Has anyone else had any experience having a pneumomediastinum? I had never heard of it until I got one. I was coughing (of course) and it felt like I pulled a throat muscle. I had a clinic appointment scheduled so I went in early and over the hour drive there the pain in my neck kept getting worse and worse. I went to touch it, to see if it was my lymph node that was swollen, but instead I felt lots and lots of bubbles under my skin. They went from behind my ear all the way down the side of my neck, down to my chest. My doctor felt it and immediately said "pneumomediastinum" and had the nurse there drive me to the emergency room for an x-ray. They wanted to be sure that it wasn't caused by a pneumothorax. It wasn't, thank goodness. What happened was some alveoli burst, causing air to leak from my lungs to under my skin. It was pretty painful, and is still uncomfortable. Most of the air has dissipated. I'm on a non-rebreather with full oxygen in hopes that it will help get rid of the air faster. I should be able to go home tomorrow, we are anticipating this only being a 48-hour ordeal.
It's always something new! Has anyone else had this happen? I thought I'd post, if only just to add to the list of possible causes for neck/chest pain.
It's always something new! Has anyone else had this happen? I thought I'd post, if only just to add to the list of possible causes for neck/chest pain.