Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber Therapy

Dori, I'm glad to hear it went well. The treatment sounds promising. fingers and toes crossed.

DoriC wrote:He was in the chamber for 1 hr /45mins today, they are aware of his OSA but no cpap allowed. He is elevated at a 45 degree angle and was just dozing, not really sleeping, and is getting 100% oxygen and is being watched at all times so I'm really not worried.

I did not mean to imply a need to worry, I was just curious. I am sure he is in good hands. Hope he heals fast!

Dori, I'm glad things went well for Mike today, keep is posted, and the best to both of you. kathy

Dori,

Keeping fingers crossed for you and Mike. And my husband sends his best, also. Don't forget to take care of yourself while all this is going on!

Dori, I'm so glad to hear things went well during the first session.
Hope when all the sessions are completed, this proves to be "the cure" for Mike's wound. I'm betting it will be!

Joining the others to say:

Glad the first session went well.

Hoping that this really does the trick and helps heal Mike's wound.

And keeping both of you in my thoughts and prayers.

Update on Day 3! It went well, Mike's not really too comfortable lying in there,having to lie mainly on his left side because of the wound but he did manage to doze off for awhile. It's a long 2hrs, let me tell you and with traveling time it's more like 3hrs. His BP was a bit elevated when he came out today and he looked flushed so the Dr kept him for awhile longer for observation. He seems OK now. As I get to speak to some of the patients now as they come and go, some stories are encouraging and some are not so, but of course everyone's situation is different so I'm keeping the faith.

After numerous sinus surgery procedures over 3 years, they finally found that I had Osteo Mylitis, or infection of the bone in the sinus bone in my skull. Life threatening. I went to Pres-St. Lukes in Denver for Hyperbaric treatment, much as described elsewhere. The benefit of going to the large facility is that the chamber is about 12 feet around with door locks on the end so they could wheel people on Gurneys right in. I sat in a chair and read while inhaling oxygen through a mouth / nose mask. I spent 4 hours per day, except Sundays, inside. I had weekly sinus surgery to clean out infection. It worked!!! I am alive due to Hyperbaric.

A few comments. In recent years the hyperbaric industry has grown. They are now placing smaller, coffin like units in smaller facilities. The benefit of going to the big hospitals is that their chambers are much more comfortable. If your husband has ear clearing problems, as your doctor to put in ear tubes...like they do for babies. A ENT doc can spray your ear in his office and insert them in a few minutes. In about a year they naturally come out. Thirty days of going up and down by 3 Atmospheres can be very painful. You can even be ok for awhile and then, you can't clear your ears.
Hope this was helpful. Drop me a note if you have any questions.

Bill

Rx4fun wrote:A few comments. In recent years the hyperbaric industry has grown. They are now placing smaller, coffin like units in smaller facilities. The benefit of going to the big hospitals is that their chambers are much more comfortable.

I disagree with your assessment of monoplace chambers. As noted previously, the diameters have greatly increased as well as the chamber being completely transparent, so are in no way "coffin-like".

In addition, in monoplace chambers:

1. Patients are treated at a protocol specified for that particular patient. Unlike a multiplace chamber where all patients must dive at the same protocol.

2. Patients are cared for individually thereby maintaining patient privacy.

3. Isolation of patients insures that there is no amplification or spread of disease or infection from other patients.

4. No special decompression procedures required. If the patient needs to suddenly ascend, or the dive or ascent needs to be tailored, it does not affect the treatment of the other patients.

5. Technicians can easily monitor patients. A 12-person multiplace dive won't result in a lot of individual attention.

6. If one is a little late for a multiplace dive, they could miss the dive, or the rest of the group's dive be delayed.

Multiplace chambers, OTOH, make more money per dive.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is quite controversial in medicine, mainly because Hyperbaric Medicine is not taught as core curriculum in any medical school and maybe 90% of all physicians are unknowledgeable on its use. Access is controlled by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS dot org) in conjunction with the US Government via Medicare, the health benefits component of Social Security. Official Medicare policy lists both "covered" uses of HBOT and "noncovered" uses (see HBOTdenied dot com); however, all uses of HBOT force the growth of new capillaries to correct hypoxic-ischemic tissue where hypoxia is lack of oxygen and ischemia is lack of circulation. Because the human body is 85+% water, under increased atmospheric pressure (hyperbaric) oxygen is diffused through all cells via other body fluids besides the normal oxygen transport mechanism (blood). Once the hypoxic-ischemic tissue receives oxygen, the body responds to the new metabolic demands of the hypoxic-ischemic tissue by growing new capillaries. Once the plumbing is restored, healing occurs. The controversy is in the area of brain-injury as the symptoms of brain-injury are not the result of actual dead brain tissue but the result of impaired circulation in hypoxic-ischemic brain tissue. We've all woken up in the middle of the night when our arm has "fallen asleep." We can't feel anything and can't even move the arm unless circulation is restored. The same principle is at work in the treatment of brain-injury with HBOT. What this means is people suffering from strokes and parkinson's and alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain-injury (TBI) suffer needlessly. In fact, you can watch before/after video of a near-comatose TBI patient make a complete recovery via HBOT at hyperbaria dot org. It's the main video on the page. Unfortunately--and ironically--this type recovery is actively suppressed, dismissed, and ignored by most neurologists, and I think it's because their medical practice is predicated by a high anxiety of impending medical malpractice. The use of HBOT for brain-injury first became common practice in the UK when multiple sclerosis patients created a network of 60+ hyperbaric facilities across the UK that operate independently of the UK's National Health Service (socialized medicine). The average cost of HBOT in the UK is $8/hour (see youtube dot com/watch?v=Aq5e9sHJzcI&fmt=18). The cost of HBOT in the US at UHMS-operated clinics is anywhere from $1500 to $2500--for $5 worth of oxygen. Medicare has paid as much as $5500 in NY state (see page 8 at osc dot state dot ny dot us/audits/audits/9899/97s43 dot pdf). The Office of Civil Rights of the United States Dept of Health and Human Services (hhs dot gov/ocr) specifically bans denial of medical care by any HHS agency on the basis of disability or diagnosis, which makes the existence of Medicare's "noncovered" list illegal--yet it exists. The noncovered list was created by the UHMS some 40+ years ago in collaboration with the Federal government. A history of that list can be found at oxyhealth dot com/images/noncovered dot pdf . What this also means is that if Franklin Roosevelt was having his portrait painted today and keeled over from a stroke, it wouldn't be the stroke that would kill him but instead the policy of his own Social Security Administration.

Hi DoriC,
I just wanted to say HI and express thanks for keeping us informed on Mike's progress.

Sorry his second "dive" wasn't as smooth.

I would imagine part of the problem is antibiotic resistant organisms. It's a big problem in medicine these days.

I hope you've told Mike of all the love coming his way. You are obviously important to lots of people here.
Jamis

Day 4, Everything went well except that Mike accidentally banged his arm as they were removing him from the chamber, his fault, they told him to keep his arms folded!! Bleeding,had to call for the Dr to see it, just to be cautious, bandage,etc. So an extra hour added on to the schedule today! Jamis, thanks for the good wishes, I was told that no antibiotics really penetrate into the bone very well although they've tried several super drugs by IV during his hospital stays. The wound doesn't get infected again once surgery is completed with scrupulous daily wound care, it's just that the initial cause of the infection is still lurking around the shrapnel lodged inside his iliac bone and won't allow it to heal completely at the bottom and no way to remove the shrapnel without Mike losing the use of his leg. Hope that explains it as best as I can. Also the meds he must take impede healing! Let's hope this treatment works, it would be a gift from Heaven.

Where are you when Mike is in the chamber?

I walk down to the cafeteria and have some lunch, check out the gift shop and today I went outside and took the long way around to the private entrance in the back of the hospital. There's also a nice waiting room with TV on the wall, coffee and drink machine, magazines and usually someone waiting there also so I can have a conversation if I want to. The surroundings are pleasant enough, it's just a long time to be there waiting with lots of things to do at home. Tomorrow my daughter who's visiting from Colorado and my grandaughter who's home for midterm break from college are coming to visit and will stay with me at the hospital so that will be nice. SU, if you're not doing anything next week I'd love you to come and stay with me! How about it?? Lunch is on me!