Is oxygen inhalation useful for pneumothorax

There are many patients suffering from pneumothorax in daily life, especially in autumn and winter. If you suffer from pneumothorax, you will often experience shortness of breath, which is very harmful to your health. Oxygen inhalation is usually used to treat many respiratory diseases. Pneumothorax, whether severe or mild, will cause patients to experience symptoms of hypoxia or asthma, and oxygen inhalation treatment is required in time.

Is oxygen helpful for pneumothorax?

Oxygen inhalation is helpful and can be used for treatment. In daily life, if the pneumothorax is mild, oxygen inhalation is not required and can be used for treatment. Generally speaking, once the absence of gas has stabilized for one to two weeks, no treatment is required. So don’t worry too much about pneumothorax. You can do some light physical exercises to enhance your physical fitness and resistance, adjust your mentality, eat more light meals, and eat more fruits and vegetables.

Pneumothorax symptoms

1. Cough

Most of them are irritating dry coughs, which are caused by gas stimulating the pleura. They are usually not serious, with no sputum or occasionally a small amount of blood-streaked sputum. Those with empyema will cough up purulent sputum.

2. Chest pain

It occurs suddenly, mostly in the front chest and armpits, and can radiate to the shoulders, back, upper abdomen, forearms, etc. Chest pain occurs on the side where the pneumothorax occurs, and is sharp, continuous, stabbing or cutting pain, which is aggravated by coughing and deep breathing.

3. Difficulty breathing

The severity is closely related to the speed of occurrence, type, degree of lung atrophy and basic lung function of pneumothorax. Young and middle-aged people have no obvious lesions in the lungs themselves, have good lung function, and have no symptoms if one side of the lung collapses by less than 20%. Even if the lung is compressed by 80%-90%, they only feel a little short of breath when moving around or going upstairs. People with existing chronic lung disease, weak constitution, or old age may also experience severe breathing difficulties even if the lungs are compressed by only 10%. Some patients may also experience progressive dyspnea.

4. Shock

It often occurs in patients with tension pneumothorax (the tear is like a valve, air can only enter but not exit) who are not treated in time. In addition to worsening breathing difficulties, the patient also has cyanosis, profuse sweating, cold limbs, weak pulse, and decreased blood pressure. He may quickly fall into a coma and die.

What causes pneumothorax?

1. Traumatic pneumothorax

Common chest injuries include sharp stab wounds, gunshot penetrating wounds, dislocated rib fractures, lung punctures, and lung injuries during diagnostic and therapeutic medical procedures, such as acupuncture lung biopsy, artificial pneumothorax, etc.

2. Secondary pneumothorax

It is caused by bronchopulmonary disease breaking into the chest cavity and forming pneumothorax. Such as obstructive pulmonary diseases caused by chronic bronchitis, pneumoconiosis, bronchial asthma, pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, honeycomb lung and bronchial lung cancer, alveolar emphysema and bullae caused by partial obstruction of the airways, as well as purulent pneumonia close to the pleura, tuberculous cavities in the lung abscess, pulmonary fungal disease, congenital lung cysts, etc.

3. Idiopathic pneumothorax

It refers to the presence of bullae under the pleura in a person who has no history of respiratory disease. Once bullae rupture and form pneumothorax, it is called idiopathic pneumothorax, which is more common in young and middle-aged men with a slender body shape.

4. Chronic pneumothorax

Refers to pneumothorax that has not fully expanded after 2 months. The causes are: difficult to absorb encapsulated fluid pneumothorax, difficult to heal bronchopleural fistula, bullous lungs or congenital bronchogenic cysts, as well as airway obstruction connected to the pneumothorax or atrophic lung covered with a thicker mechanical capsule that hinders lung re-expansion.