How to cure you pneumothorax

Dear Andy

I had a pneumothorax 7 weeks ago. The doctor explained that it is a hole in the lung. Since then i have been trying to figure a reason for this as the doctor didn't give me a concrete reason as to why this happened to me. The only thing i could come up with was the fact that i hardly drink any water (mostly Tea). It got me thinking that any material which requires moisture but is left to dry could develop tears (or holes). I thought i was clutching at straws and trying to find a cause as i feel the most frightening thing of the whole experience is not knowing why it happened or how to prevent it from re-occuring. But after reading your posting ( and even knowing you are not a doctor) this theory keeps making sense to me. I shall be drinking lots of water from now on and keeping my fingers cossed incase the theory is bs. Any tips on how not to feel like a walking time bomb?

[color=indigo:0a75312a0e][b:0a75312a0e]Hi Andy,

I have just come out of hospital after having a collapsed lung. I was admitted for 1 week & had to have 3 chest drains. I am a young slim 30 year old smoker so I fit the bill. I am always being told by my partner to drink more fluids (not beer) so I guess what you are saying has some logic to it. You must also remember that this is not all down to hydration as my father had the same condition as me when he was in his 30's. My problem started 3 months ago due to heavy lifting but vanished after a couple of days. I have been out of hospital for 5 days now & wanted to know if I should still be feeling tension & small sharp pains in my chest. Did you or any one else have this feeling.

Thanks

Sean[/b:0a75312a0e][/color:0a75312a0e]

I also believe dehydration could be a huge factor causing weak tissue in lungs leading to pneumothorax. Especially in those cases where they cannot find or see enlarged blebs on the lungs. It's seems though no doctors want to listen to this theory.. 

Before I had my first pt I was drinking almost no water and lots of coffee and energy drinks. Was under a lot of stress for a long period of time, and was lifting heavy at the gym when it happened. As most uf us know stress causes high cortisol levels in our body which is also bad for tissue health. Heavy weights, compression of the ribcage and holding my breath was what triggered in my case I believe. Aspirated at the ER with a truclose drainage box and healed. Went back to living my life as I did before, no regulations or advice from doctors except the usual no scuba diving...

After that I had 3 more pt's with an interval of approximately 2 months in between. Holes all healed by themselves. No surgery yet.

Started analyzing my life, habits, diet etc. And read a lot about lungs and what could affect them..

Lungs consist of over 80% water, so they are indeed very sensitive to dehydration. 

If you have large lungs, they could possibly need a little more water. Also, water help keep the cell walls strong. Lungs also need saturated fat. The airspaces of the lungs are coated by a layer consisting of 100% saturated fat acids. So if you are very skinny, you might have a deficiency of saturated fat acids in your body.

Began drinking more water and gained some weight. No dieting and lots of healthy fat. Also changed my workout and lifting routines. Now 5 months without incident...

Anyone else have a similar story? Does anybody know of research related to long term dehydration and spontaneous pneumothorax?  

 

hi Jhe123,

i got out of the hospital some two weeks ago after i was diagnosed spontaneous pneumothorax, i stayed there for a week with this tube inside of me till they saw my left lung fully inflated and monitored it again for another day if it would colapse. luckily it didnt. with my current lifestyle, im still thinking if dehydration would've caused this to happen, although i fit the category of being tall and thin, but gain quite a few mass from being in the gym for the past 3 years. i dont smoke often, i can go 3 sticks a week only when being around friends who smoke. about water intake uhm.. i dont drink too much or drink less enough but i drink almost 3 cups of coffee my entire shift at work, and when in the gym i consume just half a litre of water. im still confused or dont know exactly what caused this to happen and still doing my research.

how are you? have you recovered from it? i really want to back to the gym, but i was told not to by my doctor for 6months to a year. i dont think i can stand not to go to the gym for that long. ive had slipped disk for the longest time and my way of strengthening my core and lessen the pain from my back is by going to the gym.

i just want to know your experience. how fast you recovered from it and when you got back to your normaly routine. and were there any pain you encounter during the stage of healing. beacuse everytime i inhale to my limit i feel a small poke at the upper part of my left chest. also some poking sensation inside my chest at some point of the day. have you encountered this?

please let me know thank you.

You're a fucking genious!

Hi

Reading all these comments makes me guilty of how much i have abused my body. One very important thing left out is to get sufficient rest.

I got my first pneumothorax at the age of 17 where i was hospitalized. There was no surgery tho just mandatory rest and pain killers taken. Im 34 now and have had many reoccurances over the years. Until now i havnt felt as bad as my first occassion.

My lifestyle tho is pretty extreme so God have really stuck by me. I get very little sleep hanging out alot and very long hrs, drink and smoke alot, minimum water intake, drink coffee occassionally, eat anything anytime, play football, swim and have alot of sex.

Im just over 6ft and lean built. I also love to eat healty foods and i think this along with my sport activities have kept me going for so long.

Over the past week or so i really went overboard with the negative stuff. This along with my current age status i think lead me to be humbled by another but major pneumothorax. I know when its happening because im so familar with it.

Im at home rest (no choice) now because of tremendous painand fatigue. My family are insisting that i go to the hospital but i refuse. Im making promises to myself and God that i would make drastic changes to my lifestyle once i get through this.

I believe dehydration, lack of sleep/rest, excessive alcohol and smoking is what lead me here. Surgery i believe should always be a last resort and doctors of today i think are more trained to keep money flowing in their medical circles.

I had spontanous left pheumothorax 30 years ago in 1986, had repeated collapse during the first couple of months; and on the 6th time, I was operated on.  Since then I have never regained good health, I have had 30 years of chest pain from time to time, though not as frequent now compared to 30 years ago.

Once I shared with my friend about my health condition, she asked whether I had ever thought of suicide.  I said no since I have always been very positive.

Sometimes I can feel out of breath during the day; but I find taking cordycep capsule or tablets helps to strengthen my lungs..

 

I had a spontaneous pneumothorax 3 years ago.My left lung collapsed entirely.The doctors performed chest tube insertion to remove the air in pleural space and during the re expansion , the lungs tissues got swollen ( according to the doctors) ,this resulted in decreasing of the pulse rate and a life threatening condition for me,I was put on a mechanical ventilation for 3 days and consequently my pulses began to occur normally and thus I recovered from it within 2 to 3 weeks.

The health care providers could not rule out the exact cause for it,rather explained it as a result of formations and rupturing of air blebs on the outer coverings of lungs

Wow this is so wrong it's terrifying please please please do not believe this. Do not ever think a spontaneous pneumothorax is caused by dehydration. Not one single person in the world has ever come close to definition of why. I generally cannot believe someone would tell you that. 10000000000000000% WRONG