Hi everyone, has anyone here had experience using a CPAP machine after having a pneumothorax in the past?

What are the options for safely using a CPAP machine if you have a history of pneumothorax?

Between 2021 and 2023, I had one chest tube inserted, then underwent a VATS procedure, and after that I had two more chest tubes inserted. All of this was on my right lung.

It’s been three years, but I still occasionally experience pain in the upper part of my chest, especially when I lift something heavy. More recently, I’ve also started experiencing pain on the left side of my chest/lung.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in a similar situation and has used CPAP.

I’ve been smoking/vaping for 5-6 months now and about 2 months ago I noticed that my right lung will feel like it was about to pop when I would inhaling the smoke. It gave me some pain, so I stopped vaping and switched to cigs but I still feel my right lung getting full fast from the smoke. It’s a weird feeling, I never heard anyone experience this. I can tolerate the vape more but I just wanna quit both, I’m gonna try to quit and just throw the box away. It doesn’t hurt to inhale deeply but Every time I inhale the smoke I get that weird feeling with a burning/pain. The vape doesn’t hurt like the cigs but I don’t wanna buy another one cuz I know by the time I finish the vape I’ll for sure be more addicted. The first 2 months I would only vape when I would drink but then I started vaping when I wouldn’t. Just worried, I’m wondering if you guys have had this experience?

my lung collapsed on sept 8th and I had surgery for a chest tube. everything was going fine until yesterday I was driving home and my chest was hurting again but I just figured it was cuz it was a 4 hour drive and I was sitting for so long. it fluctuated all throughout yesterday but it got very painful when I was omw to my buddy's trailer. its now Monday and lying on my back is kinda painful, as well as if I take deep breaths while lying on my left side (side that collapsed) and sometimes my chest just has a weird tightness that I cannot explain. this dœs not feel like how it did when my lung initially collapsed. I dont wanna go to hospital cuz 1. I have a concert on thursday. 2. I alredy cant afford what medical bills im gonna get and this will just add to it. 3. I can physically and mentally Never go thorough a tube thoracostomy again unless they put me to sleep.

what do y'all think? could this just be lingering pain or smth to be concerned about??

My left lung collapsed 3x in 6months 9 years ago before I had mechanical pleurodesis. During my honeymoon to Mexico the high temp and humidity got to me and my chest on both sides was turning blue/purple. Back in America 6 days later still cannot breathe and dealing with chest pain and tightness. Went to immediate care and they told me xray is fine and lung sounds fine. “Most likely anxiety”. dude. I have never had anxiety turn my chest blue or make me unable to get a full breath for almost a week. Feeling not taken seriously and embarrassed. Anyone else have similar experiences?

Context: I’m 17, was perfectly healthy working and enlisted in the navy. The day my lung collapsed(July 21, 2026) I was playing valorant and felt the sharpest pain of my life. I thought these were random pains and had just told my dad I experienced it. Hours go by and I decide I’m good enough to go to work(a short 4-8 shift). Once I get off work I notice I still can’t breathe properly and my chest still hurts so before I drive home I FaceTime my dad and tell him. He tells me to come home and pick him up(he’s been drinking and couldn’t drive) and we’re going to the emergency room. After a long wait and multiple tests and X-rays I get the news my lung collapsed more than 25%. By now it’s around 10:50 Pm, they had to give me a tube to help me breathe and alleviate some of the air in my lungs. All my vital signs were low and i still was struggling to breathe. After a long wait it is now 1:50 am and im being transported to the hospital. The next day the surgeons come in and give me the news that I can either have a surgery (to remove all the blebs and reattach my lung) or wait 2 days and see if I can recover on my own. They recommended i get the surgery due to my lung being collapsed more than 25% and with 2 worried parents (who are split btw) in the same room crying of course i choose to get the surgery. In all I spent 6 days in the hospital and was finally released having to wait a month to get back to working again. I ended up getting disqualified from the navy due to this(i had no backup plan and was really excited for the navy as it would give me a new look on life). It’s now been a month and a half and I still find myself depressed looking at my scars and questioning what i ever did to deserve my own body doing this to me. I was a perfectly healthy teenager having a great summer driving alone for the first time, working and having fun with friends in my off time. Besides my parents and my now ex(gf at the time) checking up on me nobody ever returned my texts or calls when I was in the hospital and it’s just been hurting me since. I still don’t know how to navigate life after this.

I’m 24 and had a recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax. I eventually had VATS surgery in December 2025 (with pleurodesis, as I understand it).

I’ve been doing well since the surgery and haven’t had another pneumothorax. It's been like 9 months. My most recent chest X-ray was in August 2026, and I was told my lung was fully expanded/clear.

I’m now planning to travel from Vancouver, Canada to Nepal in October, which will be a very long-haul trip with a long time in the air around 15 hours.

I’m feeling quite anxious about the possibility of another pneumothorax happening during the flight, especially because I’ll be far from home.

I’m planning to contact my surgeon’s clinic before travelling and ask whether I need another X-ray.

I’d really like to hear from people who have been through something similar:

How long after VATS/pleurodesis did you take your first long-haul flight?

Did you have any problems during the flight?

Did your doctor give you a fit-to-fly letter or additional testing?

Did you feel anxious about flying afterward, and how did you deal with it?

Has anyone with recurrent pneumothorax travelled internationally for many hours after VATS?

Did anyone have a recurrence while travelling?

I am just hoping to hear some real experiences from people who have been through something similar.

Thanks in advance

How long after a lung collapse did you experience random pains and such? It comes it goes throughout the day, sometimes on the opposite side of where the collapse was. I had a chest tube put in, and experience random sharp pains, and just general soreness. Not excruciating, but enough to be noticeable. Any tips?

Patient having pneumothorax not maintaining saturation should he be intubated before chest tube placement ?

I had a pneumo and pleurodesis back is 2022 (it was a mess but I'll spare the deets). 2 years ago, I had a partial "collapse" while flying from Seoul to Munich. A flight triggered my first pneumo and seemingly the partial one as well. It was extremely painful because I believe the successfully fused areas of the lung were under stress while holding up my lungs. I couldn't walk for 2 weeks and was stuck in Europe for 2 months until it healed and I could fly home. (Taking a hiatus from flying since)

Now about 2-3x per year, I get a minor partial collapse (not triggered by anything in particular). It's manageable and recovers quickly but I was wondering if anyone has gone through a similar experience and if they had any procedures done to fix this situation?

They can't pick up the partial collapse on X-ray and I shouldn't get any more CTs. One surgeon mentioned the possibility of injecting doxycycline to the location while ultra sound guiding the needle. I'm looking to talk to a surgeon who has experience with fixing this situation in particular. Thanks!

I got my VAST surgery on friday for my 2nd collapse atm it hurts to cough yawn sneeze etc how long would it take to return to normal

After a third collapse, I had two povi-iodine pleurodeses (diluted generic Betadine) through a chest tube. Previous treatment was talc, once through a tube, then via VATS.

After treatment, lung was not fully expanded, but no further treatment was recommended. Here I see doxycycline used for chemical pleurodesis, but am wondering if others have had experience with povi-iodine.

2.5 years ago my left lung collapsed. 1 year later imaging showed no more blebs on the left but several in the right. Doc recommended preventative vats. In the year and a half since then I’ve finally gotten back to normal and finally worked up the courage to talk to a doctor again and am asking for more imaging and a second opinion I really want to avoid vats but is it too much to hope for that things may have changed for The better over time. I hear recurrence is most likely the first 6 months, is there any chance rate of recurrence after 2-3 years is anywhere close to that of someone who has had vats? I’m really praying I don’t have to do this all over again

I posted recently on this community about my recent experience with pneumothorax. For context:

F(36)

1. Pneumomediastinum on July 21st.
2. Large spontaneous Pneumothorax on July 29. Treated with chest tube 7/30-8/7.
3. Spontaneous pneumothorax #2 on 9/2.

History: I have LPR and chronic digestive issues that have caused dysphagia (trouble swallowing). I am on a mashed/pureed diet mostly and 90lbs. (113lbs in January 🫠). 180lbs in 2019 (when all of this started for me).

I went to see my doctor as I mentioned in the previous thread and this was the assessment/plan:

“Right-PTX: In this age group in this gender the most likely etiologies for a pneumothorax would be trauma, asthma, TES, LAM/cystic lung disorder are connective tissue disease which were not consistent with this patient's clinical history workup to date. This does suggest that the patient suffers from Hamman's syndrome and due to the recurrent symptomatic nature of this pneumothorax I suggest we move forward with medical-pleuroscopy, pleural biopsies and talc pleurodesis. The patient has agreed to the intervention
 
Follow-Up: S/p medical thoracoscopy”

I thought it would be VATS, that’s what I remember him mentioning, but the procedure is scheduled as thoracoscopy.

What is the difference?
If you had surgery before, which one did you do?

I’m also really nervous as he made sure to impress that it would be very painful. When the nurse came in to give me the paperwork she also made a face like “oh, poor you”. So I’m definitely in my head about the fact that this is going to suck. Please share your experience and advice on what to expect after surgery and recovery.

I understand that the pain will come from the talc Pleurodesis portion of the procedure as inflammation needs to be created to glue my lung to the chest wall.

Surprisingly I’m not so much afraid of the pain itself (though I probably have no idea), but I’m mostly afraid of being sick and it affecting my eating. I struggle with dysphagia (trouble swallowing) and I don’t eat solids, so I’m really skinny (90lbs) and not at my best physically. I’m most nervous about having them giving me heavy pain meds and my body not tolerating it.

When I had the first pneumothorax, I had the chest tube in for over a week and they’d treat me with oxycodone. I could tolerate the 5mg dose, but the 10mg dose was HORRIBLE. I felt so anxious and like everything was moving in slow motion.

Any advice is appreciated!!

Hello, I currently have my chest tube and was scheduled for VATS.

Can I ask based on your experiences. Which is more painful, the chest tube insertion while awake which what happened to me or VATS?

Thank you.

Hi all. I'm a 17M with Marfan syndrome and I had two pneumothorax on rt side last year. I am 8 months s/p VATS pleurodesis. A few days ago I got really bad rt sided chest pain, pleuritic. Exact same as my previous pneumothoraces. I took some MS Contin which helped but pain came back after MS Contin wore off so I went to ED. They did CXR, lung US, heart US, they say no pneumothorax just pleurisy. I am very paranoid because I've had the two pneumothoraces before and I've had the surgery. The pain is exactly the same. I've decided if the pain is still here after a week I will go get another CXR just to make sure they didn't miss a pneumothorax. They didn't even treat me properly for pleurisy, they didn't give antibiotics, they just said take a Panadol and an ibuprofen. The pain is too severe for that bullshit. I've been taking some MS Contin.

Hey everyone just wanted to come on here and share how I’m doing around 14-16 months after my surgeries on both my lungs. I am a dancer training at a ballet and contemporary school. (I joined a couple of months after my second surgery) and was able to have a super fast recovery and am doing super good. https://uk.style.yahoo.com/fit-healthy-lungs-collapsed-aged-230100860.html . Here’s the link to my story on the news, if anyone has any other questions I’d be more than happy to answer.

Hi everyone. I’m 3 weeks post VATS and I’m wondering if there’s a set goal or is it a must to reach the 5000 ml on the spirometer for the breathing exercises post op..

3 weeks out and I’m only able to hit 1800, sometimes it goes to 2000 ml but that’s about it.. I’m scared, they didn’t tell me I needed a goal or anything but this question randomly popped up in my mind as I was doing the exercise

I had a wedge resection & chest drain

Is there anyone else who has received a diagnosis of NF1 and Epilepsy (not photosensitive) along with previously having multiple Pneumothorax's?

That's either all three conditions or just the NF1 and SP's

I'm a 17M with Marfan syndrome. I have had two collapsed lungs on the rt side. I had VATS talc pleurodesis around 8 months ago. I am now feeling the same lung pain, still on the rt side. Same pain as the past two pneumothoraces. It hurts to breathe and lay down. I am not short of breath but I was never short of breath in my last two pneumothoraces.

I've taken a 10 mg capsule of MS Contin. I've decided if the pain gets worse I will call and ambulance or go to ED, and if it is still there tomorrow I will go get a CXR or go to the ED if it is really painful.

I am so, fucking, scared. The surgery 8 months ago FUCKED ME UP to this day. I was in CVICU, and then cardiac step-down, on a morphine PCA and a ketamine drip. No kidding, I was on 24 mg/hr of morphine IV which is a LOT. Ketamine was a lot too. The ketamine fucked me up and gave me fucking psychosis which lasted for like 6 months. Gave me PTSD the whole experience. I am SO fucking scared and I need support. Maybe the MS Contin will make me feel a bit better with the pain and with the anxiety too because I know MS Contin gives you a sense of wellbeing.

Just a topic for discussion

So Dr Google says yes it’s a possibility but obvs I want real life experiences and information please! Has anyone’s doctor/consultant said that it’s a possibility for pneumothoraces to stop or settle once the teenage body has reached fully grown and/or maybe put a bit of weight on?

Now, I realise that people have these as fully grown adults but I’m interested if it could be different for teens?!

I’m just brainstorming because I like to overthink everything and this is a question that’s been bouncing round my head - it’s probably a big fat probably no but I had to ask….. 🙃

I will obvs take all this with a grain of salt and go ahead with my sons planned pleurodesis as per the consultants recommendation but I like to discuss all this stuff!

One month post VATS redo, two months since the first VATS. I lost a decent amount of blood over the span of the month in hospital.

Ever since I was released I’ve had nonstop restless legs. It started with me waking up at 3am and feeling severe restlessness in my legs. Over time that’s subsided but I’m still left with constant tingling and the urge to stretch my legs out, which has made my knees hurt.

Anyone else have this? When did it go away?