A few weeks ago one of my fibromyalgia patients called and left me a message concerning a break through in their symptoms. Something she has used helped relieve her pain completely. The miracle was HBOT, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
Around the year 2005 I attended an autism conference in Chicago. At the time it was thought that there was a medical related tie between autism and fibromyalgia. Everyone was, as they say, picking at straws attempting to find any relationship to anything concerning these conditions. At that time there was much more research on autism than fibromyalgia. Today autism has much more definitive research on its condition than does fibromyalgia. The practical answer is that the allopathic profession, M.D.’s, D.O.’s, etc. or the “established” medical society, fall back on the positive objective testing that research can have for the study of autism. Fibromyalgia, since it does not fall into the normal scope of allopathic educational training or research, is still running through thick mud trying to label the condition.
I have mentioned many times through previous blogs and my book, that there are a number of symptomatic answers for the reduction of the many fibromyalgia symptoms. Some of these “cures” include pharmaceuticals, that of course cause side effects, or in many cases the exacerbation of existing symptoms. Some of the other safer symptomatic reducers include acupuncture, herbal medications, chiropractic treatments, certain physiotherapy modalities including T.E.N.S. units, Interferential electrical stimulation, some forms of massage, Omega-3 fish oil, malic acid and many others, too many to mention. Of course there are many such “cures” that fibromyalgia patients use on themselves that we don’t really know about because if they are mentioned by the patient, they would probably be laughed at, so they keep them to themselves.
So what about HBOT? Does it work for more than my one patient? The answer is YES it should to a certain degree per individual patient. There are many symptomatic and some very important conditional benefits from Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. The most important is the reduction of inflammation in the body. Remember, inflammation invariably equals pain which leads to chronic, which eventually leads to additional health problems from the breakdown of the body’s immune system.
Keep in mind we are talking reduction of symptoms and not the condition which WE concentrate on, and the reason you should really consider my protocol.
HBOT delivers hyper-oxygenation to red blood cells. It is used primarily for the treatment of decompression sickness better know as the “bends,” coming up to quickly from deep submergence in pressurized areas such as deep water. For fibromyalgia patients, there is an increase in neuronal energy metabolism in the brain which should help reduce “fibro fog.” It’s also known to remove free radicals, reduce tissue swelling, and also deactivates toxins in the body.
There are large multi-person chambers and also single and double person size soft chambers known as “mild personal hyperbaric chambers” or soft-sided chambers, that I remember being introduced to at the conference in Chicago. So this is not something new on the market. Different from multi-person hard chamber units where people sit and oxygen is dispersed into the chamber, the smaller soft-chamber units usually have oxygen fed into a small mask to be breathed in. In these small soft chambers, compressed air is fed through the mask at 96% rather than the 100% oxygen, to reduce the possibility of hyperbolic seizures.
That’s all the good news. Are there any contraindication?
Apparently there are a number of toxicology and risk management studies done due to the fact that most hyperbaric facilities are managed and run by department’s of anesthesiology.
The only absolute contraindication to hyperbaric oxygen therapy is untreated pneumothorax. Also if the patient is taking, or has recently taken, certain medications such as Adriamycin, cisplatin, antabuse or sulfamylon, you should not undergo HBOT treatment.
Other contraindications include the following. However, please check with you physician before partaking in HBOT treatment because, as you and I both know, you all have multiple conditions and not just fibromyalgia.
Other contraindications:
- Cardiac disease
- COPD
- Upper respiratory conditions
- High fevers
- Malignant diseases
- Emphysema
- Middle ear conditions
- Oxygen toxicity
- Temporary blurred vision caused by swelling of the lens which usually resolves in two to four weeks
WHATS THE COST?
Medicare recognizes HBOT in the United States. The catch is it must be an “approved” condition that is covered for 14 visits. Without approval, treatments range from $165.00 to $250.00 per treatment and in hospitals, the cost runs over $2000.00. Individual soft portable units can be purchased and the last one I checked on was over $1000.00. I doubt if there are many used ones available, and who would want someone’s used unit.
Finally, if some of you are using something that helps your symptoms, I’m sure we would all love to hear about your success regardless of what your family or friends think. Send your information in and I won’t use your name, yet I may just blog the information so to get the information out to those who so dearly need it.
Send it to info@fibrowellnesscenter.com or call us at 480-948-4955
Wishing you all a very happy symptom free day!
Dr. Ken