My son, age 23, called me Monday afternoon to tell me that he left work because he could not breathe. I immediately went into doctor mode and asked him all pertinent questions such as fever, headache, congestion, cough, heart rate, wheeze, earache etc. I asked him to take a deep breath over the phone so I could hear his breathing, but he was unable. He reported that he had back and chest pains. I told him to hang up and immediately go to the emergency room for a chest X-ray. He said he wanted to sleep it off. I begged him to go to the ER and get a diagnosis and we would treat it naturally. He has never been to anyone besides me for his health care and we do everything naturally—meaning no unnecessary procedures or prescription medications. So, he was reluctant to go to the ER but did with my urging.
Upon arrival they immediately wanted to give him an IV steroid without even knowing what was wrong with him. He refused and put me on speaker phone, and we asked for a diagnosis before any treatment was performed. We finally got our X-ray, and it showed abnormalities and then we got a CT. He had a collapsed lung. So, the steroid IV would have hurt him and further suppressed his breathing! Good thing we averted that. They told him he had a rare genetic abnormality—his heart was on the wrong side of his body. However, we later discovered the collapsed lung moved the heart to the other side of the body which every doctor should know! It was not a genetic abnormality. They put a tube in his lung to inflate it and he felt better. He was transported to another hospital by ambulance. The next day it was determined the tube was not working and that it was put in incorrectly. So, this is Tuesday and they put in another tube in a different location, and it seemed to be helping. They were starting to talk to him about surgery which he refused.
During the next 2 days they kept wanting to draw his blood and give him pain medications. He declined all medications telling them he was not in much pain at all. They offer nicotine patches which were also refused (back to this point in a minute). Many attempts were made to bill his insurance for unnecessary things.
On Wednesday, they concluded his lung was not healing and they wanted to do surgery on Thursday. We asked if we could wait until Monday because we wanted time to let his lung heal. My friend Kathleen also helped us by providing research supporting it was possible to heal a collapsed lung naturally. This encouraged us to decline the surgery. The surgeon called me and said it was not going to heal on its own and it could not wait.
We did more research and asked for oxygen which was denied at first but after several attempts they finally gave it to him Wednesday afternoon. Oxygen should have been given to him the entire time, but he was a difficult patient and I think they were punishing him.
His father was able to pick up some healthy food and herbal medicine at a health food store close to the hospital. We got an herbal tincture with pleurisy root and other lung tonifying herbs. He took it 3 times on Wednesday. Thursday, they woke him up to get an X-ray and get him ready for surgery even though he had no intention of undergoing surgery. The X-ray revealed his lung had reattached and he did NOT require surgery. The tube was removed and monitored for the next 6 hours to see if it would collapse again, and it did not. He left the hospital on Thursday afternoon.
We feel the oxygen, herbal tincture, and healthy food gave his body what it needed to heal his lung.
So, the cause of this collapsed lung in a healthy 23-year-old was self-inflicted by years of vaping nicotine. His father and I have begged him to stop vaping, but kids rarely listen to their stupid parents! The vaping had caused blebs on both lungs causing one of them to collapse.
This is common with vaping and is life threatening. It was compounded by his being underweight—nicotine suppressed his appetite along with being a fussy eater. Meanwhile, he continued to take the herbal tincture and did a hydrotherapy treatment to strengthen the lungs.
The good that came from the hospital is they told him he can never vape again because his lungs were damaged—his lung would collapse again if he continued and he had to gain 15 pounds. So, my son has realized this was a wakeup call and stopped vaping—he is working on gaining weight. The hospital event did what neither his father or I could ever do—get him off the vape and gain weight!
If you know anyone vaping let them know a common side effect is a collapsed lung. These kids all think it is safe however it is far worse than cigarettes in my opinion.
So many things came out of this… the importance of a proper diagnosis, an ER visit to save a life, avoiding hospital mistakes… the importance of protecting yourself from unnecessary procedures by advocating for yourself… AND the power of natural medicine. (Once I had the proper diagnosis, I could treat it with natural medicine.)
As a mom I am so relieved. If he would have just slept it off, he may have died of low oxygen to the brain and heart attack. I was 10 hours away, so he had to take control of the situation and he did. He was strong at refusing unnecessary interventions even as they tried to put fear into the equation. I was able to be on speaker phone most of the time with hospital interactions, so I was able to understand and be a part of the solution. He is now on a healthy path.
Dr. Michelle A. Brannick ND, DC
