Spontaneous pneumothorax and chest tube treatment for 18 days! My lung healed naturally!

Posted , 3 users are following.

I've been under chest tube treatment for 18 days for my right lung which was 75-80% collapsed. Too long because I refused to undergo open surgery or VATS as recommended by doctors. Got 3 surgeries already in the past for other illnessess, afraid of having another one :-(  This is the most painful and teriffying episode happened in my life. Sitting position while sleeping - oh, sleepless nights throughout my hospital confinement. Tears and a lot of prayers. My daily treatment to expand my right lung aside from chest tube drain? A special breathing exercise (yoga breathing and cough like breathing) with the use of incentive spirometer. I need to hit a mark with this apparatus. Pain reliever was increased and introduced through IV. Chest X-ray every 2-3 days. Slow and painful...but X-ray result shows improvement from 80% down to 60, 50, 20, until on the 18th day, X-ray result showed full expansion of my right lung! Doctors were amazed and I was in tears of joy! Had hi res CT scan after lung has fully expanded to check for any bleb...no bleb or any abnormalities. Very unusual, according to doctor. I was an active person, I run, play badminton and non-smoker. A month earlier prior my hosp confinement, I took a diving lesson, my first time to dive. Five days after diving, I flew, a 45 min on the plane. Then a month later, this SP occured. The sad thing is that there is chance of recurrence. No more strenuous activities like I used to do.

0 likes, 1 reply

1 Reply

  • Posted

    I answered some of this already. All collapse lungs heal natural. If your doctor told you anything else report them. Do not change your life just because something might happen. I hold the world record on this I still dive run work play paragliding parachute sky dive etc etc. The chance of redcurrant problem is about 6% with the vats it's >1% I'm that % lol. The chances are the only been u had caused the collapse. Even more worryingly is they said in a hi res cat they couldn't see anything eh these things are that small the naked eye can't see it so again please report this doctor. I still have not met a doctor surgeon or any other that has the knowledge I have. My doctors consult me about my body or other patients they are struggling with. I know it's hard to believe me and a hard thing to go through but never allow it to change you. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.