WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Just wondering how many on here have suffered one, and some of the after effects involved with it.

Happened to me the last weekend in may, came on all of a sudden while I was watching the grand prix on the box, was taken to hospital with an almost completely deflated left lung.
Tried the needle through the chest to expel the air trapped in the cavity, followed by 3 litres of air pumped into my lung by syringe, didn't work so in with a chest drain. This was then replaced by a larger chest drain about four days later. Neither worked so it was off to Guys in london, after two weeks in my local hospital, for a VATs procedure (top of lung removed, stapled and lining scrapped to give the lung linings a chance to stick). Was left on strict suction and with two chest drains in situ for a week but the lung still hadn't fully inflated.
After about a month altogether in hospital I had one of the chest drains removed and suction cranked right up till it felt like my lung was trying to be sucked out of my chest, this immediately sucked about a coke can full of blood and crap out of my chest and my lung was almost fully inflated.
The next day and I was given the choice of having my chest opened up and a full on operation on my lung which the dr said may still not work, or be sent home with a portex bag and chest drain and return a week later to see how things were.
I went for the latter option as didn't fancy going through with the op if it might not even work. The dr agreed and said he thought that was the better option anyway, so of home I went.
Returned a week later and all was good so the chest drain was removed and I was sent on my way.

Now that was a week and three days ago now, but it still feels as if the foot or so long length of pipe is still in my chest, it feels kinda raw and weirdly feels worse if I have clothes on, it feels like its sore on the outside of my chest rather than on the inside because of my clothes rubbing.
I have phoned the ward and spoken to a nurse about this and have been told that it is quite common and the drain can damage some of the nerves in the chest.

I am curious however if anyone else has experienced the same sensation and wonder how long before the weird sensation in my chest is likely to last.

Sorry for the long post

Rescue Dude

iTrader: (11)

Well nasty dude, hope you feel better soon.

Sounds more like a Haemothorax to me though?

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Cheers, feel way better than I did, just a bit paraniod about the sore chest, almost feels like its being singed with a cigarette sometimes and makes sleeping difficult.

What is a haemothorax?

dpb

Mate girlfriend had a partially collapsed lung on holiday ( could been anywhere ) fell sort of down the stiars in a drunken stupor ( she is an alcoholic ) late at night .

Next morning she was complaining of pain so they went to clinic and mate went off windsurfing ( well this does happen not infrequently - the falling over bit )

In hospital for couple weeks before she was allowed on a plane home ( with a medic )

I think that was the last time hes had her on his insurance


That sounds ruf mate , i can now believe my residual pain from catapulting on to my chest windsurfing could indeed be nerve rather than muscle pain

Rescue Dude

iTrader: (11)

A haemothorax is fluid between the lungs and the chest wall. A pneumothorax is air.

vindaloo

Bleeding into the chest as opposed to getting air in it.

andys

Well its actually blood in the pleural cavitiy

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

No it was pneumothorax. Only reason blood and fluid was sucked out was because of the op (VATS wedge resection and pleurectomy). Didn't get any of the crap come out till I went to guys two weeks after the event. Apparently it's the blood and fluid that helps the two lung linings stick together but the lung has to fully inflate for that to happen.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Google primary spontaneous pneumothorax / tension pneumothorax......When I worked in casualty in Bristol (the fictitious Holby City) there was a steady flow of fit young men being admitted with this.

Fiddling with the chest / pleura / sternum (open heart surgery) often gives quite a few lingering symptoms.

Shaun

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Glad you say that, my wife said it happened because I am unfit.
I have googled it, along with how to look after a portex bag as I was sent on my way with little or no information about it, or anything else much other than that I had to excercise ++.

Reason it happens and to me in particular is build, I am 6'2" and a bit and weight 10 stone and I smoke. I am not a couch potato, I have a fairly active job and play football with my eldest son and golf with my youngest.
It was spontaneous and also bordering on tension pneumothorax from what I have read, the lung was almost completely deflated, the left side of my chest didn't move when I was breathing and was very short of breath.

Rescue Dude

iTrader: (11)

A tension pneumothorax is pretty damn scary!!!

Thankfully i've not had to sort one out for a while now.

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

What is the noticable symptoms of tension pneumothorax, have read that your common pneumothorax is harder to diagnose and needs x-ray to confirm whereas tension pneumothorax is more easily spotted.
The paramedics were on to it and said it was pneumothorax when they came to my house, I'm not suggesting that I had tension pneumothorax but **** me if it wasn't I don't feckin want one!

dpb

Thats pretty bloody thin isnt it , thought i was slim

Wifes cooking that bad ?

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Yep, long thin streak of p*ss I'm afraid.
Wifes cooking is actually alright, either that or I've just become accustomed to it .

The funny thing is when I was in my local hospital I was sent a dietician (sp) and given a leaflet of all the foods that I should eat to gain weight but they pretty much all happen to be the food that I eat anyway.
Just one of those lucky/unlucky people that can eat anything and not put weight on.

Leslie

Sorry you had to go through all that. I imagine you have to expect it to take a while for full recovery.

You could use it as something to push you off the ciggies if you want to do that.

Hope it is ok now anyway.

Les

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for your kind words and yes the plan is/was to quit smoking but several things occurred in hospital pushed me back on them for a while, although I have cut down heavily and still plan on quitting completely.

Anywho, there are many peeps out there far worse off than me, several of which I shared my time in hospital with so don't feel the need to offer sympathy to me there are a lot of people more deserved of it than I am, as a smoker I am half way responsible for being in the situation in the first place.
I just wanted to write this thread to find out if any of you have had the same thing, if the discomfort in my chest is normal and how long I could expect it to last. I know a car forum probably isn't the right place but I have been led to believe that it is quite a common ailment so thought maybe one or two of you might have suffered from it.

Ian

iTrader: (10)

I have had 2 of these, same as yours nothing worked, and ending up being opped on , back cut open etc etc.

1st one was the right lung, one year later it was the left lung. both times it was 5-6 weeks+ stay in hospital.

from what i remember it was very painfull

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Ouch, that was the op I was going to have.
Any pain or discomfort after the chest drain was removed?
I suppose the pain from the op distracted you from that!

Ian

iTrader: (10)

it hurt the most when they put a drain in, but in wrong and it sucks on something inside.

the 1st lung i was cut open twice as the 1st opp didnt go to plan.

the second time i was in, they gave me a extra long hose on the drain so i could walk around the bed more lol

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Reckon you'd put on weight just by stopping smoking. I was just over 10 stone (5' 11) as a smoker. Stopped smoking and very quickly became a healthy 12 1/2 stone, with no change in diet.

Benji554

iTrader: (18)

My ex, years ago, had spontaneous pneumathorax a couple of times, including on holiday in Italy! Its very uncomfortable and quite frightening. Hers was a congenital defect and after several spells in and out of hospital she eventually had keyhole surgery and not had a problem since.

As has already been mentioned tall thin men are more susceptible, in particular basketball players apparently.

I hope you feel better soon mate!

mgcvk

Happened to me around ten years ago, spontaneous pneumothorax out of the blue around Christmas time. If it is any consolation it is very common amongst young tall athletic men such as basketball players! I am 5' 10" and wasn't particularly fit at the time, but was stressed at work and I do have asthma. I actually thought I was having a bought of asthma though I didn't feel too clever at the office party. It sounds like they have really gone to town on you operating straight away and possibly may have overreacted for one lung, unless your case was more serious. My right lung completely went and I had chest drain and x rays etc and was kept in hospital as the specialist was away skiing at the time! The specialist on his return ( Mayday Hospital Croydon ) had apparently written the book on spontaneous pneumothorax and said at the end of the day one lung going isn't really all that serious and would more than likely re-inflate itself given rest. Imagine your lung like a balloon with a tear in it. That tear is much more likely to heal quickly if the "balloon" is flaccid rather than artificially kept aerated and taught by the drain.

I basically could have gone home with or without the drain in. I was advised that surgery could well cure the problem and had I been a premiership football player I would have had to have had it done for my career. As it goes I thought sod it and it has deflated a few times since, though not totally, but always comes back up after a few days. Apparently as you get older your lungs get less springy and become more "leathery" so pneumothorax is less likely to happen. At least you have old age to look forward to!

Leslie

Yes well you obviously want to kick the ciggies. I found that a hospital stay did help me to start stopping so to speak and I managed to keep off them long enough to stop completely. It is hard to do of course, I was quite badly addicted.

I hope it all goes well for you anyway and that you don't get a recurrence.

Les

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Didn't have the operation (more of a procedure than an op) until 15 days after I was admitted to my local hospital.
My wife and I tend to agree with the point you make about leaving the lung to heal on its own though, and mine possibly would of if it had been left long enough. The trouble is the dr that was looking after me was all for just leaving me on strict suction after the op and nothing was happening, when another dr saw me the following weekend he took 10 seconds to look at me before saying remove one drain take him off suction that'll get things moving.

However, I am glad I've had the procedure as, and again thanks for the words Les because this is relevant to your last comment, it does greatly reduce the risk of recurrence (well on the left lung anyway).

mgcvk

I think it is a bit more unusual to get an occurrence in both lungs. In my case it is only the right side that has ever deflated. As you say, the scraping inside your ribcage means the lung effectively welds itself to the side so unlikely to collapse on you again.