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I had a random sharp pain in my lower left back area earlier today and now I'm out of my mind paranoid.
Reason being that I've had a spontaneous pneumothorax once before, which is basically a random lung collapse. Not a traumatic pneumothorax which is the result of an injury or something, just flat out random. That was many years ago. However, if you've had it once you're at higher risk of having it again. I've got a 1 in 3 chance of it recurring. Just that would be enough to scare the crap out of me but it gets better.
If it happens a second time then the chances jump to 2 in 3. Because of the increased chance they usually choose to operate in order to fuse the side of my lung to the surrounding area or something which has the end result of preventing any further lung collapses. However, it also leaves you with decreases lung capacity for the rest of your life.
 
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my goodness! do you play sports or something? if not its not so bad...man i hope its really not a second time O_O
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If it happens three times, seek medical attention.
Otherwise, it's probably just something random and irrelevant.
I'm not a medical anything, but I figure if something's seriously wrong it will exhibit symptoms repeatedly or over a duration rather than just for one sharp moment of pain and then never again.
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uhh so what does it do exactly? also a random lung collapse, don't you have two? meaning i guess it can be unpleasant as hell but it's not really life threatening is it?
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I don't recommend the powder thing. I had it happen, regret it. Never feel the same after that. Pneumothroax sucks man, I feel your pain.
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On July 23 2010 11:08 nttea wrote:
uhh so what does it do exactly? also a random lung collapse, don't you have two? meaning i guess it can be unpleasant as hell but it's not really life threatening is it?
Two lungs are better than one. A lot better.
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I really, really hope it's not something serious D:
Hopefully it's only the first time...
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On July 23 2010 11:09 Severedevil wrote:Show nested quote +On July 23 2010 11:08 nttea wrote:
uhh so what does it do exactly? also a random lung collapse, don't you have two? meaning i guess it can be unpleasant as hell but it's not really life threatening is it? Two lungs are better than one. A lot better.
maybe i phrased it a bit silly, i was just wondering since he says it scares the hell out of him if it's life threatening or not.
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Maybe it is worth it to go get checked out for your piece of mind?
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On July 23 2010 11:07 Severedevil wrote:
If it happens three times, seek medical attention.
Otherwise, it's probably just something random and irrelevant.
I'm not a medical anything, but I figure if something's seriously wrong it will exhibit symptoms repeatedly or over a duration rather than just for one sharp moment of pain and then never again.
Oh I will know very quickly if it's serious or not. I've had a lung collapse once already. The first time I felt a sharp pain in my chest for a second then it went away and felt perfectly fine the rest of the night. Woke up the next morning, tried to walk to the cafeteria then start gasping for air and it was all downhill from there. Long story short, it was a terrifying experience.
On July 23 2010 11:08 nttea wrote:
uhh so what does it do exactly? also a random lung collapse, don't you have two? meaning i guess it can be unpleasant as hell but it's not really life threatening is it?
You feel like you've got a rope around your chest constricting your breathing, like you take deep breaths but it feels like you're not getting enough air. I felt like I was going to suffocate even though I was taking big deep breaths. I don't think it's life threatening but I would say unpleasant would be quite the understatement.
On July 23 2010 11:08 Galneryus wrote:
I don't recommend the powder thing. I had it happen, regret it. Never feel the same after that. Pneumothroax sucks man, I feel your pain.
By "powder thing" do you mean the operation to prevent it from happening again? What do you mean by not feeling the same?
On July 23 2010 11:09 Abenson wrote:
I really, really hope it's not something serious D:
Hopefully it's only the first time...
Same here, hopefully it's nothing. But I have had one collapse already so I am at higher risk. They re-inflated the lung over the course of a week or so in the hospital the last time.
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On July 23 2010 11:48 Crais wrote:
Maybe it is worth it to go get checked out for your piece of mind?
I will pretty much know if something is wrong tomorrow morning, shortness of breath and such. We'll see.
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I don't remember what it is called. It sounds like talcom powder, it basically forces the lung to stick to the ribcage. It's not recommended for younger people, but there were no lung specialist so the heart specialist basically thought it was a good idea on me. I had that on one lung (had both lungs go down), I can tell the difference and I don't like it.
If your lung is under 50% collapse it should heal by itself. Don't let it do that too long though if it isn't. Because you'll have rapid inflation and ruin your lungs forever. Also I recommend a really good doctor to get rid of the blebs. Hopefully they won't grow back ever again. I'm 6 years post surgery and I smoke (sadly) and I amateur mma. I had doctors fuck up, made the small incisions for the camera so they can move out the blebs. Since the camera is so small they can't really see everything and I had it again 6 months later, spontaneous watching TV. So then they did a thoracotomy on me which left a good 8 inch cut in my back (looks kinda badass lol).
First time it happened was from a car accident. Traumatic pneumothorax left my lung like 95% collapse. Most horrible pain, I couldn't lay down cause the pain was horrible. They threw a tube inside of me. If you want to know anything let me know, it was hell of an experience, and one that I rather not experience again.
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I've had 4 spontaneous pneumothorax and just had surgery to prevent it from happening again recently. Having to be in a hospital for a week after the surgery with chest tubes sucks so much.
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On July 23 2010 11:08 Galneryus wrote:
I don't recommend the powder thing. I had it happen, regret it. Never feel the same after that. Pneumothroax sucks man, I feel your pain.
I had the powder (talc) thoracoscopy/pleurodesis. It felt uncomfortable once in a while for maybe a year, but it's been fine since.
There's another method where they manually irritate it (as opposed to using the powder to irritate it), which I think has a lower recurrence rate, but I assume there's downsides.
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What is this 33% chance of a random lung collapse? 33% of what?
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Oh wow i hope its nothing serios.
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Dude i had one of those my sophmore year of high school. They just told me it happens to us taller thinner kids and yeah that theres a big chance that if it happens again that itll happen a time after that but don't sweat it bro you'll be okay. They just put you on like 100% oxygen or something and let it like re-inflate or something.
Edit: Unrelated but i had a heart attack last december age 20 ahaha random shit but if that happens find me might be the t-virus =p
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On July 23 2010 12:59 Silent12ill wrote:
Dude i had one of those my sophmore year of high school. They just told me it happens to us taller thinner kids and yeah that theres a big chance that if it happens again that itll happen a time after that but don't sweat it bro you'll be okay. They just put you on like 100% oxygen or something and let it like re-inflate or something.
Edit: Unrelated but i had a heart attack last december age 20 ahaha random shit but if that happens find me might be the t-virus =p
The first time it happened to me they put me on 100% oxygen for awhile but it apparently wasn't enough so I spent a week with a tube going through my left ribcage.
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I have random stabbing chest pains all the time. Never thought of a collapse. Though if the recurrence is as bad as everyone here says it is... I get it like once or twice a month. Feels like someone has put me on a stake in various places around my chest. Can't breathe in or out without sobbing like a baby because it just hurts SO fucking bad.
I mentioned it to the doctors and they were like "meh, you seem okay now" after checking me out about two years ago. They diagnosed it at that time as Costochondritis but it seems (to me) to be more frequent than what the article says.
Good luck to you though, mate. Take it easy and get better. ><
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On July 23 2010 13:32 Torenhire wrote:I have random stabbing chest pains all the time. Never thought of a collapse. Though if the recurrence is as bad as everyone here says it is... I get it like once or twice a month. Feels like someone has put me on a stake in various places around my chest. Can't breathe in or out without sobbing like a baby because it just hurts SO fucking bad. I mentioned it to the doctors and they were like "meh, you seem okay now" after checking me out about two years ago. They diagnosed it at that time as Costochondritis but it seems (to me) to be more frequent than what the article says. Good luck to you though, mate. Take it easy and get better. ><
A lot of things can cause chest pain, I think they all affect that one nerve. I assume you've ruled out heartburn. :p
Do anti-inflammatories help?
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Yes and no in that order.
It's in different places all the time. Kind of similar to a stitch if you've ever had them. You run too much and get that nasty pain. That's not my problem, I don't think. I've just had chest issues for a long time. My only issue is that I'm in excruciating pain often and my doctorS (yes I've been to three or four) are like... "Well...that sucks. It'll go away in a few hours." and send me back home.
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I vote this isn't it, I've had similar pain and it was nothing like that. Could be 1000 things, if you have no trouble breathing you should be fine. Still take it easy for now.
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I don't get the 1 in 3 chance thing. 1 in 3 of what? One out of every 3rd second? Every 3 days? Is it always a 33% chance to happen at any given time? If so you're fucked after a minute. Or is it just 1 out of 3 people who get it, have it happen again at some point in their life?
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On July 23 2010 21:57 CharlieMurphy wrote:
I don't get the 1 in 3 chance thing. 1 in 3 of what? One out of every 3rd second? Every 3 days? Is it always a 33% chance to happen at any given time? If so you're fucked after a minute. Or is it just 1 out of 3 people who get it, have it happen again at some point in their life?
1 in 3 people that have had one spontaneous pneumothorax have a recurrence. 2 in 3 people that have had two occurrences have a recurrence.
Just an update, I feel okay for the most part. Just tired and sore, I think working 10 hour days for the last few months is taking it's toll or something. I don't care though, I'm just happy my lung didn't collapse. 
Thanks a ton for your replies everyone though, I don't know why but I felt much better talking about it. Thanks.
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EPT
