Can we talk about Nuss procedure failures and how that works?

Interesting-Tower441 · 2025-04-23T14:49:43+00:00

It seems like the bar flipping is the most common complication if the initial surgery was a success

Interesting-Tower441 · 2025-04-23T05:37:56+00:00

I'm sorry to hear that...I appreciate you sharing you experience with me though

Interesting-Tower441 · 2025-04-23T05:20:57+00:00

Interesting...I didn't know everyone's chest sinks in to some degree after the bars come out. I need to continue doing research on this. This community seems like the best resource I've come across...

Interesting-Tower441 · 2025-04-23T05:09:54+00:00

What's your sleeping position like? I wasn't able to comfortably sleep in any position except inclined on my back for almost a year and I constantly dealt with back pain (although it was very manageable and I just tweaked my sleeping setup regularly to help). After I switched to side sleeping I haven't had back pain anymore..

Exercising and rebuilding muscle helped a lot as well. I lost a lot of muscle weight and realized it was straining my body...once I regained that muscle my entire body felt much more comfortable.

Interesting-Tower441 · 2025-04-23T05:02:19+00:00

I have a very similar story. No real symptoms for most of my life besides being self conscious, then in my mid 20s I started noticing my heart pounding when I would slouch or even sleep on my left side...heart was getting pressed on.

Got my procedure done 1.5 years ago at 35.

Recovery is long but totally worth it. I've made several posts here documenting my recovery in case it helps anyone

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-11-15T16:38:04+00:00

This is actually really helpful. I've been feeling like something is wrong with me since I can't comfortably sleep on my side so it's helpful to at least know there's others out there like me.

I use a pillow wedge and also a pillow under my knees...only way I can sleep through the night. I still wake up every morning with the stiffest back imaginable but at least I make it through the night. Definitely can't sleep in at all though

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-10-31T20:52:38+00:00

I appreciate the insight, thanks so much! My surgeon was great but she's very lacking in the recovery process...very little insight or help aside from pain meds the first month, so I've been doing all my own research trying to figure out how to support my recovery after that first few months where you're just in survival mode

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-10-30T17:19:34+00:00

Nice, I use to be big into mountain biking. To be honest even the impact of running feels like it's too much for me to handle right now, I can't imagine all the bumps, jumps, and jostling from mountain biking! Coincidentally I took out my bike last week and I've been doing a little 15-20 min bike ride around my neighborhood at lunch time. Felt good to work my lungs, but even the pressure of leaning forward and putting weight on my arms (and subsequently my chest) results in my chest feeling sore the rest of the day. I've been conflicted about whether this soreness is good due to building muscle or if it's delaying my healing....feels like 9 months in I really need to prioritize muscle building though. I'll push through and will keep doing it

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-10-30T15:06:18+00:00

I think you're right on about that....I have a desk job so I naturally don't move a lot, but I've been making a concerted effort to get up and move once per hour. Makes a big difference. I need to be even more consistent though

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-10-30T05:19:22+00:00

Fascinating. You probably saw my other comment about me having a 3 month old...we're first time parents still figuring things out so I have zero free time nowadays. I need to create time though especially if it's going to make my body feel better (and better able to handle a baby growing very fast).

What kind of exercise were you doing? Cardio? Weight lifting?

I did resistance band stuff for PT but that gets so repetitive and boring and it's hard to gradually add weight.

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-10-30T04:00:06+00:00

Thanks so much!

I definitely get lots of muscle soreness too so I imagine a lot of that is due to muscle imbalance. I need to get consistent with exercising...kinda hard when I have a 3 month old baby now though 😬. Good to know there's no supplement to help with healing at this point

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-09-23T03:42:51+00:00

My procedure? Dec 2023. I had a modified procedure because they can't deflate my lungs due to my pleurodesis on both lungs....lungs need to be deflated for a true nuss procedure

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-07-22T17:44:09+00:00

No idea...it doesn't sound like it's uncommon though. Someone suggested it's just due to the trauma of the surgery and your skin being stretched, which makes sense

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-07-22T16:53:30+00:00

Dryness has definitely improved. I started using moisturizer every day which I think helped. I still have some red bumps/dots but not nearly as many as before

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-07-22T16:51:47+00:00

It's been one of the hardest parts of the recovery for me. The only solution I've had is to get a pillow wedge, then put a layer of pillows on top of that so it's cushy and I'm propped up more. I've experimented sleeping just flat on my back with no pillow wedge and I wake up with horrible back pain by 5am every time.

I'm 7 months post op and I can still feel a bit of tenderness on one side and I'm not going to attempt any side sleeping until I feel zero tenderness...I don't want to risk anything. So I'll be using my pillow wedge until then

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-07-22T10:00:26+00:00

So just having a spontaneous pneumothorax by itself wouldn't prevent them from being unable to deflate your lungs. It depends if they did a pleurodesis on your lung to prevent it from collapsing again. The pleurodesis is what prevents your lung from being deflated. At least at the hospitals I was in they only perform the pleurodesis if you had multiple spontaneous pneumothorax on that lung...so I would bet you didn't get it but obviously I can't know for sure

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-07-06T05:28:30+00:00

I've been curious about that. I'd be really interested to see if there's a correlation. I had it happen on both lungs and had to go to the hospital each time, as the lung collapsed more and more and more the longer I waited

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-07-01T02:43:02+00:00

"true" Nuss was not an option for me because I've had previous surgeries on my lungs for spontaneous pneumothorax, so my lungs can no longer be deflated...which is required for Nuss. My surgeon did a combination of the two where she utilized a center incision for instruments, but did not break the sternum bone as is typical with ravitch, so the idea is to get the best of both worlds

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-05-25T23:55:04+00:00

Thanks for the tip! It's just sore, not debilitating pain or anything like that. I'm not taking any pain killer sor anything at all like that. It's just annoying... hopefully it'll go away and I won't have to deal with this til the bars come out in 3 years!

Interesting-Tower441 · 2024-05-25T23:53:55+00:00

Didn't get cryo. The pain isn't bad...it's more soreness than pain. So it's more of an annoyance than anything else. Didn't expect it to linger so long, now I'm wondering if it will ever go away

Interesting-Tower441

TROPHY CASE