I have had 5 pneumothoraxes in just over 2 years in my left lung. I was 28 when it first started. I am a young female, healthy, physically active non-smoker, not the typical person this happens to at all. Every time it happened I was laying down sleeping. The first time it was the worst, 50% collapsed with a lot of chest pain and shortness of breath. I had a chest tube for 2 days and it was the most painful experience of my life. The next 2 times it happened I was pregnant and they were smaller collapses, 20% and 10% which required no treatment but I did go to the ER every time. Nine days after my son was born, it collapsed again, small.

I'm a 36 yr old male, quite tall and thin, I'm very fit and run an average of 3-4 miles a day. Unfortunately, I have smoked since I was 14 years old. I served in the Army for 10 yrs and am now a police officer, so I still live an active physical lifestyle. About 5 days ago I was showering and as I raised my left arm to rinse my hair. I felt a sharp pain race down the muscle in my back and felt a pop. I thought I have just tweaked a muscle and carried on the day in a bit of pain thinking it'll sort itself out. Five hrs later it got to the stage where I couldn't walk 20 yards without stopping for air and decided to get it checked out at A&E. After an X-ray it was confirmed that I had suffered a spontaneous pneumothorax and had a chest drain put in. After 3 days, I'm back at home, and still sore but I'm. I'm amazed that this happened for no apparent reason, and needless to say I must stop smoking.

My wife has had 3 lung collapses, due to fibrosis. She had 2 tubes at the same time inserted, one in her top chest, the second one in the top back. Doctors said this procedure has not been working at all, so she needs to have lung transplant, but if the Medi-Cal insurance from CA State, doesn't pay for it, she can't have a lung transplant. We are low income family. I just have few hours on my workplace -- about 28 per week I can't afford to pay any insurance.

I recently developed endocarditis, an infection on my Mitral valve, and had to have open heart surgery to replace the valve. About a week after getting home I noticed when I bent down I would need to cough, and since I had to sleep on my back, my breathing was strange, I didn't seem to have a problem with breathing though and no real pain, I just thought something was weird, different, in fact I walked about a mile or so to my cardiologist for my follow up appointment. I explained to him my symptoms and he ordered an X-ray. By the time I had walked home they had called the house saying I needed to go to ER, due to a 50% collapsed lung. So back to the hospital I went. It sucked. The worst part was when they pulled the chest tube out after three days. I have no idea how I got the collapsed lung.

My lung collapsed during a bronchoscopy. Two pumps were put in: one was inserted in the wrong place, the second pulled out before being attached to the pump. Miraculously the lung corrected overnight on its own.

I am a 28 year old male and had my first collapsed lung in 2001. I had another 5 on my left side before I had pleural abrasion done. Then in 2006 I had my first one on the right side, this one hurt the most and felt like someone was sitting on my chest. The pain was so bad that I was vomiting and passing out, I got admitted to hospital and put on 100% oxygen but this did nothing. I was then back in surgery having another plural abrasion. They said the cause was unknown. I still get some pain and discomfort in my chest but nothing as bad as the final collapse. Also as stated in a previous comment, the worst part of both operations was having the chest drain tubes pulled out! It felt like someone had stabbed a red hot knife into your chest.

Dumbbells fell on my chest while exercising. I felt like I was having a heart attack. I was short of breath and pain wouldn't allow me to sit. 911 was called. The diagnosis was collapsed lung. The doctor wanted to place a stint in my lung. I was too afraid to allow this procedure to happen. I am 33 years old without insurance. Help!