This happened to me in college. Driving home from the movies, chest started to hurt on inhale .. I decided to "sleep it off", which obviously didn't work. Went to the ER in the morning. Got the chest tube and spent about a week seeing if it would heal naturally, then they removed the offending part of my lung, and did a mechanical pleurodesis (a procedure that sticks your lung to the chest wall so it can't collapse). All-in, was over two weeks in the hospital, and a good bit of recovery after.
I fit the 5'9", young, male, otherwise healthy group described here.
For anyone reading these comments with growing anxiety who gets occasional, short duration stabbing pains when breathing in (lasting only a couple minutes at most), allow me to put your mind at ease by directing you to the Wikipedia page for precordial catch syndrome:
Very similar symptoms, totally harmless, to the point where the recommended treatment is "reassurance". As long as the pain lasts for less than 3ish minutes, you have no reason to panic.
(I used to get very anxious every time I had these symptoms, after a friend of mine in high school described the same experience as the others in this thread, trying to sleep off the pain and ending up hospitalized for a collapsed lung. Learning about PCS really put my mind at ease)
I get that every few months, though I'd describe it a bit differently:
First of all, it is usually brought on by sitting hunched over and breathing shallowly for a while (like, an hour). And the pain isn't exactly stabbing, unless you're counting being poked hard with a Popsicle stick.
It releases if I breath deeply enough, with an odd crunching sensation, sort of like popping really small bubble wrap, or cracking knuckles on a tiny hand.
Wow, thanks for posting this. I've had exactly these symptoms for a long time and despite multiple doctors telling me I'm fine, it's still a pretty stressful experience when it occurs!
I've gotten similar for a long time while growing up. Still get this now and then on my left side. Always my left side.
I just stretch, breath deep despite the pain and sleep it off. It... usually goes away within a day or two. The reason why I've always taken this approach is because it was always just growing pains or my ribs pinching me somehow. (Apparently that's a thing.)
That all said and done, the last time it happened I was genuinely curious and concerned, cause the last time before that I had it happen was years and years ago. And I'm not exactly growing anymore, etc. Not precisely.
But yeah. 5'6, still young-ish, and otherwise healthy I think.
Beware that even a spontaneous primary pneumothrax can turn into a tension pneumothrax, a condition when a natural one-way valve forms and continuously increases pressure inside the chest eventually compressing heart and arteries.
Even a spontaneous primary pneumothrax must be handled seriously. It can become life threatening.
Thanks for the heads up. It's been a while since the last episode, so I kind of doubt this is a thing for me at the moment. But I will keep that in mind the next time I have un-ending pinching and cramping pains on the left side of my chest. Don't worry, far left side. Not near the heart.
I had those kind of pains for years and they were always minor and went away after a few days. Always wondered what they were, but figured they were harmless. Eventually I got a worse one, went to the hospital, got a chest tube. It went away but I got another bad one, so they did surgery. A couple months later the same process happened to the other side.
I'm very glad they did a pleurectomy both times instead of pleurodesis; I've heard people describe pleurodesis and it's pretty terrifying, both the recovery and the permanent after-effects. Noticeably reduced breathing capacity isn't uncommon.
People think it's related to body type, but the surgeon said the more modern understanding is that it's due to "blebs" (actual medical term) on your lung that burst - which the pleurectomy removes. Pleurodesis is usually unnecessary in young people. I was more prone to blebs due to a genetic syndrome.
> I'm very glad they did a pleurectomy both times instead of pleurodesis; I've heard people describe pleurodesis and it's pretty terrifying, both the recovery and the permanent after-effects. Noticeably reduced breathing capacity isn't uncommon.
I've had a pleurodesis on my left side. I never noticed any reduced breathing capacity. The procedure left a few stab-like incisions scars but I actually like them. I'd feel safer if the same was did on the right side too; I like the idea that it will never happen again on the left side but hate the feeling that it can happen again at any time on the right side.
I don't know if the procedure I was submitted is the most common. The surgeon described that they burned (cauterized, I think) the pleuras with an electric scalpel. As it healed, the pleuras stuck on one another. It was painful for just a few days but analgesics were enough to make it bearable.
There was one strange effect: it numbed the tactile feeling of parts of my breast, chest and arm. Immediately after the surgery the numbing effect was so intense that I could pierce the skin with my nails until it bled and felt not pain. I actually did it to demonstrate how numb it was. The medic said it would improve over time. It took years to get the feeling back. It's been twenty years and the feeling still is a bit numb.
That numbness is nerve damage. Sometimes you get numb, sometimes you get permanent cronic pain, and sometimes both depending on the day. More common than people might think with any sort of surgery. I had some damage that lasted about 6 years where it would be numb and then randomly about once a month I'd get a stabbing pain for like 3 seconds.
I got a head wound during a car accident I was involved with as a small child. Left about a 4” scar on my forehead. 30 years later, still no feeling in that part of my head.
Goodness, is this more common than it seems? Happened to me in my mid twenties, same build. I remember talking to the doc (thank goodness it went away with oxygen for a few days) who said "Yup, this stuff just happens to otherwise healthy males your age. No one's really sure why."
I am! Thank you. It's been almost 15 yrs .. I have a few scars from the chest tubes as a reminder. My lung capacity is normal. Every so often I get some numbness on that side when it's storming outside. In the couple years following, I did go through some hypochondria, thinking I had any number of related and unrelated issues. I've been advised not to scuba or go climbing Mt. Everest (ha!), though I do wonder if and when the other side could strike.
Had the same experience, at about 21, although I think they didn't cut anything out, just stapled around the hole in the lung. I was skinny and in good shape.
I fit the 5'9", young, male, otherwise healthy group described here.