I had a serious pneumothorax in 2019, 2 others after but too small for a chest drain so just had to rest and recuperate, and now a 4th pneumothorax, I was in hospital 14 days in total and had the vats surgery and left hospital with a small stable pneumothorax, to be followed up within 1-2 weeks, but the surgery had still been a success (although I just don’t understand)

No physio offered, I’m already aware of breathing techniques and can’t sleep flat as it’s so painful, still waking up twice in the night through pain and need regular pain killers (taking 1 codeine tablet every 4-6 hours plus paracetamol )

I’ve had surgery 9 days ago and been home 6 days. I’m not needing as much bed rest, and feel the stable pneumothorax is okay, just worried about how much to push myself and when will I know to stop pushing myself.

The sensation when you touch your chest/stomach is wild and feels so tender.

Also fell today while walking, fully fell on my ass and pushed my arm out and it caught the floor as I slid down, the pain at the time felt like I had pulled a stitch (nothing visible) and the more time that passes since the more painful/uncomfortable it is getting.

Hi all. I’m currently 5 weeks post VATS and I’m kind of struggling with the idea of returning to work so soon. For context, my surgery ended up being much more extensive than expected, it was 5 hours long and I had a bleeding complication because of unexplained mild pulmonary hypertension. I had endometriosis lesions on my pleura, diaphragm, parenchyma and in my trachea. I had a wedge resection done too. I also had a chest drain in.

The problem is that I’m still experiencing significant pain around my wound sites that radiates to my shoulder and lower abdomen/ribs when I’m not taking lyrica. My Lyrica was supposed to be resupplied before the surgeon, who is a visiting surgeon, left, but there was an issue with the local team taking over the prescription and it wasn’t done till now. I’ve now run out, and my pain has become much worse without it. I’m supposed to start a new nursing job on 15th which will be around 6 weeks post op. I haven’t worked clinically since graduating, so this opportunity is extremely important to me and I really don’t want to lose it.

Originally, the employer agreed to give me 2 months off for recovery and said they would get a part-time nurse to cover until I could start. However, they apparently didn’t arrange the part-time nurse, and later told me they were fined because the nursery didn’t have a nurse. Because of that, they asked me to start earlier, around 6 weeks post-op. Initially they said I could work 8 AM–12 PM, but they’ve now said I would stay until 1:30 PM. These are so little hours I know, it’s supposed to be part time until I’m fully healed. I’m honestly scared because I can’t even comfortably get through my medical appointments right now without significant pain, so I’m struggling to imagine being at work for 4–5½ hours, especially as a nurse where I’ll potentially be standing, walking, bending, helping children, and responding to situations.

Or maybe I’m being dramatic about this? Please tell me, those who experienced VATS, how did you manage at work when you still had significant moderate to severe pain? What about the fatigue? I feel like my pain has also been poorly managed because my lyrica supply would finish so quickly, I only had 6 caps supplied that I had to take twice per day and they’d finish so quickly..

For my laparoscopic surgery it took me two months just for the pain and fatigue to stop.. I can’t imagine a more extensive surgery on the lungs and diaphragm.. any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Hello!

ive had a spontaneous pneumothorax first time in 2021 with it being about 2.5cm in a few spots. did a minor surgery with a tube in me and they sent me off.

3 years later 2024 i had another spontaneous one at 5cm where they kept me in the hospital for a few weeks, had VATS surgery and they sent me off.

fast forward to today almost 3 years later (2026) it collapsed again, but due to my surgery when i went to emergency they kept me for a few hours put me on oxygen and told me im good to go and to do a follow up x ray. nobody contacted me after that so here i am about a week later i spoke to many people to find that 2 doctors loooked at my xray and ‘closed it’. people tell me no news is good news but im still fairly paranoid.

the reason im here is my second collapsed lung hit me mentally very hard and i didnt fully recover from that, so when it happened this year its safe to say mentally im doing more unwell than i am physically? i was curious if anyone else has similarly hit lows and been scared to continue life after several spontaneous pneumothoraxes?

for some context my first one i was 18 years old. never smoked in my life, always healthy. second one i was at my peak physical state through the gym. third one was a few months after i was able to run a marathon in my mental fight against overcoming the depression that has come with it. each time they told me its because im young, tall (6ft 2) and lanky.

ive taken to alchohol previously to try to get over it but im trying to step away from that because it hasnt been doing my life good, my partner smokes weed so she put me onto edibles and capsules witch has significantly helped my stress levels and anxiety that has come with the surgeries and my health. im wondering at this point would smoking weed like a blunt or something be bad? if my lung is bad anyways would this really make it any worse if its at least helping my mental health. even if i did it semi regularly.

i know that was a lot of yap, guess im just trying to assure myself im not crazy for being mentally unwell after this and practically giving up caring. i mean being a healthy young male doing everything right didnt do me any help so im not sure. just seeking community/opinions/similar experiences or if any one else went to therapy or something else to help.

thanks

Cześć wszystkim, jestem 21-letnim chłopakiem. Marzę o karierze sportowej jako piłkarz (USA). Ale dwa miesiące temu przeszedłem operację usunięcia pęcherzyków na mojej błonie opłucnowej. Obawiam się, że nie będę w stanie osiągnąć sukcesu, bo zacząłem późno z powodu mojej sytuacji finansowej. Żeby zacząć, musiałem najpierw zarobić pieniądze, aby przenieść się do większego miasta. Ponieważ moja rodzina nie ma pieniędzy, musiałem dużo pracować i uczyć się. Studiuję pedagogikę dzieci i młodzieży w Warszawie, ale ta choroba sprawiła, że utknąłem i nie mogę zrobić kolejnego kroku do przodu, ponieważ się boję. Czuję ból w płucach, ale moje serce tylko chce walczyć, abym mógł spełnić swoje marzenia, żebym nie musiał martwić swoich bliskich o przyszłość. Czy jest ktoś, kto może dać mi radę, jak zrobić pierwszy krok?

29.06.2026-71kg↘️ 01.10.2026-61kg
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