Lung consolidation?

[SanderP]

I have no clue if this could really relate to freediving at all, but I'll just tell the story.

So it was sometime in july, I started to experience some major pain in the left half of my chest (especially during deep inhalations). I went to see the doctor, but as all the tests were OK and she couldn't find anything, she sent me to hospital observation.
I was there for a few days until I went through a CT scanner and they diagnosed something called lung consolidation.

Wikipedia describes it as follows.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Consolidation is a clinical term for solidification into a firm dense mass. [See corresponding lexical definition[1] in National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus Dictionary powered by Merriam-Webster (M-W) Online.] It is usually applied to a condition marked by induration[2] (swelling or hardening of normally soft tissue) of a normally aerated lung through accumulation of inflammatory cellular exudate in the alveoli and adjoining ducts. Consolidated tissue is radio-opaque, so that it is clearly demonstrable in X-rays and CT (computerized tomography) scans. [The clinically-oriented reader is directed to a PubMed search[3] for scholarly reviews on pulmonary consolidation in different diseases.] Consolidation is often a middle-to-late stage feature/complication in pulmonary infections.

Consolidation (medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

My hospital doctors said the pain goes away by itself as the tissue slowly resolves. And it eventually did, only after a couple of weeks.
They also said I shouldn't freedive for quite a while, as this could be caused by diving of any kind (but it could also be caused by something entirely different). I had had my last freediving trip about 4 or 5 days before I started to experience the pain, could this really be that it takes this long? Besides, the dives were as shallow as it gets (all in the 10m range). And it obviously wasn't a lung squeeze, was it?

Anyway, I started to dive again as soon as I didn't feel any pain anymore and it hasn't happened since then.

Just thought I'd ask if anyone of you knows something about this strange thing.

[naiad]

That sounds nasty, I hope it is completely better now.

Have you had a chest infection, asthma or other lung trouble before that happened?

[SanderP]

Thanks.

And no, I've never had any previous problems with my lungs, they have always been perfectly fine.

[naiad]

The reason I asked is because if a small airway in the lungs is blocked for a long time, for example by infection, the part which is fed by that airway will collapse and may become damaged. If it was not that, I have no idea what could have caused it.

[wet]

I've no idea, but my first thought was: were you working with dust, cement dust, wood sawdust or chemicals that could be inhaled, just before the problem started?

[SanderP]

wet, I think you just solved the mystery.

How come I never thought about it. As a matter of fact, we were building a sauna for a few weeks just before that, and there was quite a lot of cement dust + all kinds of other general dust you could possibly think of. I'm sure it was before the problem started.

It probably only shows that the damn doctor didn't know anything about diving related injuries.

[wet]

Anytime I hear of that kind of lung problem, excluding cystic fibrosis, smoking, allergies or asthma, I ask about cement dust, chemicals and wood sawdust (especially walnut and other tree species which have poisonous sap) and petrochemical refining.

Our lungs are incredibly beautiful, from a respiratory view, almost as wondrous as a leaf that makes oxygen and food with sunlight, water and CO2.

If either a leaf or a lung gets thick or sticky dust, the performance is reduced.

Here is a bizarre story about how industrial pork processing produced a nerve disorder in the workers, because they inhaled airborne proteins from pig brains. Yuck!
ABC News: Did Toxic 'Pig Brain Mist' Sicken Workers?

Take care of your lungs folks! Nothing but clean air should go in, nothing but used air should go out.

[naiad]

Well done Wet for solving it!

Dust or fumes in the workplace or home is one of those hazards which is often ignored. Health and Safety people go on about trip and slip hazards, but I have often seen people breathing dusts and fumes close to the source with no proper safety advice.

After a lung problem about 3 years ago which I think was caused by exposure to chlorine fumes in the pool, I have become even more careful. I have an air filter in my bedroom to get rid of airborne dust, and all my bedding including the mattress is anti-dust mite and antimicrobial. I have had pet birds for a long time now, there are now 4 although I used to have many more. I have decided not to get any more for various reasons, one of them is the dust generated by them. I will not get any indoor pets which generate dust from skin, fur or feathers, or which live in a damp environment which contains mould spores. That only leaves fish as an option. I also don't go swimming any more except for freedive training, unless there is a very good reason. Also no perfumed sprays and strongly perfumed household products.

Those have been tough decisions, but if it saves my health, it is worth it.

[wet]

Yeah, sounds like sensible precautions. I was reminded recently how in dry areas ancient seabeds (Aral Sea, Lake Chad basin) and dried up lakebeds can be bad when winds get strong, due to the micro fine silicate particles that get blown around, I guess from diatoms, glass sponge detritus, alkaline dust.

Anyway, good reminder to use your senses, the nose knows; if you have to mouth-breathe due to poor air, it's probably hard on the lungs.

[shoutatthesky]

I worked as a furniture maker for about five years using a lot of dust causing machinery. The dust was particularly nasty as the wood we most commonly used was Kwila - a very hard wood with a very dark colour. Despite extraction systems and dust masks my mucus always contained obvious remnants of the wood at the end of the day. This was a big reason why I got out of the industry (and the fact that Vietnamese and Chinese workers came A LOT cheaper). The only other symptom I noticed, apart of the discoloured mucus, was frequent wheezing.
I haven't noticed any continuing symptoms, but I have been treating my lungs completely differently in the two years since I left the industry and found Freediving. I am hoping I have managed to expel all that crap now but who knows? Anyone think I may have sustained permanent loss of lung function? I haven't had any problems with diving or apnea activities so hopefully not.

Hope you manage to avoid any further problems SanderP . Remember next time your working with wood - use a mask and even a household vacuum cleaner can work wonders when positioned by the source of the dust (eg. sander, drill, saw). Most modern power tools that create a lot of dust even have a place where you can attach the vacuum and suck the dust away at the source.

(I wish I had a sauna)