Perhaps you've heard about hyperbaric treatment - it's commonly used for treating the "bends" in deep-sea divers. In the last few decades however, doctors have found that other health problems can be helped.
I'll explain how it works in a moment but I thought the best way to show you the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy would be to tell you how it has affected patients' lives.
Our very first patient was a young girl who suffered from a very severe case of cerebral palsy. Her arms and legs always felt cold to the touch. After the first treatment the circulation in her arms and legs improved. You could feel the warmth in her extremities as she came out of the chamber.
When she came to us, the muscles in her arms and legs were so rigid that it was a struggle for her mother to dress her. Her leg muscles were so tight that she was always in scissored position so she was unable even to crawl. After several treatments her muscle rigidity has started to loosen and now she is starting to move more freely.
We also saw profound changes with a 5-year-old boy who had autistic behaviors. Before hyperbaric therapy he would always play by himself. He was overly sensitive to normal noises, and his speech was underdeveloped.
After one month of HBOT he would interact and play with his brother and other relatives. His sensitivity to noises got less and he is much more verbal. Ask anyone who knows him and they'll tell you that he's a different person. He still has areas that need improvement but we are optimistic that with more treatment he will make further progress.
We witnessed the benefits of HBOT with a 66-year-old man who had suffered a severe stroke. he had speech problems, abnormal skin sensations (some areas on his body felt hot, others felt cold and others felt numb), and would get nausea because of dizziness. He also had difficulty walking and keeping his balance.
After two and a half weeks of HBOT his dizziness and nausea were gone. His speech was almost back to normal, and his annoying skin sensations were barely noticeable. For more information on stroke click here
A 38-year-old woman became blind and wheelchair-bound from multiple sclerosis. After a series of sessions in a hyperbaric chamber she reported the following, "From being totally blind, I could see again in order to read a novel or a spreadsheet." She also became able to walk on her own.
A group of patients in England, who suffered from multiple sclerosis, were so impressed with their initial response to therapy that they raised funds and began to set up hyperbaric treatment centers. Eventually there were 63 centers and more than 12,000 patients have been treated. This group started in 1982 and is the largest group that has ever been treated with HBOT. Statistics on the long-term results are now becoming available.
Researchers agree that while HBOT is not a cure for multiple sclerosis, many patients have stopped experiencing relapses and some have exhibited near-permanent remissions with continued maintenance treatments. The most significant benefits are: improvements in balance, muscle control, vision, speech, sensory perception, and bladder control.
There are many problems that people with learning disabilities experience - some have difficulty reading, some have difficulty reading, some have difficulty processing in school, some have behavioral/social problems and some have physical problems.
One thing that all people with learning disabilities share is the location of the problem - all of their symptoms are coming from the brain. Learning disabilities do not originate in a person's big toe or anywhere else!! This may sound like a ridiculous oversimplification however understanding this is crucial in finding therapies that have the potential to correct the learning disorder. It seems so simple, and it is - treat the brain which is the cause of the problem. Read More...
Now that you've read some amazing results let me explain how it works.
HBOT is simply breathing oxygen while lying in a special pressurized chamber. Quite simple...
And easy...all you have to do is lie there! No intensive exercise workouts, no strange foods to prepare and eat, no exotic herbal/vitamin supplements, no medication that could have serious side effects to swallow.
Try holding your breath - very soon you'll get out of breath because every cell of your body needs oxygen to survive. Oxygen, through chemical reactions, provides energy for all of your body's cells.
Your brain is one of the hungriest organs in your body when it comes to consuming oxygen. It is only about 3% of your body weight yet it uses a whopping 20% of the oxygen you breathe. It is very sensitive to decreases in oxygen - and that's why strokes, cerebral palsy, and other brain disorders are so disabling - because, at some time, for a few moments, brain cells were damaged when they didn't receive enough oxygen.
During your normal day-to-day activities your red blood cells are the main carriers of oxygen. However, did you know that only about half of the fluid that we call blood is made up of red blood cells? The other half is the liquid portion of your blood, called plasma. Normally the plasma doesn't carry much oxygen at all.
When you lie in a pressurized chamber the pressure causes the oxygen to dissolve into all of your body fluids so that not only the red blood cells, but also the plasma become drenched with oxygen. So under pressure, plasma can carry extra oxygen even to areas where circulation is poor or blocked. The oxygen gets into these areas that have poor circulation by trickling past the blockages or by seeping into the damaged areas -- areas that the red blood cells are too large to reach. Plasma has an advantage over the red blood cells in that plasma is made of much smaller particles. This extra oxygen helps the healing process.
Here's how HBOT works to help a stroke patient....
First, a little background into what goes haywire when a person gets a stroke. Simply put, there is a loss of blood flow to a certain portion of a stroke patient's brain. This blood loss is either due to a blockage of an artery by a clot or due to leakage of blood out of an artery. When the blood leaks out, pressure develops because there is fluid in an area where it shouldn't be and a big mess develops - not unlike a creek or stream over flowing its banks and causing flood damage.
Since your brain controls all of your body functions, the effects of the damaged brain cells show up as problems with particular body functions - so stroke patients have difficulty talking, seeing, using their hands or legs, walking, and also sometimes have emotional problems.
Your body responds by walling off the damaged area, much as the fire company or a construction company marks off an area where they are working - a hard hat zone or "keep out" zone. This is a protective mechanism so that the damage doesn't spread further. However this helpful process creates a new problem - nutrients like oxygen have a hard time getting past this zone to help the healing process. This area contains "idling neurons" - they aren't completely dead but they don't have enough oxygen and blood flow to completely do their job.
Hyperbaric therapy jump starts these "idling neurons" by providing them with the oxygen that they need to become actively-functioning brain cells again. With more brain cells active, you are then able to regain functions you have lost.
Many conditions can be helped. However, we've been especially impressed by the results for neurological problems - cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, autism, and traumatic brain headaches, and chronic asthma are very impressive.
You get into a cylindrical chamber with windows that resembles a miniature one-person submarine. Slowly the inside air pressure increases. You breathe oxygen from a mask. You lie there resting comfortably for approximately 60 minutes and let the pressurized oxygen do its work.
For the most part, hyperbaric treatment is comfortable and relaxing. Many patients rest during treatment or listen to music. It's like flying in an airplane. You may have to clear the pressure in your ears. So, the worst part can be a feeling of pressure in your ears. This feeling can be reduced by pressurizing the chamber more slowly, and we'll also show you ways to clear the pressure from your ears.
Some people experience claustrophobia. We've found that patients who are claustrophobic already know that about themselves. This minor problem can be overcome by taking a sedative before treatment.
This depends on many factors. It varies from one person to another even with the same health problem. Some patients notice improvements during their first treatment. Many patients notice beneficial changes after three to five treatments.
In the case of a stroke, the sooner a patient receives HBOT the better it is and the fewer treatments that are needed. The same rule of thumb applies to cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injuries. However people can be helped even several years after suffering a stroke or other brain injury. An initial course of treatment is 20 sessions. And sessions last 60-90 minutes.
Patients with multiple sclerosis respond well with an initial series of 20 sessions. Then, depending on how severe their symptoms are and how long they've had multiple sclerosis, they usually do best receiving one to two maintenance treatments a month.
With fibromyalgia and chronic headaches, treatment given three times a week for a month helps with most cases.
In all cases we find that patients respond best to hyperbaric therapy if we've had a chance to improve their diets and get them taking the "right" vitamins and nutritional supplements. Many times people are taking the wrong supplements or they just aren't taking something that could be beneficial for their unique situation. There are so many supplements that is very difficult to figure out what is right for you by yourself. Dr Grams will determine what foods and nutritional supplements are right for you.
If you're wondering why you haven't heard of it before or...if you talk to your doctor and ask if HBOT may be beneficial, he or she will probably not be in favor of it - why?
HBOT, for the conditions I've talked about, is relatively new and therefore most doctors aren't familiar with it. In fact, many doctors have a negative attitude about hyperbaric therapy for a few legitimate reasons. First, it was over-promoted several decades ago. It was touted as a panacea and a fountain of youth. Secondly, because high pressures and 100% oxygen were most commonly used for treating the "bends" in scuba divers, and high pressures can be dangerous - you can suffer problems. But for the conditions that we're talking about have, lower pressures are all that is necessary, so this greatly reduces potential side effects. If you can fly in an airplane, you can receive treatments safely in our low-pressure hyperbaric chamber. Now, we have to reeducate doctors about the wonderful benefits that hyperbaric oxygen therapy has to offer.
If you'd like to know more about hyperbaric oxygen therapy call our office and I'd be happy to talk to you. If you'd like to see our chamber call and set up a convenient time when I can give you a "tour". If you or your doctor needs more information we have studies on a variety of the different health problems that can be helped with hyperbaric therapy - just call and we can send you that specific information.
Contact Dr. Grams at (207) 293-3328 or hyperbaricconsulting@gmail.com