Pneumonectomy | Johns Hopkins Medicine

What is a pneumonectomy?

A pneumonectomy is a type of surgery to remove one of your lungs because of cancer, trauma, or some other condition.

You have two lungs: a right lung and a left lung. These lungs connect to your mouth through a series of tubes. Through these tubes, the lungs bring oxygen into the body and remove carbon dioxide from the body. Oxygen is necessary for all functions of your body. Carbon dioxide is a waste product that the body needs to get rid of. Most people can get by with only one lung instead of two, if needed. Usually, one lung can provide enough oxygen and remove enough carbon dioxide, unless the other lung is damaged.

During a pneumonectomy, the surgeon makes a cut (incision) on the side of your body. The surgeon cuts some muscle and spreads the ribs apart. He or she surgically removes the affected lung. The sac that contained the lung (pleural space) fills up with air. Eventually, fluid takes the place of this air.

In rare cases, healthcare providers may do a pneumonectomy with a VATS procedure instead. This procedure uses a special video camera called a thoracoscope. It is a type of minimally invasive surgery. That means it uses smaller incisions than the traditional open surgery done on the lung. In cancer treatment, most pneumonectomy experts recommend VATS only for people with early-stage tumors that are near the outside of the lung. This complex procedure requires a surgeon with a great deal of technical skill and experience.

Why might I need a pneumonectomy?

Lung cancer is the most common reason for a pneumonectomy. Healthcare providers usually try to remove as little as possible of the lung tissue. You might need a pneumonectomy if a smaller surgery would not be able to remove all the cancer. Some cancers located near the center of the lung also need a pneumonectomy instead of a smaller surgery.

Sometimes a pneumonectomy is also needed for other lung diseases. Some of these include:

• Traumatic lung injury
• Pulmonary tuberculosis
• Fungal infections of the lung
• Bronchiectasis
• Congenital lung disease
• Bronchial blockage with a destroyed lung
• Pulmonary metastases (cancer that has spread to the lungs from another site in the body)

What are the risks of pneumonectomy?

Many people who have a pneumonectomy do very well. But it is a fairly high-risk surgery. Some possible complications are:

• Respiratory failure
• Blood clot in the lung (pulmonary embolism)
• Pneumonia
• Shock
• Complications from anesthesia
• Too much bleeding
• Abnormal heart rhythms
• Reduced blood flow to the heart

Your recovery will probably take weeks or even months. If the surgeon spread your ribs to get to the lung, the area near the incision will hurt for some time after surgery. Your overall activity may be limited for 1 to 2 months. If you have emphysema or chronic bronchitis (common diseases among smokers), you might become more short of breath with certain activities.

Your age, any other health problems, and other factors will help determine your risk for complications. Before your surgery, ask your healthcare provider about your specific risks.

How do I get ready for a pneumonectomy?

Ask your healthcare provider about what you need to do to get ready for your pneumonectomy. In general:

• Tell your provider about all the medicines you take. This includes over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin and all prescription medicines. It also includes herbs, vitamins, and other supplements. You may need to stop taking some medicines before the surgery, such as blood thinners.

• If you smoke, you need to quit before your surgery. Ask your healthcare provider for resources to help you.
• Tell your provider if you have any allergies, including latex.
• Tell your provider if you’ve ever had a reaction to local or general anesthesia.
• Daily exercise is an important part of getting ready for surgery. Ask your healthcare provider what kind is best for you.
• You might need to do breathing exercises with a device called a spirometer.

• Don’t eat or drink after midnight the night before your surgery.

• Any hair on or around the surgery site may be removed with clippers before the procedure.

You might also need one or more of the following tests:

• Chest X-ray, to see the heart and lungs
• Chest CT scan, to get more detailed pictures of the lungs
• Positron emission tomography (PET) scan, to look for cancer tissue
• Electrocardiogram (ECG), to look at your heart rhythm
• Pulmonary function tests, to see how well your lungs are working
• Ventilation-perfusion scan, to figure out which areas of the lung contribute most to breathing
• Blood tests, to check your overall health

What happens during a pneumonectomy?

Ask your healthcare provider about what to expect during your pneumonectomy. The following is a general description of the most common approach. This procedure may differ if your healthcare provider is using minimally invasive surgery. In general:

• You will lie on your side on an operating table with your arm above your head.
• You will probably get antibiotics to help prevent infection.
• You will get anesthesia before the surgery starts. It will put you into a deep sleep so you don’t feel any pain during the procedure.
• The surgery will take several hours.
• The surgeon makes a cut several inches long between 2 ribs. The cut will go from under your arm to around your back, on the side of the lung that is being removed.
• The surgeon separates 2 ribs. In some cases, the surgeon might remove a small part of the rib.
• The surgeon deflates the affected lung and removes it.
• The surgeon may remove some nearby lymph nodes. These may help show how advanced a cancer might be.
• Your surgeon will close the ribs, the muscles, and skin. A dressing will be applied over the incision.
• Most of the time, a chest tube is left in the pleural space from where the lung was removed. This is removed when your condition improves.

What happens after a pneumonectomy?

Ask your healthcare provider about what to expect. In general:

• When you wake up, you might feel confused at first. You might wake up a couple of hours after the surgery, or a little later.
• Your vital signs will be carefully watched. These include your heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and oxygen levels. You will have several types of monitors attached to help with monitoring your condition.
• You may get oxygen through small tubes placed in your nose. This is usually short-term (temporary).
• You will feel some soreness. But you shouldn’t feel severe pain. If you need it, pain medicine is available.
• You may do breathing therapy to help remove fluids that collect in your lungs during surgery. You will probably need to do this several times a day.
• You may wear special stockings (compression stockings) on your legs to help prevent blood clots.
• You will need to stay in the hospital for several days.

After you leave the hospital:

• Make sure you have someone to drive you home. You will also need some help at home for a while.
• You will have your stitches or staples removed in a follow-up appointment. Be sure to keep all of your follow-up appointments.
• You may tire easily after the surgery. But you will slowly start to recover your strength. It may be several weeks to a month before you fully recover.
• You need to be up and walking several times a day.
• Ask your healthcare provider when it will be safe for you to drive.
• Avoid lifting anything heavy for several weeks.
• Follow all the instructions your healthcare provider gives you for medicine, exercise, diet, and wound care.
• Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any signs of infection, fever, swelling, or pain that is getting worse. A small amount of drainage from your incision is normal.
• Call your provider if you have any questions. Always ask if you have any questions about how to take your medicine or you are worried about any symptoms.

Next steps

Before you agree to the test or the procedure make sure you know:

• The name of the test or procedure
• The reason you are having the test or procedure
• What results to expect and what they mean
• The risks and benefits of the test or procedure
• What the possible side effects or complications are
• When and where you are to have the test or procedure
• Who will do the test or procedure and what that person’s qualifications are
• What would happen if you did not have the test or procedure
• Any alternative tests or procedures to think about
• When and how will you get the results
• Who to call after the test or procedure if you have questions or problems
• How much will you have to pay for the test or procedure

Living without lungs for six days saves woman’s life

In what’s believed to be a world first, Canadian doctors removed the severely infected lungs from a dying woman, keeping her alive without them for six days, so that she could recover enough to receive a life-saving lung transplant.

Thoracic surgeons at Toronto General Hospital (TGH), part of the University Health Network (UNH), performed the procedure on 33-year-old Melissa Benoit.

“This was bold and very challenging, but Melissa was dying before our eyes,” Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, surgeon-in-chief at UHN, said in a statement. Keshavjee was one of three thoracic surgeons who operated together on Benoit to remove both her lungs. “We had to make a decision because Melissa was going to die that night. Melissa gave us the courage to go ahead,” he said.

In a news conference this week, Benoit thanked the team of doctors, her donor, and her family.

“I still don’t believe what happened. It feels very surreal,” she said. “They pulled me back from the dead.”

In April 2016, Benoit, who has cystic fibrosis, was brought to TGH’s Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit sedated and on a ventilator to help her with labored breathing. For the past three years, she had been prescribed antibiotics to fight off increasingly frequent chest infections.

During a bout of influenza just before her hospitalization, Benoit’s coughing fits were so harsh she fractured her ribs. Her lungs were inflamed and began to fill with blood, pus and mucous, decreasing the amount of air entering her lungs. The result was similar to the experience of drowning.

The flu had “tipped her over the edge into respiratory failure,” Dr. Niall Ferguson, head of critical care at UHN and Mount Sinai Hospital, explained in a statement. “She got into a spiral from which her lungs were not going to recover. Her only hope of recovery was a lung transplant.”

Benoit’s oxygen levels dipped so low she needed to be placed on temporary life support. The bacteria in her lungs developed resistance to most antibiotics and spread to other areas of her body. She went into septic shock and one by one her organs began to shut down. She needed to have kidney dialysis.

Doctors were waiting for donor lungs but knew Benoit was too sick for a transplant. With the clock ticking, they weighed her risk of death with a procedure that had never been done before.

Removing her lungs – the source of her infection – was bold, but scientifically sound, they decided.

The surgical team had been discussing the concept of such a procedure for several years. They faced many unknowns, including the risk of bleeding into an empty chest cavity, whether or not a patient’s blood pressure and oxygen levels could be supported after the operation, and if she would even survive the procedure.

In a challenging procedure never done before, three thoracic surgeons at TGH removed the severely infected lungs of a dying mom, keeping her alive on extensive life support until she received a lung transplant. (L to R): Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, Melissa Benoit, Dr. Marcelo Cypel and Dr. Tom Waddell.

UHN

Benoit’s family understood the risks and decided to go ahead with the surgery.

“Things were so bad for so long, we needed something to go right,” Benoit’s husband Chris said. “This new procedure was the first piece of good news in a long time. We needed this chance.”

In a nine-hour operation, surgeons removed Benoit’s lungs one at a time. They had become so engorged with mucous and pus that they were as hard as footballs, Dr. Keshavjee recalled. “Technically, it was difficult to get them out of her chest,” he said.

But within hours, Benoit’s condition improved dramatically. Her other organs began to improve and she did not need blood pressure medication. To keep her alive, she was placed on the most sophisticated life support available for her heart and lungs.

Six days later, doctors received a pair of donor lungs and Benoit was well enough to receive a transplant, which took place in late April 2016. Doctors said the procedure was “perfect.”

Since the surgery, Benoit has been improving steadily. She has not needed a walker or cane for the past month and can play with her daughter Olivia for whole days without getting tired. She is still on kidney dialysis.

“It’s the simple things I missed the most,” she said, “I want to be there for Chris and Olivia, even through her temper tantrums! I want to hear Olivia’s voice, play with her and read her stories.”

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Ashley Welch

Ashley Welch covers health and wellness for CBSNews.com

Can a person live with one lung?

In general, you need at least one lung to live. There is one case of a patient who had both lungs removed and was kept alive for six days on life support machines until a lung transplant was performed. This is not a routine procedure, and one cannot live long without both lungs.

However, it is possible to live with just one lung. Pneumonectomy is the surgical removal of an entire lung, usually performed due to diseases such as lung cancer, or injury. Many people with one lung can live to an average life expectancy, but patients are unable to perform vigorous activities and may still experience shortness of breath.

Beaumont’s Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer program offers several different types of treatment for lung cancer. Treatments may include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation, laser therapy (photodynamic therapy or PDT), surgery, or some combination of these (combination treatment/multimodality treatment).

Not all lung cancer will be treated in the same way. Some types of lung cancer are best treated with chemotherapy and radiation, and some examples are best treated with surgery. There are other effective treatments doctors may also use. 

Sometimes surgery is necessary and is likely to lead to a cure, and occasionally non-surgical treatments are best. For example, medicine is commonly used to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but small cell lung cancers are often treated with chemotherapy and, if possible, radiation therapy.  

Your chances for recovery from heart and lung transplants today are significantly improved since the first transplant operations done in the 70s and 80s. Having lung cancer surgery is a life-altering event, and there is no way to minimize the emotions a person can go through after undergoing a procedure like this. It’s never easy. As with any potentially life-threatening illness, the one sure thing is that the course of a disease is never specific. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While we tend to focus on things like the average life expectancy or the average mortality, there is every chance that you, as an individual, could well exceed the averages.

Having lung surgery is ultimately aimed at extending your life. Having a better grasp of what lies ahead can help you focus on what is just as important: your quality of life. It is possible to have only one lung and still function relatively usually. Although the lungs are vital organs in the body, some conditions can cause a person to lose function in their lungs or need to have one removed. That said, each person will be different, and there are special considerations in each case, depending on the person’s lung function and any other issues they experience.

The lungs are vital organs in the human body, responsible for bringing oxygen into the body and helping get rid of waste gases with every exhale. Though having both lungs is ideal, it is possible to live and function without one lung. Having one lung will still allow a person to live a relatively healthy life.

Having one lung might limit a person’s physical abilities, however, such as their ability to exercise. That said, many athletes who lose the use of one lung may still train and be able to continue their sport.

The body adapts to this change in several ways. For instance, the remaining lung will expand a bit to occupy the space left by the missing lung. Over time, the body will also learn to make up for the loss of oxygen.

However, a person will not have the full lung capacity, as they did with two lungs, and they will likely need to learn to slow down and adapt to this change.

Although most people expect to be continuously winded or have an inability to function without one lung, this is not usually what happens. The person may have to learn to slow their normal functions down to a degree, but they should be able to lead a relatively healthy life with one lung.

Researchers today are paying attention to more than just “life years” or “adverse events” when following patients who have undergone lung cancer surgery. They want to know more about how people feel, how readily they are able to return to a healthy life, and how they perceive their own quality of life.

One study conducted at the Seoul National University Hospital in Korea took a long look at the quality of life of people who had successfully undergone lung cancer surgery versus a matched set of people in the general population who didn’t have cancer.

What they found was that, after an average of five years, individuals treated at stage 0, stage I, phase II, and stage IIIA had no significant difference in daily functioning compared to people in the general public. Moreover, there was no difference in the survival times when comparing the types of surgery people had once they were able to achieve remission.

What this tells us is that it doesn’t matter so much how complicated a surgery or follow-up treatment may be; once a person is deemed cancer-free, the likelihood of living a reasonable quality of life is as good as someone who had undergone less extensive treatment. This is very reassuring as people who are newly diagnosed have to make decisions about surgery. In the past, some people may have opted for a lobectomy instead of a pneumonectomy (or similarly, a wedge resection instead of a lobectomy) thinking that quality of life would be better, even if survival statistics were a bit lower. Fortunately, many people are able to be active, or also climb mountains, with one lung.

• With advances in surgical techniques and immune-suppressing drugs, more than 80% of heart recipients survive more than three years after the operation.
• Lung transplantation is a relatively new procedure that continues to be improved. Currently, more than 65% of lung recipients survive at least three years after a transplant.

Overall, transplantation leads to improvement in your well-being because you regain the ability to carry out normal activities.

Rejection of the transplanted organ and infections are the most severe complications after this procedure. Different complications occur at different times after the operation.

• In the first few weeks after transplantation, bacterial lung infections are common in people who have heart and lung transplantation. These are treated with antibiotics. Fungal infections may also occur early after transplant but are less common.
• In the second month after the operation, cytomegalovirus (CMV) lung infections are common. You may receive antiviral medications to prevent this infection.
• Acute rejection may occur within days after the transplant operation and anytime thereafter.
• Signs of heart rejection include fatigue, swelling of the arms or legs, weight gain, and fever.
• After a heart transplant, you are monitored for acute rejection by taking a tiny piece of the heart muscle called a biopsy and examining it with a microscope.
• Signs of lung rejection include cough, shortness of breath, fever, elevated white blood cell count, and a feeling of not getting enough oxygen.
• After a lung transplant, doctors may need to check the lung tissue by using a long flexible tube with a tiny camera on end (bronchoscopy).
• If you have any signs of rejecting the transplanted organ, you will be given powerful immunosuppressive medications to stop the rejection.

Rejection of the transplanted organ can also occur months or years later.

• Rejection occurring months or years later, and that results in permanent changes in the transplant are called chronic rejection. Signs are similar to those of acute rejection but are often slow to develop.
• Chronic lung rejection usually occurs because of fibrosis (scarring) of the smaller airways and blockages. This process is sometimes called bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome and can be very serious.
• Treatment includes altering the immunosuppressive medications or retransplantation.
• Chronic rejection of the heart occurs because of development of blockage of the coronary arteries in the transplanted heart. Unfortunately, the cause remains unknown, and retransplantation is the only solution. Patients will have all symptoms of heart failure. With a lack of organ donors, retransplantation is not shared.
• Some transplant specialists believe that chronic rejection is a long-term complication brought on by acute rejection. For this reason, contact with the transplantation team about any new symptoms is significant.

In 2012, at 28 years old, Emily Bennett Taylor was diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma lung cancer. This is the most common type of lung cancer that develops in people who don’t smoke. In most cases of stage 4 disease, the chances of survival are slim. Treatment is usually palliative care, which focuses on managing uncomfortable symptoms instead of curing the condition. But Emily’s tumour shrank enough during chemotherapy treatments that her doctors recommended a pneumonectomy or surgical removal of the lung.

During the procedure, they removed her right lung, part of her right diaphragm, and the lymph nodes down the centre of her chest. They also removed part of the pericardial sac (a two-layer sac around the heart that anchors the core in place, prevents it from overfilling with blood, and provides lubrication to avoid friction as it beats) and rebuilt it with a Gore-Tex material. Emily knew her life would be different after her surgery, but she wasn’t sure how different. There’s a scar that runs from her right breast to the right side of her rib cage as a result of the doctor “split[ting] her in half.”

The surgeon told Emily stories of pneumonectomy patients who were able to bike for 10 miles a day. But she had also heard less optimistic stories. “I knew people who had only a lobe out, and they needed oxygen every time they got on an aeroplane,” she said.

Although it is possible to live without a lung, there are a few risks involved. A study in the Journal of Cancer notes that pneumonectomy, or the surgery to remove one of the lungs, is a high-risk surgery that can lead to complications and even death.

Possible complications associated with pneumonectomy include:

• respiratory failure
• excessive bleeding and shock
• abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmia
• reduced blood flow
• blood clots in the lung, or pulmonary embolism
• pneumonia

The anesthetic from the surgery also carries its own risks. The actual pneumectomy process involves making an incision in the side of the body to remove the affected lung.

The space left after removing the lung will fill with air. During recovery, a person may feel temporary abdominal pain or pressure as this air shifts and assimilates into the body. Over time, the other lung will expand a bit to take up some of this space. The space left will naturally fill with fluid.

After a successful surgery, a person will still take a while to recover. Full recovery without complications may take weeks or even months. While recovering and even after, the person will need to be aware of their limitations and may have to reduce their activity levels significantly.

Some things may cause a person to feel more winded and could put them at risk of reduced blood flow or fainting. Even everyday activities — such as getting out of bed in the morning, standing up from a prone position, or walking up stairs — may cause the person to feel very winded.

Additional factors will also play into a person’s risk. For instance, their general health before the surgery, their age, and any other health conditions they have may affect their individual chances. People with a history of smoking or other lung conditions that limit their lung function will need to be extra careful. They may need additional assistance during recovery and should work closely with a doctor to understand their risks.

Missing a giant vital organ isn’t the only adjustment for Emily. Most people don’t notice she may have a disability unless she’s in a bathing suit and they can see the scar on her back. “I look normal; people expect me to act normally,” she says. Sometimes, she struggles with deciding when, if ever, to tell someone about her disability. “When do you tell people, ‘Oh, I’m struggling with this flight of stairs. Please just pass me because I’ve only got one lung.’” Before her diagnosis, she would have considered herself too strong to need help. Now when Emily goes to the grocery store, she has someone help push her cart out and load her groceries into her car.

This is not to suggest that there aren’t barriers to overcome following lung cancer surgery. According to research from the Division of Thoracic Surgery at St. James University Hospital in England, people who received multiple treatments (including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation) had far worse breathing problems than those who had surgery alone.   This doesn’t mean, of course, that you can opt-out of specific vital treatments, but it does suggest that extra care needs to be taken to ensure the lung function you have is retained. This would typically involve weight loss, physiotherapy, a structured fitness program, and (unsurprisingly) the avoidance of smoke and secondhand smoke.

Chronic pain after lung cancer surgery, often called post-thoracotomy pain syndrome or postpneumonectomy syndrome can be a significant problem as well, interfering with a healthy life in about 50% of people who have had lung surgery.3 Fortunately, this is a very active area of research looking not only at ways to reduce pain (such as using minimally invasive procedures such as VATS) but better ways of helping people cope with and relieve the discomfort.

Recovery from lung surgery is different for everyone. It depends mostly on the type of cancer involved, the stage of the disease, and the operation used. Among the most common surgical procedures:

• Wedge resection in which a wedge of tissue is removed from a lung
• Lobectomy in which one (or more) of the three lobes of your lung is removed
• Pneumonectomy in which an entire lung is removed
• Sleeve resection in which malignancy is removed from the airways

Following lung surgery, you would be taken to the intensive care unit (ICU) and then moved to a regular hospital room once your breathing is stabilized. Hospital stays are usually between five and seven days but maybe as long as 10 for a pneumonectomy.

Once discharged from the hospital, most people will take at least two months off to recuperate. Post-surgical rehabilitation would focus on improving your aerobic function with no less than 30 minutes per day dedicated to walking.

Pulmonary Rehabilitation

As part of your recovery, a pulmonary rehabilitation program would provide structured breathing exercises, nutritional counselling, aerobic and weight training instruction, stress reduction training, and psychotherapy to help you better cope with recovery. The program would be gradually rolled out as you improve with more strenuous activities, like weight training, delayed for at least four to six weeks following your discharge.

Follow-Up

Equally important to your recovery are regular visits with your doctor. If you are given the “all clear” and are officially in remission, you would need to have blood tests and computed tomography (CT) scan done every six to 12 months for the first two years4. In some cases, your doctor may request that you come in more frequently.

If everything is still okay after two years, you would likely need to only come in once yearly for repeat blood tests and a CT scan.

Appreciating new life

Celebrating milestones has been a massive part of Emily’s treatment and recovery process. The day before her surgery in New York, Emily and her husband celebrated what her husband dubbed “Lung Day.” Lung Day was full of activities that could quickly be done with two lungs. Their goal was to do it again next year when Emily only had one lung.

She blew up a balloon and blew out birthday candles. They went dancing in Central Park. She went to the top of the empire state building and screamed, “I’m NED!” . “I wasn’t at the time,” Emily said, “but it was our huge goal.”

Living With One Lung: What to Expect

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, lung cancer is the most common reason for the surgical removal of a lung—a pneumonectomy. Lung removal may also be recommended in some cases of traumatic lung injury, tuberculosis, severe infection, or lung disease. Learning to live with one lung takes time and patience. Understanding what to expect after lung removal may help you cope with the challenges ahead.

Lung removal is a major surgery that dramatically affects the body’s functioning. After lung removal surgery, your lung capacity is decreased by half. In time, your remaining lung will compensate for much of this decreased capacity. Immediately after surgery, though, you’re likely to feel sore, short of breath, and extremely tired.

Most patients spend about a week in the hospital after pneumonectomy. Typically, the first night is spent in an intensive care unit (ICU). When stable and able to breathe without the assistance of a machine, you will move to a regular medical unit. Nurses will administer pain medication as needed and monitor your vital signs, including your oxygen levels.

When a lung is removed, fluid builds up in the chest cavity that once held the removed lung. It is common to feel fluid moving in your chest in the days after your surgery. (Eventually, this feeling diminishes as the body heals.)

Full healing and recovery may take months. Your doctor will instruct you to limit lifting and physical activity in the first weeks after surgery. You will likely tire very easily at first, as your body won’t be getting as much oxygen with each breath as it did when you had two lungs. Shortness of breath, particularly with activity, is normal while recovering from lung removal. Stopping what you’re doing and deliberately taking a few slow, deep breaths can calm you down and ease shortness of breath.

In time, you’ll learn how to pace and adapt your activity. Rehabilitation after lung surgery, including chest physical therapy and respiratory therapy, will help you regain your strength, get the most out of each breath, cough effectively, and more. Therapists will also arrange supplemental oxygen if you need it. Talk with your care team about the types of therapy they recommend after lung removal.

Potential Complications of Living With One Lung

Most people do well after lung removal. However, complications are possible and may include:

If you experience unusual chest pain, a racing or abnormally slow heartbeat or develop a fever, new cough or difficulty breathing, contact your healthcare provider. Prompt diagnosis and medical treatment, if needed, can prevent damage to your remaining lung.

Living With One Lung Life Expectancy

It’s difficult to estimate how long you’ll live after lung removal, as life expectancy depends on your age and overall health. In many cases, lung removal may actually increase your life expectancy and improve your quality of life. If you have lung cancer, for instance, removal of your lung may be your best chance at extending life. If you have lung disease other than cancer, how well your remaining lung fares will affect your life expectancy. Following your treatment plan and taking all your medications as directed will help protect your lung and respiratory health.

Your life after lung removal will likely be a bit different than before surgery. You may have to sleep more and move more slowly. You may find that you can’t work in your garden as long as you once did. You may need to adapt your approach to physical activity, including sexual intimacy.

If you are having trouble adjusting to life with one lung, tell your healthcare provider. Medical treatment, including inhaled medications, may help you breathe easier. If you are having trouble emotionally, your provider may know of support groups. Talking with others who have learned to live with one lung may help you cope.

Pope Francis has only one lung. Is it enough?

His predecessor was the first pope to retire due to deteriorating health — a condition no doubt exacerbated by frequent world travel and a demanding schedule.

Yet at age 76, Pope Francis arrives at the Vatican with his own medical history. Specifically, the new leader of the Catholic Church had one of his lungs removed as a teen, likely due to an infection.

We asked two medical experts whether such a condition was likely to hamper the new pope’s ability to manage one of the world’s largest nonprofit organizations. The answer: probably not, as long as he can guard against a serious case of pneumonia or influenza.

“People who have spent their entire life living with one lung, usually accommodate to it extremely well,” said Dr. Richard Shemin, chief of cardiac and thoracic surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. “That’s assuming they don’t smoke and do everything they can to not have environmental factors destroy their good lung.”

Today, the primary cause of lung removal is lung cancer. Decades ago, however, prior to the availability of powerful antibiotics, lung removal would have been a radical way of treating infection brought on by severe tuberculosis or pneumonia.

Shemin said that in cases in which a lung has been removed, the internal space that’s created causes other organs to occupy part of that space, and in the process, increases the function of the residual lung.

“Two lungs are not required for life,” Shemin said.

Lung function is measured by the amount of air a person can expel from their lungs in one second.

Healthy individuals with two lungs will blow out roughly 4 liters of air. A healthy person with one lung will blow between 2.5 and 2.75 liters, according to Dr. John Belperio, a professor of pulmonary and critical care at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Belperio said that even individuals who blow out just 1.5 liters of air can sustain life for a long time.

“People can live off of one lung and typically it does not impair a person’s life, really, in any way,” Belperio said. “They live essentially as long as a normal person would live. Typically, they can exercise, depending on their conditioning, pretty similar to a normal person. So they don’t really have any true physical limitations.”

Even with a demanding schedule and frequent travel, a single lung is unlikely to limit a person’s ability to work, experts said. In Francis’ case, the greater risk, according to doctors, is the chance that the pope would contract a serious case of pneumonia or the flu.

“He’s not going to have as much reserve lung capacity as someone with two lungs,” Belperio said. “Compared with someone who has 100% lung function, he’s going to have 60% to 70%. It puts him at a little bit of a disadvantage, but not much.”

Both doctors noted that the fact that the pope has made it to age 76 suggests that his remaining lung is functioning extremely well. They also surmised that his attending physician would be very aggressive in treating respiratory conditions.

“He’s the pope,” Belperio said. “If he starts coughing at all he’s going to get a quick chest X-ray. If he were to get a little infection, they’re going to be on top of it very quickly. I would think his life expectancy, from a one-lung standpoint is no different than someone with two lungs.”

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Lung Removal Surgery | Lung Cancer Treatment | Beaumont

Different types of lung removal surgery

To better understand lung removal surgery, it may help to know a bit about lung anatomy. Your lungs are made up of five lobes. There are three lobes on the right lung and two on the left lung. You can survive without all of the lobes, and in some cases,
you can survive with only one lung. Lung removal surgeries may involve removal of part of one or more lobes, or all of one to three lobes.

Surgery to treat lung cancer involves removing part of the lungs or one complete lung. Surgeons at Beaumont typically use one of three main types of surgery for lung cancer treatment. If you are a candidate for lung cancer surgery, your doctor will decide
upon the best lung surgery for you based upon the size and location of the tumor in the lung, the extent of the cancer, your general health, and other factors.

The three most common types of lung removal surgery are:

Segmentectomy or wedge resection – If cancerous tumors are small and cancer is confined to the lungs, doctors may choose a wedge resection or a segmentectomy. A segmentectomy removes a large part of one lung lobe. A wedge resection
removes only a small piece of lung tissue from one or more lobes.

Lobectomy – A lobectomy is removal of one or two lobes of the lung. It can be done if the cancer cells are confined to just one or two lobes.

Pneumonectomy – A pneumonectomy is removal of one entire lung if two lobes on the left or three lobes on the right are affected by cancer cells. Pneumonectomy is only done with the goal of removing all cancer from the body. If the
chances of successfully eliminating all cancer cells aren’t outstanding, doctors will not perform this surgery. To be a candidate for a pneumonectomy, you must have enough healthy lung tissue to sustain your breathing after the one lung is removed.  

If your lungs are healthy enough, your doctor may opt for a more extensive surgery, removing more of your lung tissue. This is because the more extensive surgeries, like lobectomies and pneumonectomies may provide the best chance for a cure of lung cancer
than a wedge resection or a segmentectomy.

Risks and benefits of lung cancer surgery

Lung cancer surgery can be curative for some patients, and it can improve odds of long-term survival. It is often an effective treatment option for people with early stage lung cancer. However, there are risks. It’s a major surgery, and the recovery
period can range from weeks to months. Some of the risks of lung cancer surgery are:

• Bleeding Infection
• Blood clots
• Bleeding
• Pneumonia
• An allergic reaction to the anesthesia or other surgery-related medication
• Shortness of breath with activity (this could be a long-term complication)

Lung cancer treatment at Beaumont

Through Beaumont’s Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer program, we develop an individualized treatment plan based on your unique situation. Your doctor will work closely with you to develop the most effective treatment plan for you.

Lung Transplant

A lung transplant requires a hospital stay. The way the procedure is done may vary. It depends on your condition and your healthcare provider’s methods. In most cases, the surgery will follow this process:

90,000 Is it possible to live without one lung?

You can have only one lung and still live a relatively normal life. Although the lungs are vital organs in the body, some diseases can reduce their function or require removal.

Is it possible to live without one lung?

The lungs are important organs of the human body that are responsible for the supply of oxygen to the body and help to get rid of waste gases with each exhalation.While having both lungs is ideal, it is possible to live and function without one lung. Having one lung will still allow you to live a relatively normal life, but it can limit physical capabilities such as the ability to exercise. However, athletes who lose one lung still continue to play sports. The body adapts to this change in several ways. For example, the remaining lung will expand slightly to fill the space left by the missing lung.Over time, the body will also learn to replenish the loss of oxygen.

However, the patient will not have the same lung volume as the two lungs and will have to adapt to these changes. While most people expect to be constantly gasping for breath or unable to function without one lung, this is usually not the case. One will have to learn to slow down their normal functions to some extent, but patients are able to lead a relatively normal life with one lung.

Risks and dangers

While it is possible to live without a lung, there are some risks.The study notes that pneumonectomy , or surgery to remove one of the lungs, is a high-risk surgery that can be complicated and even fatal. Possible complications associated with pneumonectomy include:

• respiratory failure
• excessive bleeding and shock
• abnormal heart rhythms or arrhythmias
• decreased blood flow
• pulmonary embolism
• pneumonia

Anesthetic also used during surgery has its own risks.

The pneumomectomy process itself involves making an incision in the side of the chest to remove the affected lung. The space left after the removal of the lung will be filled with air. During recovery, the patient may feel temporary abdominal pain or pressure as air moves and assimilates in the body. Over time, the other lung will expand slightly to take up some of the cleared space. The remaining space will naturally fill with liquid.After a successful operation, the patient will still need some time to recover. Full recovery without complications can take weeks or even months. During and even after recovery, the patient will have to be aware of his limitations and he will have to reduce his level of activity.

Certain manipulations can cause shortness of breath and risk fainting. Even everyday activities – such as getting out of bed in the morning, getting up from a lying position, or climbing stairs – can be associated with shortness of breath.

Additional factors will also play a role in risk, such as general health before surgery, age, and any other medical conditions that may affect individual risks.

Indications for pneumonectomy

A number of diseases cause pneumonectomy, including:

• traumatic injuries in this area, for example, from a serious car accident
• tuberculosis
• fungal infections
• congenital lung diseases
• complications from smoking
• cancer
• bronchiectasis

Although infections were the main cause of lung removal in the past, it is now much less common.However, for severe infections that cause widespread damage or are very difficult to treat, removing the lungs may still be the best course of action.

Forecast

For a healthy person, the removal of a lung should not lead to a serious limitation. Each patient should be aware of their own limitations in each situation, as no two cases are exactly the same. For someone with other conditions that affect the lungs or make breathing difficult, living with one lung will be more difficult. Complications from lung disease or smoking can increase the likelihood of a patient experiencing symptoms such as shortness of breath. However, individual views can vary greatly. While people should not expect full lung function to return after it is removed, in most cases, patients can function relatively normally.

The lung removal procedure is usually only one part of the treatment. Therapies such as rehabilitation are important factors in a person’s recovery and overall lung function.Doctors also recommend breathing exercises to be done at home.

Conclusion

You can live with one lung. However, the patient’s ability to exercise is likely to decrease. Lung removal surgery is a major procedure that involves removing part or all of your lung. Patients with comorbidities affecting the lungs may need to pay more attention to individual risks. The operation itself carries a certain risk, as does the recovery process.But having one lung shouldn’t reduce a person’s lifespan. Anyone who may need to have a lung removed should speak with a doctor ahead of time to discuss all the possibilities of surgery and life after it. Reconstructive procedures and pulmonary rehabilitation can strengthen the remaining lungs and gradually improve their function.

Related article: Burning sensation in the lungs – causes.

Before using the advice and recommendations on the website “Medical Insider” , , be sure to consult your doctor!

“I don’t want to die, but I can’t live on.”What is modern depression

• Tina Beradze
• doctor, psychiatrist, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, mentor

October 27, 2019

Photo author, Unsplash

Depression is one of the most vague and vague concepts of modern civilization. On the one hand, people say they suffer from depression when they are in a bad mood or when they see no way out of a life situation. On the other hand, we, doctors, are afraid of this term, because for us depression is a devastating disease.

Depression is not a way to describe your current mood, it is a disease. Sadness is normal, depression is dangerous.

Depression is common worldwide, affecting more than 300 million people. And these data relate only to civilized countries where the diagnosis of diseases works correctly and real statistics of diseases are kept.

My own patient described the fight against depression most accurately: “I don’t want to die, but I am unable to live on”.

A global epidemic

Many experts already regard the depression as a global epidemic. If we analyze the last four generations of mankind, then with each subsequent generation, the number of those suffering from depression increases by 25%.

Depression develops as a result of the interaction of social, psychological and biological factors. These factors change and are supplemented along with the development of a person and the environment in which it exists.In addition, today environmental, technological and informational factors are superimposed on all this.

Researchers in the field of anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry have put forward a new theory: humanity simply did not have time to evolve following technological changes, and, as a result, our body is constantly in a state of stress. And depression is the response of our “old” brain to a “new” life.

Photo by, Unsplash

In one of the unique cases in my practice, a patient asked me: “Give me back my depression.”I was very proud that I was able to cure him: in his depression, he hid and rested from the world.

Acute mental reaction to stress is toxic to the body. The hormonal background becomes imbalanced, the number of diseases that were much less common before increases.

Civilization has created new and modified old diseases. Diabetes, atherosclerosis, asthma, allergies, obesity, oncology – they have become more frequently diagnosed in recent years. And depression is accompanied by anxiety disorders.

We are not adapted for indoor strength training, fast food, poor sleep, social isolation. Recent research also clearly demonstrates that replacing real communication with social media communication and continuous access to information significantly increases the risk of depression.

Photo by, Unsplash

I hate to write a depressing article about depression. Outside the window is a time of progress and scientific discoveries, when you do not need to trephine the skull in order to understand what is in a person’s head.Depression can be seen in modern digital imagery today. They compare blood flow, oxygen consumption and glucose metabolism in a normal brain state and during depression.

Depression can be dealt with. To do this, you need to know the main symptoms and understand when and to whom you should seek help.

In traditional medicine, the term “depression” is used to mean a painful state of low background mood, which is manifested by typical symptoms of an emotional nature.Unfortunately, in modern life, everything is more complicated.

Depression is the most human disease known to science. Its symptoms have evolved along with the change in a person’s life.

Emotional and cognitive symptoms

• Negative image of yourself and the world around you
• Negative vision of the future
• Automatic negative thoughts
• Decreased mood, tearfulness
• Feeling of guilt in front of others
• Increased concentration of attention
• Loss of interest in life, hobbies, and loved ones
• Social isolation

Physiological symptoms

• Sleep disturbance, insomnia or increased sleepiness
• Feeling tired
• Sudden weight fluctuations
• Decreased or increased appetite for sexual function
• Bowel problems

Body symptoms

• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Muscle tension, cramps
• Feeling of heaviness in the chest, heart problems depressive disorder and blood vessels
• Low back pain

Depending on the number of symptoms and the duration of such episodes, depressive disorder can be classified as mild, moderate or severe.

When the symptoms are sporadic, rarely and for a short period of time, this can still be dealt with by changing the lifestyle and social environment.

Exercise, fresh air, an increase in omega-3 fatty acids in the diet, prevention of inflammation, sun and healthy sleep successfully prevent further development of depression.

Positive social connections, support groups, conversations with a psychoanalyst friend, meditation, creativity, charity also provide a positive impact.

The words “Pull yourself together”, kittens on the Internet, statuses with quotes by Paulo Coelho and Pushkin’s poems about autumn at this – easy – stage no longer work.

Photo by, Unplash

If you have one or more symptoms from each group, and they last more than two weeks, then it is time to see a doctor.

Yes yes. Go to a psychiatrist so that, due to shyness and prejudice, not to bring depression to a clinical and chronic form.

Of course, you can turn to an analyst or “coach”.But then you can just as well treat diabetes with the director of a sugar factory, or go to church to lower your cholesterol levels.

Traditional methods of alcohol therapy – even when it comes to mild to moderate depression – also do not work. Alcohol is chemically an antidepressant. But its consumption gives only a short-term result (several hours), has a huge number of side effects and is addictive.

The effectiveness of cannabis in depression has not yet been scientifically proven and proven in practice, although such studies are ongoing.

It is very important not to bring the matter to a severe form of depression, when it is too late to analyze and treat a person – he already needs to be saved. In our country, people often seek help already at the stage of the development of the disease, when the primary methods of treatment will no longer work.

The main problem with depression is that it is a unique disease. Both the soul and the body are ill at the same time. Even among specialists, few people see the full picture of the disease.

Photo by Unsplash

The symptoms of depression have been disassembled, divided between different specialties and treated by different specialists.Sexual dysfunction – sex therapists, headache – neurologists, etc. Typically, this approach works, but not with depression.

After analyzing the symptoms, a bad mood remains, with which psychologists and therapists with an analytical approach try to fight.

In the case of mild depression, they can advise lifestyle changes and quality monitoring – sometimes this can improve the patient’s condition. But when it comes to moderate or severe clinical depression, such specialists will no longer help, since they rarely have knowledge in the field of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, medicine and cannot interact with doctors of other specialties.Therefore, the treatment of depression should be prescribed and accompanied by a psychiatrist.

Typically, therapy for a depressed patient is psychotherapy combined with drug therapy. The correct choice of treatment in each individual case requires an assessment of a large number of characteristics of the patient’s condition.

Psychosocial therapy is effective and can be first line therapy for mild depression or supportive therapy for more severe depression. Well-trained psychotherapists, social workers, psychologists can be very helpful.

Depression can be prevented, stopped and treated. But with modern depression it is necessary to fight with modern methods that can no longer be limited to prescribing and psychotherapy according to the templates of the last century.

This struggle can only be won through the collaboration of an educated patient, medical professional and mental health professionals.

“The lungs crunch like someone is crushing a paper or a bag” | Articles

In Russia, as of April 20, more than 47 thousandinfected with coronavirus infection. At the same time, about 3.5 thousand people have already recovered. Many of them, after being discharged from the hospital, are required to be at home in quarantine for two weeks. How did they know they were sick? Was the illness difficult to bear? Is it realistic to be treated at home? How is it treated in Russian hospitals? And what happens after discharge? Russians diagnosed with COVID-19 shared their stories with Izvestia.

Evgenia, 34 years old, Zelenograd

I was admitted to the hospital on March 30 with bilateral multisegmental pneumonia and suspected coronavirus.I am 34 years old, but despite this, the disease was difficult. Within five days the temperature of 39.6 practically did not go astray.

It was painful to breathe, the cough is such that it seems that the lungs will fall out. All this time, doctors and an ambulance came to me every day. The first test was done five days after I started experiencing symptoms. First, dry cough began, pain on breathing. Feeling as if there were sand in the chest. The temperature rose in a few days and did not go astray. There was no sore throat or runny nose. But I felt a strong weakness and aches in the body, which was accompanied by an upset of the gastrointestinal tract.

Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev

At the hospital, the attending physician prescribed antiviral therapy without waiting for the test results. They were given expensive pills that are prescribed for HIV-infected people. Thanks to these pills, it became a little easier and I could breathe on my own. At the same time, the general state of health was disgusting, coughing fits persisted and each time seemed to turn me inside out.

I didn’t have enough breathing even for simple things, when I tried to brush my teeth I practically lost consciousness. Even keeping your eyes open is difficult, such a strong weakness. All my strength was spent on drinking plenty of water. My husband was also diagnosed with coronavirus. There were symptoms of the disease, but not as severe as mine, everything went away in five days. Now he has a cough, but he feels completely normal, he can even stand on his head. The child was left with his grandmother, their virus was not confirmed.

After eight days in the hospital I felt better: the temperature subsided, the cough is now better, now worse. At the same time, weakness, shortness of breath, nausea and chest pain are still there. The perception of taste has changed a lot, at first everything seemed bitter and rotten . They gave antibiotics, drugs for nausea, and medicine for HIV-infected people. The test was done three times, but the results were not reported. Perhaps they didn’t want to escalate.

Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev

One of the most unpleasant moments is the discharge from the hospital.I was in a stable condition, but I still felt the symptoms of the disease. I was in bed for two weeks, and the day before I was discharged I had a very low saturation index – blood oxygen saturation, at such values ​​it is recommended to call an ambulance. During my stay in the hospital, the building was undergoing renovations, and there were not enough doctors for everyone. But, as far as I know, the hospital was given only five days to prepare, including the construction of locks to go to the red zone. Therefore, the situation is not the fault of the hospital management.

Everyone is sitting together in the waiting room, and no one knows if anyone has the virus. I waited four hours and asked to give me water, but everyone is running around and everyone is not up to my requests.

If a person is admitted to the hospital, he needs to independently remember what his appointments and procedures are. I had very high blood pressure, I could not eat or sleep, but I did not receive an injection for almost a day. During hospitalization and during my stay in the hospital, I underwent a CT scan, the second time they saw only worsening.At the time of discharge, they refused to do a CT scan, because there are many who wish.

Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev

After being discharged, I need to continue taking medications, now I need to buy them myself. I have a prescription that I must be in quarantine, my husband is the same. Expensive medicine was eventually brought to me from the clinic. The discharge was diagnosed as coronavirus infection, although I do not have the results of each test, I eventually found out the diagnosis.

I have been sick for more than three weeks now, and no one knows when it will end. It is difficult for people to understand how desperate you are in the hospital. It may seem that I am unhappy that I was cured and released. I may get worse at any moment, and I will not get back. You can die in a couple of hours.

The doctors are not to blame for what is happening. Some are more attentive, some less, but in principle they do not have enough resources to give the necessary attention to everyone. I want people to understand that being in the hospital is not the same as being rescued. It will not be so that they brought me to the hospital – and immediately everything was fine.

During my stay, I had a nervous breakdown twice: I could not eat or sleep. Due to the taste changes, all the food felt like rotten to me, plus there were side effects from the drugs. From the outside it is difficult to imagine that such a thing is not to eat for several days when you want to eat, but you cannot. Someone is constantly being taken to the intensive care unit, some sighs and groans are heard.Due to my condition, including psychological, they put me in a solitary ward, even if not immediately. At least I didn’t have to lie in a six-bed room, it’s a nightmare.

Photo: Izvestia / Kristina Kormilitsyna

I am without work, and for a long time: I work for myself. I don’t know when I’ll be able to work at all. Therefore, on the one hand, I understand the arguments about the need to feed the family and service loans. But the motivation of people who buy paracetamol for future use is completely unclear to me.Because of them, those who really need it are not getting it now. The same story with pulse oximeters – because someone decided to play it safe.

Initially, I wrote in social networks for my friends, and then they began to spread it and at the same time began to claims from strangers. I was accused of being stable and therefore I was discharged, and there is not enough room for seriously ill patients. But is this my problem? I want to live.

When you lie at night, unable to fall asleep from fever and pain, you listen to how your lungs crunch with every breath, as if someone is crushing a paper or a bag, every time a coughing fit chokes you and tears flow from your eyes , I thought I was not coming home.

I really want at least someone to think about it before deciding to leave the house once again. I had pneumonia twice, and I felt the difference in full. As bad as now, I have never been in my life, this is the worst thing that ever happened to me. It is a very real feeling that you can die.

Anna Kovaleva, 36 years old, Moscow

When I had the first symptom – a temperature of 38.0 – I called the ambulance and told me, but they told me not to worry because I have ARVI.But I know my body: I ​​am not so sick, this state was very atypical for me. I called the second time, they said that since I had no contacts with those who came from abroad and I myself did not leave, it could not be a coronavirus.

I called several more times, but in the end I called the doctor from the clinic . They took an analysis from me and said that the result would be reported within five days. And if they don’t call me, then there is no virus. On the sixth day, I decided to clarify and at the same time make an appointment with the ENT. I was told that since the time has passed, then I am definitely all right. The next day my doorbell rang and I saw people in suits. They took another analysis and gave me a paper that I undertake to stay at home.

Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev

Within 10 days my sense of smell completely disappeared. But I had no cough and breathing problems. We measured the oxygen level in the blood, everything was in order. The day after the diagnosis was confirmed, the doctor from the clinic came and gave pills for malaria, adding that they do not help and have side effects. But due to the fact that at that time I did not feel any symptoms of the disease, I decided to give up these drugs.

The temperature was kept for four days, and the last two days it was 37. There was a feeling as if she had inhaled water through her nose and she was standing in the bridge of her nose.

Now quarantine has not been lifted to me, in theory, it was given for 14 days from the date of signing, but no one says the exact time. I had two more smears, but no new results are reported. They say again that if they did not call, then everything is in order.Then they clarified that in case of confirmation of the infection, the people who are engaged in this will call me back.

I was told that it is not dangerous to throw away rubbish with gloves and a mask. I order everything remotely, I warn the couriers to leave them at the door.

Photo: Izvestia / Pavel Bednyakov

I panicked and gave my daughter to my mother as soon as my temperature rose. The child and the mother were tested, but their virus was not confirmed, none of them have symptoms. Even before I knew the diagnosis, I decided not to leave my house and to observe safety measures. I was persistently told that I had sinusitis or sinusitis, and if the team did not come to me to confirm the diagnosis, I would go to the clinic the next morning by appointment.

Now I can’t go out to have tests or CT scans, I’m responsible for that. I’m glad I didn’t get to the hospital. I didn’t believe in the coronavirus, I thought it was all nonsense. Everyone among my acquaintances was afraid of the virus, but I was not afraid, but still took precautions.

Viktoria Bagaeva, 50 years old, Moscow

In our family, three have had the coronavirus: the first was the son, 25 years old, followed by me and my daughter, 18 years old. Three age groups, three different courses of the disease . The daughter has the mildest form: temperature 37 one day and general symptoms of intoxication, but there was a loss of smell and taste. A more severe course of the son: the temperature lasted up to 39 for up to five days. Around the fourth, a dry cough appeared. My course was of moderate severity with a complication: bilateral pneumonia.

Tests for COVID- 19 all are positive. Even before testing, I immediately realized that this was not an ordinary OVRI, the symptoms were classic for coronavirus: a sharp rise in temperature, general signs of intoxication, malaise, nasal congestion in the absence of a runny nose and complete loss of smell. It was for everyone to varying degrees: it was to a lesser extent for me.

Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev

I got sick on March 19, the temperature lasted for 13 days, no higher than 38.There was general intoxication. Stuffy nose, redness of the throat. The cough started on the fifth day. From the first day of our son’s illness, we isolated ourselves, my husband stayed in a country house.

The disease is difficult, long-term. The treatment took place at home, and then at City Clinical Hospital No. 67. Every day, a doctor from the clinic came to me, conducted an examination, listened to the lungs, and measured oxygen saturation. There was no wheezing, there was hard breathing, and an antibiotic was prescribed. But on the 13th day, when it seemed to me that my condition had improved, my temperature rose again and it became difficult to breathe, in the morning I called an ambulance and was hospitalized.

March 28 I was brought to the hospital. CT scan showed bilateral pneumonia. When I went for a CT scan before I was discharged, the device worked without stopping. The situation changed to the direction of deterioration every day. Now the hospital is full: as soon as someone is discharged, someone is admitted immediately.

Received symptomatic, antiviral and antibacterial treatment. I was discharged on April 9 with a negative smear and positive dynamics.

Victoria Bagaeva

The main thing I want to say is thanks to everyone who has supported me all these days. But the biggest thanks go to the medical staff who have been with me all these difficult days. Our hospitals work both in the diagnostic and clinically flawless terms. At a very high level.

Doctors are real heroes, they work in difficult situations, with maximum workload. They work so selflessly and professionally that I kneel before these people. We were not abandoned for a single second, not abandoned, not forgotten. We were watched and came to control. When I hear people say that they are bored in quarantine, I understand that they have no idea what is happening in hospitals. It’s not boring there.

Ordinary doctors have become real heroes during the pandemic, risking their own lives and sparing no effort to fight the deadly virus. People try to express gratitude and support to them in all ways that can be available in self-isolation. So, on the wall of the hospital named after Pope John XXIII in Bergamo, graffiti appeared with the inscription “All of you… Thanks!”. How grateful doctors are expressed in other countries – in the Izvestia photo gallery

Photo: Getty Images / Emanuele Cremaschi

“Thank you” from the pansies at the Stiftung Anscharhöhe nursing home in Hamburg

Photo: Getty Images / picture alliance / Daniel Bockwoldt

Words of gratitude to the medics on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to the Mount Sinai Medical Complex in New York

Photo: REUTERS / Mike Segar

Banners expressing gratitude to the doctors at the Bernhoven Hospital in the Dutch Uden

Photo: Getty Images / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Robin Utrecht

Gratitude to the doctors at the Eiffel Tower in Paris

Photo: Getty Images / Corbis / Stephane Cardinale

The eerie silence in the residential quarters of the Indian city of Noida at 5 pm is broken by loud applause, the clatter of dishes and even the ringing of bells – this is how local residents express their admiration for the ambulance workers

Photo: Getty Images / Hindustan Times / Sunil Ghosh

Thank you NHS – this is how the small seaside village of Hope Cove pays tribute to the British healthcare system

Photo: Getty Images / Dan Mullan

Commendation to health workers on the wall of Washington Cathedral

Photo: Getty Images / Drew Angerer

Flower heart in front of the hospital in Peiern, Switzerland

Photo: REUTERS / Pool / Laurent Gillieron

Doctors at the Jimenez Diaz Foundation Medical Center in Madrid thank the citizens for their support

Photo: Getty Images / Europa Press / Joaquín Corchero

Low mortality is solely the merit of our doctors.All patients are under control, there are all drugs, the appointment is adjusted individually. The wards are regularly sanitized. The food is good, the linen is changed regularly. And what is very important – these people, whose faces I have not even seen, have always kept calm and good spirits.

Photo: facebook.com/Victoria Bagaeva

On April 15, my son donated blood with antibodies to prepare plasma for seriously ill patients and for diagnostic purposes at the Sklifosovsky Institute. My daughter and I are next, but there are a number of limitations. I am in quarantine until April 23, and my daughter was taking medications, and the doctors are clarifying whether it is possible to donate plasma after taking them. The institute said that there is a very great need for such blood, so I urge all those who have been ill to donate blood in order to save the lives of other people and help in the treatment of this terrible disease .

Maria Mukhina, 27 years old, Moscow

Since October 2019, I have been studying abroad, for study we often moved between film schools in European cities: London, Paris, Stuttgart. In March, we were announced the closure of universities due to the coronavirus pandemic. At that moment I was in London, and all my things were in Stuttgart. All program participants flew to Germany in order to then choose a safe place for themselves during the pandemic.

I decided to return home to Russia. All my relatives are here and I have a place to live. I had to fly through Helsinki, flights at that moment were suddenly canceled, and plans were constantly thwarted.

Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev

Before the flight I had a fever, but I attributed it to stress. It happens from time to time. At Sheremetyevo they measured my temperature, and at that time it was normal. But I was worried that in the last month and a half I was at risk, and asked to take a test. Told the staff that I had a fever yesterday. Without further discussion, they took a test from me and promised that they would call me back if they found anything. The guys from my course were surprised that in Russia they do tests at will at the airport.

I did not see my relatives for three months, and they were eager to meet as soon as possible, but I did not allow any of them to visit me.The first three days I felt fine: I was sorting out my suitcases, doing laundry, cleaning and other household chores.

Around March 20, the temperature began to rise, a sore throat, began to cough violently at night, the sensation of taste and smell disappeared. But these are symptoms of ARVI that are absolutely familiar to me. In Europe, many students carry diseases on their feet and attend classes. I thought I was infected by the girls from a group in London.

Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev

On Sunday, March 22nd, I received a call from an unknown number and asked for my apartment number and floor.They said it was an ambulance and they should examine me. They came to my mother, at the place of my registration. I got the feeling that these are some kind of scammers.

I decided to call the Rospotrebnadzor hotline to clarify. But there was no information about me in the database, and I was re-registered. At this time, my mother went downstairs and talked with these people. She called me and said they looked like a real ambulance and she gave them my current address. The paramedic who arrived said that I had a positive test and that I had to go to Kommunarka.For about an hour I packed my things, everything was pretty calm.

They put me alone in a two-bed room, it was clean and spacious. But at night I suddenly felt bad: the temperature rose and a severe cough began. There was a feeling that the jaw was cramping from coughing, and there were some debris in the throat. The night was terrible, the nurse came to put the IV and put it on by. It hurt very much, I was led, and I burst into tears. For the next two weeks, he gave me IVs, and we became friends.But at that moment it was clear that he was very tired. Also in three pairs of gloves.

Photo: archive of Maria Mukhina

I felt embarrassed because I got sick, then there were few infected people in Russia. Sometimes I found the strength and even connected to online studies, but most of the day I just lay there like a vegetable. The temperature rose to 38.4, but remained at 37 for a long time. The cough was wet, not dry.So the symptoms are quite individual.

Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev

As part of my treatment, I was offered a new antiviral drug. At first everything was fine, but the day before I was discharged I felt terribly bad: the temperature rose, my head, eyes and jaw were terribly ill, and I was very sick. I could neither get up nor sit down. The doctor attributed this to the side effects of the pills.

I spent 15 days in Kommunarka.After being discharged at home, I was terribly weak, and I did inhalations with an antibiotic. It was difficult to get up every morning to make your own breakfast elementary. Everything whirled and darkened in my eyes. I could not walk to the kitchen or the toilet without stopping. Tired instantly, you could go back to bed right away. But every day I feel more and more strength in myself.

From Monday, April 20, my quarantine ends, but the clinic and telemedicine service cannot explain what to do next.Some say to come to them to check out, others doubt that it is possible to go out into the street. The most difficult thing is probably not even to endure the disease, but to understand how to return to normal life. I feel ready to go to donate blood and plasma to help those who are sick now. Serious patients who are on mechanical ventilation need blood. And it is very difficult to find those who have been ill and who can fit the parameters for donation. Having gone through such a test, you cannot behave otherwise: who, if not us, people who have recovered, can now help others.

Photo: Izvestia / Kristina Kormilitsyna

For the first time I wrote a post to show people that this is not a fictitious disease, that I am and I am sick. I had no plans to make this story public. The message was to tell that the disease is real and you need to be careful. Among my friends on Facebook, the reaction was adequate, and people came to Instagram using hashtags, who began to accuse me of being a fraud and looking for ways to wind up followers. There was a lot of negativity related to the fact that I flew in from Europe. I tried to explain and tell someone something, but this is a total fiasco: the more you write, the more negativity pours in your direction.

I think I was lucky to get into the first wave and be in Kommunarka when there were still a few people there. I was also lucky with doctors and medical volunteers. I understood that they did not have enough time for everything, but they always came, helped and paid attention. Among the volunteers were not only students, but also non-core doctors, such as dentists.They help for free, work seven days a week and do not complain, and this really inspires respect.

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Life with one lung. From what died Stanislav Govorukhin

Today it became known about the death of the famous Russian director, politician, public figure Stanislav Govorukhin. He was 82 years old. This tragic message appeared in the media yesterday, June 13, however, representatives of Stanislav Sergeevich and members of his family categorically denied this information.

Photo: © L! FE / Pavel Baranov

Govorukhin’s wife Galina even said that her husband was in excellent condition and busy with work.

– I want to tell you one thing: well I am, it was funny to me, because a person will live longer, as they say. I feel sorry for my relatives and friends. One has already taken a ticket, flying from Germany, – she said.

The hope that everything is in order with Stanislav Sergeevich was also given by his colleagues from the State Duma. The first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture, which was headed by Govorukhin, Elena Drapeko, reported that the director’s condition was not so difficult, and he himself was now in a sanatorium.

Elena Drapeko, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture. Photo: © RIA Novosti / Sergey Malgavko

– He is in the sanatorium “Barvikha”. He is not in such a serious condition to talk about hospitalization. He feels tolerant, he is not in a hospital, but in a sanatorium. They checked an hour ago, called my wife, – said Drapeko.

MK journalists were able to find out details about Govorukhin’s condition from close friends of his family: “This is not a coma. I don’t know where the talk about it came from.Just from weakness, Stanislav Sergeevich falls into an unconscious state, but sometimes comes to his senses, opens his eyes, reacts. True, he did not speak yesterday, but he could still shake hands. Doctors assess his condition as critical, grave. “

Unfortunately, the saddest predictions came true. Stanislav Govorukhin died today, June 14, at the age of 83.

– At 10:37 in the Barvikha sanatorium after a hard long our colleague Stanislav Sergeevich Govorukhin passed away from illness, – said the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.

Viacheslav Volodin. Photo: © L! FE / Aleksey Golenishchev

He stressed that Stanislav Govorukhin fought the disease to the end, “but she defeated him.”

According to media reports, in December last year, Stanislav Sergeevich underwent a difficult operation to remove a lung. The reason for such a radical surgical intervention is unknown, but it is obvious that the reasons for this were more than serious.

– Most often, the reason for this kind of operation (it is called pulmonectomy) is a tumor lesion – in other words, lung cancer, – explained the surgeon Vladimir Khoroshev.- Other possible causes: tuberculosis, purulent-inflammatory diseases (lung abscess).

Human lungs. Photo: © pexels.com

According to the doctor, at this age (recall that Govorukhin was already over 80 during the operation) any surgical intervention can be dangerous, but pulmonectomy has its own peculiarities.

– As you know, the lung is located in the chest, and when it is completely removed, an empty space is formed, so to speak. But nature does not tolerate emptiness, therefore, after the operation, dislocation of nearby organs occurs – the remaining lung begins to take the place of another lung, which was cut off.In addition, all the right parts of the heart (which are closest to the lungs) also begin to restructure their work. All this is a huge load on the body, especially on the cardiovascular system, – said the surgeon.

If the operation went well, then in a year and a half the remaining lung completely begins to “work for two.” According to Vladimir Khoroshev, after such operations, people can live a full life for more than a dozen years. However, it all depends on the body’s ability to compensate for the losses – the age of Stanislav Sergeevich, obviously, also influenced the fact that from the moment of the operation he managed to live only six months.

Photo: © L! FE / Marat Saychenko

Govorukhin always said that he was glad to live life to the fullest, without denying himself anything. “I smoke a lot, I drink a lot, I have no daily routine. And I feel good,” – this is one of his quotes. And despite serious health problems, Govorukhin tried to live and work. But, alas, the director’s age with one lung turned out to be too short.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already expressed his condolences on the death of Govorukhin. Together with the family of the great director, an army of thousands of fans of his work grieves.

Good to know about ASTHMA AND COLD (astma og kulde)

ASTHMA AND COLD ( astma og kulde )

Useful information on asthma and cold – Fact sheet of the Norwegian Asthmatics and Allergy Association

Cold weather is especially troublesome for people suffering from asthma and other diseases of the upper respiratory tract. However, proper precautions, proper medication, and protection from the cold allow asthmatics to be outdoors in winter.

Cold itself is not the biggest problem. Air pollution from particulate matter in cold weather, especially in cities and towns, tends to exacerbate asthmatic symptoms. Frequent colds during the winter also exacerbate the problem. Asthma is a multiple disease, but most asthmatics feel unwell in cold weather. Intense training in very cold weather (<10 ° C) should be done with great care.

What Happens to Asthma in Cold Weather?

The reason asthmatics are aggravated by the inhalation of cold air is the hypersensitivity of the upper respiratory tract, not an allergy to cold. Inhalation of cold air leads to drying of the surface of the airways and their subsequent narrowing.

In very cold weather it also becomes difficult to breathe through the nose. Inhalation of air by an asthmatic person through the mouth leads to an additional narrowing of the airways, since the air does not have time to warm up before it enters the lungs.

The nose plays a very important role in protecting the respiratory system from untreated air. A relationship was found between the size of the nose and the efficiency of the inhalation process through the nose. Studies have shown that Inuit living in the very cold climate of Greenland have a higher nasal cavity than many other peoples!

Asthma, cold and exercise

It is important to remember that training in extreme cold without adequate protection can lead to increased asthma.The onset of so-called exercise asthma can be indirectly caused by intense training in cold weather, as in this case, a large amount of cold air enters the respiratory tract. Typically, exercise-related asthma problems occur during intense training or competition in temperatures below -15 ° C.

Even the healthy airways of animals and humans can respond to physical activity in cold weather. Airway tissue samples taken from sled dogs participating in sled dog races in Alaska showed varying degrees of inflammatory reactions, just like athletes skiers competing in cold weather.

Notwithstanding the above, it should be remembered that physical activity improves the general condition of the body and its ability to resist asthma. Asthmatics can exercise regularly, even in cold weather, with good protection of the face from the cold in the area of ​​the nose and mouth, as well as the use of individually selected medicines. In general, it is not recommended for asthmatics to exercise intensively in temperatures below -10 ° C.

Asthma is a very individual disease with many changes, which can lead to the fact that some have difficulty breathing even in mild frost.It is important to know your illness and consider your own reactions.

Cold asthma is not the same as cold allergy!

Cold allergy is urticaria, which occurs especially often as a result of external influences, especially cold water. Hives, as a result of exposure to low temperatures or cold water, can lead to serious reactions such as swelling over large areas of the body. Cold allergies can cause allergic shock.

Cold and air pollution

In cities and large settlements, cold, calm days and heavy traffic can lead to an increased concentration of gases and suspended solids in the air. Nitrogen dioxide (NO ₂ ) emitted into the atmosphere by diesel engines increases air pollution.

Airborne nitrogen dioxide in people at risk can lead to increased coughing, increased symptoms of bronchitis, and decreased resistance to infections.Asthmatics respond to reduced lung function even after short exposure.

Particulate matter can cause flare-ups or intensities in people with chronic respiratory diseases. Also, suspended particles can be carriers of allergens that can cause allergic reactions.

Protection and prevention – asthma and cold

The Jonas Thermomask, offered by the Norwegian Asthmatics and Allergy Association, provides protection from cold, dry air for those who feel worse in cold weather.

In addition, the mask provides the necessary protection during training at low temperatures. A hat or scarf with a breathing mesh warms the air before it enters the lungs. This reduces the problems of asthmatics and other people who find it difficult to breathe through their nose in freezing weather.

Thermomask is an approved treatment and can be dispensed by the local health authority based on referral from a specialist physician to the disbursement organization.

“I don’t want to die, but what do I want?” How can covid affect the psyche – and not only badly

“I cried for 12 hours straight.” The story of Gleb, 26 years old

I was ill in October 2020 – for a week “I practically did not get out of bed.” No cough and fever, but “with severe pain throughout the body.”

When I left sickness for work, I was so tired that I had to sleep at lunchtime. Not for long, about 20 minutes, but I couldn’t do it any other way.Before my illness, six to seven hours of sleep a day was enough for me. Now it was necessary at least eight, and on weekends sometimes – 12-14.

And at the end of November I started having insomnia. At night I could only fall asleep for a couple of hours, slept on weekends. I already had this when I was at university, and that time I was prescribed antidepressants. But then I could neither write a diploma, nor prepare for exams. And here I was quite cheerful, worked actively, but I realized that this was not normal. I still had a supply of antidepressants and began to drink them, but they did not help.Subsequently, several psychiatrists told me: “Boy, by that time you were already in severe depression against the background of postcoid syndrome.” But that was later.

On this topic

In February, my fiancee left to live and work in another country. And this was the trigger for me to fly into psychosis. I entered the apartment in which we lived together, and everything reminded me that she had been here three days ago. I sat down and sobbed for about 15 minutes. Or I could sit in a chair and look at one point, trying to collect my thoughts.We communicated on video, but every conversation led me to a terrible hysteria, from which I walked away for an hour and a half. Moreover, due to the time difference, we talked when I had a working day. That is, after the call, I closed myself in the office meeting room and sobbed. I even deliberately had time to quickly do a lot of work in advance, because I knew that later it would be like this. But I could not help but talk to her. It was like a drug – you need it, and after that it gets worse and worse every time.

At the same time, I could talk to her aggressively, emotionally put pressure on her.I have never behaved like this in a relationship with her or with anyone else. And for her, of course, it was a shock – she saw in front of her a completely different person with whom she studied at the university, was friends and then lived.

After one such conversation, I almost committed suicide. I had already started to implement it, and suddenly it flashed in my head: “What are you doing, guy.” Then I called a friend and said: “I need a psychiatrist.”

© Alexey Durasov / TASS

At first I tried to hold out only by talking to a doctor and taking pills, but I realized that I could not cope, and went to the crisis department.I was immediately asked there: “Did you get sick with Covid?” – “I was sick” – “Then I understand.” I was told that the situation with the girl was superimposed on the consequences of the covid syndrome and this completely shattered the psyche.

I lay there for two weeks, they put my brains in place. And when I left, the bride did not answer my messages. It began to shake me again. I flew to a sanatorium to the south – with my mother, so as not to be alone. And all the way – from a taxi in Moscow to a sanatorium – I sobbed. Hours 12. In the sanatorium, I again needed a psychiatrist … Yes, the bride eventually left me.

I was observed by several doctors, and I was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder (a mental disorder in which a person can alternate between states of depression, hypomania and mania, that is, excessive activity and excitement – approx. TASS). Most likely, it happened before, I just never got into such depression. And the stages of hypomania were familiar to me. I perceived them not as a frustration, but as a “feature”: you can write a diploma in a day, make an awesome project in ten hours … And then I ran into a phase of depression, and the “feature” turned into a “bug”.

In depression, I sleep 12-14 hours, lie, wander around the apartment – and no more strength for anything. On the moral and strong-willed, I force myself to pick up the phone when my parents call, so that they know that I have not committed suicide. This happened to me when I returned from the sanatorium: I did not work for several months, because immediately after the hospital I had to quit. And in mania and hypomania, I shoot phrases like a machine gun. I joke all the time, sometimes pretty scurrilous. I work with laws and technical regulations, these are complex texts.In mania, I read the law like a price tag in a store – not just fast, but very fast. But at the same time, everything can distract me: the bus under the window, music from the neighbors …

And in mania, you waste vital resources – the brain “deteriorates”, like an engine, if you make it work at full capacity for a long time. And if this phase lasted from two days to a week, then you will be depressed for a month.

Now I am in touch with a psychiatrist, I work with a psychotherapist, I drink six pills a day and I watch myself all the time – I meditate, I slow down.Sometimes I still fall into mania or depression. But I no longer have such psychoses as in winter.

Covid as trigger

According to the chief freelance specialist for medical rehabilitation of the Ministry of Health, Professor Galina Ivanova, depression, anxiety and other neurological disorders occur in 99% of patients who have had coronavirus infection.

As the chief physician of the Leader-Medicine medical center explains, pediatrician, infectious disease specialist, vaccinologist Evgeny Timakov, covid “directly affects the central nervous system (CNS)”.“It affects neural connections, proteins that are involved in the metabolic processes of the central nervous system, disrupts nutrition, blood supply to areas of the brain,” the expert says. – The result is a delayed impact of the disease in the form of “panic attacks, aggressive behavior, cognitive impairment, memory impairment.” There are also suicidal thoughts – according to Timakov’s observations, not only in adults, but also in adolescents.

© Alexey Durasov / TASS

“I have a lot of patients who started having mental problems after covid,” says a psychiatrist, a psychotherapist of the highest category Alexander Fedorovich.- The simplest manifestations – it is difficult for them to concentrate attention, to enter into a dialogue. This is where drug therapy is needed. Stress and anxiety disorders are also common. “However, Fedorovich does not diagnose” postcoid syndrome “to his patients.” After “does not necessarily mean” due to, “he recalls.

On this topic

According to the psychiatrist, covid alone cannot cause serious disorders such as bipolar disorder. But he can act as a trigger, due to which this violation will manifest itself.“The person had a certain condition that, perhaps, was not even diagnosed, because it was not very noticeable,” he explains. “And then, due to some circumstances, his symptoms became brighter.” As Fedorovich says, the point here is not in covid as such, but in the stress experienced by the person. The same trigger could be the loss of a loved one, an injury, or the most common non-coronavirus pneumonia. “Any such load is reflected in the processes that are already taking place in a person,” he explains.

“Coronavirus can be both the primary factor of some disease, and the activator of the disease, which was in a latent form,” thinks, in turn, Evgeny Timakov. “But it is not a fact that the disease would not have manifested itself without covid.” According to him, the longer the infection lasts, the more often the patient’s neural connections are affected. But even a mild course may not do without consequences for the central nervous system. “It is unpredictable and depends on the individual characteristics of the organism,” he says.Alexander Fedorovich believes that the main thing here is the “basic set”. “If a person was strong neurologically and mentally before the disease, then recovery will be easier,” he is sure. “Although the severity of the disease, of course, will affect.”

“I want to die for this to end”

I was in the hospital and had a temperature of 38.6 for five days. My neck was on fire, as if they had put a flaming collar on me. I could not roll over from weakness, I could not sleep, I was in some kind of half-oblivion.So I have never been sick in my life. When you fall into this nightmare, when your body is exhausted, it certainly puts pressure on the psyche. And at some point I thought: is this really all?

Tatiana, 56 years old

I fell ill immediately after the planned operation and as a result lay for a month and a half in a row. I have never lay that long. And I have never been physically so bad in my life – even when I was 17 years old with chickenpox or when I broke my leg. The temperature lasted about 38 for about a week, I could not roll over from one side to the other, I could not reach the toilet.And this state of helplessness, absolute bottom, finished me off. I cried constantly. And at some point, a thought flashed through my mind: “I am so stuck that I want to die, if only it ends.”

Daria N., 32 years old

Panic attacks, depression, suicidal thoughts – all this happens in the process of illness. People are afraid that they will die, they are afraid for their relatives, they are afraid of complications. But the main thing is that the prolonged temperature and pain throughout the body are really exhausting.”We had a 35-year-old patient who was so tired in a few days that he no longer wanted to fight for life,” says the supervisor of psychologists at the Yudin State Clinical Hospital “Reserve hospital in ATC” Moscow “, head of the psychological rehabilitation department Moscow service of psychological assistance to the population Natalya Priymakova. – He could not sleep. We did bodily relaxation practices with him, his breathing evened out. The psychologist had not yet had time to leave, and the patient was already asleep like a baby. The next day, it became much easier for him, the risk of going to intensive care disappeared.Perhaps this is a coincidence, but nonetheless … “

© Alexey Durasov / TASS

Specialists of the Moscow service for psychological assistance to the population are now working in all reserve hospitals in the capital. As Natalya Priymakova says, they are in great demand in the intensive care unit, and in ordinary departments there is a demand for them – “all working hours are scheduled.” A doctor, a relative, or the patient himself can ask a psychologist to work with a patient. The main task is to help form the motivation for treatment. “It is more difficult for a person who gave up and fell into a depressed state to cope with any illness,” explains Priimakova.- We had one 65+ man with very severe lung damage. He joked, joked with doctors, flirted with nurses … And of course, he got better. “

Often, patients with coronavirus are practically unable to speak. But, according to the psychologist, even questions that can be answered in monosyllables help people “turn on and forget how bad they are.” And where this does not work, bodily practices and breathing exercises work (with the permission of the doctor). And even just holding the hand is already a lot in conditions of almost complete isolation and the absence of loved ones.”Sometimes people see the sign ‘psychologist’ and can just hug you,” says Priimakova. “In a sense, a protective suit even removes boundaries. Patients are a lot like children. And when a child is upset, what helps him the most? Mom hugs.” They probably treat us like mothers. ”

“I seemed to wake up as a different person”

I have always believed that if I do not lie with a temperature of 39, then I can continue to do business. And the covid knocked me down, it was hard for me even to pour myself some tea.I was either asleep or watching Friends. And it helped me shut down from all processes and reboot. Two weeks later, it was as if I woke up a different person. I solved an old financial problem, broke off relations with some colleagues and clients, prepared a cool lecture and gave it at an event – things like that were hard for me before. The whole environment tells me: you seem to have matured. I went to a psychologist, although before I was sure that I did not need him, I can and must decide everything myself, because I am cool and cool.It seems to me that it’s like with a computer: when updates are installed, it needs to be rebooted. For me, covid has become such a reboot. And it seems to me that this is irreversible.

Daria B., 32 years old

© Alexey Durasov / TASS

When I got on a bicycle for the first time after an illness, I drove 200 meters, got off and burst into tears. I didn’t have the strength. But psychologically I was “turned around”. My mother and my brother died of covid. And now I understand that I must live for myself and for them.I work less in the garden, this summer I almost did not make preparations for the winter. I’m not wasting my time on this. I’d rather go fishing with my grandson and talk to my daughter.

Tatiana, 56 years old

At the most acute moment I thought: “No, you won’t take me, you covetous dog!” And after the illness I seemed to say to myself: “So, we don’t want to die, but what do we want to do?” And I began to do more what I love. I ask myself: “What mug do I want to drink coffee from? Where do I want to go?” I began to spit on the opinions of others.I had hair down to the priests, I cut it off. During my illness, they tortured me – because of the temperature I was sweating, but I physically could not wash myself. And then I realized that they were pulling me, strangling me, and I owe nothing to anyone in this life except myself, and I can do what I want. And she made a square. I consider this period of my life a rebirth and, to some extent, a return to myself.

Daria N., 32 years old

“A person with a covid feels first of all weak and powerless,” says psychologist Elena Kashirina.“And if he was little familiar with such a state, then it can be very hard to suddenly find himself in it.” According to her, this is comparable to some kind of bright, but mental stress, like a sudden loss of a job or a broken leg. often leads to a reappraisal of values. “For me, this is akin to a midlife crisis,” explains the psychologist. “At some point it becomes clear that it is impossible to continue living as before, the world is different.”

Psychiatrist Alexander Fedorovich believes that patients with covid are always afraid of death, even if they endure the disease at home.First, because in the second year of the pandemic, we generally have a very high level of anxiety. Secondly, because the course of covid is unpredictable, and there are cases when the patient was on his feet today and went to intensive care tomorrow. “They were told that they should die. They did not die, and this affected the subsequent life. If the person survived the car accident, it would be similar,” he says.

On this topic

At the same time, after a heavy covid, a person may become even more anxious – after all, now he knows how it feels.“Before my illness, I was more careless,” says Tatiana. “Now, when the queues do not keep the distance, I am shaken. And I still wear a mask, although I have antibodies. Therefore, probably, many people who have been ill really want to be vaccinated – so that it did not happen again.

… One of the patients of the hospital, where psychologist Natalya Priymakova works, was handed over a smartphone by her relatives. The patient was elderly, and although everyone around her tried to help her deal with the technique, she did not succeed. As a result, she became discouraged, and the doctors asked to work with her.“She was shown how much useful things she can find on the Internet – for example, how to fertilize the beds,” recalls Priimakova. “They told her that there are courses, the Moscow Longevity program, in the end… And her eyes lit up. however, there is “Moscow Longevity”, and I can go and learn to dance! Or do yoga! And I will definitely go to computer courses! “So she got an incentive – and after a while she recovered. Maybe she really will go to learn to dance.

Bella Volkova, Gabriela Chalabova

Almost every patient with whom psychologists work in a hospital is advised to continue this work after discharge.But Muscovites can get free psychological help in any situation, not necessarily related to a pandemic or covid. Call the Moscow psychological assistance service at round-the-clock numbers 051 (from a landline phone) and +7 (495) 051 051 (from a mobile phone). You can also make an appointment, get a consultation via video link or in the round-the-clock psychological chat Don’t Panic on the service’s website .

90,000 Causes and types of urinary incontinence

Stress urinary incontinence is stress incontinence, such as when you cough, sneeze or laugh.It is the most common type of incontinence in women, and is rare in men.

Urgent urinary incontinence – incontinence associated with an urgent urge to urinate. The amount of urine varies from a few drops to complete emptying of the bladder. The reasons for this type of incontinence can be very different, for example: a prostate adenoma, a urinary tract infection, or simply drinking too much fluids. Therefore, competent diagnosis and treatment are important.

Mixed urinary incontinence is a combination of symptoms of stress urinary incontinence. That is, you may experience leaks both due to urgent urge to urinate, and during physical exertion.

Overflow incontinence occurs when the bladder cannot empty completely and residual urine gradually accumulates. The most common cause of this type of incontinence is an obstruction of the urethra, such as with prostate adenoma.Sometimes, the bladder muscle does not contract and empty the bladder, which is common in diabetic neuropathy.

Neurogenic bladder – a condition in which the brain, spinal cord or nerves malfunction. A neurogenic bladder occurs in people with injuries associated with trauma, stroke, multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson’s disease.

Leakage of urine after urination – involuntary leakage of urine immediately after the completion of urination.This is because urine remains in the urethra. This condition is more common in men and can be avoided by pressing the front of the perineum to squeeze out any residual urine. Women with weak muscles around the urethra are also faced with this.

Functional urinary incontinence – inability to reach the toilet in time due to limited mobility for any reason. Functional urinary incontinence is possible with impaired vision, decreased cognitive function, and limited mobility.

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