PDA

View Full Version : I woke up this morning to....

russb
05-22-2007, 10:11 PM
A collapsed lung!!!

When i woke up, i had slight pain in my chest (right hand side) and had a little bit of difficulty breathing as i walked up/down my stairs, so i cycled to work, by the time i got out the street i was breathless and nakered. I didnt have a clue what was going on! i thought i might of pulled a muscle or somthing as i was working out my chest last night.

So...got to my place of work, and spoke to a collegue who happens to be the 1st aider...and he took what i told him seriously (luckily) even thought i was only telling it to him in a jokingly manor, not after any first aid etc...

so he phoned a senior first aider who agreed to call an ambulance, when the ambulance got here, they couldnt hear any air movement from my right lung, they could from the left, they said this could be 2 thing, either an infection, or a collapsed lung, but usually with infections they can hear wheezing and a bit of air, but they couldnt hear anything!

So, ambulance took me to hospital, got there, waited a bit, had a few more tests, ecg's, bp, pulse etc.. then a doc came and started listening and tapping my chest, then sent me to have an xray.

xray came back, 'yes you have a collapsed lung sir'

i said ' ah thats kool, how do we fix that then' (thinking i was gonna have to breathe in extra hard or somthing!!!)

'we put this in there (shown me a big ass needle) and take the air out'

'WHAT!?'

'yea it wont hurt, we will put a bit of local anesthetic in you first'

I almost asked to put it in myself, as i would of prefered to, since i hate needles, but dont seem to have a problem injecting myself!

But anyway, they stuck a needle through my chest and into my lungs 3 times in total and withdrew 2400cc of air from my lung and i had 4 xrays, but now i feel worse than i started!, i dont know whether this is the pain from the needle now the anesthetic has worn off or not, but if its still like this tomorrow, im heading back to hospital!

anyway, kinda sucks, mid cycle, wont be able to work out for a few days :( maybe even a week or two. wont be able to fly/skydive (hobbie) for 6 months, or be able to swim/surf (another hobbie) for 6 months. I dont have nothing else to do now i cant skydive and surf!!!!! apart from go to the gym, but id still like to do other stuff...any ideas would be greatly appreciated, but cannot involve anything to do with pressure changes, diving, gliding etc...

anyway, thats my story for today :)

russ
fr8lnr01
05-22-2007, 10:15 PM
Oh my. Best of luck bro. Start surfing the pavement wave on a bike or a board.
russb
05-22-2007, 10:21 PM
forgot to say, they said its not uncommon and it can happen to anyone, just usually in younger (15-30), tall, fit, males, i fit all of them apart from tall, and my run of luck has been mega bad recently, i tell ya, no one i know would get on a plane with me!
FordTurboDiesel
05-22-2007, 10:26 PM
dayum. That sucks bad. I don't know what to suggest to keep busy. Most of my hobbies involve something with an engine on it.

eh, I'd say this time of year, if you like to be in the water, get a jetski or something.....maybe a boat.....motorcycling,,,,etc. etc.....

Good luck. Although nowhere near as bad, a few years back I had Mono. It wiped me out for fucking months, and months.....Thats blew balls big time. Didn't even have enough energy to jerk off.
russb
05-23-2007, 12:05 AM
Yea somthing powerfull engine wise might be a good idea! somthing jap too i think!
FordTurboDiesel
05-23-2007, 12:10 AM
Well....ha..I don't know about TOO powerful.......but I was just thinking, this time of year,, it's nice to get out on the water.
Tyrone
05-23-2007, 12:41 AM
Sorry that happened bro, but how does this just happen?! :eek:
kevin3987
05-23-2007, 04:22 AM
Sorry To hear that Bro! I wen't through a simular sit' my lung some how filled up with blood' they kept telling me I had a muscle spasm' I told them I have had plenty of those'.so anyway craisy pain for 12 days and then went to a specialist' he took a simple Xray. my lung was 75% filled up with blood. So in the hosp' for a week surgery' they put a thick tube in me for awhile to drain it out' anyways it's been over 2 years & still feal it a little' so what i'm saying is your shit is different' but still do not rush into the gym' SWIM'SWIM'SWIM' light exercise' good motion' that shit scared the shit out of me' GOOD LUCK.
Big A
05-23-2007, 08:36 AM
How the hell does something like this just happen? Are you a smoker?
kevin3987
05-23-2007, 08:47 AM
Who. are you refering to russ' or me.
Tyrone
05-23-2007, 08:51 AM
How the hell does something like this just happen? Are you a smoker?

That's what I was basicly asking in my post:p
made402
05-23-2007, 09:39 AM
It does just happen to random ppl. Its air on the outside of the lung that compresses the lung tissues witch takes up exspantion space for the lung. In turn makeing it hard to breath. There are diffrent types of collapsed lungs, I forget the medical term in this case.
Big A
05-23-2007, 06:43 PM
Who. are you refering to russ' or me.

russ.
Big A
05-23-2007, 06:43 PM
It does just happen to random ppl. Its air on the outside of the lung that compresses the lung tissues witch takes up exspantion space for the lung. In turn makeing it hard to breath. There are diffrent types of collapsed lungs, I forget the medical term in this case.

I get that. But what would make it happen? What are the predispositioned conditions to make it happen?
drob29
05-23-2007, 07:26 PM
I recently read an article about people who have those super powefull base sub woofers in their cars are having alot of collapsed lungs.The pressure created by that air being pulsed out of the woofer at high volume is at a frequency that can collapse a lung.

I am thinking that this applies when you hear "booom....booom..." well before the car is even close (damn kids..lol (j/k))

Not sure if that applies here but it makes sense that it could happen.
russb
05-23-2007, 07:38 PM
Nope, i do not smoke, never have done, just looking at my notes now, technical term for it is 'Pneumothorax - spontaneous'.

and it can 'just happen' like it did to me, i woke up with it! shit happens hey!
paulfries
05-23-2007, 08:03 PM
I had a collapsed lung when I was 18. Called a spontanious pneumothorax. Basically happens when a week point in the lung tissue (a bleb or blister) ruptures, and air leaks into the chest cavity. I walked around with it for like a week.

Mine was fairly severe, and I had to sit in the hospital with a chest tube stuck in my side for 5 days sucking out air to re-inflate the lung.

You are lucky that air was escaping the chest cavity and back out the lung. Else you get whats called a tension pneumothorax, and with every breath you increase the amount of air in your chest. Basically it is like inflating a ballon in your chest. Those can be fatal in under an hour.

Anyway, hope you get to feeling better soon man. Collapsed lungs suck (literally :)). Unfortunately now, (like me) you wont be able to go scuba diving. :( :(
kevin3987
05-24-2007, 12:52 AM
They Called what I had' not sure of thespelling. (empieyeima'. same thing with me just woke up an 'Boom' could not take deep breath's at all. they it could have started with pneumonia' since they told me I had muscle spasm's and it went un treated for 12 days slowly filled up with blood' then that's when I wen't to A lung Doc' Xray and it was on' not good:(
paulfries
05-24-2007, 01:06 AM
Russ, make sure you get a full chest CT and have it examined by a pulmonologist. You need to find out if you have any other blebs in the lung tissue. If so, it can be corrected with surgery.. Basically they just make a few small incisions in your chest and use small fiber-optic tools to go in and sutcher the lung tissue together over the bleb.

Reoccurrence of PTs within 5 years is fairly common. I was lucky that in my case it hasn’t happened since, (I am now 32 was 18 when it happened) and a chest CT came back clean, but typically these events happen because of some underlying genetic pathology in the lung. I am sure your dr will order one (regular chest x-rays will not do the trick), but ask for one just in case.

This does happen usually to young slender tall guys because they typically have more flexible/weaker connective tissue. THey are also usually double jointed for this same reason.
alan1973
05-24-2007, 09:36 AM
I recently read an article about people who have those super powefull base sub woofers in their cars are having alot of collapsed lungs.The pressure created by that air being pulsed out of the woofer at high volume is at a frequency that can collapse a lung.

I am thinking that this applies when you hear "booom....booom..." well before the car is even close (damn kids..lol (j/k))

Not sure if that applies here but it makes sense that it could happen.

1500+Watts here (and painfully powerful) and no lung issues, just am getting tired of people talking to me in such a low voice now. Why can't people speak up?:D