About Gary Expertise Will attempt to answer any question on respiratory disease, but please don`t ask me to make a diagnosis. Although I`ve worked as a respiratory specialist nurse in the UK for 6 years, I know nothing about the health systems of other countries. I have a particular interest in asthma, COPD, spirometry, and tuberculosis.
Question This is the most relevant area I found. I had a lung collapse about a year ago and I had surgery. The doctor told me not to limit my activities anymore, but it seems impossible for me to get back in great shape like I was before. Is this a physical problem or a mental one?
Answer Hi Kareem. This isn't really my area of expertise, but since it's the most relevant area you can find, I'll do my best to respond.
When you say a collapsed lung, I'm assuming you mean a pneumothorax?? Why did it collapse? What surgery did you have? If you are an otherwise fit young person then your doctor is quite right. For some reason (and it isn't fully understood why) fit young people do occasionally get a collapsed lung for no apparent reason. I know this sounds quite odd because you don't expect this to happen to fit people, but science and the human body work in strange ways sometimes. I've seen a few athletic types get this. The important thing is that after recovery, there is no reason why you can't return to your normal level of activity and a year sounds more than enough to recover.
My guess is that it's mainly a psychological reason that prevents you from getting back into great shape. However, because you don't say why the lung collapsed, it's difficult for me to say. I'm assuming that if you had been told you had a serious problem that caused the collapse, you'd have mentioned this in your question. You don't, so I'm assuming you are young and fit and suffered a "spontaneous pneumothorax" that I described above.
Let me know what you think or if you can provide more information.
Regards
Gary
