Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

[Lane]

I've read that it's most effective if you do it every day for 10-15 days.

When I did my first ten sessions, they too recommended daily. But I actually found my ears kind of welcomed the 2-day break on the weekend. I do think fragile ears are impacted to some degree by the stress of the changing pressures, so a 2-day break might actually be a good thing. I personally don't think it's going to make a big difference either way, but that's just my humble opinion.

 

[Lane]

The following notes are my best take on why my tinnitus seems to have lessened by about 20% in the past couple of days--and which I hope will continue to progress!

I got my home mHBOT chamber in September, and after having to let it outgass for several weeks, started doing regular sessions in October. I'd estimate I've done about 50+ so far. I often feel much better afterwards, but generally speaking, my tinnitus tends to temporarily spike immediately afterwards (for approx. 1-2 hours), especially if I've fallen asleep inside the chamber.

I've also be doing weekly physical therapy sessions since about August, and have felt some really good shifts during this time in various parts of my body. Fortunately for me, my physical therapist also does cranial sacral therapy, which has felt extremely supportive and relaxing. -- As far as I could tell, neither the mHBOT or the physical therapy made much of a difference in my tinnitus/hyperacusis.

This past week however (Monday), my physical therapist worked far more intently (but extremely gently) on my neck. And since then, my neck has felt better than it has in quite some time. By yesterday (Tuesday), I was noticing my tinnitus was a bit better, but my hyperacusis was actually worse. When I was in the chamber last night, I went into a nice deep relaxation mode. After about 30 minutes, I was struck by how much relaxation and letting go I was feel all over my face!

When I woke up this morning, tinnitus was not the first thing I became aware of (which I believe is a first since its onset on Feb. 3, 2018). And when I did start noticing it (didn't take long), it seemed to be about 20% improved from its baseline. This is unprecedented. I don't know what's all contributed to it, but the ongoing neck therapy, and the ongoing mHBOT therapy seem to have brought me to a threshold where my head, face, neck & face areas are letting go in a manner they've thus far been unable to. -- @Greg Sacramento @Arseny

 

[Bill Bauer]

home mHBOT chamber in September

Are you renting it by the month? How much does this cost? Where do you get the oxygen? How much is it? Do you live in the United States?

 

[Lane]

Are you renting it by the month? How much does this cost? Where do you get the oxygen? How much is it? Do you live in the United States?

I live in Oregon, and purchased a unit (called the Dive) made by the company Summit to Sea--at This Site. I've got a little less than $7,000 in it (about half of what it was just a few years ago). It includes an oxygen concentrator and a "silencer", which makes it the quietest chamber I've been in. I posted a bit more about my experiences in THIS POST.

These things hold their value fairly well. In case you discovered you didn't get the benefits you'd hoped for, you could probably recoup most of your investment. It was a critical factor for me in deciding to take out a loan for this. -- I've only run across a single business in Denver that leases them, and have not looked further. I've just assumed other areas have them as well. -- They charge roughly $600/month, and this place even has purchase options after the lease is completed.

Affordable Hyperbaric Solutions

 

[JavierGV]

I had 20 sessions (5 a week) in the past September/October, 3 months after my sudden hearing loss in the left ear. It is a multi person Hyperbaric Chamber (up to 10 people) with oxygen mask under 2,5 atm. pressure. Sessions were around 100 minutes with a small 5' pause in the middle, still under pressure but without oxygen mask. Final price is around 1000€ but you can have a nice discount if you have a private health company card, so it was about 750€ lastly. About results, well, I have to say that I hoped for more but we always do, don't we? This therapy got good results in the case of sudden hearing loss if you do it in the first 2 months, I did it 3 months later... maybe it was because of this, maybe not. All in all I must say that I felt a general health and mood improvement. Hyperacusis and tinnitus didn't change at all but my audiogram got a very light improvement, both in my left ear (recent sudden loss) and, really strange, in my right ear's ten years chronicled hearing loss. Also, by that time I was having dental implants set and the Hyperbaric helped me a lot with the healing of gums and implants.

 

[hoppy]

Hi everyone,

I'm 19 and 42 days before I've had a acoustic trauma. I have hearing loss (7%) in my right ear and nothing in the left. I also had tinnitus in both ears but right is louder than the left one.

I'm going to do HBO sessions but I was asking myself if it's worth it.

When I'll begin the therapy I'll be at 46 days since the onset.

First, I'm actually scared of making my tinnitus worse.

Plus, the results are not very sure and the same for everyone.

And, actually I'm Europe it's pretty expensive.

The sessions cost 250 euro and it's 15 sessions and there is a trip to the center that will cost me 500 euro for the 15 days. So we are around 4500 euro.

I don't care about money when it's for my health.

Some my question is, is worth it ?

 

[hopedeferred]

HBOT provides more oxygen to damaged cells in your body, thereby half dead cells begin to recover.
For oxygen to reach these cells, there must be a significant activity in these cells. If damaged cells are in the brain or the ears, you must activate area where are damaged cells located while you inside the pressurized room.

So, when you go to HBOT, while you inside the pressurized room you have to trigger your brain or ears areas that causing the noise, otherwise treatment is useless.

For example, if your tinnitus connected to a concentration, you probably need to be concentrate on something while in the pressurized room.

Hi, coukd you post a link to some more background on this? Trying to decide if I need to focus on the t while laying in the tube. It's definitely always there regardless, just trying to decide if I need to pay special attention to it (something I generally try to do less of).

 

[PanM]

As far as I'm concerned no one on this thread has been cured from HBO...

I am a 1 month sufferer and from what I've seen it's not worth the potential risk of getting worse, barotrauma (or oxygen toxicity).

I've spoken to two non privet HBO specialists and they've been very reluctant regarding tinnitus which goes with neural hyperactivity, saying that HBO is generally recommended for hypoactivity, in particular idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss.

Also one of the two specialists, a high ranking navy officer, added that HBO is used to treat heavy damage and not small damage, meaning losing 40dbs of all frequencies or something.

 

[moshe mitrani]

Since 2011 I have a problem with tinnitus related myoclonus (pulsatile tinnitus). I tried everything to solve the problem, drugs, surgery, acupuncture ...

I've decided that this problem will not be solved.

But...

There is an important center in Israel that works with the brain to solve problems with hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment. http://www.assafh.org/sites/en/clinic/Hifrbaric/Pages/default.aspx

Nobody promised there would be a solution to my problem. But at least I knew my brain skills could be better.

I joined a program of total of 60 times for 2 hours each (very expensive, almost 8000 dollars)

I finished it three months ago. There is no doubt that my brain abilities and memory are better. But my tinnitus problem? It was the same.

But after 3 months of completing the program, the tinnitus sounds suddenly began to decrease and after became completely silent.

Unbelievable but it is true! Now 1 month later my tinnitus sounds have entirely disappeared!

Moshe Mitrani

Israel

 

[Drone Draper]

@moshe mitrani - wow, you should post this in the success forum. 60 times? Holy moly, how did you have the time to go that often? I'm doing 15 treatments right now and am struggling to juggle work and going.

 

[moshe mitrani]

I have a success story in Israel with Hyperbaric Oxygen treatment.
I wrote about this yesterday please look for it
Moshe Mitrani
Israel

 

[moshe mitrani]

I did 60 treatments all of them at the night times after the work. This is the best time. I decided that this is my target in my life now for three months. It is possible. And pls remember the affect comes later after finishing the treatments

 

[Drone Draper]

Yeah, my understanding is that the effects tend to come after the therapy.

Did you get a spike immediately following individual treatments? I find my T spikes immediately after, but tends to fade somewhat in the next 30 minutes.

 

[PanM]

Since 2011 I have a problem with tinnitus related myoclonus (pulsatile tinnitus). I tried everything to solve the problem, drugs, surgery, acupuncture ...

I've decided that this problem will not be solved.

But...

There is an important center in Israel that works with the brain to solve problems with hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment. http://www.assafh.org/sites/en/clinic/Hifrbaric/Pages/default.aspx

Nobody promised there would be a solution to my problem. But at least I knew my brain skills could be better.

I joined a program of total of 60 times for 2 hours each (very expensive, almost 8000 dollars)

I finished it three months ago. There is no doubt that my brain abilities and memory are better. But my tinnitus problem? It was the same.

But after 3 months of completing the program, the tinnitus sounds suddenly began to decrease and after became completely silent.

Unbelievable but it is true! Now 1 month later my tinnitus sounds have entirely disappeared!

Moshe Mitrani

Israel

I'm happy your tinnitus went silent.

However doesn't pulsatile tinnitus usually indicate vascular pathology?

I mean pulsatile and non pulsatile tinnitus have a very different cause and effect...

 

[Eric N]

The hospital in Montreal use HBOT for these issues only, I called the the HBOT department and they did not know if it would help tinnitus or not.

Therapeutic indications of hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning

• Underwater decompression accident

• Gas embolism

• ORN

• Gangrene gas

• Other

Other
There are more than 130 medical conditions that have been evaluated in a hyperbaric environment. It is true that for the vast majority of these diseases, prospective randomized studies are still missing. Some, such as acute limb ischemia, chronic osteomyelitis, acute cerebral anoxia (hanging), compromised grafts, chronic wounds, necrotizing soft tissue infections (sreptococci or mixed flora), and burns accidents are the subject of more serious studies and better controlled and several hyperbaric centers treat them as such.

However, despite the fact that many of these conditions are now approved by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, most of these treatments are performed in ultraspecialized centers with state-of-the-art equipment, whose multidisciplinary aspect supervision is essential.

 

[Drone Draper]

Question for the few who had some benefit from HBOT - @DimitarIV I see you had some benefits - how many sessions should I do? I'm currently scheduled for 15, but wondering if I should add another 5 to make it 20.

 

[Eric N]

I did 60 treatments all of them at the night times after the work. This is the best time. I decided that this is my target in my life now for three months. It is possible. And pls remember the affect comes later after finishing the treatments

when did you do this? it says you had T since 2011

 

[Alue]

Is equalizing in the chamber similar to equalizing while flying? Is the pressure difference about the same or is it more intense? I know it's adding pressure instead of subtracting it, but how does it compare?

 

[Drone Draper]

To me it feels exactly like flying.

 

[Lane]

I'm currently scheduled for 15, but wondering if I should add another 5 to make it 20.

Given my health background of head injury/whiplash in addition to a Lyme diagnosis, I came to believe I would likely need hundreds of HBOT sessions to get the kind of meaningful improvement I was hoping for. This is why I chose to get my own mHBOT unit (around $7,000).

I'm doing about 4-5 sessions/week, and though my tinnitus hasn't really improved to any degree yet, I feel I'm still only in the beginning stages of my experiment (about 50-60 sessions so far). Even if I were to never get tinnitus improvement, I feel my investment was more than worth it because my sleep immediately became so much better and far more restorative--just what injured ears need.

 

[Drone Draper]

Interesting. My sleep is still horrific.

 

[Dosman]

I can't make up my mind about trying HBOT. I'm at week 5 of tinnitus (loud concert induced), and I have an appointment with a treatment center on Wednesday.

Regular hearing test shows no hearing loss, but the audiocheck.net extended high frequency test shows that my hearing stops at about 13 kHz on the affected ear, vs about 16 kHz on the unaffected ear.

Most of the research shows that hearing recovery happens in the lower frequency range for people treated with HBOT, so I have no idea if it would help me.

Has anyone with high frequency tinnitus been treated with HBOT successfully?

 

[Dr. Ancill]

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy works as well for tinnitus as it does for all the other indications they have pushed it for - a total of NONE. For many years, it was hyped as a treatment for stroke and brain trauma - this was shameless and cruel as it offered false hope with no Phase I or II clinical trials to support this. It is indicated for Diver's Bends and for some burns but certainly not for tinnitus.

 

[DaveFromChicago]

Dr. Ancill, do you think the recently approved Ketamine drug for depression or the migraine drug Aimovig (Erenumab) will have any ancillary benefit for tinnitus?

 

[Lane]

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy works as well for tinnitus as it does for all the other indications they have pushed it for - a total of NONE.

So, all the HBOT sessions done at stand alone clinics around the country--many run by MD's, and other conventional health professionals--do absolutely NOTHING, and have absolutely NO benefit? Is that what you're saying? -- I can hardly believe anyone would even consider making such an assertion.

 

[Drone Draper]

The MS centre I did my HBOT at told me they had a patient with a diabetic ulcer who quartered the size of the ulcer within two weeks, so I think saying it's totally useless is probably a strong statement that should be amended.

Also, one of the ladies I saw at my treatments told me her partner accidentally severed his finger with a knife and was told a re-attachment would be pointless as it would not take. As he's losing his sight, he needs his fingers to see. They attached his finger and she had him go for HBOT for several weeks. The doctors were amazed that the finger actually did take and he has full use of the finger today.

The lady in question also suffers from MS and is deaf. She can barely move. The one trip she makes out of the house weekly is to get HBOT. She said if she misses a week, her condition is markedly worse and for this reason makes it a point of priority to get HBOT.

 

[Bndsmheowqhe]

Given my health background of head injury/whiplash in addition to a Lyme diagnosis, I came to believe I would likely need hundreds of HBOT sessions to get the kind of meaningful improvement I was hoping for. This is why I chose to get my own mHBOT unit (around $7,000).

I'm doing about 4-5 sessions/week, and though my tinnitus hasn't really improved to any degree yet, I feel I'm still only in the beginning stages of my experiment (about 50-60 sessions so far). Even if I were to never get tinnitus improvement, I feel my investment was more than worth it because my sleep immediately became so much better and far more restorative--just what injured ears need.

Is the low pressure version effective? I wasn't sure if that worked.

 

[Lane]

Is the low pressure version effective? I wasn't sure if that worked.

I've so far found it to be very beneficial, though my tinnitus has not changed much since I started. What I've noticed most is my ability to relax, and my ability to sleep much better. I've recently noticed I feel more clear headed, and think there's a good chance that's the result of the cumultiave effect over the past few months.

It's actually illegal to sell a mHBOT chamber that goes beyond mild, which is 1.3 ATM. So all the units that people buy for themselves, or the units that are often found in chiropractors/NDs' offices are 1.3. Interestingly, some of these office mHBOT units don't even use supplemental oxygen, as just the 1.3 ATM can increase the oxygen in the body compared to what you get in normal atmospheric air.

I've been told that to offset the lower amounts of oxygen that result from mild 1.3 ATM--as compared to a 2.0 ATM--all a person has to do is stay in the chamber an extra 15 minutes or so. So, 1 hr 15 minutes, instead of the standard hour. Can't say for sure whether that's true, but it makes a certain amount of sense.

Also, when you read the numerous testimonials online of how people have improved with mHBOT, it's quite apparent that many others besides myself have gotten a lot of benefit from it.

 

[Lane]

I think I'll start chronicling a story of a friend of mine who was recently diagnosed with CIPD, and is starting to do regular mHBOT sessions at my house (see brief description of CIPD below at THIS SITE). He'd only done two sessions before coming over today, and I asked him whether he's noticed anything so far.

He related that he was definitely able to think more clearly (brain fog is a symptom of CIPD). And he also said he's feeling the best he's felt since this started about 9 months ago, in terms of being in a better mood, and overall feeling more upbeat and happier. -- I thought that was pretty remarkable after only two sessions. I suspect the reason is that HBOT is supposed to be excellent for reducing inflammation, which appears to be a hallmark of CIDP.
.......................................

Summary

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a rare neurological disorder in which there is inflammation of nerve roots and peripheral nerves and destruction of the fatty protective covering (myelin sheath) over the nerves. This affects how fast the nerve signals are transmitted and leads to loss of nerve fibers. This causes weakness, paralysis and/or impairment in motor function, especially of the arms and legs (limbs). Sensory disturbance may also be present...

 

[Shem]

There is plenty of hard evidence that a timely application of HBOT can help with sudden severe hearing loss. Just do a search on Pubmed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28555597
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30267033
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24272206
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29083835
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28768087

and so on.

I also saw a bump in my audiogram after starting HBOT about 20 days after onset of sudden single sided hearing loss. That being said, it did not help my tinnitus.