Bibasilar subsegmental atelectasis (lung collapse)

Good morning @helena4000. I have not had your experience however I know all about shortness of breath that accompanies lung cancer. I re-broke a rib as a result of lung cancer surgery and when the rib hit my chest wall the pain was incredible. Before my Xray the doctor thought that my lung might have collapsed. When this started it must have scared you very much, to say the least. I am so happy when patients stand up to their doctors for good healthcare. I applaud you for this. Here are two sites that you might find helpful, if you haven't already. Good luck!
https://www.healthline.com/health/bibasilar-atelectasis, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/atelectasis/symptoms-causes/syc-20369684

@helena4000 I have atelectasis in both my lower lobes. There are a number of causes and of course severity. In my case I wouldn’t even know I had it if it wasn’t for the cat scan picking it up. I don’t have any pain form it. A pneumothorax is painful, atelectasis isn’t, at least not for me. They aren’t doing anything about it but that is my situation. Seeing a pulmonologist is an excellent idea. Something is going on that needs to be identified.

Do you have any feeling like you can't take a deep breath in? Or any shortness of breath? Chest pain?

Thank you Merry....it's so easy for everything to go haywire so quickly

@helena4000
I have never had chest pain. I am early stage 4 emphysema so yes I feel short of breath but that is the emphysema. I was having problems breathing long before the atelectasis appeared in the scan. Don’t panic, if you had emphysema it would of shown up in your ct scan.

The pulmonologist should be able to figure out why you are having pain and difficulties breathing. I know waiting is hard.

Thank you, it is....I keep having these rapid breathing attacks. I find it astonishing that my primary care doctor didn't even order a pulmonary specialist to evaluate me yet. I had to get that through another doctor. I really ran into a lemon with my doctor.

@helena4000 It can happen with PCPs not recommending specialist. I"m just glad that you got a pulmonologist through another doctor. Gosh, it makes sense to have one with your issues. Glad you are under the care fo a specialist.

Thank you...it is beyond frustrating. The ironic part is that I research physician training and patient quality of care for a living. They are always saying to make the patient voice heard and all that stuff, and all I run into is doctors who don't seem to be listening to me.

DOn't be hard on yourself. It simply happens. I"m just glad you have it sorted out and cn get some proper help now. Wishing you the best.

So I have been in the hospital since Sunday morning. I went to emergency because I had three rapid breathing attacks in one night. They have done an ekg, chest x-rays, cardiac MRI, respiratory panel, pulmonary function tests. Yesterday the cardiologist put in an order for a pulmonary person to come talk to me (after over a month of me saying I can't breathe well someone finally said I should talk to pulmonary for breathing problems!), and respiratory started doing breathing treatments of Albuterol which seemed to help me a lot in the short term. Unfortunately, they don't last but I feel better after they do them. The cardiac MRI found pleural effusion, and said pleurisy may be causing sharp right-sided chest pain....the pulmonary function test made it pretty evident that intense breathing is causing sharp pain that goes through to my back. I don't have any definitive answers yet and have broke down crying in front of the doctors on a couple occasions.