Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

@RoyZ thanks for tip android app and hbot. .
I am going in for 16th session today. .
Not sure I can get my hands on nac tablets here in india these are prescription not available as supplements. . Probably can find some generics. . Will see how it goes.. my t is not noise induced so I haven't been thinking of taking it so far.. jst been taking lipoflavonoids.. which doesn't seem to do much... but I just noticed melatonin does help a bit..
@Salt I saw some paper published for Meniere's syndrome hbot does help but will take longer time..the treatment for months
Jst Google meniere's and hbot u probably can locate the studies. .

 

@nogood , Getting the oxygen while under the pressure is what makes HBOT effective compared to getting oxygen not under pressure and there are a lot of changes in the body while you are getting the treatment.
one of them is shrinkage of the blood vessels.
whatever is wrong with the body, you are getting that treatment to make blood which is rich in oxygen flow through your body and your "damaged" organs like our ears. in the ear it is very important to have a good blood flow after a case of SHL or T onset. NAC forces these blood vessels to stay open in order for the organ to receive the treatment "it came for". I am sorry you couldn't find NAC in India but try to get it somewhere else or try to ask for a supplement. in general I know that blood vessels dilatation medications like aspirin are not to be used in a case of SHL as they are proved not effective but they might play a role for you as a supplement, ask a doctor.

 

@RoyZ I checked with few pharmacy nac is not so common here in india. . I can order from online but its gonna take a week or so.. by that time I will be in Singapore. . Hbot is not so cheap.. and for sure insurance doesn't cover it...
Asprin is a blood thinner plus it also known to cause temporary t... not sure It will help force keep blood vessels dilated. . I do take fish oil regularly and Serrapeptase which helps with blood circulation. .

 

@nogood, yes.. that's why I said meds like aspirin won't be the solution.. fish oil is good as it has Omega 3, olive oil is good too.. wish you luck..

 

I did the hbot - 10 sessions (5 days in a row) with no success (3 weeks after onset)
When i talked to the other patients they also said that it did not change their tinnitus.
But according to the ent some People do improve after getting hbot... but theres no way to tell its spontaneous or a delayed effect from the hbot.

 

What is HBT? Can you please clarify....as my T is having no specific background...

 

@Poonam Tiwari hbot is hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Simple terms you breath 100% oxygen at least 1.4 times the normal atmospheric pressure.. Usually for T can go up to 2 plus Atmospheric pressure like.
Google for more info should be able to find lots of info.
For T with no cause can't really say it will help. None the less it is good for health to help heal and recover.
In India we don't have many hbot centres. Look for those who treat diabetic wound care centers who provide such service.
I paid about 3.5k in Chennai for a session.
It did help me a little.. The procedure is expensive but 98% harmless. No harm in giving it a try if you can afford it.

 

Hello everyone,

I have decided to go on HBOT. I will go on Monday 3rd november. It will be about 3 weeks after acoustic trauma.
I am interested on what depth and pressure should I go. The doctor that works on hyperbaric chamber told me that the best for ears would be depth of 10 meters I think it is about 2 ata pressure.
Do you have any other suggestions?

Will I make better results if I take NAC? I'm scheduling 10 treatments.

 

is it possible that hbot makes Tinitus worse?

 

Try at least 20 treatment
nac is good they boost blood flow.
unless you have trouble equalising pressure or have etd and unable to pop the ears....no harm in it..
start with 1.4 or 1.5 work ur way up to 1.8 or more and maintain
hbot simply help in healing faster.. Sometimes cure..

 

I had my 4th HBOT session today at The London Diving Chamber at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth (near Paddington, London). I started the first treatment at 17 days after onset.

The dives are at 18m, 45ft of water, using Royal Navy Table 66. I initialy went to a cheap Multiple Sclerosis charity supported clinic that charged £20 a time (if you think you have a life changing disability, visit someone with bad MS). They only went to 33ft and were not available every day. These treatments are considerably more expensive at £200 a session. Using my life savings. I will not be putting the deposit down on a house for a while.

When I come out the tinnitus is lower and rises again after about 5 minutes. When sitting the chamber in blue scrubs with earplugs in, the noise of the air in the mask and pump in the small space cover the tinnitus and I'm able to sit and concentrate on reading for once. The world fades away for a while and I forget the T. When the pressure starts dropping to zero and the room starts to cool to a chill, I'm reminded about reality again. Just being there, feeling like it might be helping and having people looking after your well-being is emotionally comforting.

The volume and character of the T has not changed since I started. An old deep scar has started itching and my finger tips which sometimes get cold due to bad circulation tingle for a while afterwards. I feel quite tired for a few hours after. It's clearly very useful for normal wound healing.

I'm probably going to do 20 sessions. 40 sessions would require me to get a loan from the bank!

I've been taking NAC before I go in, but I read a website yesterday that said the O2 creates reactive oxygen species (ROS) in your body, and that it is this that causes the body to repair (like exercise does). NAC's antioxidant effects stop ROS so I'm not sure it's the right choice. I've only read the one report against it.

 

Hello everyone again

I've done 2 treatments with HBOT.
First one was at about 7m 2ft, after the treatment I think my T got lower and after went the same.
The second one was at about 10m 33ft

The problem for me that the ears after the treatments are very sensitive and I think that the soon as I left the chamber I have hyperaccusion. Have anyone else experienced that?
Yesterday after the second treatment I went for a long walk to the town. No extra loud noises just the regular traffic(cars, trams). When I went to sleep my T was horrible and very high.
I must say that I don't wear any earpluggs beacuse I want to make my ears accomodate to normal noises since I don't have ear damage.

I will try another session today and stay out of any noises but if the same thing happens, I am seriously thinking of quitting it because last night was disaster.

 

If your T was from acoustic trauma as you say then you will have hearing/ear damage, it just is not sufficient hearing loss for an ENT to recognise it. A small hearing loss is enough to give you a very serious tinnitus. Mainstream doctors are very ignorant about this and spread falsehoods to uninformed new sufferers like yourself. Don't panic, but take precautions about noise as your hearing might be sensitive to further damage for a few months yet.

Also some HBO chambers are very noisy. You can wear ear defendersin there, maybe not plugs.

 

It is from acoustic trauma.
The chamber isn't too noisy. Just the noise of constant airflow to the mask.

For me the biggest problem is when I come out of the HBO therapy my ears are sensitive. It is like when you are driving in a car and your ears are clogged and than they are suddenly unblocked and you hear everything intensively.

 

Do you manage to equalise the pressure in your ears easily going up and down?

 

Yes I can, I do the Valsava manouver and both ears pop. After the therapy the doctor looked my ears and said they look perfectly fine.

 

Some folks advise against the Valsalva manoeuvre and I have had a temporary increase from doing it, before I read it might be dangerous. The increase lasted about a week and a half for me and was grim. Some people have claimed permanent damage, but I do not mean to worry you unnecessarily it is just better to be aware of things that others have had problems with.

 

This is my first post, so please bear with me. It's a bit lengthy.

(And, first, a thank you to all of you who have posted about your experience with HBOT. It's been a help to me in choosing a course of action.)

In summary, I suffered T on 10/30/2014, after an acute acoustic trauma and began HBOT three days ago. I just completed my third session.

Backing up...

I have always had exceptional hearing. While I occasionally attended loud concerts in my youth, it was rather rare and the loud club scene was never my thing. As an adult, I always took great pains to protect my hearing. I'm one of those oddballs that has always worn hearing protection when operating power tools, kitchen appliances like blenders and mixers, and even the vacuum cleaner. We have always kept a set of noise suppression headphones hanging on the handle of our vacuum cleaner at home and anyone who vacuums (and those nearby, also) wear them. I've seen an ENT in the past for unrelated (sinus) issues and the routine audiology tests he performs always leave him shaking his head and remarking at how superbly acute my hearing is.

Well, not "is." "Was."

I guess everyone here can relate to that change in verb tense, though. Huh?

As devastated as I am at the hearing loss, I'm sure it comes as no surprise to most of you that the tinnitus is far more difficult to endure. Unlike a subtle loss of something once had, the sudden, painful onslaught of tinnitus is quite literally life shattering. I know that tinnitus can take many forms and intensities, and indeed can change at the individual level, too, but the thought that I'll be hearing this until the day I die is crushing. Only someone with tinnitus can truly understand how life changing this is.

My tinnitus was caused, I'm sure, on the evening of 10/30 (just two weeks ago today), by an inadvertent exposure to extremely loud event. When the event was over, my ears were ringing (rather unsurprisingly). I fully expected that they would be fine by the following morning. They weren't. The ringing was just as strong the next morning. And the next afternoon. By the time 24 hours had passed, I was convinced that damage had occurred. I scheduled an appointment with my ENT. Unfortunately I didn't get in to see the ENT until 11 days had elapsed. While I was waiting to see the ENT, I researched every possible treatment for tinnitus and had begun acupuncture (low chance of success, I know), supplements (benfontiamine, omega-3, CoQ10, green tea extract, NAC, sulforaphane, etc.), and had even seen my chiropractor twice (to ensure that stress in the neck and shoulders wasn't impinging in such a way to worsen the tinnitus).

When I saw the ENT at 11 days post trauma, he tested my hearing, confirmed hearing loss, and prescribed prednisone, which I began taking immediately. At this point, I discussed HBOT with him and he said he didn't think it would help for "my type of tinnitus." He said that, in his opinion, HBOT would only help for tinnitus caused by occlusions of arterial blood flow to the structures of the ear. Absent that, he said that the ear was sufficiently oxygenated.

After returning home, I continued my research into HBOT and decided that I disagreed with my ENT's opinion. I felt that there was sufficient research to show that HBOT could potentially help, and do so at an acceptably low risk. There's research out there, but not a ton of it. (One of the better meta analyses I've found is "Tinnitus, a Military Epidemic: Is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy the Answer?" by Thomas M. Baldwin. Baldwin has researched all of the tinnitus/HBOT studies he can find to determine what the landscape of research is showing.)

Based upon my belief that HBOT is worth trying, the next day I found a physician who operates a hyperbaric facility, was examined by him, and had my first treatment immediately after. The physician said if improvement were to occur, it may take five to 10 treatments. He prescribed 2 atmospheres for 90 minutes, once per day. (The facility is open 6 days per week; closed Sundays.)

(Note: Because of the differences in healthcare and insurance around the world, the following couple of paragraphs on cost may not be very relevant to those of you outside of the U.S.)

While it's possible that my insurance company would cover the cost of the treatment, I would have had to find a physician in their network of providers who would refer me to a hyperbaric facility that was also in their network, and also obtain prior approval for such a specialized treatment. Because 12 days had elapsed by this time, I elected not to delay any further and am instead paying for this as an "out of network" treatment. What this means is that I can file for reimbursement as an out of network cost, but my deductible for treatment out of network is so high (and it's based upon calendar year, which is almost over) that I will end up bearing 100% of this cost.

Physician examination to get the referral/prescription for the HBOT: $195
Each 90-minute session in the HBOT chamber: $260
(For geographical reference: I'm in north Texas.)

This treatment occurs in a "monoplace" hyperbaric chamber, which looks much like a tanning bed, though obviously fully enclosed and slightly larger. The facility has five of them. Because the entire chamber is flooded with oxygen, there's no mask involved. (If anyone saw the movie Fifth Element, I'm reminded of the reconstruction chamber they used.) This facility requires that all patients wear scrubs and remove any jewelery. Nothing is allowed in the chamber except the blanket and pillow that the facility provides. The patient is grounded via a wrist strap to the body of the chamber to prevent any static discharge.

I've been a SCUBA diver most of my life, though I don't dive often because I sometimes find it difficult clearing my ears as I descend. That is the only annoyance I've found during the three sessions I've had thus far, but it's been only a trivial annoyance, as descending in the chamber is far more controlled and precise than trying to descend carefully while in the ocean. As a result, clearing my ears has been much easier. Undoubtedly, the absence of salt water helps.

As for the tinnitus' response to the HBOT, I'm not sure. Part of me wants to say that after three treatments I'm experiencing a very slight reduction in the volume of my tinnitus, but I want to be very careful before I make such a statement. I know from 14 days with this condition that the volume of my tinnitus can change from moment to moment, depending upon ambient conditions and, I'm sure, my mood and stress. What I may be tempted to call a reduction in symptoms may just be a momentary drop in volume. Or it may be me becoming more accustomed to it such that occasionally find myself noticing it less for moments at a time.

And I readily admit that I'm introducing a bunch of confounding variables into this picture too:
-time is passing, which may itself result in healing
-I'm still on prednisone
-I'm still taking supplements
-I'm having another acupuncture treatment on Saturday

At this point, I wish I had started the prednisone sooner than 11 days after the trauma. I wish I had started the HBOT, sooner, too. Of all these treatments, I'm the least inclined to think that the acupuncture will help, but it's relatively inexpensive, so I'm inclined to continue it for a few more treatments.

If I emerge from this with less pronounced symptoms (or by a miracle, a complete reversal) it will impossible to know for sure which of these treatments contributed, if any.

I think we humans tend to seek the "one cause" or the "one cure" when trying to understand why things happen or how things can be fixed when, many times, multiple factors are playing a role. While I'm certain that my traumatic acoustic event was the primary cause, it may be that improvement in my case requires all of these treatments. I don't know. But I'm willing to try it all. And do so quickly to increase my chance of reversing this.

And, if improvement or reversal occurs, I can live with the mystery as to how much of a role each treatment played.

I'll be back with updates.

 

Six days later...

I have now had eight HBOT sessions, as described in my previous post. The closest can come to saying that they're helping is that I think they may be making the tinnitus sound more quiet, but primarily during the session. The pattern seems to be that the T is less noticeable while I'm under HBOT and a bit later in the day, the seems noticeably louder. I know that others in this thread have reported that they first note a reduction in symptoms during the HBOT treatments, then the reduction continues past the HBOT session, and (for some) the reduction continues in perpetuity. I'm hoping that my pattern is following theirs. Along that line, it may also be possible that I've benefited from the high-pressure oxygen, but the symptom reduction will lag behind a bit as healing continues.

As you all know, it's difficult to be objective with the volume of tinnitus. It's not like any of us have a VU meter in our head. Accordingly, the T may simply seem more quiet because I'm hoping it will be. Or, it may be quieter just because I'm relaxed for 90 minutes in the middle of the day, which is a rarity for me, and it's the relaxation alone that's helping. (It would be sad if were paying $260 for the benefits I could get napping for 90 minutes on the couch.)

Sorry if I'm sounding equivocal. The last thing I want to do is convince myself that something is working when it's not. That doesn't do any of us any good. I'll leave it with, "I may be seeing something and I'm still hopeful. Stay tuned."

As an aside, based upon my research with NAC and its role as a precursor to glutathione in the body, I've scheduled glutathione IV therapy to begin tomorrow. I'll post about that in the NAC thread this weekend after I have more information and if the results are striking, I'll also start a new thread on glutathione (if there isn't already one).

 

@Jarvik nac is a good idea.. also steroids during hbot also seems to help.. you can google about it..

 

I just finished a 10-day regimen of prednisone yesterday. Unfortunately, it was begun 11 days after exposure. I know that some treatment protocols are based upon the belief that after seven days, steroid treatment has little chance of success.

As it turns out, the prednisone and the HBOT were pretty much concurrent, as the former started 11 days, post exposure, and the latter started only one day later.

 

Has it worked?

 

The only change I've found thus far is the perception that the T is lessened during the HBOT, as I described in more detail a couple of posts earlier in this thread.

Right now, my ears are a little congested from the daily dives. I'm looking forward to being finished with the HBOT tomorrow so that I can give my ears a chance to settle down and see if I notice an improvement.

 

Hi.
Today, after 7 HBOT sessions, that I started 2 months after the onset of my tinnitus, I observe the same as described above: Temporary lower tinnitus, but it gets louder during the day and returns to its normal status (just like the onset day).
I think the effect lasts about 2 hours after the session. Unfortunately, it doesn't last. I hope that it leeds to something, even if it shows later after the treatment. I was told that 2 months after the end of the sessions your body continues healing. I hope we have results even if they show later.
I do sleep better, but that may be due to some degree of habituation or better psycology during the sessions (raised hopes..). The monster does seem a bit tamed, but it is difficult to tell as the difference (if there is any) is not much to tell right now.
I 'll keep you posted.

 

Hello again, I will update you about my status.

3 weeks after my T started I started with Hbot treatment. Also after about 7th treatment(about 4 weeks after the noise trauma) other audiologist has prescribed me Medrol(80 mg 2 days, 64mg 2days, 48mg 2days, 32mg days, 16mg 2 days adn 8 mg 2 days). Today was my last dose that I took.

After when I started taking steroids(4 weeks after the trauma and about my 8th HBOT treatment) my T was significantly lower.
I've managed to fall asleep 2 night without diazepam, I was optimistic and again in very good mood.
But than as the dozes were lower the T was going higher again. Right now I think my T is like it was at the start.

So far I have done 15 hbot.
I dive at 13 meters(I think it is about 42 feet) and I am staying there about 40 minutes.
Since right now my T is again very high I don't think HBOT has done anything to me.
I will go for 5 treatments more, hope that will do something.

Toni

 

I've started contacting places that offer this sort of treatment in Scotland to see if I can receive some, I've only had my tinnitus for under 5 weeks.

I'll give anything a go to get ANY sort of relief! Fingers crossed!

 

The only place I could find that would dive deeper than 33ft is crazy expensive (£200/session). I'm literally spending my mortgage savings.

What are your depths and prices like?

 

I'm expecting some replies tomorrow morning in my inbox with regards to receiving this treatment.

Everyone keeps talking to me about this crucial 3 month window before there is no going back for tinnitus so I intend to do my upmost to give myself the best possible chance.

Have any of you guys experienced side effects of undertaking this treatment so that I can be aware of this if the treatment commences?

 

Did this, no side effects.

 

Thanks.

It's just when you read it can affect your vision and stuff, you hesitate regardless of the aforementioned studies.