Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for CRPS
So, how does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy relate to CRPS? Is it possible to successfully treat CRPS patients with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?
In this section we will explore this exciting new area of treatment for CRPS patients and present the latest information, articles, studies, etc. and help you make an informed decision.
"Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (abbreviated HBOT) is a medical treatment that uses pure oxygen to speed and enhance the body’s natural ability to heal." "During therapy, the patient breathes pure, 100% oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure. (The air we normally breathe contains only 19-21% of this essential element.) The concentration of oxygen normally dissolved in the bloodstream is thus raised many times above normal (up to 2000%). In addition to the blood, all body fluids including the lymph and cerebrospinal fluids are infused with the healing benefits of this molecular oxygen. It can reach bone and tissues which are inaccessible to red blood cells, enhance white blood cell function, and promote the formation of new capillary and peripheral blood vessels. This results in increased infection control and faster healing of a wide range of conditions."
As Doctor Allan Spiegel of National Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy discusses on his website, "Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy has proven itself to be a very viable option to treat reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD). Numerous articles in the medical literature have shown the reduction in pain and swelling associated with RSD and a return of function using hyperbaric oxygen. Best of all for CRPS patients, this is accomplished without the need for painful injections, narcotics, or surgical implants for pain management. Most RSD sufferers find that following the first few treatments they are able to achieve a full night’s sleep for the first time in years. They then notice the decreased need for narcotics, improved thinking, with a diminished depression. The swelling of the effected arm or leg associated with RSD diminishes and they are able to start physical therapy with marked improvement in muscle strength. Many people afflicted with CRPS have then been able to return to a happier and more productive life, frequently returning to their prior occupation.
Unfortunately, most people who suffer from CRPS only receive pain management. This means being prescribed various narcotics, and antidepressants. Then CRPS patients must start on a long and frequent schedule of stellate ganglion /sympathetic blocks. With exception of a few fortunate CRPS sufferers who respond to these injection, this expensive therapy is repeated weekly or monthly for the rest of the CRPS patient's life. When CRPS sufferers fail to respond to these blocks, the patient is referred for morphine pump implants or spinal stimulators which cost more than $30,000 to implant and requires ongoing physician management on a monthly basis to make the proper adjustments. The pain management specialists usually pontificate the success that is achieved with these treatments. Yet, if they are so successful, then why do CRPS patients need 50 -200 stellate ganglion blocks, and why do most spinal stimulators do and morphine pumps fail to control the pain.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, which is an FDA approved therapy for treating CRPS, utilizes 100% oxygen administered under increased pressure. It is a very safe, painless, and cost effective means of treating the chronic debilitating pain of CRPS.
(information supplied by National Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center)
According to COLE CENTER FOR HEALING in Cincinnati, Ohio
WHAT IS HBOT?
HBOT treatments involve placing you in a chamber, and then increasing the atmospheric pressure. During the treatment you breathe pure oxygen. This saturates the tissues with oxygen, and reverses any areas of hypoxia (low oxygen levels). As a comparison, the average person breathes in about 6 pounds of oxygen a day, which is about the same amount by weight of food and water intake. During a single hour of HBOT, a person will take in about 2.4 pounds of oxygen. This increases the oxygen content of the tissues by a factor of 10-15. Some of the effects this has are to promote the growth of new blood vessels, decreases swelling and inflammation, deactivates toxins, increase the body's ability to fight infections, clears out toxins and metabolic waste products, and improve the rate of healing."
What are some benefits of HBOT?
- Increases neuronal energy metabolism in the brain
- Can create sustained cognitive improvement
- Wakes up sleeping (idling) brain cells that are metabolizing enough to stay alive but are not actively "firing"
- Enhances the body's ability to fight bacterial and viral infections
- Deactivates toxins and poisons (e.g. side effects from some chemotherapy, spider bites, air pollution, etc.)
- Enhances wound healing by stimulating the growth of new capillaries into the injured area
- Creates an immediate aerobic state
- Removes free radicals
- Reduces tissue swelling
- Acts as an anti-inflammatory
According to Susan Rodriguez ofRapid Recovery Hyperbaricsin California;
- "RSD is a Neurological disorder, it is based within the brain and Nervous system. The treatment of HBOT will cause the brain to respond by reading pain in the proper nervous system.( the central nervous system) All the while increasing the blood flow to the starved limbs and nerves that are damaged by the course of the disease."
- "Example: why does RSD affect the diet and digestion? The pain is being read in a section of the brain that controls nausea, adrenal glands, which is a vascular constriction, ( taking away the blood from the organs and nerves to give you that RUSH you need when you are upset). We need to re-route those nerves and the way the brain is sending the signals. Normalize it."
Susan Rodriguez also mentioned something that was very interesting. She said that although there have been some cases that have "just healed", the bottom line is that it takes time and each case needs to be judged separately. She said that she suggests that sometimes if a patient does a series of treatments, then takes a week off before finishing their course of treatment, then starts up again, they might notice a big difference. That sometimes, for some patients, it is the withdrawal of the HBOT that makes it work as well. Why is not yet known.
There seems to be a wall, a point during the course of treatment where patients actually start to get worse before the get better. Unfortunately some patients give up at this point and don't push through that wall to get through to the other side, to the relief that can come from finishing their course of treatment. Just remember, stay the course. It is worth it for the chance to be pain-free.
COVERED BY INSURANCE?
Is HBOT currently covered by most insurance companies for the treatment of CRPS? Not in most cases. The cost varies depending on where you have your treatment. It can vary from as little as $120 a session to as much as $300 a session or more. Typically a patient is treated for 20 to 40 sessions.
In this section we will explore this exciting new area of treatment for CRPS patients and present the latest information, articles, studies, etc. and help you make an informed decision.
"Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (abbreviated HBOT) is a medical treatment that uses pure oxygen to speed and enhance the body’s natural ability to heal." "During therapy, the patient breathes pure, 100% oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure. (The air we normally breathe contains only 19-21% of this essential element.) The concentration of oxygen normally dissolved in the bloodstream is thus raised many times above normal (up to 2000%). In addition to the blood, all body fluids including the lymph and cerebrospinal fluids are infused with the healing benefits of this molecular oxygen. It can reach bone and tissues which are inaccessible to red blood cells, enhance white blood cell function, and promote the formation of new capillary and peripheral blood vessels. This results in increased infection control and faster healing of a wide range of conditions."
As Doctor Allan Spiegel of National Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy discusses on his website, "Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy has proven itself to be a very viable option to treat reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD). Numerous articles in the medical literature have shown the reduction in pain and swelling associated with RSD and a return of function using hyperbaric oxygen. Best of all for CRPS patients, this is accomplished without the need for painful injections, narcotics, or surgical implants for pain management. Most RSD sufferers find that following the first few treatments they are able to achieve a full night’s sleep for the first time in years. They then notice the decreased need for narcotics, improved thinking, with a diminished depression. The swelling of the effected arm or leg associated with RSD diminishes and they are able to start physical therapy with marked improvement in muscle strength. Many people afflicted with CRPS have then been able to return to a happier and more productive life, frequently returning to their prior occupation.
Unfortunately, most people who suffer from CRPS only receive pain management. This means being prescribed various narcotics, and antidepressants. Then CRPS patients must start on a long and frequent schedule of stellate ganglion /sympathetic blocks. With exception of a few fortunate CRPS sufferers who respond to these injection, this expensive therapy is repeated weekly or monthly for the rest of the CRPS patient's life. When CRPS sufferers fail to respond to these blocks, the patient is referred for morphine pump implants or spinal stimulators which cost more than $30,000 to implant and requires ongoing physician management on a monthly basis to make the proper adjustments. The pain management specialists usually pontificate the success that is achieved with these treatments. Yet, if they are so successful, then why do CRPS patients need 50 -200 stellate ganglion blocks, and why do most spinal stimulators do and morphine pumps fail to control the pain.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, which is an FDA approved therapy for treating CRPS, utilizes 100% oxygen administered under increased pressure. It is a very safe, painless, and cost effective means of treating the chronic debilitating pain of CRPS.
(information supplied by National Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center)
According to COLE CENTER FOR HEALING in Cincinnati, Ohio
WHAT IS HBOT?
HBOT treatments involve placing you in a chamber, and then increasing the atmospheric pressure. During the treatment you breathe pure oxygen. This saturates the tissues with oxygen, and reverses any areas of hypoxia (low oxygen levels). As a comparison, the average person breathes in about 6 pounds of oxygen a day, which is about the same amount by weight of food and water intake. During a single hour of HBOT, a person will take in about 2.4 pounds of oxygen. This increases the oxygen content of the tissues by a factor of 10-15. Some of the effects this has are to promote the growth of new blood vessels, decreases swelling and inflammation, deactivates toxins, increase the body's ability to fight infections, clears out toxins and metabolic waste products, and improve the rate of healing."
What are some benefits of HBOT?
- Increases neuronal energy metabolism in the brain
- Can create sustained cognitive improvement
- Wakes up sleeping (idling) brain cells that are metabolizing enough to stay alive but are not actively "firing"
- Enhances the body's ability to fight bacterial and viral infections
- Deactivates toxins and poisons (e.g. side effects from some chemotherapy, spider bites, air pollution, etc.)
- Enhances wound healing by stimulating the growth of new capillaries into the injured area
- Creates an immediate aerobic state
- Removes free radicals
- Reduces tissue swelling
- Acts as an anti-inflammatory
According to Susan Rodriguez ofRapid Recovery Hyperbaricsin California;
- "RSD is a Neurological disorder, it is based within the brain and Nervous system. The treatment of HBOT will cause the brain to respond by reading pain in the proper nervous system.( the central nervous system) All the while increasing the blood flow to the starved limbs and nerves that are damaged by the course of the disease."
- "Example: why does RSD affect the diet and digestion? The pain is being read in a section of the brain that controls nausea, adrenal glands, which is a vascular constriction, ( taking away the blood from the organs and nerves to give you that RUSH you need when you are upset). We need to re-route those nerves and the way the brain is sending the signals. Normalize it."
Susan Rodriguez also mentioned something that was very interesting. She said that although there have been some cases that have "just healed", the bottom line is that it takes time and each case needs to be judged separately. She said that she suggests that sometimes if a patient does a series of treatments, then takes a week off before finishing their course of treatment, then starts up again, they might notice a big difference. That sometimes, for some patients, it is the withdrawal of the HBOT that makes it work as well. Why is not yet known.
There seems to be a wall, a point during the course of treatment where patients actually start to get worse before the get better. Unfortunately some patients give up at this point and don't push through that wall to get through to the other side, to the relief that can come from finishing their course of treatment. Just remember, stay the course. It is worth it for the chance to be pain-free.
COVERED BY INSURANCE?
Is HBOT currently covered by most insurance companies for the treatment of CRPS? Not in most cases. The cost varies depending on where you have your treatment. It can vary from as little as $120 a session to as much as $300 a session or more. Typically a patient is treated for 20 to 40 sessions.
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