Man rushed to A&E after ‘trapped gas’ turned out to be collapsed lung from chain vaping

A super-fit gym goer was forced to crawl to A&E in agony after a bout of trapped wind turned out to be a collapsed lung caused by chain vaping.

Paul Cowling was chain vaping at his desk while working from home when he felt a sudden sharp pain in the right side of his chest last month.

When he inhaled the 32-year-old put the agonising pain down to trapped wind and began to take remedies to relieve his discomfort as he continued to work.

It was only after he started to struggle to breathe that he contacted 111 online who booked him in with an out-of-hours GP.

At the appointment, Paul said the doctor told him he had a suspected collapsed lung and was told to go to A&E at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester.

The IT consultant said he was forced to crawl on the floor of A&E due to the excruciating pain and, after having his chest X-rayed, it was confirmed that his right lung had collapsed.

Doctors then inserted a pump into his chest to re-inflate his lung, but due to the severity of the collapse this was unsuccessful, so he was rushed to Wythenshawe Hospital for surgery.

Paul, who began socially smoking in 2015 but then took up vaping in 2019, would puff his way through four or five disposable vapes a week before his surgery.

The avid hiker said he nearly died from his collapsed lung and quit straight away, and is now raising awareness of the dangers of vaping after his experience.

Paul, from Edenfield, Lancashire, said: ‘I found through time that vaping is a lot easier to do, especially with stress.

‘If you have a cigarette, you go outside for a break and have a smoke. With vaping, you can just sit there and chain vape and keep going.

‘I was going through four or five disposable vapes in a seven day week.

‘It was all quite sudden. I was just working at my desk as normal and I took some vape and I got this sudden sharp pain in the right side of my chest.

‘I originally thought it was trapped wind because my diaphragm was fully inflated.

‘I left work an hour early because I was in so much pain and I was taking lots of gas-releasing remedies because I thought it was trapped wind.

‘It started off as a sharp pain in my chest and then it became a very heavy dull ache after that and that is when the breathlessness started.

‘The pain was just getting progressively worse. It was terrible and I was struggling to breathe at this point.

‘[At A&E], I was seen by a nurse and I had to crawl on the floor to the door as I was in so much pain by this point.

Before his three-hour operation, Paul had to undergo a double blood transfusion as his sudden collapsed lung had caused a blood vessel to pop inside it.

Since the incident, Paul says he will never touch a vape again and is now raising awareness to other vapers about the irreversible damage smoking them can cause.

He says his collapsed lung has left him with ‘life-changing’ repercussions and is now not able to be the active person he once was before surgery.

‘This has left me with life-changing alterations. There is now a 30% chance that this will happen again too.

‘It’s put me off vaping for life. I haven’t touched one since and the surgeon gave me a very stern warning.

‘I was very upset and emotional just thinking about what I had done to myself.

‘The doctor told me I had the lungs of a really heavy smoker and I was really shocked to hear this.

‘Before this happened to me, I was a very active, healthy person. I was a keen hiker and I can’t do that at the moment.

‘I love going to the gym as well and weight training too. I’d go two or three times a week to the gym and I had a personal trainer as well so I had gym equipment at home too.

‘There is no scientific evidence out there yet telling you the damage that vapes are doing but if they weren’t causing damage, this wouldn’t happen to you.

‘It’s so easy to get a vape with their fancy colours and flavours and sit and chain away on one of these things.

‘I can’t believe what has happened to me and I’m still trying to process what happens next. I am just trying to raise awareness as much as possible about it.’

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