HBOT - My experience

[dancingwithfibro]

I started HBOT treatment. Today is my second day. I had searched this forum and fb Fibro groups of anyones experience with HBOT. I found none. zero. zilch. So this is my attempt to share my HBOT treatment with other fibronites.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert, I don't have all the answers or even most, I merely want to share my experience in hopes that it is insightful for others who are considering treatment. Also keep in mind with all things Fibro, my experience may be different to yours. I may improve with HBOT whereas another doesn't. So please keep in mind that with any Fibro medicine, the results may be vastly different from one person to another.

The Tel Aviv study in 2015 did 40 sessions total - 5days/week, 90 minutes, at 2 ATA. If you don't know about this study do a quick google search and you'll find many articles. The study fails to state if the benefits were permanent or even for how long. But the fact that it helped all of them and even some to get off the meds it was exciting to me. I briefly read over the science and it made sense to my simple brain.

My doctor recommended to start with 20 sessions at 2 ATA (60-90 minutes) to see how I do as he was not sold on the idea of 40. "Why not start at 20 and see if that's helpful enough" has been his argument at seminars where the speaker didn't have a good argument except that that's been the standard go to - 40.

Price. This is the big kicker and why most cannot even consider this treatment. Each session runs around $100-$300 depending on the clinic. So 40 sessions could easily be $4000 to $12,000. I live on the Big Island and their prices run between $125-$175.

Also due to the distance and my lower back pain, I could not make the drive of 3 hours total roundtrip every day for 5 days straight. So instead I am staying at an airbnb for 2 nights and 3 days to get my 3 consecutive treatments and then drive home.

Caveat: When I started the treatment my back pain over powered my Fibro pain so it was hard to really gauge if it helped my Fibro pain at all. I'm hoping that the flare I normally get from approaching my menstrual cycle will inevitably come again in a few weeks. I hope to be able to measure a difference then.

Baseline: Back pain was at a level 8. Sciatica down my left leg was at a level 8. Fibro pain was at level 5.

After 1st session: I couldn't tell what I was feeling immediately after the first session as I was super cold. The chamber is cold and I wasn't dressed right so everything felt pretty numb. But as soon as I went outside and sat in my car and started driving I could tell my back and sciatica pain was SIGNIFICANTLY better. Both levels were down to a 4 and after about an hour or two they both went down to a 1. However, those levels went back up to a 5 the following day. Fibro pain seemed to stay the same.

After 2nd session: Prior to treatment - Back pain was at level 7. Sciatica was at level 6. Fibro was at level 4. After I got into my car the back pain was at level 5, sciatica level 4 and Fibro at level 3. After about an hour or two my back pain was at level 4, sciatica at 3, and Fibro at 3.

Hoping so hard for a miracle,
Sara

 

[djhsix]

I've wondered if HBOT would help with my issues. Even found a few places near met that offer it for a reasonable price. Keep us posted.

 

[JayCS]

Due to someone somewhere writing about "ozone injections" I've found a doc fairly near me who specializes in ozone-autohemotherapy (mixes my blood with continually more ozone and puts it back in), as well as acupuncture, and sort of knows his way around fibro. I've had my 11th treatment, down from twice to once a week, and I think my sleep has slightly improved, praps also my bladder problem. Apart from that I've had flares due to work which doesn't make it likely that it has helped that much. I'll keep at it for a while tho.
(Unfortunately his acupuncture I tried 2 weeks ago hurt exactly as much as a year ago, so I cold showered that same evening, since my acupressurist/cryotherapist had told me that gets the effect of TCM down. Which worked. What I didn't understand was that he originally had said: only 3 or 4 needles. Then he got out a "picture" for fibro and I ended up with 20 (like somewhere else last year) and didn't "agree" with any of them.)

 

[JayCS]

(HBOT = hyperbaric oxygen therapy)
Update: I've finished 14 treatments of oxygen-autohemotherapy. The % of ozone that was mixed with the 200ml of my blood was increased to 40 ml by the end. It didn't do anything for me, I'm feeling dead-tired at the moment due probably to "overworking" (28h/wk) the last 6 weeks. At the most my bladder pain has improved a little, but I think that's something else. :-/
All the same it was worth a try, there are quite a few positive pubmed articles on using it for fibromyalgia.

 

[dancingwithfibro]

Do you know what the ATA of pressure was in your chamber? How many times a week were you going?
I’m sorry to hear that it hasn’t changed your Fibro pain I’m going on 19 sessions at 2.0 ATA for 1-1.5 hours 3x a week. It has relieved my lower back pain tremendously. It also cut the duration of my pms Fibro flares in half. Usually I’m in a flare for 10 days but it was only 5. That happened the first month. Now I’m in my second and it seems the duration went back to 10 days but the pain level isn’t quite as high? Not sure still assessing the benefits and I will continue to get the full 40 sessions to follow the Tel Aviv study.

 

[JayCS]

Hi dwf - what I had done was oxygen and ozone mixed directly in with my blood. So definitely no additional pressure!
I've looked where I cd get HBO near where I am, it'd be about 3 hours away, one way.
But thinking about it, the ozone 'injections' seem very similar: "substituting" "more effective oxygen into the body", and didn't help at all, so I doubt I'll be trying HBO unless it really crosses my way.
Your description including the effect sounds like my cryotherapy - also a type of chamber, also cold (like your first time anyway) and similarly relieves pain quite a bit, but unfortunately lost some of its effectiveness when the weather got colder. So I went down to 2x/wk plus acupressure thru the winter, maybe the summer warmth will increase the effectiveness again.
Hope it continues to help you!

 

[dancingwithfibro]

Jay - I didn’t know that something like that even existed! I’m sorry it didn’t give you relief tho I’ve done 20 dives in a soft shell now and I can tell that the hardshell is key to my relief. My back pain and exhaustion came back. Fibro pain has gotten slightly worse but not significant. Still better than I was pre any HBOT.

djhsix- after completing 40 sessions. First half in a hardshell (ATA 2.0) and second half in soft shell (ATA 1.4). I can definitely tell the difference. If I could do it again and if money wasn’t an issue I’d do all 40 dives in a hardshell. With maintenance dives every week or every other week. It’s helped me so much I’m looking into moving closer to the HBOT location so that it’s more accessible to me. Sorry for getting back to you so late! Lmk if you have any questions

 

[JayCS]

Hi, Dancing - thanks for letting us know, very interesting!
Didn't know either of mine nor of yours, nor ashwagandha....
I wonder if or when we'll ever have heard of "everything" ;-)
I'm listing "all" symptoms with triggers and treatments bit by bit, quite a job...