Hyperbaric oxygen treatment

[mammaP]

This may not be related but my grandson had severe asthma as a 1-2 year old and was 

rushed to hospital several times. He was given steroid medicine but became depressed

yes, at 2 years old!! . He cried a lot and took himself off on his own, one day said

'mummy I am very sad'. She stopped the steroids and the 'depression' lifted and he was

back to his normal cheeky self.  At the same time I read about Himalayan salt lamps. I 

bought one for him as  a nightlight and he hasn't needed his inhaler since or had any 

wheezing. He is now 5 years old and still has the lamp next to his bed. 

 

I've recently bought myself one to go by my bed but need to get someone to take it upstairs

because it is very heavy at 15 kilos. I'll report back whether it helps with sleeping or withdrawal

when I get it where it needs to be. 

 

http://products.mercola.com/himalayan-salt/himalayan-salt-lamps.htm

[JanCarol]

I have a salt lamp by my desk (where I breathe in all the computer nastiness).  In my experience, it is like an "ioniser lite" - I don't get that sniff of ions from it, it sheds salt everywhere.  I think I get more from eating the Himalayan salt than from the crystal lamp.  But it's pretty!  :-)  And if it helps the young'un with his asthma - more power to it!

[btdt]

What is the idea of this salt... 

does it help people breath somehow? 

How is that possible? if you know.

[btdt]

Btdt turned down, I even liked the music (turned down, of course!).  And it broke my heart a little just to know that this is a tiny (Cymbalta hurts more) video on you-tube, while Lilly has paid zillions to put its hard sell counterpart on everyone's TV.  I wish we could compete.  Get the message out.  To those who think their pain is unbearable BEFORE the drugs - that the price may not be worth it.  I do still believe in everyone's right to choose, and I probably would've chosen similarly.  At one point I was so depressed I was even open to ECT but I was too afraid of psych hospitals to do it.

 

And the other vid - what a hoot!  I had to watch a few of those, too!  I like the discussions between drug rep and doctor.

 

Sigh.  My oxygen idea.  So helpful (maybe?) so harmless!  I will talk to my Dr. friend in USA, she used to be a corporate owned GP and has gone into University work - so I don't know how much of her work involves these drugs (but she's always hated them - she was deep into organic chemistry when Prozac came out, and she was shocked at what she perceived as its action on the brain) but she might have access to the oxygen to try it!  ;-)

That tiny video with all it's truth... there is sits... all alone but it is there.

Somebody was hurt enough or had one they loved hurt enough to bother to make that video and put it on utube...

There is no way to compete with pharma...NONE the power the money is too big... 

but the internet has been a saving grace in so many other ways ...look at us here... it is something and it counts.

It all counts.  

Peace to you

[JanCarol]

Ah, btdt, the internet is our saving grace, until, of course, the corporations that own it stop us from being free there.  Legislation in the US that will affect internet usage worldwide is happening now, effectively to say that only the most expensive bidders will get top notice on search and other things, you will have to be a hacker to dig deeper than what the corporations want you to see.  Sigh.

 

As for salt lamps, I think the theory is that as the lamp heats up the salt crystal, it has a chemical reaction with the air and releases negative ions.  They even have special salt rooms, like saunas, where you can breath moist salt air.  You know the way you feel at the ocean?  These lamps are supposed to bring a little bit of that into your home.

 

I haven't noticed it much, but they are pink and pretty and people do swear by them.

[btdt]

I have not been to the ocean since 1986... no I can't quite recall what it is like.  Wish I could. I guess the salt is part of the deal with the ocean hence why salt lamps help.  I think I did see one of these lamps on  sale at a flea market... will keep my eyes open when I get out and about again. 

[JanCarol]

We leased a dry air salt machine from the chemist for a week, to see if it helped with sleeping and apnoea.  It was a filter filled with rock salt (would've been better with the pink himalayan salt) and a little computer fan (nice and quiet) that blew it into the room for 8-10 hours.  

 

The machine was too basic, hubby took it apart and said "I could build this with a computer fan and a capacitor."  It had no on/off switch, you just plugged it in and unplugged it.  Nor did it have a power light so you could look at it and check to see if it was running or not (we are hard of hearing, not easy to tell from across the room)

 

It was nice to sleep under, a bit drying - I had to run a vaporizer on my side of the bed to give me the moisture or my sinus dried out painfully.

 

You can pay about $12 to sit in a salt room in Brisbane for an hour, people swear by it.

 

At $160 (discounted) we decided not to get it.  We will wait until there is a better product on the market and less dangerous (with a power switch and on/off light)

 

Meanwhile I'm in love with the culinary and health principles of eating the pink himalayan salt.  it's beautiful, tasty, healthy salt, but I worry about inducing slave labor with the great demand for it world wide.  No resource is infinite.

[JanCarol]

I still have no answers on oxygen, though I visited with my doctor friend yesterday and she rolled her eyes when I mentioned hyperbaric oxygen treatments (we were talking about ketogenic diets) - mostly because they are expensive, difficult to obtain, and you can't just pull a proper hyperbaric chamber out of your back pocket.

[Cberg]

Hello, I've done exactly what you are suggesting. Sat with an oxygen mask on with a tank of O2. I was hoping I would get enormous benefit from it, but honestly I did not notice a darn thing. Not a single 'better' effect from it. If I had, I'd be sniffing it ever day! lol

 

There are doctors near where I live who use hyperbaric oxygen chambers in their practice. However, there was a horrible incident not too far from here where a chamber blew up, killing a child and his grandmother. It scared me so badly, and then having claustrophobia, when I looked at the actual chamber I said 'no way'. This was not one with a glass top. It looked like a submarine - a long tube with little porthole windows. No way was I getting into that thing.

[JanCarol]

Don't blame you Cberg - so you did the mask and tank thing?  For how many sessions a day?  How long at each session?  

 

My guess is that you were either at it for too long at a time, or not enough sessions a day.  My thoughts are leaning towards 2-3 short sessions a day, just to relieve the pressure and help stabilize the neurotransmitters.  (much like magnesium does, but maybe in another way)

 

Meimeiquest - the sleep apnoea - hubby was in hospital for a surgery, and the consensus was that his CPAP was BETTER than oxygen.  As soon as they found out he had a CPAP, they ripped off the oxygen mask and had him on that.

[Muddles]

I know of someone who is having this treatment in benzo withdrawal - it hasn't cured her but helps a lot.

[fj929]

Can you give us more details on this? What symptoms has it helped with? How bad was this person before and how functional are they now? How many treatments have they done and a million more questions. If this is a treatment that can help alot of people would be interested.

 

Thanks,

Fj

[fj929]

Muddles I tried msging you but looks like your box is full. Can you provide more details? I just saw a very interesting study in regards to how well it worked for Fibromyalgia.

 

http://news.rice.edu/2015/06/02/hyperbaric-hope-for-fibromyalgia-sufferers-2/

[cymbaltawithdrawal5600]

The above link from fj929 just gets me a blank page. Here is a direct link to the study on PLOS ONE:

 

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127012

 

fj, are you thinking that this will 'cure' withdrawal syndrome from antidepressants? Your drug was a SSRI and the person Muddles mentioned was/is suffering benzo wd. The 2 are not directly related.

 

The link to your intro topic is here and I see that you have not added an update since 2013. Would you consider checking in and tell us how you are doing?

 

Are you still feeling as badly as your signature reflects? I hope you have seen some improvement.

[GardeniaBlossom]

Has anyone else used hyperbaric oxygen during withdrawal? I would like to try it but am not sure if my insurance would cover it. I'd like to look into it more though.

 

Zepplin2011, did you ever try it? If so, what was your experience?

[JanCarol]

A few years have passed, and my little pet topic here has had some developments in the outside world,

 

There is now a hyperbaric chamber available in Brisbane - and I don't think you need a prescription.  It seems that mothers are taking their ADHD, asthmatic and autistic children in there - or - just taking their kids there to get the "smarter."

 

I have been sitting in a "salt cave" from time to time - the floor is covered in free flowing salt, the walls are sprayed with salt, and there is a huge tiled wall of pink salt and lots of giant salt stalagmites.  It's good for inflammation, asthma, allergies, sinus, breathing.  It's also good for meditation.

 

And now, I found this - http://www.breathing.com/o2e2.htm a company which claims they can condense ambient oxygen from the air around you - no flammable tank.  I didn't check into costs, because this is just curiosity on my part - and plus - I'm nearly well now.  

just a little update on the O2 scene.

[dj2010]

anyone in the UK interested in this therapy there is a charity offering the treatment in Morecambe for £20 a session:

 

http://abreathforlife.org.uk/

[Dude]

I was asked by a moderator to copy the following post on HBOT from DJ's thread into this one:

 

15 minutes ago, Dude said:

 

Hi again. Personally, I think highly of HBOT in general. When I was in Ireland, people with all sorts of conditions were being treated in the chamber. And some of them had quite impressive results. But I'm not an expert on the subject so I can't really give you real professional advice on it. You might find more information in the thread ChessieCat provided on the subject and might, perhaps, want to do some of your own research. If you're a reader, the "Textbook of Hyperbaric Medicine" might be a place to start. Haven't read it myself, to be honest, but it was recommended to me when I was in Ireland.

 

That being said, you should be aware that for neurological conditions of any kind, 40 consecutive treatments are apparently the norm (consecutive as in five days a week, 1 hour per session; and yep, you read correctly: 40 treatments, not 4 or 10... so that'd make 800 quideroo in your case). Also, different pressure rates (if that's the technical term ) are used for different conditions. They often use a "one size fits all approach" since they usually seat up to ten or twelve people in the large chambers at a time (which was also the case in Ireland), but according to Dr. Harch's website, the role of the neurologist is apparently to specifically "tailor" the settings to your particular condition. Now whether or not that's really the case or just his way of increasing the amount of patients who come to see him I don't know. But you'd want to go somewhere where they really know what they're doing when it comes to neurological conditions.

 

This wasn't the case in Ireland, by the way. They were lovely people, of course, and committed to helping, but the doctor there was a general GP who wasn't familiar with my condition and just stuck me in with the rest of them (call it the "pragmatic" or "laid back" approach to medicine, if you will (i.e.,  the Irish way )). But personally, if I were ever to spend money on that again (which I would if I could afford it), I'd want a neurologist to be making the decisions.

 

So the bottom line, in my opinion, is this: if you can afford it, then go ahead. But just make sure there's a neurologist present who's calling the shots (or at least make sure one has been consulted at the place they're offering it before commencing treatment). Also, although it may indeed be beneficial, don't expect an ultimate miracle to happen.

 

Anyway, these are just my thoughts on the subject. But good luck with it if you do decide to give it a shot!

 

[Dude]

One thing you might want to consider with regard to cost: if the people running the chamber really know what they're doing (i.e. have a neurologist involved in the decision making), then £800 is an absolute bargain. If you went to Dr. Harch, for example, it'd cost you about $10'000. And in Dublin it would cost you 4000 Euro (unless the price has gone up in the meantime).  So if you can actually afford it right now, I'd make use of the offer as long as it lasts. Again, just my opinion.

[dj2010]

11 minutes ago, Dude said:

One thing you might want to consider with regard to cost: if the people running the chamber really know what they're doing (i.e. have a neurologist involved in the decision making), then £800 is an absolute bargain. If you went to Dr. Harch, for example, it'd cost you about $10'000. And in Dublin it would cost you 4000 Euro (unless the price has gone up in the meantime).  So if you can actually afford it right now, I'd make use of the offer as long as it lasts. Again, just my opinion.

yeh defo a bargain, its a charity so they aren't doing it to make profit of it, I doubt they will have neurologists involved but ive emailed them asking a few questions, will find out some more,

 

cheers for your input

[powerback]

1 hour ago, dj2010 said:

anyone in the UK interested in this therapy there is a charity offering the treatment in Morecambe for £20 a session:

 

http://abreathforlife.org.uk/

That price is astonishing ,I wonder would one need to qualify to there protocol to avail of such a discount .

[dj2010]

2 minutes ago, powerback said:

That price is astonishing ,I wonder would one need to qualify to there protocol to avail of such a discount .

Hi PB, I am not sure about this, but it says which conditions can be treated in link below and brain injury and memory loss is one of them, even offer the treatment for migraines so i think any of us would qualify, ive emailed them asking questions so will update when get a reply:

 

http://abreathforlife.org.uk/what-conditions-can-be-treated/

[dj2010]

1 minute ago, dj2010 said:

Hi PB, I am not sure about this, but it says which conditions can be treated in link below and brain injury and memory loss is one of them, even offer the treatment for migraines so i think any of us would qualify, ive emailed them asking questions so will update when get a reply:

 

http://abreathforlife.org.uk/what-conditions-can-be-treated/

says it treats tinnitus also

[Dude]

23 minutes ago, dj2010 said:

yeh defo a bargain, its a charity so they aren't doing it to make profit of it, I doubt they will have neurologists involved but ive emailed them asking a few questions, will find out some more,

 

cheers for your input

 

No worries, buddy. By now they might have more experience in general when it comes to treating different kind of conditions, so I wouldn't be too worried about it if you wanted to give it a go. But reading up on the subject (for example by consulting the "Textbook of Hyperbaric Medicine") might help with communication. If I was considering going for treatment there, I would, for example, have no qualms with handing them a copy of the book if they weren't familiar with the treatment of neurological conditions and for some reason (e.g. routine) disagreed with the recommended protocol. I'd want to try to get the most out of it, after all.

 

One last thing though. I may be mistaken, but if I remember correctly, after treatment the majority of healing actually takes place when you're asleep at night (which usually isn't a problem for most people). So if necessary, you'd also want to take measures to help you sleep, such as taking certain supplements you're no doubt already familiar with (e.g. melatonin, magnesium, lemon balm etc.). And also eat well during that time so that your body has the building blocks it needs for optimal repair.

 

Lastly, if you happen to smoke (which I unfortunately did at the time and currently still do), it will probably be recommended by the staff that you quit at least for the duration of treatment (it's all about oxygen, after all). That was a problem for me at the time (especially considering that I was already going through withdrawal), as it led to insomnia. However, after a while, I figured out a combination of supplements and sleep aids that enabled me to sleep for about 5-6 hours a night, so it kind of worked out for me in the end. But I'm not too sure the quality of my sleep was all to great at the time, so under normal circumstances (i.e. under normal sleeping conditions), the benefits might have been far greater than what I experienced, which is why I'd give it another shot if I can ever afford it again and once I've quit smoking.

 

That being said, there were actually other people who smoked who were being treated there who didn't quit at the time. And they still derived benefit from the treatment. And had I known that was still an option I'd wouldn't have tried to quit at the time (in hindsight). So for any smokers (and I hope there are only few here, or, preferably, none) you'd have to decide for yourself whether you'd want to quit and, perhaps, struggle with insomnia (which might interfere with the healing process somewhat) or simply continue and accept that you also wouldn't quite benefit as much as a non-smoker (due to not being able to absorb quite as much oxygen etc.) , but would at least be able to sleep and would therefore benefit from a better healing process at night. That's a personal decision anyone who smokes would have to make themselves if they're considering this form of treatment. But then again, if they're already properly motivated to quit and are already past the acute phase of withdrawal, then maybe that'd be just the right time to do so (or they might even manage to do so beforehand, if the offer is on for a good while).

 

Anyway, that's about everything I have to say to HBOT.

 

Good luck and take care!

[Dude]

Dammit, another Germanism has crept in there. "All I have to say to HBOT...". I wonder what HBOT has to say to me...

[dj2010]

2 minutes ago, Dude said:

 

No worries, buddy. By now they might have more experience in general when it comes to treating different kind of conditions, so I wouldn't be too worried about it if you wanted to give it a go. But reading up on the subject (for example by consulting the "Textbook of Hyperbaric Medicine") might help with communication. If I was considering going for treatment there, I would, for example, have no qualms with handing them a copy of the book if they weren't familiar with the treatment of neurological conditions and for some reason (e.g. routine) disagreed with the recommended protocol. I'd want to try to get the most out of it, after all.

 

 

wow thanks Dude you really put time into providing information for us, I will have a look at that textbook, 

 

3 minutes ago, Dude said:

One last thing though. I may be mistaken, but if I remember correctly, after treatment the majority of healing actually takes place when you're asleep at night (which usually isn't a problem for most people). So if necessary, you'd also want to take measures to help you sleep, such as taking certain supplements you're no doubt already familiar with (e.g. melatonin, magnesium, lemon balm etc.). And also eat well during that time so that your body has the building blocks it needs for optimal repair.

 

 

 

luckily sleep is not to bad at the moment like it was in the early months, just waking up a few time,

 

4 minutes ago, Dude said:

Lastly, if you happen to smoke (which I unfortunately did at the time and currently still do), it will probably be recommended by the staff that you quit at least for the duration of treatment (it's all about oxygen, after all). That was a problem for me at the time (especially considering that I was already going through withdrawal), as it led to insomnia. However, after a while, I figured out a combination of supplements and sleep aids that enabled me to sleep for about 5-6 hours a night, so it kind of worked out for me in the end. But I'm not too sure the quality of my sleep was all to great at the time, so under normal circumstances (i.e. under normal sleeping conditions), the benefits might have been far greater than what I experienced, which is why I'd give it another shot if I can ever afford it again and once I've quit smoking.

 

That being said, there were actually other people who smoked who were being treated there who didn't quit at the time. And they still derived benefit from the treatment. And had I known that was still an option I'd wouldn't have tried to quit at the time (in hindsight). So for any smokers (and I hope there are only few here, or, preferably, none) you'd have to decide for yourself whether you'd want to quit and, perhaps, struggle with insomnia (which might interfere with the healing process somewhat) or simply continue and accept that you also wouldn't quite benefit as much as a non-smoker (due to not being able to absorb quite as much oxygen etc.) , but would at least be able to sleep and would therefore benefit from a better healing process at night. That's a personal decision anyone who smokes would have to make themselves if they're considering this form of treatment. But then again, if they're already properly motivated to quit and are already past the acute phase of withdrawal, then maybe that'd be just the right time to do so (or they might even manage to do so beforehand, if the offer is on for a good while).

 

Anyway, that's about everything I have to say to HBOT.

 

Good luck and take care!

 

I no longer smoke, I used to smoke a lot but after i was forced to go cold turkey from venlafaxine in 2009, a few months after cold turkey I started having panic attacks very time had a cig so had to stop smoking cold turkey also,

 

thanks again for your detailed input

 

take care

[powerback]

http://abreathforlife.org.uk/foods-matter/

Just by reading this article says a lot about diet and doing everything to avoid inflammation in our body's .very interesting . 

[dj2010]

1 minute ago, powerback said:

http://abreathforlife.org.uk/foods-matter/

Just by reading this article says a lot about diet and doing everything to avoid inflammation in our body's .very interesting . 

interesting article, trying to reduce inflammation is certainly a key thing for us lot

[dj2010]

check this article:  http://abreathforlife.org.uk/hbot-impaired-brain-function/

 

this place is not out just to get money off us either as its a registered non profit charity

[powerback]

5 minutes ago, dj2010 said:

check this article:  http://abreathforlife.org.uk/hbot-impaired-brain-function/

 

this place is not out just to get money off us either as its a registered non profit charity

Brilliant charity considering how expensive it is .

[Dude]

Okay, but lads, just one last thing. I think it's great that you're seriously considering giving HBOT a shot. It might very well help you significantly. And it's a cool experience being in such a pressure chamber (not to mention "getting high" on pure oxygen... just kidding, you don't get intoxicated but will feel good in general afterwards ). But just don't get your hopes up too much. On their website they list the conditions that can be treated. They're not promising an absolutely guaranteed cure for anything. 

 

That being said, have a look at Dr. Harch's website. There are some mind-blowing videos there of people who were seriously brain damaged and who were treated. One of them was, unfortunately, so brain damaged after a traffic accident, he could no longer move or talk. After about 80 treatments (if I remember correctly), he was able to stand and move about a bit. He didn't completely recover (no absolute miracle in his case, unfortunately), but it does at least seem as though he benefited immensely from treatment. And there are other examples, as mentioned (also on youtube).

 

So anyway, look into it, consider it and if you do go in for treatment I wish you all the very best. There's most likely going to be some improvement. But just don't get too carried away with the enthusiasm for your own sake. Hope for the best but "keep it real", so to speak (word ).

 

Good luck to all of you.

 

His Royal Dudeness

[Brussellsprout]

I was doing hyperbaric therapy pre- Pristiq and it helped a ton with cognitive function. I am now weaning off 6 mg pristiq after 2 months on it and am restarting treatment to see if it aids in withdrawal at all. Just a note- I found it MUCH cheaper to purchase a chamber and oxygen concentrator to have in my home for use whenever I want. The purchase price was $5700 US.  I had tried it at a pay-per-use place about 10 times before deciding to purchase a less expensive version of their super nice chambers. Tonight is my first “dive” and I’ll journal my progress when I can. 

[Evss]

On 6/17/2018 at 5:35 PM, Brussellsprout said:

I was doing hyperbaric therapy pre- Pristiq and it helped a ton with cognitive function. I am now weaning off 6 mg pristiq after 2 months on it and am restarting treatment to see if it aids in withdrawal at all. Just a note- I found it MUCH cheaper to purchase a chamber and oxygen concentrator to have in my home for use whenever I want. The purchase price was $5700 US.  I had tried it at a pay-per-use place about 10 times before deciding to purchase a less expensive version of their super nice chambers. Tonight is my first “dive” and I’ll journal my progress when I can. 

Has it helped at all?

[dj2010]

be very careful, I did 1 hyperbaric oxygen session over a week ago and my sleep has nosedived, I am now waking up every hour and very afraid of what it has done to me

[Evss]

Did you do a soft or hard chamber? Cuz I know the hard ones can detox you since the ATA is much higher. 

On 7/13/2018 at 11:35 PM, dj2010 said:

be very careful, I did 1 hyperbaric oxygen session over a week ago and my sleep has nosedived, I am now waking up every hour and very afraid of what it has done to me

 

[dj2010]

5 hours ago, Evss said:

Did you do a soft or hard chamber? Cuz I know the hard ones can detox you since the ATA is much higher. 

 

it was a hard chamber, I am certain it did cause detoxification because the day after I developed intense mouth ulcers, I know they are a common sign of detox, something to do with toxins being pushed out through skin, I wont be trying the treatment again until I am much stronger, when I do try again I will try at a lower ATA and a shorter session and build it up, luckily my sleep is now returning to baseline since I had the session,