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to everyone that is still feeling pain from surgery

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john2496
john2496

Hello everyone, I'm new to this. I am a 20 yo male who suffered from 3 spontaneous pneumothoraxes last year in very quick succession. The first one occured on the 22nd of april on my right side. It was small so my physician told me to rest for a month. After exactly 35 days i had another one this time on my left side. It was big and i had to put a chest tube. It was a horrific experience but i didn't have to do surgery yet because 2 months later i had another one on my left side also and had to go under the knife. I have been very paranoid about it happening again on my right side since i didn't do a surgery for this part. I still feel constant pain on both my left and right chest part. After going to multiple doctors and getting the same answer that internal surgery will cause pain and it needs time, I decided to go to physiotherapist who explained to me that there is a membrane called fascia (google it for more info). He told me that you need rehabilitation to get this membrane back the way it was before the surgery. I am going to his clinic next week and start this treatment.

I hope this post helped you discover this idea (about the faschia) since I only found out about it.

Sorry for the long post smile

1 like, 22 replies

22 Replies

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  • alex01275
    alex01275 john2496

    Posted

    I only recently had surgery for pneumothorax a couple weeks ago and have seen many people talk about this constant pain. Since the surgery I have had little to no pain. What is this pain like? Was it like the original collapse? Did it start for you right after surgery or did it take awhile to come? I'm generally curious so that I can expect what's to come. Thank you! And thanks for this information in case I do need it!
    • adair
      adair alex01275

      Posted

      John, do you have any idea what caused your pneumos? Has anyone hazarded a guess? In my case, I had just had reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy for breast cancer. One person mentioned that the breathing tubes during surgery can sometimes cause it. Someone else mentioned an actual *nick* to the lung during the surgery. I suspected the compression bandage they put on after the surgery that made it really hard to breathe. We'll probably never know for sure, but after reading all these posts about recurrances............now I'm nervous. Did you have any symptoms before # 2 and # 3?
    • john2496
      john2496 alex01275

      Posted

      well the pain started right after the surgery. Initially, the doctor told me you will feel pain for about 6 months then it will go away but it hasn't. The pain is very similar to the pain you feel when you have a collapsed lung but without the difficulty to breathe. Originally whenever i felt pain I had difficulty to breathe but i found out it was a psychologic thing. Now it's just the pain. Also got myself a pulse oximeter so i can be 100% sure my oxygen levels are good and it's just pain.
    • adair
      adair

      Posted

      Alex, I did not have surgery, but had a chest tube inserted in my upper left chest, just below the collar bone. I was not aware of the original collapse, from a pain standpoint, as I had just had surgery. What I was aware of was the inability to take a deep breath, and being unable to walk more than a few feet without sitting down. I got used to the discomfort of having the chest tube in (pain drugs helped with that). But now that it's out, I can't sleep on my left side, and if I sleep flat at night, I wake up with pain where the tube was and unable to take a deep breath again. Fortunately that is shortlived, and within 30 minutes or so are gone and I'm breathing fine. If I sleep with multiple pillows behind me, so it's almost like sitting up, I don't have this problem. I've only had the tube out for a week, so I'm not sure how long this will last. Just glad to have found this group to mull ideas over with. I hope you continue to have NO pain!!
    • alex01275
      alex01275 john2496

      Posted

      I psych myself out worrying about it happening that I start to have shortness of breath. I have not had that original collapse pain yet though. Thanks for the reply.
    • alex01275
      alex01275 adair

      Posted

      I had 2 spontaneous collapses and 3 chest tubes on my left side. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks so the chest tube eventually got normal to me and I could walk around the hospital with it. The pain of the chest tube going in was terrible for me, because 2 out of the 3 times they messed up. The 3rd time was during surgery and I was under general anesthesia. My first 2 were just left of my left nipple, right beside each other but not at the same time, and the last one was on my side and that one was the worst because of sleeping situations. And now, I also cant sleep on my left side. Sleeping on my back is fine and sleeping pn my right gives me discomfort in the morning. I hope you heal well and good luck to you Adiar!
    • john2496
      john2496 alex01275

      Posted

      From my experience I couldn't sleep on my left side for about a month or so then i started lying down on my back then trying to get on my left side. At first i could sleep normally on my left side after a month or so but i think i haven't slept on that side for about 5 months or so now and it's really annoying
    • john2496
      john2496 adair

      Posted

      Adair, I had the same problem of not being able to sleep on my left side. It just needs time. Try to train yourself, I mean try to for example lay down on your left side for 5 min then 10 then 30, try to take an hour nap. Eventually you'll be able to sleep normally.
  • adair
    adair john2496

    Posted

    John, do you have any idea what caused your pneumos? Has anyone hazarded a guess? In my case, I had just had reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy for breast cancer. One person mentioned that the breathing tubes during surgery can sometimes cause it. Someone else mentioned an actual *nick* to the lung during the surgery. I suspected the compression bandage they put on after the surgery that made it really hard to breathe. We'll probably never know for sure, but after reading all these posts about recurrances............now I'm nervous. Did you have any symptoms before # 2 and # 3?
    • john2496
      john2496 adair

      Posted

      Sadly no one was able to give me an answer other than "you are a tall thin man" although I am only 180cm. They refused to give me another reason. I tried to tell them if it could be a deficiency in a certain protein called "alpha 1 antytripsin" they would laugh at me and just tell me it's "natural". Well in my second collapse i had 1 tube and in my 3rd 2 tubes, i don't know if the tubes do actually something.
    • alex01275
      alex01275 john2496

      Posted

      My doctors told me that talk skinny males have an increased chance of spontaneous pneumothorax and thats why I had it. As for the chest tubes, they suck out the air that is trapped in your chest and allows you lung to re-expand and heal. Did your doctors say anything about you have blebs? My sponateous pneumo was from a bleb on my lung bursting and being tall and skinny.
    • john2496
      john2496 alex01275

      Posted

      Yes my doctor mentionned blebs and bullaes. Bullaes are basically much bigger blebs. He told me that a bleb will burst if it doesnt connect with another one, which usually happens all the time in our bodies. Blebs are present in some people, but not everyone who has blebs has pneumothorax. The third time, when i had surgery, The doctor told me that he removed 3 big bullaes and that if i didn't have the surgery i would've went 3 times to the hospital because they were about the explode. I had 2 chest tubes at the time but they were to extract residues, blood and mucus from the surgey unlike the 2nd time when the chest tube was to extract the air out.
    • Chrispycritter
      Chrispycritter john2496

      Posted

      I just recently had my 3rd pneumo and they couldn't find anything on ct scan or X-ray. This last time I went to a different hospital and the surgeon doing my surgery(in 6hrs. Lol) told me that there are microscopic blebs,that will actually get bigger over time, are the culprit. The won't necessarily show up on ct scan or X-rays. I hope my surgery fixes this for good.

    • XDKTC
      XDKTC Chrispycritter

      Posted

      If ur having the pleuraldesis done i highly recommend Toradol for after it will take care of 75 percent of ur pain allowing u to take less narcotics during ur hospital stay . it was a god send in my case it is a very strong anti inflammatory drug.
    • Chrispycritter
      Chrispycritter XDKTC

      Posted

      Thanks for answering. I'm done my surgery. Really painful. Lol they used Toradol when they moved me in bed. Moving is super painful but I just breathe and that gets you through. This forum is great. It's nice to have support from people who know what I'm going through. It's a lot bigger surgery than I realized. Narcotics are nice but don't last very long. Especially the 2mg of dilaudid. Lol thanks everyone who helped me through this and God bless.

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