I'm considering the use of HBOT and would like to investigate post HBOT statistics to determine the return on investment.
That said, I'm looking for documents or study's which detail statistics of patients who have undergone HBOT I'm looking for information which measures multiple patients and the reoccurrence of symptoms 6 months, 1 year, 2 years following HBOT.
Does any one know of such writings and can provide links to such documents or authors or research facility's?
Search terms like Hyperbaric+Lyme+symptom leads to good information. Any other suggestions yielding good results? Your help greatly appreciated
JWC
Posted by butchieboo (Member # 12063) on :
I seriously doubt that you'll find anything like that anywhere.
HBOT is used by I would guess very few. It is usually not cost effective for anyone who has
lost their job and are on disability and no health insurance...not that the insurance would pay for HBOT...they consider it mostly an
experimental treatment for lyme.
If you could get ahold of AMY TAN the Author.,she may be able to get some stats.
Good luck
BB
Posted by BOEJR (Member # 1734) on :
Hi JWC,
To the best of my knowledge the latest and closes' thing to a data base is the article at personalconsult.com that you posted.
You will get a better result if you pose your question as a pole.
Also, Chico Hyperbarics would be your best bet for your money. Mitch offers the sessions at 2.4 ATA for 90 mins at pressure. That is considered very therapeutic.
You should also have your levels for toxic metals and viral titers check. You will get much greater results if you have these under control.
HBOT does not work for everyone however it is the least invasive and toxic of all therapies IMHO.
Kind Regards,
Julia
Posted by lymeladyinNY (Member # 10235) on :
I did six weeks of HBOT in Feb./Mar. 2006. It was very expensive and my husband and I are still paying for the treatment. We had to take out a loan.
That said, I went into therapy in a wheelchair, and came out of therapy literally able to run. I felt great!
I got home and my husband and I marveled at how much better I was. We even used money from a benefit to buy an in-home chamber (not cheap!).
Well, two weeks after treatment was over I relapsed. The home treatment was time-consuming and didn't really help as much as the professional treatment.
I'm working on treating bart right now and when I go back to treating borrelia I plan to get back into the chamber.
I still believe in HBOT and if I were rich I'd do it all the time and probably feel wonderful!
Posted by minoucat (Member # 5175) on :
Although Mitch Haggard runs the HBO center in Chico I'd say he's a long way from "selling" the treatment. LD patients form a very small part of his patient population.
I spoke to him at length last year when we were considering it. He was very honest with me about how iffy HBOT is for LD patients -- he's had some great successes, some complete failures, and a lot of in-betweens. Relapses are common.
I asked him why there were not better statistics for HBOT and LD, and he said that there was a)no funding for real research, b) not a large enough patient pool doing HBOT (and not much consistency across the HBOT centers), and c) no way to account for all the variables of the illness -- length of infection, coinfections, types of treatments previously received, follow on for treatment, length of HBOT tx, etc. etc.
He's excellent to talk to and will not try to persuade you into anything. I investigated several HBOT centers in WA, OR, BC, and CA, and he was by far the most knowledgeable about LD.
In the end, although we're awfully tempted, we just have not been able to justify the cost vs the probable outcomes. If money were no object we'd definitely try it.
Posted by BOEJR (Member # 1734) on :
Hi Lymelady,
I agree that HBOT will ameliorate your symptoms. It does kill the spirochete and you will herx from it as well. Some have very severe herx's some mild depending on your level of toxicity.
In order to maintain the gains from HBOT I believe that you should do maintanance sessions every several weeks or so.
Mino, yes Mitch is a great guy easy to talk to and very compationate. He is very devoted to lyme. And you are correct he does not push oxygen on you. He is also a wealth of knowledge about lyme and a great human being...
Kind Regards,
Julia
Posted by Boomerang (Member # 7979) on :
I wish we could see some statistics. Would be interesting. Hubby has done 8 HBOT treatments. The doctor here put him in a trial, so it's not costing quite as much.
I do think the HBOT has helped him. One of the main things I've noticed is how much better he sleeps. I've often wondered if he doesn't have a sleep apnea type problem, besides TBI. Or because of TBI?
While doing the HBOT treatments, his sleep has been much better.
Posted by JeffM (Member # 8919) on :
JWC: I was treated at the San Diego HBOT. I had 18 sessions @ $200 each. They led me to believe that the protocol from Texas did a lot to heal Lyme. I herxed like heck. That was two years ago. I still am quite ill.
Bottom line: It's not cost effective. I felt I wasted my money. There's no science behind it. However, another lady felt it helped her a lot.
Where are you in your treatment? Do you have persistent or chronic lyme? There are clearly many many intervening variables and we just don't know.
I would consider it again if I could find treatments for $30 - $50, in conjunction with abx and/or herbs. But it would be way down on my list or priorities.
Patient persistence. Loving self care. Good LLMD care. Diet. Getting the toxins OUT (this is the problem I think with HBOT. It might kill the bugs, but then the toxins float around, in the brain, in the organs and tissues, and cause havoc). Building your immune system. Bee stings. These are the things I see working with me.
Also, my LLMD says that ozone therapy is much more powerful than HBOT.
That's my two cents worth.
Posted by BOEJR (Member # 1734) on :
Hi Jeff,
You make a few points that I have to agree with and some that I don't agree with. That the cost is too high I will agree with. That is one reason why I tried to present the focus of lyme at the Nov 06 lyme conferance in Hartford, Conn.
I must admit that I am not a great speaker and I could have made a better presentation. I had too little time to prepare also. Despite bringing up the subject for two years I was only give a couple of weeks notice prior to the presentation.
The importance of this all is that the UHMS is the organization that governs and writes the criteria for the CMS services. The agency that all health care providers use when they determine which treatments are acceptable for reimbursement.
With the goal of putting in the forefront that BB is a bacteria not unlike actinomycosis which is an approve condition...
I also agree that in most cases you will have substantial herxing. If you do not see significant herxing within the first 10 -20 sessions then you should consider having your self checked for toxicity such as metals.
If you are toxic then chances are great IHO that what ever therapy you choose you will be long in healing now that your immune system is taxed.
I agree that you will have a significant toxin release. That is why it is important to compliment HBOT with detoxification such as sauna etc.
I am not familiar with ozone therapy however I do not believe from what I have read that it is more potent than HBOT. However, if it works for you by all means use it! It would not be my choice however.
HBOT is not to be considered as a sole treatment. It is to be considered complimentary to antibiotic therapy so that you will have a more targeted treatment. It, oxygen, also has proven healing qualities. That is why it has been approved for use with diabetic patients.
So if you have compromised circulation or damage to areas such as the brain, HBOT will restore the circulation via angiogenisis and promote healing.
It is my belief that in order to maintain the gains that you recieve from HBOT you should follow up with maintanance sessions once every several weeks to months depending on how weak your immune system.
There are two centers that offer HBOT affordably, one is Miracle Mountain in NC, They are runing a flat rate fee for sessions that if paid up front will put you in a lower price range as well.
The other one is mine. I make very little if anything offering HBOT now that I live in the insurance capital of the country...
Kindly,
Julia
Posted by JWC (Member # 12545) on :
Hi Folks, Thank you so kindly for posting your reply's. You all make me feel like a friend and neighbor. Never posted before and you all sure encourage to do more in the future.
Looking over the responses, I'm arriving at the conclusion HOBT like all the other approaches work for some and not for others.
We all seem to have slightly different infections, auto Immune chemistries, lifestyles, and physiological strengths which allow for a the use of a single drug or procedure.
Presently I live a controlled life style of diet, supplementation, low stress exposure, exercise, and sauna to keep my symptoms down to a week a month. Perhaps the HOBT cleansing with additional maintenance would further help minimize this down time.
What I have learned is don't have the expectations for "the cure" and know like any procedure there is always a risk.
Not sure I'm going to reach into my pocket and throw down the cash HOBT but I will surely keep digging for information.
Thanks again JWC
Posted by oxygenbabe (Member # 5831) on :
Okay I'll chime in. I'd probably be on disability or dead without it. I did clinic sessions and they helped a lot but I lost gains over time. I then got a home chamber. I use it about once a week. I use it when I get feeling so toxic and sick that I can't explain it but I can't bear it. Within 20 minutes in the chamber that feeling starts to abate. Don't know which bug is doing that to me. If I had it to do over again I'd do two months in the clinic and follow up immediately with the home chamber but at the time I didn't know about home chambers. Response is variable indeed. For some invaluable, for others not so much.
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