Spontaneous Pneumothorax?

Question

I am a 17 year old very tall skinny male. I had a spontaneous pneumothroax and had it solved with a tube in my chest for 3 days. Well its better and I was released from the hospital but it was the worst experience of my entire life. I've been told it reoccurs alot and I am so terrified of that. I'm scared to inhale, walk or even pass a bowel movement because of this fear. Please please please tell me all I can do to make sure it doesnt reoccur or if i'm allowed to be normal again, please no mean/sarcastic people answer this, i'm seriously scared to breathe.

Answer 1

I understand why you’re scared to breathe. My right lung completely collapsed when I was 18 years old. That was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. I suddenly had shortness of breath one night and started wheezing. It felt like there was a weight on my chest. I had to keep my arms above my head in order to breathe. I couldn’t breathe at all if I was flat on my back. I was taken to the emergency room, where I passed out during a chest x-ray.

Like you, I had a chest tube inserted to let out the air surrounding my lung, so it could re-expand and heal on its own. Unlike you, the chest tube DID NOT solve the problem. I ended up spending two weeks in the hospital, because my lung kept collapsing. I finally had surgery. Since I had surgery ( LUNG STAPLED-not sure about the exact procedure) the chances of my lung collapsing again have decreased dramatically, or so I was told. Hearing that made me feel a little better. My doctor also told me not to smoke- I was never a smoker.

The fact that it happens spontaneously is unnerving. I was sitting down eating dinner when it happened to me. Before my experience, I thought a collapsed lung only happened if there was a severe blow to the chest or some kind of severe trauma to the chest (knife wound, gunshot wound, etc). Now I know. As others have previously mentioned, statistically this is more common in tall, thin, white males. I am an average height black female, but I am very thin. I'm 25 years old now, and nothing has happened since.

Talk to your doctor. Maybe s/he can help put your mind at ease. You’ll be okay.

Answer 2

We see pts with spontaneous pneumothorax's and unfortunately sometimes they do re-occur. Just don't smoke and find out the cause of the pneumothorax from your physician and ask him what you can do to prevent a re-occurence.
I know having a chest tube is very painful and worrying about your health is no fun either. Just know you are recovering and you are thru the rough part now.
Spontanous pneumothoraxes that I have seen occured years after the 1st one and it is usually caused by a bleb in the lung. You may never do this again, so have fun.

Answer 3

Spontaneous pneumothorax is caused by a weak spot of the pleural sac surrounding the lung. It is usually seen in tall, thin white males between the ages of 15-30. My husband has these and it will occur again. If the collapse is >25% on more than one episode they can correct that by using acid to make the lung adhere to the chest wall. You can continue to do all the same activities as before but the best thing you can do is to build up your muscle mass. After my husband began weight lifting on a regular basis he has not had an episode.

Answer 4

yeah, it does happen when you are intubated (had that tube in your mouth) and mechanically ventilated. looks like the pressure or the volume set in the ventilator was high -- that's how you got the pneumothorax. however, you may think that they were so careless not looking at the numbers, but it could have been that your lungs needed more volume or pressure (whichever settings were used) that's why they were willing to take the risk. i know they are uncomfortable, and one way that could get the air out of your pleural cavity is to insert a chest tube -- which i am wondering why they didn't do it. what did they say about your condition? did they say that "it will just go away" -- im not so sure about that. try going to a different doctor and explain everything - have a chest x-ray done so they could see how much air is in your pleural cavity and they should insert a chest tube to drain all the air out. i know the chest tube looks scary, but it's not really that uncomfortable, and it is a big relief once we get all those air out. so talk to a doctor about that. i don't think you should be walking around with a pneumothorax -- this could collapse your lungs and result in even more serious complications.

Answer 5

Hey...sorry to hear that happened to you...I had a patient come in with that once, I know it's scary, f'sure...the only thing you can do to help prevent this is STOP SMOKING if you do...it's text-book presentation 99% of the time...tall white skinny male that smokes gets a pneumothorax...good luck!

Answer 6

I don't know why thin people are prone to pneumothorax. Sometimes people have little blebs in their lungs that break causing a leak. What has your physician said in regard to a reoccurance? I hope you don't smoke.

Answer 7

i totally understand what you are going through. my ex husband has had the exact same episodes. only one has required a chest tube. (i agree very very scarey)....like others have said smoking is the worst thing you can do. my ex stopped smoking two years ago and has not had episode since. good luck.

Answer 8

It's more common in young adult males..... particularly tall/skinny blokes. Don't think it's any more common in pot-smokers.

Answer 9

Many tall and skinny males get this, one thing you can do to prevent it is; don't stretch and reach, if you have allergies treat it, sneezing can also do it. Maybe gain some weight.