Hello everyone,
I'm a 26 year old female with a 13 year history of heavy smoking. The last 3 years have seen heavy marijuana use as well. Over the past 6 to 8 months I've been experiencing minor discomforts in my right lung, a sort of dull ache that usually resolved itself after a day or two of reducing my smoking intake. It very minorly affected my left lung once in a blue moon, but now it (the left lung) is fine.
However, 3 days ago I woke up with a more pronounced ache in my right lung. Despite reducing my smoking, it has not lessened in severity or shown any signs of gradually resolving itself. This pain is not brought on by breathing, whether deep or shallow, but rather by certain movements of my head and neck. For example, turning my head to the left produces pain in my spine from between the shoulderblades and up, which seems to spiral down the right side of my neck and into my right lung. Turning my head to the right produces similar but more milder effects. Straightening my spine/neck also triggers my lung pain.
I've been coughing regularly for years, along with producing phlegm, but this phlegm is never bloody, only streaked with tar. I have not lost my appetite or lost weight. I live a fairly sedentiary lifestyle and often slouch with terrible posture, ocassionally experiencing back and neck pain, so I'm wondering if it's possible a pinched nerve or slipped vertebrae/disc is causing these symptoms, or if it's something much, much more serious, like a lung disease, partial collapsed lung or cancer.
I'm severely agoraphobic and despite my fear of what's wrong I haven't been able to convince myself to see a doctor about this. For perspective, I had a tooth abcess for over 6 months before I saw a dentist. I'm scared that I'll wait too long before getting help for this, so I was hoping maybe someone could give me some advice on what might potentially cause these symptoms and how dangerous they may be.
Thank you in advance for any replies, I truly appreciate any information people could provide.
I'm a 26 year old female with a 13 year history of heavy smoking. The last 3 years have seen heavy marijuana use as well. Over the past 6 to 8 months I've been experiencing minor discomforts in my right lung, a sort of dull ache that usually resolved itself after a day or two of reducing my smoking intake. It very minorly affected my left lung once in a blue moon, but now it (the left lung) is fine.
However, 3 days ago I woke up with a more pronounced ache in my right lung. Despite reducing my smoking, it has not lessened in severity or shown any signs of gradually resolving itself. This pain is not brought on by breathing, whether deep or shallow, but rather by certain movements of my head and neck. For example, turning my head to the left produces pain in my spine from between the shoulderblades and up, which seems to spiral down the right side of my neck and into my right lung. Turning my head to the right produces similar but more milder effects. Straightening my spine/neck also triggers my lung pain.
I've been coughing regularly for years, along with producing phlegm, but this phlegm is never bloody, only streaked with tar. I have not lost my appetite or lost weight. I live a fairly sedentiary lifestyle and often slouch with terrible posture, ocassionally experiencing back and neck pain, so I'm wondering if it's possible a pinched nerve or slipped vertebrae/disc is causing these symptoms, or if it's something much, much more serious, like a lung disease, partial collapsed lung or cancer.
I'm severely agoraphobic and despite my fear of what's wrong I haven't been able to convince myself to see a doctor about this. For perspective, I had a tooth abcess for over 6 months before I saw a dentist. I'm scared that I'll wait too long before getting help for this, so I was hoping maybe someone could give me some advice on what might potentially cause these symptoms and how dangerous they may be.
Thank you in advance for any replies, I truly appreciate any information people could provide.