care/advice you have received, the NHS has a patient advisory and liason service (PALS) which can help - check your local hospital trust website.
I wish you a speedy recovery and hope that you start to feel better soon.