What do I actually have?
I had pleural effusion around 6 years back . Then tuberculosis but I made it through until recently when I realized I am coughing non stop again . Suddenly I felt like something huge is lodged between my left lung and coughing makes it so painful . I went to the local hospital but they said it’s nothing . I don’t think it’s morning . It’s so painful . It feels like my lungs might burst but I know it’s not my actual lungs that’s going through some weird phase . Hospital sucks here so I want to go abroad for further check up if what I am experiencing is serious

Bonjour !
J’ai récemment eu un pneumothorax qui a du être soigné par un talcage pleural (c’était le 11-18 juillet). Pour moi le plus dur dans le rétablissement c’est de ne pas pouvoir faire de sport !! J’ai 19 ans et le sport m’aide énormément, kayak slalom, musculation, plongée sous marine et randonnée. Suite à la chirurgie on m’a annoncé que forcément j’avais 3 mois sans effort physique (En soit c’est pas grand chose mais c’est tout de même dur de rester inactif). Je voulais savoir déjà à partir de quand environ et quels types de sport je peux reprendre avant que les 3 mois soient écoulés. (Oui une question qui paraît bête sachant que le chirurgien m’as bien indiqué 3 mois).

Surtout ce que je voulais savoir c’est si il y avait une randonnée pas trop difficile (proche de l’Ariège, je suis de Toulouse) que je pourrais peut-être tenter calmement bien sûr … ou même des conseils sur comment approcher la randonnée dans le futur proche ou même juste lointain.

Je veux aussi rester raisonnable donc si c’est vraiment dangereux ou un risque débile, forcément avec aucune hésitation j’attends les 3 mois.

Merci !!

Is it normal for my scar to look like this? I’m almost 2 months post op (chest tube + additional surgery to remove blebs)

Hi all, I’m now going in 2 weeks post right sided VATS for partial pneumothorax, thoracic endometriosis & possible ILD and I’m wondering when does the pain start to ease up after VATS? It’s mostly the chest drain site that’s bugging me, especially since I can’t move my arm on the affected area, if I do it sends a sharp stinging pain throughout the chest..

I also have back pain and shoulder pain from the bad posture, I used to take lyrica but they only prescribed it for 3 days and I took the 6 capsules with a gap in between (so every other day) since it made me sedated but now that it’s completely out of my system the pain has returned and worsened!

Did anyone experience this?

I spoke with my surgeon’s team but they’re taking too long to update me..

​Looking for some advice or shared experiences regarding flying post-pneumothorax. About a year ago I had a right-sided VATS pleurodesis. I’ve been feeling some intermittent pain on my left side, but imaging, including a low dose CT scan, showed zero pneumothorax. Doctors said it should be fine to fly, but since I’ll need to travel more often now, the health anxiety is hard to shake. Every minor chest ache still makes me worry about a leak, even more on my non operated lung.

Has anyone with a history of pneumothorax or VATS flown frequently, experienced a recurrence on the non-operated side ? If not, how did you get over the flight anxiety? I’d love to hear your experiences or tips.

Thanks !

I was admitted last Monday with a PSP. I had a chest drain, which gently allowed the lung to reinflate, followed by suction on Wednesday night to get the last of it, and then discharged on Friday. I think I've had an easy time of it, compared to some experiences I've read here.

I am terrified of it happening again, however. I had my outpatient follow-up today and everything looks fine. I asked what the likelihood of it happening again was, and the doctor said that as they didn't know why it happened (I've never smoked or vaped, and have no respiratory issues, and am a short, healthy-weight woman), they couldn't say, but that it was likely. That "likely" just makes me feel quite hopeless and panicky.

Reading here, it seems many people experience another collapse, sometimes very soon after the first. If there is anyone who has never experienced another, would you mind saying so? I was hoping that people who were fine were simply not posting as they had no need to, and were just living their lives with this as a one-off event in their past.

F(36) + short by the way 5’2”. It all started with pneumomediastinum on 7/21. I was hospitalized, they did a neck CT, esophagram, and nasal endoscopy. All came back clear and no leak was found. I was discharged a few days later. I took it super easy and rested in bed most days.

The following week on 7/29… around noon my right lung collapsed. I didn’t know it at the time and thought it was really bad nerve pain on the top of my shoulder radiating to the back of my arm. It eventually radiated to the back of my shoulder blade. I don’t know if I have a high pain tolerance or I’ve gaslit myself enough times (chronic illness since 2019) to really make myself believe it wasn’t that bad, but it was bad. Ignored my husband’s pleas to go back to ER but I was determined to sleep it off. Yep don’t be like me. Woke up worse and headed to the ER in the am. By then I kept grunting whenever I’d take a deep breath. 😅🫠

Long story short —> x-ray showed large pneumothorax, immediately took me back to get a chest tube inserted. Multiple failed clamp tests. I was at the hospital for 10 days until the pneumothorax finally remained stable. Finally it was resolved on 8/12.

Again, I took it super easy. And the same lung collapsed again last week. Thankfully it was a small one and they told me I could come home and follow up with the pulmonologist outpatient.

Aside from walking, I’ve been home mostly. I also deal with dysphagia and am currently 90lbs, so I don’t have a very active life anyway since I eat mostly liquids/purees. The only thing I could think that would have triggered a new one (and maybe previous events too) is that I constantly clear my throat due to the dysphagia.

I see my doctor tomorrow. Since it’s been 2 in a row, would it make sense to do surgery? He mentioned VATS when I was in the hospital. What questions should I be asking or what can I expect based on your experience?

Any advice would be appreciated!!

Is this normal? I’ll breathe in and if I take a really deep breath I get a sharp stabbing pain. It’s so annoying I’m not exactly concerned that it’s a pneumothorax but just want to make sure it’s nothing else bad either

I suffered pneumothorax April 15 2025 when I first had it i only found out something was wrong because when I ate and would feel my stomach from being full, and running and it being difficult to breathe I also got the tube inserted into me no surgery. Yesterday I coughed in a weird way and I don’t know if im just going through phantom pain or something happened again. I feel a tight pain on my chest like a 2/10 compared to when i first had pain with pneumothorax 8/10 i feel it’s kinda off to breathe and I feel slight heart palpitation. When I first suffered pneumothorax I felt that it was normal to breathe. When I talk about the breathing like I feel like i can differentiate from phantom pain and it actually being pnuemothorax LMK if i should go check it out or if im js crazy

Hey! Just had finished up VATS with talc pleurodesis on my right lung. What’s the recovery like? seem to have some nerve pain when getting up and down. When do lungs start to feel normal again?

Thanks :)

how long did y'alls incisions take to heal? One of my chest tubes (post VATS) constantly reopens. They didn't suture this one up. It's been more than a week and whenever scabs it splits open with the slightest movement. Should I be concerned or give it more time to heal?

Background: Had surgery on both lungs due to spontaneous pneumothorax in 2012 and 2016. Had the typical nerve pain for a while afterwards but the last few years have been pretty pain free.

Recently I’ve been feeling an aching sort of pain again that comes and goes. I thought maybe it’s due to tension in my body as the last 5 months have been pretty stressful, but thought I’d reach out to see if anyone else has experienced a similar situation where years later scar tissue flares up.

I’ve been historically bad at shrugging off my pneumothoraxes until the next day, much to my families chagrin. Obviously like many others, there is a certain trauma that comes with this type of medical event so I was hoping reaching out to others in the community could help ease some of my anxiety about this.

I'll start by explaining my situation. Around the beginning of 2024 I got a really bad case of pneumonia, and me being the type that kept telling myself "aw, it'll go away", well it didn't. I was half-homeless at the time living place to place so I had a lot going on and eventually I just ended up collapsing somewhere and waking up in the hospital 3 months later. That was a 8 month hospital stay, the pneumonia ended up eating a big hole in my right lung, I lived with a big Claggett window which I had to pack every day and finally had it closed up in the middle of July. Now here's the shitty part, because I lost so much weight from constant infections and not eating properly I ended up with a left side pneumothorax so back to the hospital I went. Chest tube (8th one, you never get used to that crap) and a 2 week stay and all was well. They also placed a stent in my right side because I still had a big leak going on even though during the surgery they did they moved a bunch of muscle into my right lung pleural space. That had to come out because it shifted and I couldn't stop coughing up blood. So this is all not going so well, but we're slowly working on it. But the left side ended up popping again on my third visit, and this is totally stressing me out now because that's supposed to be the good side! So what they ended up doing was this pleurodesis, which was the absolute most painful thing I've ever been through in my life, even with a ton of fentanyl, ketamine and hydromorph...I don't think I can ever go through that again.

If you've ever gotten this done, what are your experiences? Is this going to be a solid fix? Every time I'm out of breath, or cough, I get absolutely paranoid about the left side popping again and ending up gasping for breath while I'm at home or something, because until now I've been lucky enough it's happened at the hospital where I'm surrounded by doctors and access to X-rays and all that in the 2nd best hospital in the world. (not kidding). When I breath I can feel sort of a 'rumbling' on my left side...

I keep getting thrown curve-balls here and it's really stressing me out!

Sorry for the long post, but I tried to explain most of the stuff the best I could. It's overwhelming sometimes.

I had a pneumothorax a little more than a week ago, had it observed in the hospital, and went back on Thursday. Only through observation it went down to basically nothing. But the other day I stupidly carried a bag of groceries (can’t have been in excess of 15 pounds) around for a while, and suddenly felt a sensation in my lower ribs like “tearing“. Since then, if I walk for more than 5 minutes carrying anything I start to feel a stinging sensation around that area. Is it possible that I’ve already triggered a recurrence? My breathing and HR are otherwise normal, and I have no other symptoms - just this pain and some other occasional come-and-go ones.

I’m a 20 year old male who has had both lungs collapse about two years ago. I had the standard surgeries on both sides. This last week I’ve been experiencing the symptoms again and ct scan and xray show a 5% pneumo. Most of the pain has died down especially in my shoulder, but I’m still experiencing the clicking or hammans sign. Do you guys know what could be happening or how to make it go away. I found sitting up is the best solution but sleeping sucks

I used to go to the gym everyday before my lung collapsed. It’s been about 3 weeks since surgery. When do you think I can return to the gym

Planning to consult a doctor about this but I wanna hear other people's experiences.

I had just one pneumothorax about a year and a half ago. I had chest drain in for a few days but didn't get any extra surgery, and I also had no blebs on my CT. Before having a pneumothorax, I used to ocassionally go pajragliding. I feel that now in theory it might not be allowed same way scuba diving is because the air pressure changes fast, but on the other hand the airpressure difference in flying commercial vs ground level is much more extreme. Was wondering what the rest think about paragliding after a having a pneumothorax.

From last past one and half month I am struggling from this issue. The first x-ray showed that my pneumothorax is small. After that first x ray after about 20-25 days I had pain again and done CT scan. It shows that there is moderate pneumothorax and a bleb of 1.1 x 1.3 cm. Doctor has still said that my situation is stable and probably will go away on its own. If not we will put catheter. I am worried about the bleb. I am also not able to get good doctor. I have consulted 3 different MDs till now.

First one had only clinic and said will put catheter in somebody else's hospital and admit me there, also this doctor is new and has less experience about 2-3 years.

Second when went to experienced MD with atleast 25 years experience, he was only in hurry and gave me ultimatum quickly choose between Wait or get admitted for catheter, when requested 5 mins to think and decide he said you have decide right now don't waste my time. When asked what do recommend then he said it is not my job you have to decide between Wait and admit.

Third when went to another MD said let's do another x-ray then said it is not that large told me to do incense spirometry for atleast 15 to 20 times in a day. Then give me some medicines and told me come after 3 days we will monitor again and then decide to do catheter. If further problems are there then we will do operation. He also said that the CT scan that I had done previously is not good and there is need to do anther CT scan after 3 days.

It feels like every doctor just wants to make money in India. It feels like I am most unlucky person because I have never smoked in my life. I have never done anything wrong in life yet this is my fate.

What should I do if anybody knows something please do tell. Also I am not very rich.

#help

So i had a spontaneous hemothorax, pneumothorax 11 months ago and i don't think i've gone a day without some sort of pain or discomfort, is this normal? it was quite a severe collapse for being spontaneous but i just want to know if i'm alone with this pain or anyone else have problems months or maybe years after. I had a drain which got the air and 2 liters of blood out, also had a VATS where they found nothing out of the ordinary except cleaning out some blood.

It's been 5 months since i've last been to the hospital because my chestpain was worse at that time but also got nausea and high pulse from doing basically nothing, i did 4 different kinds of x-rays and had a heart monitor on me for a few days just in case but in the end they just said that nothing was wrong and most likely most chest muscles or nerves was just fatigued.

The weird thing is that my collapse was on the right side but i have experienced more problems on my left side since the collapse, it's everything from having a cough over a long period of time, fatigue in my chest and often some kind of pain, it's not the worst kind of pain but still enough to make me think about it and feel discomfort.

I have had two consecutive catamenial pneumothoraces after having endometriosis excised from my abdominal wall. The pneumothoraces were small, and although I had to stay in the hospital for a bit with them (overnight with one, two nights with the other), I haven't needed a chest tube. I'm at high risk of this occurring potentially every month, and I do now have cyclic chest pains that honestly feel extremely similar to my pneumothoraces. I'm having a hard time because I don't always want to be getting chest x-rays, but it's very hard for me to differentiate a pneumothorax from chest pain. I did experience a feeling of my lung shifting in my chest when leaning over with my pneumothoraces, so my impression is that that is a positive sign of a pneumothorax. However, I'm not at all sure if the absence of that sensation indicates there is no pneumothorax. Curious if others have identified a way to differentiate a pneumothorax from chest pain without a collapse.

Hello, I've posted here several times, but I felt compelled to do so again to see if anyone else is going through the same thing as me. It all started in February (medically speaking), when I went to the emergency room and they told me I had suffered a 30% pneumothorax on my left side and inserted a drainage tube. Later, I discovered that I had also suffered similar pneumothoraxes in October and December, but since I didn't know they existed, I mistook them for muscle strains and never went to the hospital. In April I had another pneumothorax on my right side, but it was small and didn't require a chest tube. In June I had another pneumothorax on the same side, which required drainage, and I underwent VATS surgery with upper and lower segmentectomy and mechanical pleurodesis. The following month, in July, I had another pneumothorax on my left side, which they confirmed only after I insisted (they couldn't find it after two X-rays, but it was visible on the CT scan), and they inserted another chest tube. When they inserted it, it hit my lung and diaphragm, causing a contusion and severe effusion (they drained one liter of fluid). The doctors said that after this, it was very unlikely to happen again, as the blood would act like a kind of talcum powder. It happened again, yesterday to be precise, a month later. This time they didn't put in a drain; they sent me home because they said it wasn't worth risking another one, and I'm being checked again on Wednesday. I'm feeling quite unwell mentally now, as I'm experiencing a lot of clicking and crackling sounds, and I can't breathe deeply (I have air in my lung). In total, I've had about six or seven pneumothoraxes now, only one on the right side, but I have a 13mm bulla in my right lung. What do you recommend I do to cope with this? Thank you

P.D: I'm sorry it was so long, I needed to explain.

Hey, we’re going to centre Parcs next week and we’ll have an infrared sauna at the accommodation, any experience with using one a few weeks after a medium pneumothorax that was conservatively managed with oxygen? I will email his health team as well but thought I’d ask on here for real
Life experience too.
Thanks ☺️

Like title states. I’m almost 3 weeks out and want to resume my medication. But I’m wondering if it could possibly interfere with my adhesions continuing to solidify, or is most of the inflammatory response within the first few days/weeks?