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Q: Treating pneumothorax
asked by: DoctorQuestion on September 7th, 2009
A few years ago I felt a sudden pain in my upper right lung area. The pain started to throb and minutes later had become so painful that I couldn't breath and collapsed. I couldn't fully inflate my lungs without excruciating pain. I felt nausea, dizziness and my vision was becoming blurry and dark.After an x-ray of my chest in the hospital the doctor told me he didn't know what was wrong but thought a bubble may have popped on my lung, partially deflating it, and giving me all my symptoms.He gave me some possible condition(can't remember the name although it started with a "P")and told me it was most likely caused from stress.The next week I felt it starting to happen again but I just relaxed and it never escalated to the same point as before.Would anyone be able to give a better explanation than my doctor did? I am still confused and worried that it might happen again.


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Dr. Andrijana Shterjovska , MD
replied on September 14th, 2009
Lungs and Respiratory Disorders Answer A7241


Given the information you provided (pain in upper right lung area, difficulty breathing), it seems likely that you might have experienced pneumothorax. Pneumothorax is a condition in which part of, or the whole lung collapses. The collapse is actually deflating of part of the lung or the whole lung.


The causes might include: injury, certain medical conditions (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, cystic fibrosis, and pneumonia). In certain cases, the cause cannot be identified and it is called spontaneous pneumothorax.


In all cases, the mechanism of pneumothorax is the same. Air enters the pleural cavity, either from outside or from the lungs. The pleural cavity is the empty space between the two layers of the pleura (double-layer membrane that surrounds the lungs).
Pneumothorax is easily detected with an X-ray.


You might want to visit a specialist for pulmonary disorders or an internist for a physical examination and an X-ray. Additional tests might be needed to detect the possible causes for the pneumothorax.


In many cases, the pneumothorax can resolve on its own, but if the cause still persists it might occur again. In certain cases, the pneumothorax has to be treated by special procedures that would take the air out of the pleural cavity.




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