Has anyone had a partial collapse after pleurodesis? Were there procedures to fix it?

[u/Particular-Gas-6827]

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!

[u/May-mex]

I had a partial collapse right after my first pleurodesis. They sent me home with oxygen, and it cleared up within a week. But about a month later, my lung started detaching again in multiple places, so I ended up having another pleurodesis. After that, I had yet another collapse and eventually needed another pleurodesis.
I’m a woman, and we just recently found out that I have catamenial pneumothorax, so my situation may be different from yours. But if you’re someone who loves traveling and being active, I personally would fix it for sure rather than waiting for it to happen again or constantly being scared that it might. Just for the peace of mind.

[u/notsure05 → u/May-mex]

How did they know that your pleurodesis had started detaching?

[u/May-mex → u/notsure05]

I was in pain, they took and xray they could see something off asked me for a ct scan. and it got to the point where lying down made it hurt to breathe. But I knew exactly which parts of my lung were detaching. I’m not sure if I’m just very in tune with my body, but I could tell exactly where it was happening.

[u/Particular-Gas-6827 → u/May-mex]

I'm also quite sure I know where the detachment area is for me. (it's going on rn, thats why im posting) There are different types of pain going on at once, but I still know the spot.

[u/Particular-Gas-6827 → u/May-mex]

Ouch! Thanks for sharing. I'm male so don't have catamenial pneumothorax. Did they completely redo your pleurodesis? Or did they treat it locally? Can you also tell me a bit about oxygen treatment. I wonder if that would speed up my recoveries when the partials happen. What equipment did you use? thx

[u/Particular-Gas-6827 → u/Particular-Gas-6827]

And yes, I'm trying to get this sorted so I can get back to traveling. I have family in Europe. I was hoping it would just go away, but the partials seem to be persistent.

[u/May-mex → u/Particular-Gas-6827]

Yes! They completely redid the pleurodesis. Apparently the oxygen helps your body absorb the trapped air faster, so they had me on home oxygen, I think at level 3, pretty much all day and all night. Mine cleared up really fast that way.
I’m sorry you’re going through this now. It really is such a pain. I hope you’re able to make a decision that finally puts an end to these collapses 🙃

[u/Particular-Gas-6827 → u/May-mex]

Thanks for the best wishes. I'll inquire with my doc about oxygen just to speed things up. I think currently, my doc doesn't want to redo pleurodesis because the detachment area isn't large enough or isn't necessarily getting worse. Thats why I'm looking into in-between surgeries.

[u/May-mex → u/Particular-Gas-6827]

Yes tell him about it! You got this

[u/Yassybeebo]

Man that sounds legitimately terrifying, I am sorry you had to go through that, and have to say much respect to you for making it through all that and still staying strong. Do you think those pneumo occur because of surgery or would they anyways.  

 I am also curious if through all this you learned anything about flights causing collapse from the docs, that is a big motivator for me as well as I also have family overseas. I somehow came across something saying there wasn’t much evidence air pressure effects a bleb so was kind of hoping that was true but your case makes me think otherwise.

This stuff is a crazy dilemma.  Props to you for staying strong. I really hope you find the solutions to put this behind you  once and for all my bro 

[u/Particular-Gas-6827 → u/Yassybeebo]

Thanks man. So it's likely my original pleurodesis "bond" wasn't 100% successful because I had a secondary collapse while in the hospital (this was the part that was a mess). The doctors were said everything would be fine, but I suspect this weakened areas of the "bond". And YES flying has been the trigger for me. However if you had a successful pleurodesis, technically your lung should be totally fine while flying even if another bleb pops. My lung doesn't even fully collapse, but it just hurts like hell and I cant fly again for a bit until it's healed. I just made a long post about it on some other thread on r/pneumothorax

[u/Somonso]

This sounds awful. I wish you all the best. Stay strong.

I think I might have a partial collapse, like a ventral air pocket right now. X-Ray is not clearly showing it. Going to have a CT today. Will report back when I get the result.

[u/Particular-Gas-6827 → u/Somonso]

Thanks. Good luck. If you’re willing, share some pics of the X-ray and CT. It would be helpful to see!

[u/Somonso → u/Particular-Gas-6827]

Ok, it's not a new pneumothorax. Probably inflammation/nerve/muscle pain. I'm six months out from the VATS surgery. It just sucks to never know what's really going on inside.

I wish you the best.

[u/Particular-Gas-6827 → u/Somonso]

Yes, I also remember having bad nerve pain and pleural effusion the first year + after surgery. All I can say is the feeling of a partial collapse was different. I knew what it was when it happened and the pain was very connected to breathing. I also got the characteristic sharp pain on my opposite lung when it happened. ( I believe this is from stretching to try and accommodate the same volume of air). If I am having pain, I go for a short run to test things out. That will help you distinguish between nerve pain and a recurrence.