Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Successfully Treating RSD Without Drugs Or Needles

September 20, 2016 · HBOT, RSD · Comments Off

HBOT Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy treatment chamber

HBOT for Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy: A Safe and Lasting Alternative to Pain Meds

If you suffer from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), you know how hard it is to get relief from pain that can really be life-shattering. Although some patients can control RSD symptoms with addictive pain medications or injections, these temporary solutions often just make the pain worse. While a few non-surgical, drug free treatments exist for RSD, I’ve only found one treatment that provides lasting pain relief… Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT).

Wondering if HBOT can bring you lasting RSD pain relief? To schedule a pain assessment at our Palm Harbor, Florida, Center, click here now or call 727-487-1052.

HBOT: Treating RSD Pain Without Drugs or Surgery…

During Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), a patient lies in a clear, state-of-the-art chamber where he or she breathes in very high concentrations of pure oxygen under varying atmospheric pressures. Over the course of several treatments, this drug-free, natural therapy can dramatically decrease the pain that RSD patients suffer daily. HBOT treatments work so effectively because oxygen is carried in blood plasma far beyond where normal breathing can take it. This, in turn, allows the body to begin healing itself naturally. Pain goes down and new tissues begin to form.

If you’re suffering with RSD and would like an affordable treatment that works naturally to end pain without drugs, needles or surgery, Dr. Spiegel would like to know if you could be a good candidate for HBOT. Simply click here to schedule a personalized assessment. Our office staff will confirm your appointment soon. Otherwise, feel free to call us directly at 727-787-7077.

Healing Traumatic Brain Injuries with HBOT

September 2, 2016 · Brain Injuries, HBOT, Healing · Comments Off

Study Shows Hyperbaric Oxygen Successfully Treats Combat Veterans with TBI

Did you know that 57% of Revolutionary War soldiers survived their wounds? By contrast, in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, thanks to Kevlar vests and helmets, 90% of our soldiers survive them. About a third of all damage from IEDs and other weapons occurs to the head – and injuries are often invisible. Many of our brave combat veterans sustain devastating traumatic brain injury (TBI) that disrupts brain function and yet goes untreated for years. A study by Dr. Paul Harch now shows conclusively how hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) helps to ease the suffering of those who have sustained brain injuries.

Living with Traumatic Brain Injuries

Combat veterans with TBI suffer from headaches, disrupted sleep, anxiety, depression, ear-ringing, seizures, difficulty balancing, light sensitivity, and trouble thinking and planning. Their decision-making abilities are also often impaired. No wonder so many TBI sufferers feel agitated and angry. They are truly suffering. Doctors routinely prescribe psychiatric medications, sleep aids and pain killers. But results of studies show how soldiers can successfully ease symptoms with HBOT so that they can rely less on these oftentimes addictive drugs.

The Promise of HBOT as a Treatment for Soldiers with TBIs

A 2011 study published in prestigious peer-reviewed Journal of Neurotrauma and conducted by Dr. Paul G. Harch and colleagues at LSU School of Medicine New Orleans, the University of North Dakota School of Medicine, and the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine and Amen Clinics shows the promise of HBOT to treat soldiers with TBI. The researchers treated 16 active duty and retired U.S. veterans with HBOT nearly three years after IED and rocket-propelled grenade explosions caused them to sustain brain injuries.

Physical exams, cognitive testing, high resolution SPECT brain blood flow imaging and individual self-reports of life quality were used to gauge the success of the therapy.

After having 40 low pressure HBOT treatments within a month, each of the combat veterans made significant gains. Incredibly, results showed the veterans had a nearly 15 points IQ increase.

That’s about the difference between the IQ of a construction worker versus the IQ of an engineer! The veterans’short term memory, executive function and concentration all improved significantly. This has clear implications for HBOT to help veterans to go back to college or achieve higher paying jobs. Importantly, the imaging analysis was able to prove that the blood flow improved significantly with hyperbaric oxygen treatments, and also that the resulting cognitive improvements could not be explained away by a placebo effect.

Veterans in the study had marked reductions in headaches and depression – as well as suicidal thoughts. Almost two thirds of those taking psychiatric medications were able to cut back on these or discontinue the meds altogether. All of the study’s subjects reported significant improvements in quality of life after just a month. At a phone follow-up six months later, almost all of the veterans reported they continued to sustain their improvements.

In 2014, Dr. Harch and others at Louisiana State University in collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command conducted a long-term, randomized study that included 100 participants. We are still eagerly awaiting their published results.

Do I believe that HBOT is a magic bullet that reverses all effects of TBI? No, I don’t. But I have seen over and over how effective this low-risk treatment is for easing the devastating symptoms of traumatic brain injuries. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy truly allows our wounded warriors a better quality of life and an unparalleled opportunity to recover.

If you’d like to learn more about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and whether it could benefit you or a loved one, please contact us for a hyperbaric oxygen therapy consultation. Schedule your appointment today online or by calling 727-787-7077. A member of our office staff will be glad to respond to your questions and confirm your appointment.

How Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Naturally Helps The Healing Process

August 12, 2016 · HBOT, Healing · Comments Off

HBOT: Ease Pain Without Drugs or Surgery by Boosting Your Body’s Own Healing Power

Did you know that your body has amazing powers of healing? Yes, when left to its own devices, the body will normally do everything it can to support and heal itself. Think about it. When your body engages in a full day of active labor, does it wake up restored the following morning? If you cut calories and exercise regularly, does your body begin to shed pounds? When your finger gets a paper cut, does the blood begin to clot and form a healing scab? But sometimes we get injured. Or let’s face it, we neglect our bodies for months at a time and then wonder why we have trouble getting up of the couch…or worse. But what happens when our body gets so diseased it no longer has the ability to heal itself?

FDA-approved Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) uses pure oxygen to fight off infection and illness and enhances your body’s ability to heal on its own…

To schedule an appointment at our Palm Harbor, Florida office, call 727-787-7077.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) works by delivering high concentrations of 02 to your body at varying atmospheric pressures. At these pressures, your lungs literally suck in far more oxygen than they’re able to while breathing in normal room air. That life-giving oxygen circulates around your body via the bloodstream in order to distribute vital nutrients. Injured tissues need lots of oxygen to heal and begin functioning properly again, which these super high O2 levels provide. Yes, oxygen naturally helps to fight off infections and promote healing.

Our bodies are made up of 50 to 75 trillion cells. Each cell type has its own lifespan, and most cells naturally die off as new cells form to replace them. For example, skin cells live for two to three weeks, red blood cells live around four months, while white blood cells can hang in for more than a year on average. Believe it or not, our brain cells normally last an entire lifetime!

Each of these cells relies on oxygen for its processes to occur. When our bodies are in peak condition, they heal themselves from minor injuries and disease. But when areas of our body get badly injured or diseased, they become inflamed. This further reduces blood and oxygen flow to the area, and our bodies lose their natural ability to heal themselves.

HBOT restores oxygen and nutrients to swollen and injured areas. Think of it as an 02 super-saturation treatment. As you lie comfortably in a sealed chamber, pure oxygen finds its way into body areas that need help and healing.

Benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments (HBOT):

Here are just some of the benefits your body could experience. HBOT:

Fires-up neural activity in the brain
Wakes dormant brain cells that are alive but not working properly
Increases thought and memory power
Enhances ability to fight off bad bacteria and viruses
Reduces toxins
Stimulates new capillary growth in injured areas
Eradicates free radicals
Reduces tissue swelling and inflammation.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is non-invasive and safe. For over a century it has been used to treat divers suffering with decompression illness (the bends). Now it’s a commonly used treatment for many conditions and accepted by the FDA to treat 14 major health conditions and other off-label uses.

People have used HBOT to successfully recover from chronic pain symptoms of Lyme disease and Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD). The treatment is also routinely used on stroke and brain injury patients to help them recover their lives.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments and Sudden Deafness

August 11, 2016 · Deafness, HBOT, Healing · Comments Off

HBOT May Help To Restore Acute Hearing Loss

Acute hearing loss, also known as sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL), happens when somebody loses hearing over the course of several days, or even instantly, with no apparent reason. Sometimes people hear a loud pop! sound just before they lose hearing. And the condition is often accompanied by dizziness or ringing in the ears. So how else might someone experience the deafness of SSHL? I’ll explain:

We measure the loudness of sounds in decibels. Normal speech is around 60 decibels, while complete silence is zero. Whispering is around 30 decibels. And those who experience acute hearing loss hear normal speech like a whisper at best. As you can imagine, to suddenly lose that much hearing can really change your life! And becoming suddenly deaf is not an occurrence to take lightly.

What Should I Do if I get Sudden Hearing Loss?

The most important advice I can give you is to see a doctor right away. Don’t wait thinking that the condition could go away on its own. Sudden hearing loss should be treated like an emergency! That’s because if you don’t get treatment within 10 days of onset, your hearing function will have limited chances of recovery. The first course of treatment is steroids. And adding hyperbaric oxygen therapy to this treatment has been proven to significantly improve outcomes for sudden hearing loss sufferers.

Medical evidence confirms that Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a viable natural treatment for SSHL – and so does the FDA, which is why insurance companies often cover the therapy for our patients if they come in to see us within three months of the initial symptoms. Many patients have found that HBOT successfully reduces the severity of hearing loss.

How Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Helps to Restore Hearing

During hyperbaric oxygen therapy, patients lie in a sealed acrylic chamber where they breathe in pure oxygen at higher than normal atmospheric pressure. Having treatment feels somewhat like being in a pressurized airplane cabin. A patient’s ears may get a little plugged, but they can quickly relieve that sensation by holding their nose and blowing gently. Most people find the chamber is very comfortable.

Basically, HBOT treatment works by stimulating regeneration of the inner ears’ sensory cells. When patients lie in the chamber they are able to get far more oxygen than their lungs would normally allow. This O2 carries vital nutrients throughout the body via the bloodstream and stimulates growth factors and stem cells that promote healing. Please remember that the best possible hearing improvement occurs when patients get HBOT treatments right away!

If you have recently experienced sudden deafness and would like to learn how HBOT could reduce the severity of your hearing loss, please contact us without delay. Medicare and other insurers may pay for treatment if your hearing loss meets certain conditions. We will also gladly provide a personalized hyperbaric oxygen therapy consultation to see whether you could benefit from treatments. Simply click here to schedule an assessment. Our office staff will confirm your appointment soon. Otherwise, feel free to call us directly at 727-787-7077.

Treating Age-Related Macular Degeneration In A Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber

July 19, 2016 · Macular Degeneration, Vision · Comments Off

How to Improve Vision with Oxygen-Rich HBOT

If you live with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), you know how debilitating the loss of vision can be. For those who haven’t heard of it, AMD occurs when the macula in the eye deteriorates. The macula is a yellowish colored area near the eye’s retina which is most responsible for visual acuity. People with AMD experience wavy or blurry vision – and even blindness if the eye disease continues to progress. Often those with AMD lose the ability to read, drive or even recognize the faces of people they know. Any task that involves fine detail becomes virtually impossible. It’s a truly alarming condition for those who suffer.

Damage from AMD can be rapid and severe, or the condition can progress more gradually. And because the disease’s course is so hard to predict, those with AMD live with continual uncertainty. But treatment in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber is helping patients improve their vision acuity.

How Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber Treatments Help Vision Acuity in those with AMD

During hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), those with macular degeneration lie in an enclosed state-of-the-art chamber where they breathe pure oxygen at higher than normal air pressures. Part of what causes the macula’s decline is lack of oxygen. HBOT’s supersaturated O2 environment promotes eye cell regeneration and healing. It also aids the body’s production of stem cells, which can transform into a wide range of cell types, including those that help with vision.

Does Insurance Cover Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments for AMD?

Currently, the FDA considers macular degeneration an off-label condition for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Unfortunately, this means that most insurance companies will not cover it. However, we have many AMD patients our Palm Harbor, Florida Center who improve their vision with HBOT, and we are committed to helping them find ways to keep treatments affordable. If you would like to learn whether HBOT could help with your macular degeneration or that of a loved one, we would be glad to provide a consultation. To schedule your personalized consultation, simply click here. A member of our staff will call to confirm your appointment soon. Alternatively, please feel free to call us at 727-787-7077.

What Happens When Wounds Don’t Heal Right?

July 8, 2016 · Wound Care · Comments Off

Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments and Wound Care

Non-healing wounds are serious business. And for some patients with diabetes, these ulcers are easy to get. Why? Because when patients have no sensation in their extremities, they become more prone to injury, infection and tissue damage. For instance, imagine what a simple pebble in your shoe could do if you couldn’t feel it prodding your sole as you walked around for a day. That small wound would easily grow and get infected as the pebble continued to work its way in to the foot. Ouch!

Those with open wounds are at increased risk for infection and have a harder time fighting it off. Here’s why: When diabetes damages blood vessels, they can no longer effectively pump oxygen with its vital nutrients to the body’s tissues. Additionally, if the patient suffers from peripheral artery disease, the blood supply to their legs and feet gets cut off, leading to diseased tissue that won’t heal properly. In about a quarter of all cases, a lesion that won’t heal leads to limb amputation.

How HBOT Heals Stubborn Wounds:

During HBOT therapy, patients sit or lie in a comfortable chamber and breathe in high concentrations of pure oxygen at higher than normal air pressures. This super-charged 02 level is highly effective for treating stubborn, non-healing wounds. Here’s how it works…

HBOT literally drives pure oxygen deep into tissues. It also stimulates new blood vessel growth, which increases the flow of vital nutrients to impacted areas, allowing healing to occur naturally. If diabetes has led to tissue damage or non-healing ulcers, Medicare and other insurers will cover Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

It’s so important for diabetic patients to maintain good foot health. Thoroughly inspect feet and toes daily, and ask others to clip your toenails for you if you’re not able to do it yourself. Increases in foot temperature can be an early warning sign of an ulcer. Purchase an infrared thermometer to measure foot temperatures quickly and easily. If you have more than a four-degree temperature difference between your two feet, it’s time to contact your doctor!

If you’d like to learn more about HBOT’s ability to heal stubborn wounds, please call our office at 727-787-7077. Dr. Spiegel would like to provide a personalized assessment to determine if you could benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Our office staff will confirm your appointment soon. For many non-healing wounds HBOT is covered by Medicare and other insurances. Otherwise, we can review payment options that help make the treatment affordable.

Reducing RSD Pain with HBOT Therapy

June 22, 2016 · Pain, RSD · Comments Off

RSD Update: When Pain Killers Don’t Work, Many Sufferers Turn to Pricey, Invasive Alternatives.

HBOT Brings Gentle Pain Relief for Less Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy patients struggle with a way to cope with daily pain that can literally be
life-changing. Doctors usually begin by prescribing addictive pain meds. Even then, those with RSD frequently can’t get lasting relief. They end up in a vicious cycle of pain that leaves them feeling discouraged and depressed. When traditional narcotics don’t work, RSD patients get stellate ganglion or sympathetic blocks – injections to treat localized pain. A small number of RSD patients respond well to these quickly, but others will require the expensive shots weekly or monthly for the rest of their lives.

If RSD pain fails to respond to these sympathetic blocks, doctors refer the patient for morphine pump implants or spinal stimulators which cost $70,000 to implant, and require ongoing monitoring so that doctors can make necessary adjustments. But a hyperbaric chamber provides a far less expensive and more effective pain solution for those who suffer with RSD, and often enables them to end reliance on shots and pain meds entirely.

Wondering if a hyperbaric chamber could successfully heal your RSD/CRPS pain? To schedule an assessment at our Palm Harbor, Florida, Center, click here now or call 727-787-7077.

RSD Treatment in a Hyperbaric Chamber… A Cost Effective Way to Lasting Pain Relief

Doctors frequently tout the successes of invasive and expensive treatments for RSD. But if these are so effective, why do RSD/CPRS sufferers need as many as 50-200 sympathetic blocks, and why do morphine pumps and spinal stimulators so often fail to control RSD pain? Worse, when spine implants cause paralysis, who is to blame? Talk about a lawyers’ field day! No wonder so many RSD patients hesitate to try these expensive and invasive pain solutions and seek out more natural options to manage their symptoms. The truth is while non-surgical, drug free treatments work out for a few RSD patients, only one natural treatment provides lasting pain relief for many of those who try it…a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber.

Our Palm Harbor, Florida Center’s number one goal with RSD treatment is to relieve pain and other physical symptoms. Often, our RSD patients report that after their first few sessions in the chamber they enjoy a good night’s sleep for the first time in years. They require less medication to function, their brain fog abates, and their mood gets better. The inflammation in their legs and arms goes down, and, in combination with physical therapy, their muscles begin gaining their strength back. Many of our RSD patients are even able to return to prior occupations. The treatment is clearly life changing. But how does a hyperbaric chamber actually work…?

During hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a patient lies in a state-of-the-art clear, sealed chamber where he or she breathes in pure oxygen at higher than normal air pressures. As they relax in the chamber, the patient’s bloodstream, tissues and bodily fluids become saturated with 10 to 20 times the O2 they would normally receive. Treatment in a hyperbaric chamber improves circulation, reduces bodily and tissue inflammation, and brings down swelling in afflicted limbs. Vital nutrients are finally able to reach areas previously starved for oxygen. New tissues and blood vessels begin to grow in place of those that suffered damage. In addition, to eliminate the disease, HBOT therapy works on the brain. In reflex sympathetic dystrophy, sensors in the sympathetic nervous system are what register the pain. One example of this is the phantom leg pain that those who have lost a limb continue to feel. HBOT is able to switch this brain-induced pain back to the central nervous system, where it will no longer be felt. Pain improves, and the body begins to naturally heal itself.

But Is This Kind of Effective RSD Treatment Expensive?

If you are wondering whether insurance covers the cost of treating RSD with hyperbaric oxygen chambers, the answer is, unfortunately not. The FDA has approved HBOT treatment for 14 limited medical conditions, and RSD is not among these. Licensed Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment organizations like ours continue to press the FDA for approval. We are hopeful that they will follow the lead of European governmental organizations who have approved HBOT for many conditions including RSD, due to the treatments’ documented success. But when you consider the expense of failed treatments, surgeries and lost wages, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is surprisingly cost effective. And we are always happy to discuss financial alternatives that can help to keep payments affordable.

HBOT for Hard-to-Heal Diabetic Wounds

May 18, 2016 · Diabetes, HBOT, Healing, Wound Care · Comments Off

How Two Patients Saved Limbs from Amputation with Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments

For decades, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been used to treat diabetic wounds and help prevent lost limbs. For much of that time, HBOT was considered out of the mainstream. Not anymore. Far from it! Today, some of the most prestigious university hospitals in the country routinely use hyperbaric oxygen chambers to heal stubborn diabetic wounds and save limbs. And it’s hardly surprising. Consider that around 60 percent of those with diabetic foot ulcers get relief with traditional medical treatments. But when you add hyperbaric oxygen therapy, almost 90 percent of those wounds successfully heal! That’s no small potatoes – especially if you have a stubborn wound putting you at risk for gangrene and other serious infections. Here are just two stories of how HBOT worked successfully as part of an overall treatment plan to help patients avoid amputation.

How HBOT Saved Limbs of Two Men Suffering from Advanced Diabetic Wounds

When it comes to saving diabetic limbs from amputation, the results of hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be truly amazing. Here are two stories I’ve previously tweeted about HBOT’s effectiveness:

One retired attorney who served in World War II suffered from diabetes. To make matters worse, the patient had blocked arteries that reduced blood flow to his legs. A resulting diabetic ulcer had become infected all the way to the bone. When this serious infection resisted treatments, the attorney went to a vascular surgeon who restored the blood flow to his legs. The surgeon recommended that his patient seek out a wound care center in San Marcos, CA. Wanting to save his limb, the attorney took the surgeon’s advice. The wound center treatment team included an infectious disease specialist, a podiatrist and a doctor who focused on HBOT treatments. This multi-pronged medical approach, including time in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, enabled the attorney’s wound to heal fully. Even more significantly, it allowed him to save his leg.

Another story I like to tell is of a Texas man who developed a red spot on his shin that refused to heal –even with antibiotic creams. Over time, the spot enlarged and spread to the opposite leg. The man delayed getting treatment, so his legs became severely infected. What began as a small red spot got so out of control that the wound now had dead muscle and skin surrounding it. Doctors diagnosed the man with diabetes, and warned him that he would need to have his limbs amputated.

Thankfully, one doctor had heard how an area wound center was successfully treating diabetic wounds with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. He advised the Texas patient to give the center a try. As in the previous story, the man’s multi-pronged treatment approach included HBOT. After three months or so, he regrew healthy, pink skin on his legs!

With any integrative approach that includes HBOT, treating diabetic wounds as quickly as possible improves a patient’s chances to heal and avoid amputation. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy uses pure oxygen under varying sea level pressures in order to improve blood circulation and fight off infections. Over the past 14 years, I have successfully treated many patients suffering from stubborn wounds. And, as the two stories well illustrate, HBOT helps both to save limbs and restore lives.

Will Insurance Cover HBOT Treatment for Non-Healing Wounds?

Medicare and other insurances often cover HBOT for non-healing wounds. It may depend on the wound’s severity. Our center’s doctors can let you know with more certainty if they observe your individual condition. If you’d like to learn whether HBOT could benefit you or a loved one, contact us directly at 727-787-7077.

Searching For A Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Treatment Center Near You?

May 6, 2016 · HBOT · Comments Off

How to Make Sure Any Center You Attend is Fully Licensed for Off-Label HBOT Treatments

It’s very important to know that the FDA authorizes only licensed hyperbaric oxygen centers to perform HBOT for off label uses. Our center in Palm Harbor, Florida is fully licensed to perform hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) on 14 FDA-approved conditions and other off label disorders and illnesses. People come to our center from all across the United States and around the world.

But just because your condition is off label, doesn’t mean that hyperbaric oxygen therapy won’t successfully treat it. Far from it! Every day we help to heal patients with migraines, Lyme disease, RSD, strokes, post-polio syndrome, CP and other painful nerve-related conditions…

Wondering if hyperbaric oxygen therapy could be right for you? To schedule an assessment at our Palm Harbor, Florida, Center, click here now or call 727-787-7077.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Healing is Close at Hand

Unless you have one of 14 specific conditions, your HBOT treatment is considered off label. That doesn’t mean the treatment won’t be effective – not by a long shot! Thousands of patients who have spent time in our state-of-the-art hyperbaric oxygen chambers have off label conditions and have found healing.

Upon finding that they can get Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy within a reasonable driving distance, people open themselves up to a new world of natural treatment that can be especially effective when combined with other therapies. HBOT frequently gives them the chance to live normal and productive lives again.

A hyperbaric chamber is a clear, sealed chamber in which patients breathe in pure oxygen under varying sea depth pressures. Over the course treatment, this safe, non-invasive treatment can dramatically decrease pain and other difficult nerve-based symptoms. HBOT works so effectively because it carries oxygen in the blood plasma far beyond where every-day breathing can take it. This floods the body with vital nutrients that allow it to begin healing itself naturally.

If you believe hyperbaric oxygen therapy could be right for you, ask for a personalized assessment at our Palm Harbor, Florida, Center. To schedule an appointment, click here now or call 727-787-7077.

“Off-Label” Conditions We Successfully Treat

If you have any of the following off-label conditions, HBOT can help to restore your health:

Cerebral Palsy
Lyme Disease
Migraine Headaches
Multiple Sclerosis
Near Drowning
Peripheral Nerve Regeneration
Post-Polio Syndrome
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy
Stroke
Traumatic Brain Injury

FDA-approved HBOT Conditions We Treat:

Air or Gas Embolism – caused when air or gas bubbles enter the arteries during diving or when an invasive medical procedure punctures a lung or artery
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Gas Gangrene – severe muscle infections known as clostridial myositis and myonecrosis
Crush Injury that causes acute loss of blood flow
Decompression Sickness – suffered by divers who ascend to sea level too quickly
Arterial Insufficiencies – including non-healing diabetic foot wounds or central retinal artery occlusion (eye strokes)
Severe Anemia – acute blood loss that occurs from combat wounds or severe trauma
Intracranial Abscess – infections of the brain, especially in patients with compromised immune systems
Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections – severe infections that progress rapidly from flesh-eating bacteria
Osteomyelitis –Trauma induced chronic bone infections that resist conventional treatments
Delayed Radiation Injury – necrotic wounds in soft tissue and bone that occur long after radiation treatments
Compromised Skin Grafts and Flaps – when reconstructive surgeries fail due to complications related to blood supply to the skin graft or flap
Thermal Burn Injury – Deep burns from fire, steam or hot objects
Acute Hearing Loss – unexplained, rapid loss of hearing

To learn more about the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, please contact our office online or call 727-787-7077. We will provide a personalized assessment to determine if you would benefit from HBOT. In cases where it is not covered by insurance, we will be glad to discuss options to help make HBOT treatments more affordable.

Improving Chronic Lyme Disease Symptoms with HBOT

May 2, 2016 · Lyme Disease · Comments Off

Who Knew a Tiny Tick Bite Could Cause So Many Devastating Health Problems?

Imagine this scenario: your toddler goes cross-eyed one day and begins to cry from the pain when she walks. Primary care doctors and neurologists have no idea what the child is suffering from. She has several eye operations, and now needs to wear thick lensed glasses with a black patch over one lens. She takes medications to control the pain. Kids laugh at her cross-eyes and the way she walks. Or here’s another scenario: your 45-year-old brother-in-law wakes up one day with severe arthritic pain in his knees. After a week of that, he visits a doctor to complain of the symptoms. His doctor laughs them off as age-pains and prescribes some narcotics. A year later, the pain has worsened and spread to the back, and now the man also suffers from heart palpitations. These are true stories, and I could tell you many more like them. They have one thing in common: the dangerous bite of a Lyme-infected blacklegged deer tick.

The Tick’s Victim Never Knew it had Bitten Them.

So often, people with Lyme disease don’t even know they’ve been bitten. They suffer from a wide variety of symptoms that are hard for doctors to identify a cause for. Lyme disease has reached epidemic proportions in the Northeastern and Mid-Western United States, and it is fast spreading. At least 300,000 U.S. citizens get Lyme disease every year. One thing’s for certain, its symptoms can be devastating – and even kill – if not properly treated. Thankfully, many Lyme disease patients respond well to HBOT treatments – even when other treatments have failed them.

Lyme disease symptoms can progress from mild fever, tiredness and joint aches, to far more threatening conditions impacting the nervous system, eyes, brain, heart and other organs. That’s actually the reason the doctors I mentioned earlier had a hard time diagnosing the illness. It’s unfortunately an all-too-familiar scenario.

When Lyme Leads to Serious Symptoms, HBOT Can Help Restore Health

If Lyme disease gets properly diagnosed early on, sometimes all it takes to recover is a short course of antibiotics. But researchers now believe that Lyme bacteria can become resistant to antibiotic treatments. Many people who have Lyme continually struggle with symptoms, even after numerous rounds of medicine to treat it. Sometimes herbal therapies like Japanese Knotweed and Cat’s Claw can bring Lyme sufferers relief when they take these for six months to a year or more. But when Lyme disease goes undiagnosed or is improperly treated, its effects can be very severe. Here’s how hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps:

During HBOT, pure oxygen floods the body at varying sea-level pressures. This O2 burst delivers vital nutrients to cells, and helps to promote healing. Patients’ Lyme-related pain subsides, their energy improves, and many of their compromised bodily functions get fully restored. Here at the National Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center, in addition to these benefits, we routinely see glands and organs resume normal functioning over the course of treatment. And that’s a very fine thing.

Hyperbaric oxygen treatments can significantly improve chronic Lyme disease symptoms. We’d be happy to provide a personalized assessment with neurologist, Dr. Allan Spiegel to determine if you would benefit from HBOT. In cases where HBOT is not covered by insurance, we will go over ways to make treatments more affordable. To schedule your appointment online, simply click here or call 727-787-7077.