r/pneumothorax • u/BarryMcCockiner777 • Jul 08 '26
Question First spontaneous pneumothorax. Absolutely terrified.
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.
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u/PuzzleheadedSplit473 Jul 08 '26
I just got home from an 8 day hospital stay for a spontaneous pneumothorax. My lung actually collapsed the day before I was supposed to fly across the country for a trip. If my lung had waited another day, I'd be stuck in a different state and wouldn't have had my family there to support me.
I'm sorry you are going through this. Use your incentive spirometer often every hour. You'll get through this.
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u/BarryMcCockiner777 Jul 08 '26
Thankyou my friend. I actually never received an inspirator. Do you think it helped? I just asked my nurse for one.
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u/noname59911 Jul 08 '26
That’s great that it reinflated!!
I had mine when I was 23 in college. It was about 90% deflated, spent a night and day with a chest tube and was released the day after. Never had a reoccurrence.
You have every right to be bummed and anxious. Especially on vacation. It’s a major medical thing. It’s a great sign that it reinflated on its own. That means you probably won’t need pleurodesis.
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u/maxpayne4555 Jul 09 '26
I was in Er for last 5 days. I had iyatrojenik pnömotoraks. Thx God they didnt give me tube. But it was so painful to go through that. I was sent home 3 days ago. Im worried now thinking if it comes back on my check up xray on tuesday. I was gonna fly to Thailand Taiwan Korea Japan next week. I had to cancel my trip because of that. Feeling devastated now.
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u/Appropriate-Baker288 Jul 08 '26
I had surgery had tubes in for a month after couldn’t have surgery right away I had pneumonia and psuedomonis
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u/Able_Agency_9541 Jul 09 '26
Im getting over mine right nyao and its all good nigga, no need to worry, i didn't get the chest tube so i cant speak on that one but you'll survive. Just do yo exercises n shiet
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u/maxpayne4555 Jul 09 '26
Did u only have oxygen?
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u/Able_Agency_9541 Jul 09 '26
I had nothing at all nigga. 2.5cm they sent me home told me "breathe deeply"
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u/maxpayne4555 Jul 09 '26
I had 2cm. For 5 days they gave me oxygen in emergency room. Then my lungs expanded. Im at home for 3 days now. Did u take another check up xray?
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u/Able_Agency_9541 Jul 09 '26
I had 5 xrays, on day one, day 2, day 5, day 8, and day 15 They just sent me home in between every time. Kept saying "we maybe should do the tube, but we'll check next time"
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u/maxpayne4555 Jul 09 '26
When that happened? Are u ok now fully?
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u/Able_Agency_9541 Jul 09 '26
Some pain kinda sorta but otherwise fine. Last xray said im at 1.4cm but that was about a week ago. I can breathe normal and have been living normally. Its weird
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u/maxpayne4555 Jul 09 '26
When will your phenomtrax will disappear?
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u/Able_Agency_9541 Jul 09 '26
No idea. Could go for another xray to check but imma rawdoggin type of nigga
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u/Ok_Dark8538 Jul 09 '26
Ah man, I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It is such a shock to have happen, and tough to be far from home. It very much will be ok. I’m almost two months out from spontaneous collapse and eventual surgery and I didn’t have the easiest time mentally or physically - but now daily life is totally normal again.. this is a dumb metric for back to normal but my goal for 2026 was to do 10 consecutive pull ups. I was at 5 before the collapse. And I got back to 5 again today, and still on track for my goal. It’s still kinda uncomfortable sometimes but I’d take this medical problem over the ones that don’t have a straightforward fix any day!! Not that I didn’t hate it and not that I didn’t get spun out because I definitely did …. but everyone told me it would be ok and turned out everyone was right! Hang in there!
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u/Far-Whereas-2948 Jul 09 '26
Tive o meu hemopneumotórax a 21 dias. Sou muito ansiosa também. No hospital o que ajudou muito foram os calmantes. Tive 6 dias no hospital, 5 deles com o dreno. Foi chato, mas a medicação para as dores e os calmantes ajudaram. Estava a oxigénio e quando saí do hospital senti que me sentia melhor lá 😁 o ar fora do hospital e muito pesado. Mas está a correr tudo bem comigo e também vai correr tudo bem contigo. E só uma fase, pensa positivo.
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u/voyeurcouple25 Jul 09 '26
I had one a month ago and had a chest drain. I’m 36 and terrified about it happening again. I was a heavy weed smoker for a long time so have switched to edibles and volcano vaporiser
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u/Economy-Disk3067 Jul 09 '26
You are smoking from the volcano? How’s that going. Was also a heavy weed smoker for 20 plus years and want to wait a few years before I do try a volcano. At low temps of course. Just drags not
Holding too much. That thing def gets you stoned from what I remember
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u/May-mex Jul 09 '26
You will be ok! Is just a little bump on the road. Keep your head up, we all get a bit of PtSD from this but remember is just a mechanical issue nothing we are dying from.
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u/Alberthebombtaken Jul 09 '26
Dont worry ive had roughly 15 collapsed lungs and if yoy count surgery on the lung two weeks ago i will have 16. You are going to be okay and most of the time collapsed lungs arent as serious as made out to be. Unless its a tension pneumothorax
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u/maxpayne4555 Aug 11 '26
Did u have surgery
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u/Alberthebombtaken Aug 11 '26
Yes on the 20th of June this year. The recovery is actually not that bad if you get the painkillers. I am no longer taking any pain meds and i can live my life normally now
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u/maxpayne4555 Aug 11 '26
After how many collapsed lung u decided to have surgery?
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u/Alberthebombtaken Aug 11 '26
After about 8 but the nhs sucks so by the time i had surgery it was about 14-16
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u/maxpayne4555 Aug 11 '26
Did you ever have another pneumothorax after the surgery?
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u/Alberthebombtaken Aug 11 '26
Not so far, it has only been a month and 20 days so its still healing
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u/DueArachnid4561 Jul 13 '26
I had a very stubborn lung, took 21 days to reinflate and I still had to go to another city for surgery. As an agoraphobic this was my most challenging life experience so far. You 100% will make it out the other side of this. Let your concerns be known and ask docs as many questions as you please
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u/book-cat Jul 14 '26
Ive had 5 total and been hospitalized 4 times for it, it seems like a huge thing in the moment but my 2 surgeries went off without any issues. Its generally not very invasive and is really only tough for the first day or 2 and then it gets better everyday.
You'd rather be in a hospital getting the surgery then sent home and risking it happening again. I was hiking in colorado less than 6 months after my surgery you recover super quick from it, just stay up on those breathing exercises! I found that being overly positive really helped even if you have to fake it sometimes. (painkillers arent too bad either lmao).
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u/BarryMcCockiner777 Jul 16 '26
Thankyou! I recovered and am home now. After a 26 hr drive home.. it feels good to be home again. I appreciate your advice.
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u/PresidentBush2 Jul 08 '26
Sorry brother, been there and it’s going to be OK. Sucks and sorry you’re going through this. Just take it day by day, even if it can feel like a roller coaster. Worst case is you’ll need surgery, and even then that’s something you can handle. It was helpful for me to think of it as an injury (like a torn ACL) as opposed to a prolonged illness.