She felt something “tear” while doing the Pilates “pigeon pose.”
Jennifer Pickering, 39, said she thought she had pulled a muscle after feeling “something tear” during a Pilates class, until she got the results of a hospital test. Liverpool City Centreis a former Pilates teacher and has always enjoyed Continue your activities.
She discovered Pilates while rehabilitating from a car accident that left her with spinal and hip injuries: the exercises strengthen muscles and improve flexibility and posture.
But in September 2023, while “cooling down” from a “light workout,” Jennifer felt something was wrong. She was on a mat doing some yoga stretches, first focusing on her legs and buttocks. As she got into a “pigeon pose” with her right leg extended forward and her left leg extended back, Jennifer felt something “tear” in her right shoulder blade.
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Jennifer said: “It felt like someone had stabbed me in the back and it hurt like crazy. I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ I thought I’d just hurt my shoulder so I quickly left the gym.”
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Two days later, realising the pain hadn’t gone away, Jennifer decided to drive herself to hospital to have a scan of her shoulder. However, the scan revealed that her right lung had collapsed on its own and she would need to see a pulmonary specialist to help re-inflate it. Jennifer underwent surgery and spent six weeks consulting with the specialist, believing that it “probably” wouldn’t come back.
But the following month, her lung collapsed again. She remained in the respiratory ward until the first week of November. For the first time, Jennifer began to wonder if the collapsed lungs were related to her menstrual cycle. Doctors initially ruled this out, she said, because she had not been diagnosed with pelvic endometriosis.
She also hadn’t experienced any symptoms of pelvic endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes. For womenThis can cause severe period pain and prevent you from getting pregnant.
In November, Jennifer was told to undergo video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) – a procedure using a small camera and surgical tools inserted into her chest – to repair a collapsed lung, and spent “several months” recovering.
She said: “After the operation, they have to put in what’s called a chest drain, which drains excess fluid and air, which if they don’t drain it can be very dangerous for your heart. It’s very painful and it’s very difficult to sleep with it in. It literally feels like there’s a foreign object in my chest.”
“Then you have to be very careful for the first three to eight months. You’ll be given a pretty detailed recovery programme – it’ll tell you all sorts of things like not to vacuum until 12 weeks, not to pick up your baby until 10 weeks, etc.”
Jennifer spent two months recovering before her third lung collapsed in January 2024. She said: “It’s been like this every month since January.
“I sat down and did the math and it was 26 days apart each time. I really suspected it had something to do with my menstrual cycle.”
In April 2024, Jennifer was re-diagnosed with cyclic pulmonary collapse. She was sent to a radiologist with experience diagnosing thoracic endometriosis. An MRI revealed “nodules” around her chest cavity, and a sample is currently being sent for biopsy. Jennifer is still waiting for the results, but the doctor told her it was “likely to be endometrial tissue.”
Jennifer claims that a doctor “informally” diagnosed her with thoracic endometriosis. Pelvic endometriosis and thoracic endometriosis are both types of endometriosis, but they occur in different locations: the former is found in the pelvis, while the latter is a rare type of the disease that occurs in the chest cavity, including the lungs.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), only 12 percent of women with endometriosis have any tissue outside of their reproductive organs. If left untreated, the disease can be fatal. If Jennifer were diagnosed with chest endometriosis, she would likely be prescribed birth control, along with following a strict healthy lifestyle.
These health issues have had a dramatic impact on her life. Jennifer said, “It feels like my thoracic endometriosis has taken everything from my life. I used to love traveling, hoverboarding and going to the gym, so giving all that up was really hard. The treatments were also incredibly painful.”
Meanwhile, Jennifer has begun fundraising to organise a thoracic endometriosis training day for doctors. “We’re in the early stages of planning right now,” she says.
“I want doctors to know about this disease because it often goes unnoticed on scans. I will be educating radiologists on what to look for. I would like to bring my own radiologist to speak at events,” Jennifer’s GoFundMe states. here.
