Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

#902
I am going to do sessions at the IvHG, I needed a doctor's reference to get an ENT appointment. Then I needed an ENT reference to get a HBOT appointment at IvHG. They really insisted on getting the ENT reference from me before I took the first intake with them.
 
#904
John_415 said:
I am going to do sessions at the IvHG, I needed a doctor's reference to get an ENT appointment. Then I needed an ENT reference to get a HBOT appointment at IvHG. They really insisted on getting the ENT reference from me before I took the first intake with them.
Click to expand...

Good luck, message me in Dutch if you like in a PM to get some HBOT tips.
 
#906
Now it's been almost three (3) weeks from my last HBOT session, see my previous posts up there.

At the moment, for past week or so, my tinnitus has been gone completely or at least reduced down to level I can't register it anymore. Is this happening because of the treatment or despite of it... I don't know, but I only care that it is gone! You can draw your own conclusion.

All the best for all of you, I'll be back here if my T is back! Fingers crossed!
 
#907
#909
Mikko Viitala said:
Now it's been almost three (3) weeks from my last HBOT session, see my previous posts up there.

At the moment, for past week or so, my tinnitus has been gone completely or at least reduced down to level I can't register it anymore. Is this happening because of the treatment or despite of it... I don't know, but I only care that it is gone! You can draw your own conclusion.

All the best for all of you, I'll be back here if my T is back! Fingers crossed!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the positive report Mikko. Did you have any sign of hearing loss on an audiogram?
It is good that you started the treatment early after onset. The sooner the better.
 
#910
Codaz said:
Thanks for the positive report Mikko. Did you have any sign of hearing loss on an audiogram?
It is good that you started the treatment early after onset. The sooner the better.
Click to expand...

Thanks @Codaz.

No measurable loss. My hearing test results, the one that tops at 8kHz, were normal in both ears. Tinnitus was measured at around 11kHz. The professor-guy said that optimal time, based on their experience, is somewhere between 5 to 7 days. Not before to allow body's own "healing mechanisms" to kick in but then again as time passes, positive effects starts to decrease (meaning there is no change or the change is not optimal) .

Now, I'm not stating above as a fact, though, just quoting what I was told.

He also gave 2 hour lecture with Q&A (open and free for all) on tinnitus, mechanisms behind it and possible treatments in different scenarios. Previously he has, for example, treated personnel in military hospital's (Tilkka) HBOT unit. Based on this and discussions I had with him, I trust his expertise.
 
#911
I think I want to try hbot even though it might be a little too late (T now for two month). The problem is I live in Denmark and there is no possibility to get the treatment here. I have found places in Germany (e.g. Hamburg) where they do the treatment. Do any of you guys know if I will need a reference from a doctor to get the treatment in Germany? And if so how do I get that? And what about the price for the treatment in Germany? I cant find it anywhere.
 
#912
Lasse S said:
I think I want to try hbot even though it might be a little too late (T now for two month). The problem is I live in Denmark and there is no possibility to get the treatment here. I have found places in Germany (e.g. Hamburg) where they do the treatment. Do any of you guys know if I will need a reference from a doctor to get the treatment in Germany? And if so how do I get that? And what about the price for the treatment in Germany? I cant find it anywhere.
Click to expand...

Come to Finland. In Helsinki Ear Institute (in Helsinki) you don't need doctor's reference. I think you need hotel for 5 days and around €900 for daily sessions.
 
#913
Mikko Viitala said:
Come to Finland. In Helsinki Ear Institute (in Helsinki) you don't need doctor's reference. I think you need hotel for 5 days and around €900 for daily sessions.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mikko, that could be an option, even though I will have to fly. One of the problems is that I'm having a cold (for 5 weeks now, wtf?). It has gotten a lot better and I think I can pressure equalize my ears, even though they click every time I swallow, but I will be a bit sad to find out I can't when sitting in an airplane :dunno:
 
#914
Mikko Viitala said:
Thanks @Codaz.

No measurable loss. My hearing test results, the one that tops at 8kHz, were normal in both ears. Tinnitus was measured at around 11kHz. The professor-guy said that optimal time, based on their experience, is somewhere between 5 to 7 days. Not before to allow body's own "healing mechanisms" to kick in but then again as time passes, positive effects starts to decrease (meaning there is no change or the change is not optimal) .

Now, I'm not stating above as a fact, though, just quoting what I was told.

He also gave 2 hour lecture with Q&A (open and free for all) on tinnitus, mechanisms behind it and possible treatments in different scenarios. Previously he has, for example, treated personnel in military hospital's (Tilkka) HBOT unit. Based on this and discussions I had with him, I trust his expertise.
Click to expand...

A German soccer player from Schalke was immediately send to the hyperbaric chamber after he was hit on the ear with a ball: http://www.t-online.de/gesundheit/i...eckt-hinter-einem-verletzten-trommelfell.html

And the Flemish prime minister was treated very soon as well: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/30/europe/belgium-prime-minister-pistol-hearing-loss-trnd/index.html

So I doubt the internal healing process with such major impacts, I would rather say the sooner the better (as the limit is max 2 months as my Belgian ENT said).

It's good that there was no visible loss on your audiogram, I wish I had that. I had that from 2014-2016 (with TMJ tinnitus) but after that, and in 2017 I lost quite a lot of hearing in my left ear due to possible Meniere's starting :'(
 
#915
Hi everyone,

Doing much better and I am happy to say my tinnitus is at an all time low *knock on wood*.
My bad days are my old best days. :)

But I've always wondered about hyperbaric oxygen therapy, wonder if it would have sped up my recovery, and potentially even beyond that.
Now it's weird that after 3 ENT's I had no one referring me to one.. and it's weird that I never felt compelled to go there, even though I've taken around ten kind of supplements.

My question, would oxygen therapy have it's use more than 14 month after "trauma"? Could it help to strengthen my haircells for future exposure for instance? And maybe get 100% rid of tinnitus?
It's a long shot, but hey, I am curious.
 
#916
JurgenG said:
Hi everyone,

Doing much better and I am happy to say my tinnitus is at an all time low *knock on wood*.
My bad days are my old best days. :)

But I've always wondered about hyperbaric oxygen therapy, wonder if it would have sped up my recovery, and potentially even beyond that.
Now it's weird that after 3 ENT's I had no one referring me to one.. and it's weird that I never felt compelled to go there, even though I've taken around ten kind of supplements.

My question, would oxygen therapy have it's use more than 14 month after "trauma"? Could it help to strengthen my haircells for future exposure for instance? And maybe get 100% rid of tinnitus?
It's a long shot, but hey, I am curious.
Click to expand...

My Belgian ENT's said that after two months the effect is minimal to "no effect". I don't know which hospital you visited but @Jan64 did HBOT even years after onset so he is able to tell you more.
 
#917
JurgenG said:
Hi everyone,

Doing much better and I am happy to say my tinnitus is at an all time low *knock on wood*.
My bad days are my old best days. :)

But I've always wondered about hyperbaric oxygen therapy, wonder if it would have sped up my recovery, and potentially even beyond that.
Now it's weird that after 3 ENT's I had no one referring me to one.. and it's weird that I never felt compelled to go there, even though I've taken around ten kind of supplements.

My question, would oxygen therapy have it's use more than 14 month after "trauma"? Could it help to strengthen my haircells for future exposure for instance? And maybe get 100% rid of tinnitus?
It's a long shot, but hey, I am curious.
Click to expand...

The nurse at HBOT center I went to said that taking sessions after 1 year does not have any effect, allas.
A study on the first page of this thread says differently:
Markku said:
A couple of studies:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10384896
In this study, we prescribed HBO to 20 patients who had had severe tinnitus for more than one year and who had already had other forms of tinnitus therapy with unsatisfactory results.
Six patients had a reduction of tinnitus and accompanying symptoms, eight patients did not notice any change and two patients experienced an adverse effect. Any outcome persisted with minor changes until one year after treatment. HBO may contribute to the treatment of severe tinnitus, but the negative effect on tinnitus should be weighed carefully.

So in that study HBO was tried for patients who had had tinnitus for more than one year. Six of 20 had a reduction of tinnitus, 8 of 20 had no effect and 2 of 20 experienced an adverse effect.


Another one: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17159373

INTRODUCTION:
The standard treatment of subjective tinnitus hardly reaches the level of placebo controls. Though the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) for subjective tinnitus has never been objectified, it is still advocated by some institutions. We analyzed the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen treatment in the context of accompanying factors.


PATIENTS AND METHODS:
We randomized 360 patients suffering from tinnitus into 2 HBO treatment protocols (group A: 2.2 bar for 60 min bottom time and group B: 2.5 bar for 60 min bottom time once a day for 15 days). All patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire (social and medical history, tinnitus characteristics, pre-HBO duration of tinnitus, prior therapy, pretreatment expectation, accompanying symptoms). A subjective assessment of the therapeutic effect was obtained.


RESULTS:
Twelve patients (3.3%) experienced complete remission of tinnitus, in 122 (33.9) the intensity lessened, and 44 (12.2%) had a subjectively agreeable change of noise characteristics. No change was found in 157 cases (43.6%) and 25 (6.9%) experienced deterioration. There was no statistically significant difference between groups A and B (p > 0.05). Out of 68 patients with a positive expectation of HBO effects, 60.3% stated that the tinnitus had improved whereas only 47.2 and 19%, respectively, out of patients who underwent therapy with an indifferent (n = 271) or negative expectation (n = 21) reported an improvement. The influence of subjective expectation on the outcome was statistically significant (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSION:
The therapeutic effects of HBO on subjective tinnitus may be substantially influenced by psychological mechanisms.


From that second study it's interesting that the influence of subjective expectation was statistically significant.



Then finally a review: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18225611

OBJECTIVE:
To assess the effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on tinnitus.


METHODOLOGY:
A Medline search from 1960-2007 yielding 22 studies.


RESULTS:
No significant effect could be demonstrated in four prospective studies. Retrospective studies indicate greater improvement in tinnitus in acute cases (49-85%) compared with tinnitus episodes exceeding three months (34-38%). One study, however, showed significantly more improvement in patients with positive expectations before therapy (60.3%) compared with those with negative expectations (19%).


CONCLUSIONS:
There are no significant data about the effect of hyperbaric oxygenation for tinnitus, but there are indications of a better effect in acute cases. However, a major psychological component and a low risk of enhancement of the tinnitus should be considered.
Click to expand...
 
#918
I just finished 10 sessions of HBOT.
I found that each session made me very energetic and feeling really good. Its good for the overal health for sure.

To start out I had light T in my left ear and barely audable T in my right ear.
The volume in my left ear had a slight dip at about session 5.
I noticed that at session 8 my right ear felt a little painfull and the volume increased to light T levels.
The volume in my right ear dropped to almost unaudable levels at the start of day 10.
At this very moment at the end of day 10, T has re-apeared in my right ear.

My referal stated that I was going to go in for 10 hyperbaric sessions. I wanted to do more sessions but the doctor at the HBOT center refused to give me more sessions because of the lack of improvement and he feared further sessions might make my T worse.

I have to say that: I was still on a high dose of prednison while starting this treatment so that caused a big spike in T levels which thereafter went back to baseline again.
The HBOT center logged my T volume day by day. They where happy it improved from a level 3 to a level 2 but... then I told them that the volume increased and decreased because of the prednison I was taking, complicating the matter.
The docter concluded no improvement had taken place and refused to give me more sessions.
I am thinking of going back to my ENT and getting a new referal to then do new sessions... like bypassing the docter at the HBOT center... but that would not be very polite I think.
I wonder if the docter there can, just block a patient from doing more sessions?
I am really stressing out about the spike but also about discontinuing further sessions.
 
#919
Does anyone know if doing 20 sessions might bring results, 10 sessions didn't bring that much results. So I'm wondering if more might help. Man I really don't like this T thing.
 
#922
John_415 said:
I just finished 10 sessions of HBOT.
I found that each session made me very energetic and feeling really good. Its good for the overal health for sure.

To start out I had light T in my left ear and barely audable T in my right ear.
The volume in my left ear had a slight dip at about session 5.
I noticed that at session 8 my right ear felt a little painfull and the volume increased to light T levels.
The volume in my right ear dropped to almost unaudable levels at the start of day 10.
At this very moment at the end of day 10, T has re-apeared in my right ear.

My referal stated that I was going to go in for 10 hyperbaric sessions. I wanted to do more sessions but the doctor at the HBOT center refused to give me more sessions because of the lack of improvement and he feared further sessions might make my T worse.

I have to say that: I was still on a high dose of prednison while starting this treatment so that caused a big spike in T levels which thereafter went back to baseline again.
The HBOT center logged my T volume day by day. They where happy it improved from a level 3 to a level 2 but... then I told them that the volume increased and decreased because of the prednison I was taking, complicating the matter.
The docter concluded no improvement had taken place and refused to give me more sessions.
I am thinking of going back to my ENT and getting a new referal to then do new sessions... like bypassing the docter at the HBOT center... but that would not be very polite I think.
I wonder if the docter there can, just block a patient from doing more sessions?
I am really stressing out about the spike but also about discontinuing further sessions.
Click to expand...

Doctor at the hyperbaric chamber is end responsible. And HBOT is pretty safe but it is not for nothing that a doctor is attained to the chamber.
 
#923
I'm wondering what the average number of HBOT sessions is around here.
Also did you have a reduction because of it?

I wanted to put a poll in here but that did not work.
 
Last edited:
#928
joe said:
Hi,

Has anyone tried Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?
http://www.tinnitusformula.com/library/hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-for-tinnitus/

It has some good results, if done in early onset.

Any feedback welcome.
Click to expand...

I suffered SSNHL on 11/12/17, 12 days after, I received my first injection in my ear of steroids, and began oral steroid treatment. Eventually, got 3 total injections, and oral steroids. When I finished, my hearing improved slightly, and the numbness to my face and ear almost completely resolved. I had a light ringing in my right ear, but totally liveable, compared with what some of you faced. I also took multivitamins, and gingko biloba supplements everyday. Got clear MRI, and went to House Ear Clinic in Downtown Los Angeles.

After realizing doctors know nothing about SSNHL, I tried hyperbaric treatments. I received 20 treatments, they did absolutely nothing. Personally, I believe most "studies" are contrived and fake, as the researchers must show results to justify their time, and more importantly their "donors" investment in them. I would like to mention, after receiving the hyperbaric treatments (I did almost all large, metal, high pressure, not soft shell, and not small chamber) AND going to the gym afterwards, I would suffer mild tinnitus in the OTHER ear, which was much louder. I literally prayed to God it wasn't permanent. Both times I did HOT AND went to the gym afterwords, I got a mild buzzing, which was loud enough to scare me. It's now been 6 months, and my hearing is still very poor in my right ear.

Went to Costco to look into hearing aids, but I can live with the loss of hearing, and after trying the hearing aid on, I didn't find it to be worth it.

I was an avid scuba diver prior to this "condition", and now am scared to scuba dive, as my condition is completely tolerable, although not perfect, right now. Anybody scuba dived after SSNHL? Any words of caution to avoid things that make it worse? The house ear clinic adamantly told me to avoid loud noises. But had little other advise.
 
#929
Koubee said:
Personally, I believe most "studies" are contrived and fake, as the researchers must show results to justify their time, and more importantly their "donors" investment in them.
Click to expand...

I am very sorry for what happened to you. But for your outlook on research, this couldn't be further from the truth. First off, even failing to reject the null hypothesis can be valuable. Especially if they are doing a one side test vs two. Secondly, funders usually want results. That doesn't always mean positive, but they want to see a well run trial that answers their question.
 
#930
Koubee said:
I received 20 treatments, they did absolutely nothing. Personally, I believe most "studies" are contrived and fake, as the researchers must show results to justify their time, and more importantly their "donors" investment in them.
Click to expand...

I do believe there is some truth to that. Like I've mentioned earlier in this thread, there are only couple of studies about HBOT and all of them controversial. And the rest of the stuff you hear are always from the staff and companies that offer HBOT treatments themselves, so of course they're going to shill the heck out of it. These are the same companies that claim that the treatment might cure autism. So at the end of the day, it's like any homeopathy treatment; you can't prove or disprove that it works...so it's perfect, you can provide a service that doesn't have to deliver.
 

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