I had checked into the procedure 10 years ago from an advertisement that sounded convincing. However, the proposal that came back was almost $42,000 - multiple treatments per week for a couple of months.
A Warrant Officer for the National Guard is a good friend and he took the opportunity to contract the Air Force flight surgeons & medicals that treated pressure related illnesses via hyperbaric treatments. The official word from the Chief on the topic...given his 40 years of squaring away pilots and divers was "use the money to buy a house. The Oxygen saturation under pressure has it's place with high circulation to deliver and remove (burns and infused grafts)..." but in this area of treatment...not so much if anything at all.
The snake oil salespeople are all over the place plying their wares on the desperate; the despairing; depressed and anxious during a low mood cycle.
10 Years ago especially, the amount of 42,000$ is way out of proportion. treatment today from what I read usually go for about 100-200$ a time and you need at least 20 so that should've ended up in about 2000-4000$.
that said,
There are many ENT specialists who know nothing about how Hyperbaric Oxygen treatment can or might help to reduce or eliminate the tinnitus. and you should all know that.
however, apparently, there are some doctors who knows.
I was treated by a doctor which is the head of the ENT unit in a main hospital here in Israel where I live.
this doctor is probably an excellent and a leading doctor. I had sudden hearing loss and he put me on steroids for a week and i got most of my hearing back. but as a secondary symptom I got tinnitus. so,
even though this doctor is probably an excellent doctor (and a surgeon and all that),
he told me that if it won't go away of its own (since it's new) I should live with it and there is nothing to do.
now listen to this. in his hospital unit, there is another doctor which is an ENT specialist.
apparently, he conducted a research about the treatment of tinnitus with HBO.
and he is examining patients and telling them if the treatment is suitable for them.
from another live person conversation with the doctor that is the head of the hyperbaric unit in a hospital here, he told me that about 60% to 70% of the people
that were found suitable by the previous ENT specialist get the tinnitus sounds to reduce and even eliminate at all. and that is a fact.
He also told me that he is not an ENT doctor but he knows to tell that the problem could originate from one of two places:
1) In the ear itself- then, there is some kind of "mechanical" issue that was caused by loud sounds or a shock wave.
in this case he said, the treatment is not sure to help but could also be suggested in some cases in order prevent further deterioration.
2) In the brain- apparently there might be something wrong in the areas that are suppose to interpret the signals coming from the ear. and the sound that we hear is actually coming from the brain.
in this case the patients are more likely to be suitable to HBOT as oxygen level in the body are raised to 20 times higher as they are normally are and that happens in the brain as well. and this is what is suppose to help to cure the damaged areas.
this article from 2009 talks about it.
He also said it's not about how much time has passed since onset as where is the problem is coming from (1 or 2).
I am a month away from onset.
now, don't take anything hard as iron here, he is not an ENT doctor.
I've also read that tinnitus that comes secondary to sudden hearing loss is the typical scenario for being treated with HBO with success. that is what I have. and I cross my fingers that the doctor will tell me that HBO could help me but on the other hand, by what the former doctor said, it seems that my damage was "mechanical" as it was noise induced. so don't take nothing for sure here, I am still investigating with the appropriate doctors.
now who knows to tell where is my tinnitus is coming from and how? (I don't know yet)
where I live, there are a few leading ENT specialists. they are very respectable doctors worldwide with decades of experience and that conducted studies and taught in respectable universities and so on... I've talked to a few of them. it appears everybody who is not familiar with the method of treating tinnitus with HBO say it won't help and even the one that treated me who was the head of the ENT unit said that it did not show any
significant results in studies and that it cannot be made conventional treatment. most of the doctors, even if they are specialists, they are
NOT specialists for Hyperbaric oxygen treatment. if you take and expert for HBO and an expert for ENT and combine them together, you get something that
might be able to know what it can do for you.
so from all these doctors, only TWO, are apparently the only ones that knows exactly how HBOT can help the situation and who is suitable for the treatment.
I got to these doctors through the two (out of 3) HBO clinics around me.
the clinics here will not treat you unless you go through these doctors that are known to know how HBO really works and if the treatment is suitable for you.
the first doctor I tried to reach is overseas for another month and a half.
the second one I got his secretary to squeeze me in right before he leaves for a month. lucky me.
so I am going to see him tomorrow. he is a professor actually. he was treating patients with HBOT from a very long time. and he is s also a long time researcher. something to do with the naval forces here as well.
so, I just got the idea, if you have questions and the questions could apply to me as well so I will be able to raise them, shoot, and I'll ask the professor.
I can tell you my first question:
How does a doctor determine if HBOT is suitable to the person or not?
if this professor will say the treatment is suitable for me, I will be staring the treatment in a matter of a week or two. for 20 consecutive days (I think) 5 days a week. I will update daily after I'll (hopefully) begin.
for general knowledge, each time will last 2 hours and will cost me $100.
I'm afraid I can't tell you that mate and unfortunately I don't think doctors can either. But at the time I was really desperate, risks were not really a consideration as I thought I was on the way out anyway. However I still don't consider HBOT to be high risk and if you feel uncomfortable you can stop the descent at any time. Either way stick around for a few months as regardless of what you do, you will get used to it and adapt your life around it. In short, it's shit but not nearly as shit as I thought it would be.
for those who are afraid of the treatment, I've been told the possible side effects of treatment are very rare. the only thing is that you should pump your ears sometimes to prevent ear damage like ear drum raptures and stuff. they also said the other thing that might happen is seizures. but these are extremely rare and happens to 1-2 persons a year (out of a thousand maybe) in the clinic.
Yeah, but what if i go in and the Tinnitus gets worse? Or I get one of the side-effects an thus something else to be sad about.
My Tinnitus was caused by the loud noise of an MRI. This is considered a safe machine by many doctors. Then there was me.
according to
this study from 1998:
If the onset of affliction was more than 2 weeks but no longer than 6 weeks:
4% no longer experienced tinnitus,
81.3% observed an intensity decrease
1.2% an intensity increase of their tinnitus condition.
13.5% remained unchanged.
If HBO therapy was administered at a later stage, but still within 3 months following onset of affliction:
7% no longer suffered from tinnitus,
44% reported an intensity decrease, a similar percentage noticed no change and
5% a temporary deterioration of their tinnitus condition.
If the onset of affliction was longer than
3 months up to several years,
33% of the cases reported an intensity decrease of tinnitus, (cool fact)
60-62% reported no change and
4-7% noticed a temporary intensity increase
In conclusion, it may be deduced that HBO therapy is recommended and warranted in those patients with idiopathic sudden deafness, acoustic trauma or noise-induced hearing loss within 3 months after onset of disorder.
so you can see the numbers are not so much against you, I would definitely take the chance and do it.
I'll post an update after the meeting with the professor.
All the best to you all,
Roy.
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