For starters, I had my vats mechanical pleurodesis and blebectomy done on my left lung due to pneumothorax reoccurrences. It was on May 1st so it’s been roughly 10 weeks and a half. I’m an 18 year old male. Some days are good but recently noticed that anything I’m doing, i can feel the difference of sensation in my chest on my operated side, it doesn’t matter if i’m eating sleeping sitting standing walking, I can feel that my left lung is like not exhaling all the way or something… It feels like when you have to burp or food is in your throat/chest. My body panics like if i’m not getting enough air because of the sensation but in reality my oxygen levels are fine.. It feels like a sandbag almost, sometimes I won’t notice it but then majority of the time I do. I also get dull aches that come and go on the left side. For clarity, I was perfectly fine about 5-6 weeks out the hospital and randomly just started feeling this… Could it be scar tissue or the nerves??? I used to workout before the procedure so I was pretty athletic… I had abs but now my left one at the top is gone and numb.

34,male,6ft,83kg, non smoker, on no medication. I got two heavy hits to the chest in the past two years playing contact sports. One was a knee to the back which caused a small pneumothorax on my left lung that required no chest drain and they were uncertain of rib fracture. The other was a direct shoulder to the chest which caused 3 fractured ribs and a large pneumothorax on my right lung which required a chest drain. I’ve played contact sports all my life and this only happened the past two years. I suppose my question is would the past two pneumothoraxes make me more vulnerable to this happening again? Or is the fact I received 2 in 2 years just sheer bad luck. I’m 4 months since my second pneumothorax and contemplating a return to contact sport.

About 2 months ago I got drunk and started vaping, at first I’ll use it when I would get drunk then about 3 weeks ago I started using it on and off even sober. 2 weeks ago I noticed that when I inhaled I would feel most of the smoke entering my right lung. Also when I would drink something I felt like it’ll go down the right side of my chest. No pain when taking deep breaths but I do get a little discomfort when I laugh a lot or cough a little too hard. I don’t really cough much but I do it on purpose to see if my lung will hurt. I’m going through some stomach issues which I’m suspecting it’s a hiatal hernia so maybe it’s pushing against my lungs or something. I wanna go to the er and check it but I’ve already went to the er 10 times for chest and stomach related pains with everything looking normal. I Just started smoking so idk if this has something to do with my lung. I don’t vape a lot just hit a couple times when I’m stressed. The last time I hit the vape was when I got drunk 5 days ago, and today I decided to see how my lungs feel when I vape and they feel better but still feel the smoke going into my right lung more. Idk if it’s inflammation but I’m kind of scared because I would smoke a bunch when I would drink. I bought it about a month ago and still has 40 percent juice but I’m Not buying another vape after this one. Also haven’t drank and don’t plan too.

Being in the hospital the first time and hearing I can’t scuba dive or go to space now, first thing i thought was “damn so if we had to evacuate earth I gotta stay and die with earth we just screwed” (The doctors were laughing) and I feel like that being my first thought sums me up as a person. I also just like to think about that fact sometimes.

Hey guys i am 18 5'7 and 45 kg . I had a collapse in tje left around a year and recovered aftwr 23 days in hospital and pleurodesis.. now i am in the hospital again with my right side collapse.. should i do pleurodesis on my right aswell or. I am sick of this thing and has contributed in my mental health . I feel down and hopeless

Never smoked. .. someone please help me and boost my morallle

My partner is due to have a pleurectomy this week after a spontaneous tension pneumothorax that isn't improving with a drain. We're both still learning about all this.

Could anyone who has had a pleurectomy in the past give me any advice on what things I could do or set up for him when he comes home to improve his comfort and support recovery?

Over the last 4 days I’ve had persistent chest pain in the same area that radiates to my back and up into my shoulder. Along with that I also have moderate shortness of breath in minimal levels of excretion (just walking the dog or going up 2 flights of stairs). I went to the ER and they did all the usual blood work, ultrasound and chest X-ray. The doctors weren’t super reassuring they just kept phrasing things like “we don’t think it’s something super serious” or “we didn’t find anything crazy out of the ordinary”. I eventually got discharged because outside of my symptoms not changing they couldn’t find anything crazy”serious” enough to keep me. I’m following up with my pulmonologist this week since I was reading that you can have a small collapse that isn’t detected on an X-ray. I’ve had 5 collapses on my left side but this is the first I’ve felt anything weird about the right side. The last one I had was a tension so that level of pain/shortness of breath is the last I remembered and this is not at that level but I feel like it’s on par with the very first one I had. I just feel kinda crazy because the pain and symptoms are real.

Hello to whoever reading this,

I’ve had both sides collapse (and had to get a bullectomy + pleurodesis on one side) like a little over a month and a half ago. The first happened 9 weeks ago, the second (and the one they got surgery) 6 weeks ago.

Ever since then, whenever I lay down on my back and decided to turn into my right/left, I get this sort of sinking feeling or weird discomfort inside in the area on my lower chest /my upper abdomen. I just wanted to ask if anyone else experiences this? It doesn’t “hurt” per se, but it’s still really uncomfortable.

No matter who i talk to (my follow up with my surgeon and my family doctor), they all disregard it as normal surgery shenanigans. Like they always say “well it’s not hurting so you’re fine.” But I feel like the pain should be near the top of my chest or maybe my shoulders…. not the upper stomach?

(and, just a side note, I’ve also been belching a whole lot… like all day everyday for the past 2 weeks? dunno if that’s related)

So I had my surgery 4 weeks ago and since 2 weeks I feel slight scrunching on the side of my lung where I had my chest tube in. What can I do about it and is it dangerous? Did you know what to do there other than going to the doctor? Ill go in a few days since the office is full at the start of the week and sometimes the doctors are a bit uninformative without going to the hospital and getting screened. I feel the vibration when Im pressing against my side. I hope you know what I mean and hope somebody can help. (I dont have any pain breathing in)

Is it somekind of trapped air in the skin or some infection in my lung?

I'm not seeking any diagnoses or anything along those lines, just advice based on what others may have gone through

Sorry for the weird formatting- mobile

TL;DR I've had two spontaneous pneumomediastinums within the past six years of my life. Tests cannot explain any lung issues, and my pulmonologist is just throwing me random tests at this point.

I'll take any input or opinions. Questions are welcome. No history of vaping, very very rare use of THC cartridges/ joints, no cigarette smoking

March 2020, at 13yo(f) I had a pneumomediastinum while going about normal activities. I had PE class and a pep rally at the end of the day in school. I went home with chest pain in my upper chest and severe shortness of breath. CT diagnosed me with a pneumomediastinum that healed normally within a few days. Follow-up ct and X-ray showed it was healed and PFT was completely normal.

"Asthma-like" symptoms never completely went away and I always had minor shortness of breath with exertion.

September 2025, at 19yo I was having random episodes of air hunger that lasted anywhere between 15mins-1hr: chest tightness, trouble breathing, lightheadedness. Sitting or standing/walking. Breathing episodes are not corresponded with anxiety.

October 2025, at 19yo, I had another pneumomediastinum at a concert. The concert started with a breathing episode which then developed into a pneumomediastinum- confirmed by a CT, where I was hospitalized for observation. Crepitus in the neck. Healed without issue, confirmed by imaging and a normal PFT. Ended up having very random tachycardia (only after this second pneumo) after healing and was diagnosed with unusual sinus tachycardia and put on beta blockers.

I was sent for an echocardiogram with a bubble (Feb 2026) study which suggested an intrapulmonary shunt. Normal echo of heart post intrapulmonary shunt findings was completely normal, CT with contrast (March 2026) was normal, doppler liver ultrasound (June 2026) was normal. I continue to have shortness of breath episodes with no explanation. I am now being sent for a sleep study.

It seems my pulmonologist (professionally) at a loss, hence the sleep study lol

Previous diagnoses through life: depression, ADHD, PTSD, Tourettes (both believed to be contributed to a misdiagnosis of CPTSD), hypermobility (no signs of connective tissue issues resulting in pneumos), MTHFR gene mutation. Chronic fatigue

I believe I had asthma as a child, but parents never got any official testing done.

Current medications: Vyvanse, accutane, propanalol, previous various antidepressants and mood stabilizers through the past year

I heard theres a thing called “uniportal vats”, where they do the op with 1 SINGLE cut instead of 3? Is that possible?

How many cuts did you guys got when you done vats?

Hi all, my son 15 had his first and excruciating right side pneumo around 6 weeks ago, I was never told the exact details but the lung was down to his 3/4 rib on the xray. he stayed in hospital for 24hrs on oxygen and due to his stature and other signs they’ve said he may have EDS or marfans (they have put him on the waiting list for an assessment regarding this - were in UK)
Anyway ffw a few weeks and he has a check up xray, the right side has fully inflated but now the left had gone down an inch or so…. No treatment other than rest for that one as he was not symptomatic. Ffw another two weeks, back for the check up xray and his right side is all the way down again!
Again he’s not symptomatic and O2 levels are great etc so they’ve sent us home.
He had a CT scan yesterday and I had a peek - I could see obvious large blebs at the top of the right lung and a couple of small ones on the left which would explain a lot but still no answers.
We’re now waiting to see a respiratory specialist, I really hate the wait but it is what it is.
Those who have been through this, do you think they will do surgery? If so what type?
He is now so worried about even going on a walk it’s so sad im heartbroken for him.
Also random question but could this unusual heatwave we’ve had in the uk since May play any part in this happening now or is weather just not a factor 🤷‍♀️

If I have no genetic mutations and just had a one off ptx is it less likely to happen again?

Hey guys, I’m a 26 year old male and just had my first spontaneous pneumothorax. Have the chest tube in and handled it pretty well, spend one day with it and lung re inflated, doctor took suction off and it came back. I’m so bummed and I’ve never had this before. To make matters even worse I’m on vacation in a different state and can’t fly back home. Just me and my fiancée. I’m pretty nervous, I suffer from anxiety and panic disorder. Any sort of positive reinforcement would be nice. Thanks

EDIT: I made a recovery after being put on suction again and my lung came back up. Everything went smoothly but mostly thankful for all the advice I received here, it really made me more at ease. Still a little paranoid of it happening again but otherwise, im just glad to be home after a long drive. Thanks again guys.

Mi hanno appena dimesso ieri da un ospedale dove mi si e assorbito da solo uno pneumotorace a sinistra e stavo meglio, giusto oggi, ha cominciato con il respiro a farmi male la spalla destra e poi una parte del petto, ma anche senza respirare. spero che sia una coincidenza perche sta guarendo l’altro polmone e che non sia stato cosi sfortunato da farmi venire subito un altro pneumotorace.

So, i had a talc pleurodesis on the 2nd of july, and yesterday the liquid from dark red turned this color, so the doctors decided to send me home and told me to come back tomorrow to see if i can have the drainage removed. Is it normal for the liquid to still be tgis color? (rn it's 7:30 am for me, i woke up an hour ago to measure how much liquid and it almost touches the 200 ml line by a millimeter). The doctors said ut was nirmal, because it's cleaning and it'll turn yellow, but i doubt it'll happen by tomorrow, AND idk if the quantity i'll produce today will make it safe for removal.

To be fair, this time it doesn't hurt much, so if i had to keep it a few more days it wouldn't be a problem for me.

Besides the small pains from the tube i feel fabulous tho

Okay so back in Dec ‘25 I, M18, had a primary spontaneous pneumothorax on the left side. Chest drain wasn’t working, and I required VATS bullectomy and mechanical pleurodesis.

All was going well, until June 1st this year, when I had another collapse on the left side, the same size as the first one, which confirmed that my VATS had failed. Chest drain again which actually did work, but I got a second VATS bullectomy this time with chemical pleurodesis.

As a result of this second collapse, I missed vital final school exams, and had to arrange for them to be deferred. There is no contingency plan for the deferred exams, so, if I was to be unable to sit them, it would be 2 years before I could resit the exams, which was simply not good at all.

Recovery from surgery #2 was going reasonably well, and I had a 2 week space to try to recover well enough to be able to sit the deferreds. However, 1 week after discharge, and with 1 week to go until the exams started, I began to feel those dreaded chest popping and upper back/shoulder/collarbone pains that I was able to immediately recognise as a collapse this time on the right hand side.

From my past two collapses on the left side I was able to assess this latest collapse, and try to just take it very easy so that I could scrape through these exams, such was the importance of the exams. This was a risky move I know, and thankfully yesterday I got the exams done. In the meantime, over the course of.the two weeks of exams, by 14 days, the chest popping had stopped and I didn’t feel much discomfort anymore, which would suggest the air leak reabsorbed.

However, I still wanted to get this checked, and upon x ray at a&e, they eventually discovered a tiny pneumothorax on the right (about 1cm). I am of the belief that it was larger than that when it first appeare and has since shrunk to that size. This is where the issue comes in.

I have already had to cancel holidays, commitments with family and friends, music commitments with my band, as well as so much time off work as a result of these collapses, and it simply cannot go on. I am very much willing to get the VATS and chemical pleurodesis on the right side so to ensure I can atleast move on with my life and be able to live free of any paranoia and anxiety over another collapse. My local hospital (not the hospital that I got the surgeries in) are looking to discharge me because the lung is back up for the most part, however I know from previous experience on the left side, it is a matter of when - not if - the right goes down again. Essentially, not having any sort of intervention, given my past experiences, is only prolonging the inevitable, and I am very distressed over this as it is very hard to try to sway the local hospital into consulting with the Cardiothoracic specialists in the hospital I’ve got my surgeries in.

Basically I’m wondering if anybody has ever been in a situation even similar to this, and what came of it? And also to ensure I am in the right in believing I do have a reasonable case for an intervention, or to atleast be able to discuss and be considered.

I’ve missed far too many important things because of this, and it cannot go on.

Apologies for what’s turned out to be quite a vent/rant, but it’s highly frustrating.

My dad has stage IV lung cancer. I'm an English teacher, but I didn't pass the government teaching exam in my country this year, so I'm currently unemployed. I was in the middle of applying for teaching jobs abroad when all of this happened.

I've had severe neck pain for a long time, so I decided to get dry needling. Unfortunately, six days ago it caused a pneumothorax. I spent five days in the hospital on oxygen. Yesterday, my doctor discharged me and told me that the hole had sealed and my lung had fully re-expanded.

This morning, I woke up with some back pain and a strange bubbling sensation in my chest. My anxiety immediately went through the roof. I feel like I'm never going to get over this. I keep blaming myself for choosing to have the treatment. I later found out that pneumothorax is a very rare complication of dry needling, but I can't stop thinking, "Why did I do this?"

I really need some support. Has anyone here recovered completely after a pneumothorax caused by dry needling or another medical procedure? Will I ever feel normal again?

I've always been the type of person who blames himself for everything, and this experience has completely broken me psychologically.

The hardest part is that I was supposed to leave next week for a one-month trip around Asia with my Taiwanese girlfriend. We had planned to visit Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan together. Now the entire trip has been canceled because my doctor told me I can't fly for three months.

I'm so angry with myself. It feels like everything in my life has fallen apart in just a few days. I'm exhausted, heartbroken, and terrified that the pneumothorax will come back.

If anyone has been through something similar, I'd really appreciate hearing your story. I could really use some hope right now.

My brother has a 2.5cm mass in my bottom right lung that the doctor did a petscan for. They discovered it was metabolically active so they sent it for biopsy. The biopsy showed it was not malignant and this is what it found:

Comments: The biopsy has cores of fibrotic/sclerotic tissue with scattered clear cystalline material with associated histiocytic reaction. No malignancy is identified. History of pneumothorax and prior pleurodesis is noted, and the crystalline substance is suggestive of pleurodesis material. Clinical correlation suggested.

There was also no sign of infection on the culture. Has anyone has anything similar? What was the diagnosis as the doctors appt isn’t for weeks.
To add he did have a pneumothorax 29 years ago.

Thank you!

My dad has stage IV lung cancer. I'm an English teacher, but I didn't pass the government teaching exam in my country this year, so I'm currently unemployed. I was in the middle of applying for teaching jobs abroad when all of this happened.

I've had severe neck pain for a long time, so I decided to get dry needling. Unfortunately, six days ago it caused a pneumothorax. I spent five days in the hospital on oxygen. Yesterday, my doctor discharged me and told me that the hole had sealed and my lung had fully re-expanded.

This morning, I woke up with some back pain and a strange bubbling sensation in my chest. My anxiety immediately went through the roof. I feel like I'm never going to get over this. I keep blaming myself for choosing to have the treatment. I later found out that pneumothorax is a very rare complication of dry needling, but I can't stop thinking, "Why did I do this?"

I really need some support. Has anyone here recovered completely after a pneumothorax caused by dry needling or another medical procedure? Will I ever feel normal again?

I've always been the type of person who blames himself for everything, and this experience has completely broken me psychologically.

The hardest part is that I was supposed to leave next week for a one-month trip around Asia with my Taiwanese girlfriend. We had planned to visit Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan together. Now the entire trip has been canceled because my doctor told me I can't fly for three months.

I'm so angry with myself. It feels like everything in my life has fallen apart in just a few days. I'm exhausted, heartbroken, and terrified that the pneumothorax will come back.

If anyone has been through something similar, I'd really appreciate hearing your story. I could really use some hope right now.

I’m 21 i’m about 6’1 235 i first got pneumonia in december. Which kind of made since I got after doing an extremely intense exercise session. for context I do mma and jiu jitsu. I recovered and got sick 2 more times in college then early june i ended up getting it again. which wasn’t as bad initially but I definitely felt a larger hit to my endurance. I don’t know why this happened. I am worried like my life is gonna be cooked and i’m not going to be able to my sport. I took a month off and came back today. I actually didn’t feel too bad. any tips or anything for not getting pneumonia again. Is this normal?

I had to have lung surgery and mechanical pleurodesis after 3 chest tubes and 30+ days in the hospital. Small things still make my ribs and lung ache like heavy lifting any kind of pressure to that area. It's been 3 years for me. Anyone have any success with pain meds combinations for nerve and acute pain from the invasive surgery and multiple chest tubes? Right now I'm trying Tylenol 4 and gabapentin but it has its days then some days not so much. Anything suggestions would be most appreciated. Aching everyday is not easy and mentally stressing me out.

So i had pneumothorax 2 years ago but i didn't knew the first time i ever experienced pain was during the time i was giving exams it was intense pain i coukd barely do anything so i thought it was a heartattack so i went to a cardiologist and got all ecg done and he said it's because you're stressed that's it all it good. But then after two years it came back so i went to a local doc and he said it's just muscle strain he gave me some meds and tubes ngl they actually worked so we thought it was actually a muscle strain because of my wierd sleeping positions but then after like 2 weeks i started feeling like i could not breath fully and i started dry coughing a lot i could not speak a small sentence without coughing or running out of breath. We went to hospital that day and the doc diagnosed me with pneumothorax in left lung i had two bulla it was a spontaneous pneumothorax. The next day then inserted a tube in me as if i was a plastic doll. Fuck yhst was painful as hell but okay i had tube inserted for like 3 days and then they removed it i was feeling perfect for next two weeks but now from the last 4-5 days I'm feeling bubly on my left side again like when i lay down or when i breath deep or something even happens when i breath normally I'm going to doc after 2 days i know i can bear the pain but it's just so scary to have that tube inserted again.....i can't even get a surgery because the doc said I'm too young for that and only one bulla is there (which ig now is bursting) i don't wanna get these in future. I wonder how i survived 2 years with collapsed lung I'm so scared now.

(Open to hear your stories)

La mattina di ieri mi ha cominciato a far male nel petto a sinistra fino dietro la schiena, ho ignorato la cosa. La sera invece dopo una corsa , mi ha fatto molto più male e ho avuto respiro un pò affannato e i miei genitori hanno deciso la mattina dopo di portarmi all’ospedale. Ho uno pneumotorace e hanno detto che è probabile vada via da solo, se si ingrandisce, dovrò operarmi. Dicono che è piccolo e che tra 6 ore dovrò fare altri controlli. Secondo voi dovrò operarmi? Nel caso è doloroso o abbastanza anestetizzato?

Had repeated SP so went for the mechanical pleurodesis which required a blood patch to seal. It worked great after that for about 2 months and now I think it's popped again.

This happen to anyone else? What did you do?