Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Yep, there's a Finnish "tinnitus clinic" ( http://www.tinnitus.fi/tinnitus/index.htm ) who do these:

In Finnish:
5. Ylipainehappihoito (Hyperbarinen oxygenatio, HBO) HBO-terapiasta on esitetty olevan hyötyä jopa yli 80 %:lla potilaista jos tinnitus on alkanut vähemmän kuin 6 viikkoa aikaisemmin. Erityisesti HBOlla on esitetty olevan tehoa, jos tinnituksen aiheuttaja on äkillinen altistuminen hyvin voimakkaille äänille (ns. akuutti akustinen trauma). Tällaista tapahtuu eniten rock/pop-konserteissa, ilotulitustapahtumissa ja ammuntaharrastuksen yhteydessä. Krooniseen tinnitukseen teho oli selvästi huonompi. On raportoitu, että alle kolmasosa potilaista hyötyisi hoidosta. Kontrolloituja tutkimuksia ei kuitenkaan ole suoritettu.

Roughly translated into English:
"It has been suggested that Hyperbaric oxygen therapy could benefit even over 80% of patients if the onset of tinnitus has been within the last 6 weeks. Especially it has been theorized that HBO is most effective, if the cause of tinnitus is sudden exposure to very loud noises (ie. acute acustic trauma). This happens most often in rock/pop-concerts, during fireworks and shooting sports. For chronic tinnitus HBO hasn't been nearly as effective. It has been reported that less than third of patients benefit from this treatment. Although controlled studies haven't been carried out.


I know from Finnish tinnitus groups that
a) at least in Finland this treatment is pretty expensive. Almost 1000€ (about $1300) with the recommended amount of sessions.
b) at least those anecdotal reports from single persons I've read have generally been fairly negative: no noticeable improvement, even if the tinnitus has started very recently, ie. within a week. There are some exceptions, I know a young lady (in 20s) who got tinnitus due to a rock concert, it was very bad in her own terms. Three weeks later she found out about HBO clinic in Finland and got the treatment. It helped her so much that she says she doesn't have tinnitus anymore. Sometimes acute tinnitus can go away on its own too, as we all know about disco tinnitus, but that usually happens within a few days. It's rarer for disco tinnitus to stay for a couple of weeks I think, but still it's possible that even without HBO that girl's tinnitus would have stopped.

Regarding b)
Many people on the internet report negative experiences and unsuccessful attempts at treating tinnitus.
It's completely possible that there are more positive experiences than what I've been able to discover.

Finland has quite great public health care system, yet HBO hasn't been shown effective enough for the public system to cover its expense.

It would be great if a larger study would be done on the effects of HBO for acute tinnitus.


But if anybody who has gone through HBO themselves read this thread, it would be most appreciated if that person came forward and shared their experience.

 

joe,

how expensive is it for you? 20 sessions? If you don't mind me asking.

How frequently you go in for a session? Twice a week, once?

Let me know how it goes, I hope it at least reduces your T.

 

What the ... how on earth does 10 sessions cost almost £800 here?

Not fair...!

(It might very well be because of there aren't so many of these chambers/tanks in Finland I think, so the few can set their prices high...)

PS. Let's talk about the ANM device here: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/acoustic-cr®-neuromodulation-a-new-treatment-for-tinnitus.219

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbaric_oxygen_therapy

Possible complications and concerns

There are risks associated with HBOT, similar to some diving disorders. Pressure changes can cause a "squeeze" or barotrauma in the tissues surrounding trapped air inside the body, such as the lungs,[67] behind the eardrum,[68][69] inside paranasal sinuses,[68] or trapped underneath dental fillings.[70] Breathing high-pressure oxygen may cause oxygen toxicity.[71] Temporarily blurred vision can be caused by swelling of the lens, which usually resolves in two to four weeks.[72][73]
There are reports that cataract may progress following HBOT.[74] Also a rare side effect has been blindness secondary to optic neuritis (inflammation of the optic nerve).[citation needed]

Effects of Pressure

Patients inside the chamber may notice discomfort inside their ears as a pressure difference develops between their middle ear and the chamber atmosphere.[75] This can be relieved by the Valsalva maneuver or by "jaw wiggling". As the pressure increases further, mist may form in the air inside the chamber and the air may become warm. Increased pressure may also cause ear drums to rupture, resulting in severe pain.
To reduce the pressure, a valve is opened to allow air out of the chamber. As the pressure falls, the patient’s ears may "squeak" as the pressure inside the ear equalizes with the chamber. The temperature in the chamber will fall. The speed of pressurization and de-pressurization can be adjusted to each patient's needs.



And hmm... I hope HBOT will help you, you do have some sessions still left I think you have a good attitude though, you know that it might not help but you are giving it a go nevertheless. I probably should have done it too (even with the high cost), but now it's too late.

The following is a discussion about HBO sourced from a Finnish bulletin board: http://keskustelu.suomi24.fi/node/935227

In English... "I was exposed to sudden loud noise (faulty burglar alarm in your apartment's attic) and got tinnitus because of that. I heard about HBO only 3 weeks after I got tinnitus, the treatment itself started within 4 weeks from the onset of tinnitus. Tinnitus quieted down to almost zero, hyperacusis was cured, so the treatment helped a lot. If you have recently been exposed to loud noise and got tinnitus because of that, act as fast as possibly, since the treatment works the better the less time it has been since the trauma."

Another one in the same discussion...

In English... "Didn't help me. I have had tinnitus since the year of 2000. I had already learned to live with it well, but new noise exposure (symphony orchestra) caused it to become worse. Tinnitus became louder and I read on the Internet about the HBO and experiences of those who've undergone the treatment. Some had got a bit of help, some nothing at all. I decided to invest 800€ and tried five sessions of HBO treatment just in case. Unfortunately without results. I didn't get any benefit from the treatment, not for tinnitus nor the hyperacusis, even though the new noise exposure had been only three weeks ago when starting the treatment. Of course tinnitus cases are different and somebody can very well be helped with HBO. Just like the original poster. That's the reason I don't want to call this treatment snake oil."


Best of luck!

 

A couple of studies:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10384896
In this study, we prescribed HBO to 20 patients who had had severe tinnitus for more than one year and who had already had other forms of tinnitus therapy with unsatisfactory results.
Six patients had a reduction of tinnitus and accompanying symptoms, eight patients did not notice any change and two patients experienced an adverse effect. Any outcome persisted with minor changes until one year after treatment. HBO may contribute to the treatment of severe tinnitus, but the negative effect on tinnitus should be weighed carefully.

So in that study HBO was tried for patients who had had tinnitus for more than one year. Six of 20 had a reduction of tinnitus, 8 of 20 had no effect and 2 of 20 experienced an adverse effect.


Another one: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17159373

INTRODUCTION:
The standard treatment of subjective tinnitus hardly reaches the level of placebo controls. Though the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) for subjective tinnitus has never been objectified, it is still advocated by some institutions. We analyzed the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen treatment in the context of accompanying factors.


PATIENTS AND METHODS:
We randomized 360 patients suffering from tinnitus into 2 HBO treatment protocols (group A: 2.2 bar for 60 min bottom time and group B: 2.5 bar for 60 min bottom time once a day for 15 days). All patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire (social and medical history, tinnitus characteristics, pre-HBO duration of tinnitus, prior therapy, pretreatment expectation, accompanying symptoms). A subjective assessment of the therapeutic effect was obtained.


RESULTS:
Twelve patients (3.3%) experienced complete remission of tinnitus, in 122 (33.9) the intensity lessened, and 44 (12.2%) had a subjectively agreeable change of noise characteristics. No change was found in 157 cases (43.6%) and 25 (6.9%) experienced deterioration. There was no statistically significant difference between groups A and B (p > 0.05). Out of 68 patients with a positive expectation of HBO effects, 60.3% stated that the tinnitus had improved whereas only 47.2 and 19%, respectively, out of patients who underwent therapy with an indifferent (n = 271) or negative expectation (n = 21) reported an improvement. The influence of subjective expectation on the outcome was statistically significant (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSION:
The therapeutic effects of HBO on subjective tinnitus may be substantially influenced by psychological mechanisms.


From that second study it's interesting that the influence of subjective expectation was statistically significant.



Then finally a review: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18225611

OBJECTIVE:
To assess the effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on tinnitus.


METHODOLOGY:
A Medline search from 1960-2007 yielding 22 studies.


RESULTS:
No significant effect could be demonstrated in four prospective studies. Retrospective studies indicate greater improvement in tinnitus in acute cases (49-85%) compared with tinnitus episodes exceeding three months (34-38%). One study, however, showed significantly more improvement in patients with positive expectations before therapy (60.3%) compared with those with negative expectations (19%).


CONCLUSIONS:
There are no significant data about the effect of hyperbaric oxygenation for tinnitus, but there are indications of a better effect in acute cases. However, a major psychological component and a low risk of enhancement of the tinnitus should be considered.

 

Indeed. At least HBO has some (albeit small) trials behind it for tinnitus. "there are indications of a better effect in acute cases. However, a major psychological component and a low risk of enhancement of the tinnitus should be considered."

Relatively low-risk & improvements may occur. I don't expect in my lifetime for there to be a magic bullet for tinnitus that cures all cases. It will be hit and miss I think!

I'm not very fond of "treatments" that don't have any kind of scientific backing behind them (ie. homeopathy, different kinds of other alternative therapies...), but I'm willing to try almost anything that is at least being studied and trialed and positive effects have been noted.

I wish you all the best for every day when you go into the chamber. It's over sooner than you think!

 

Wow, that's very interesting. I don't remember reading about that kind of effect ever. I only know that some tinnitus can be caused by diving (ie. descent/ascent and perforating ear drum, or something...). Common Ear Injuries While Diving.

But the other way around, no, this was new to me.

 

Tinnitus stops while diving
Any Divers with Tinnitus? (Ringing in the ears)

You might want to read those two discussions above.

Indeed it looks like you're not the only one.