Medical Must-See: How this patient popped his lung might just be a world first
'If you don't stop that, you’ll go... breathless?' A new variation on the old wives' tale
A little ‘self-care’ ended in a night in intensive care for an unfortunate 20-year-old.
Diagnosed with spontaneous pneumomediastinum and profound subcutaneous emphysema, he denied all the usual suspects: smoking, drug use, violent coughing, heavy exercise, excessive vomiting or Valsalva manoeuvre.
But he reported that sudden-onset sharp chest pain and dyspnoea occurred “while lying in bed masturbating”.
His medical history included mild non-acute asthma and ADHD.
