What happens if your lung collapses?

Have you ever wondered what would happen to you if your lung suddenly decided to bail on you? Probably not, but don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll explore everything from the causes and symptoms of a collapsed lung to how it’s treated and prevented.

The Basics: What is a Collapsed Lung?

Let’s start with the basics – what exactly happens when your lung collapses? A collapsed lung, also known as pneumothorax (spicy word #1), occurs when air leaks into the space between your lungs and chest wall. This can cause all sorts of problems like difficulty breathing and chest pain (ouch).

Causes of a Collapsed Lung

There are many things that can cause a collapsed lung including:

  • Spontaneous (random) rupture of an air-filled sac in your lungs
  • Trauma to your chest such as broken ribs or puncture wounds
  • Medical procedures like inserting a central line or placing a tube in your chest

Basically, anything that messes with the normal pressure balance between your lungs and chest cavity can lead to a pneumothorax (fancy word #2).

Common Symptoms

So how do you know whether you have experienced this traumatic event? Here are some common symptoms to watch out for:
– Sudden sharp pain in one side of your chest
– Shortness of breath
– Rapid heartbeat
– Fatigue or weakness

Now let me tell you something funny: these symptoms sound eerily similar to being ghosted by someone after just one date! Getting ignored by someone may be less painful compared than dealing with any medical issue. But jokes aside…

How is it Diagnosed?

If you suspect that something isn’t right with one of those inputs responsible for gasping life into & outofyou’re body aka ‘Lungs’, you should seek medical attention right away. A healthcare provider will most likely perform a physical exam and order chest X-rays (say cheese). The x-ray can show whether the air leak has caused your lung to collapse.

Types of Collapsed Lungs

Depending on how severe your collapsed lung is, there are two different types:

Partial pneumothorax

In this type of collapse only some part of the lungs’ airspace (sshh.. specialized term alert^3) is disrupted. People with partial pneumothorax sometimes don’t even know that they have it (scary).

Complete Pneumothorax

As much as the name implies, in complete pneumothorax, all or almost all parts of one or both lungs fall flat similar to sea waves coming over each other (thanks physics for teaching us overlapping wave concept :)). This case requires immediate medical intervention since about 2/3 people who experience complete discoloration report experiencing sudden excruciating pain (yikes!)

Treatment Options

Now that we know what happens when our lungs take an unexpected break let’s explore some ways it can be treated –

Observation:

If you’re lucky enough to have just a small area where air leaks through into then the doctors may choose not intervene straightaway but keep a close eye on things instead.

Oxygen

For those unable to tolerate observing their life dependencies in hands someone else, you might be given oxygen therapy. However this remedy alone will not help dissolve any trapped gas and therefore won’t allow proper inflation which causes further complications. But hey breathing oxygenated air directly from space cadet masks is always fun 🙂

Chest Tube Insertion

Even though incisions in general sound horrifying- If drugs were used before-hand , virtually zero-pain would exist – this process actually removes excess air outside organs but also restores their ideal working conditions. Although the idea of having a tube inserted between your ribs sure is terrifying, this process helps air be sucked outside and sealed off to prevent further leaks.

Surgery

If all else fails, doctors might recommend surgery such as thoracoscopic or open chest procedures (warning!! Doctors and nurses may use long medical device/MRI sounding instruments during these treatments)

Prevention & Recovery

Last but not least let’s look at some ways that pneumothorax can be prevented in the first place, because genuinely we wouldn’t want anyone reading about it go through more such cases:

Quit Smoking!

Smoking increases your risk for many kinds of health problems including pneumothorax. It causes damage to lung tissues, which makes it easier for air to escape.

Protect yourself from Chest Injuries

Many situations exist where injury susceptibility is expected (playing sports etc) ,using appropriate padding would definitely help protect you against injuries that could cause trauma to chest wall leading to collapsing lungs

Follow Up after Treatment

A follow-up appointment will most likely take place once treatment has ended so make sure not miss out on it 🙂

Conclusion

So now you know exactly what happens when your lung collapses- everything from immediate impacts like difficulty breathing and fatigue; potential causes include sudden violent movements (car accidents), long term seemingly disconnected habits including smoking; various methods available as treatment options if things go wrong.

Always keep an eye on anything unusual; Awareness is a form of prevention!

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