Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hey, i've got a new acoustic trauma a week ago which i described here: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spike-and-ear-fullness-after-noise-at-surgery-room.25903

and here: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...isappears-after-plugging-ear-with-thumb.26001

I'm a week now on Prednisone treatment 50mg/day, Vitamins, Magnesium, Vinpocetine. I've done extended audiogram today and i don't know if i should also consider HBOT. It's really expensive and i'm really tight on budget now :<

I'm also stressed about loud noise in the chamber.

We can see a drop on 17KHz on the left ear (up is right ear, down is left)

Audiogram:

 

Sorry to hear you had an acoustic trauma. I did 3 series of HBOT in my life. In 1996, 1999 and 2017. Important to know is that according to research you have to start with HBOT within 8 weeks after onset. But the sooner the better...

 

Should i try HBOT based on audiogram above? I'm scared about the pressure and noise level in the chamber.

My onset was in 2011, a week ago i encountered new acoustic trauma :<

I'm really tight on budget now so i don't want to waste money :<

 

What was the time between the acoustic trauma and starting with prednisone? Healing takes time... I had several shock therapies of prednisone and most of the cases healing took place after 5-8 day's...

 

I took Prednisone immediately (1 hour after the acoustic trauma) because i was lucky that it was available at home (first day was 2x 20mg because i didn't knew proper dosage, second day 40mg and then on third i got full course 50mg from ENT), i'm thinking about HBOT because of this audiogram results to fix more than supplements and prednisone can.

It's day 7 today of taking it.

 

Dear all,
I am very happy to find this forum. I started suffering from tinnitus 13 days ago due to acoustic trauma.

I understand that HBOT might be an option at this stage. I live in Europe, but am visiting Chicago area for business until the end of February. I started looking for options on the web, but it is not that obvious.

Is there anyone who had a positive experience with a place in Chicago? Perhaps even in Naperville?
Any information, including costs would be more than appreciated.
Thanks so much for any help

 

I don't know about HBOT, but consider Prednisone too if you haven't already.

 

Thanks for the advice. Will look into it. My ENT has prescribed Betaserc to me, which I am taking religiously. But I'm not very sure how that is effecting things.

 

Did anyone find hyperbaric oxygen therapy made their tinnitus worse, temporarily or permanently? This treatment seems very cheap where I am but I am worried about the risks.

I know a lady who gets silence after each session @Thissucks..jenn

 

Betaserc won't help with hearing loss. It will reduce inner ear pressure by increasing the blood flow. It's a histamine antagonist. Tinnitus is described in the booklet inside the box unsure how it will fix hearing loss.
My ENT said if the pressure in your ear stays too long hearing loss will be permanent (until a drug is found to cure it).

 

Codaz, thanks for the note. In my case however, there is no hearing loss, only tinnitus.

 

Hi again. It is indeed very difficult to decide whether to consider HBOT or not. The main problem is with finding reliable data (how I envy the Star Trek medical database!). My scientist side decided to take a concrete approach. I went through all the posts in this thread and recorded everyone for whom HBOT gave some improvement, did nothing, or had an adverse effect. I did not include people who left treatment after a few sessions or who started the treatment after the typically suggested 3 months. Here are the results:

-- Improvement: 10 people. To my understanding, almost all of these people's tinnitus is on the severe side, and co-exists with a hearing loss. One was due to direct brain injury. There are only 3 cases with significant improvement. One case only reports improvement on hearing loss, and does not mention tinnitus. The rest are mild improvements.
-- No effect: 29 people
-- Adverse effects: 7 people. Effects include eardrum swelling, worse audiogram, worsening due to high noise in the chambers, eardrum scratch, and of course barotrauma.

Unfortunately this does not give the optimistic view presented in the papers.

There is one more note I should add: I did visit an HBOT center yesterday. They were very sincere and nice about explaining all possible ups and downs. However, one thing that struck me was that, when we asked for success statistics, they were not able to provide us any. For a center that was performing this for apparently 20 years, and a center that made us fill out very detailed forms in the beginning, this was very surprising there was no quantification of the treatment results. The doctor told us that average person feels an improvement. But no quantification whatsoever. This unfortunately suggests to me that there is not much to quantify. All I can say is, alas ...

 

I did it and in 2 terms, once 20 days, and 6 weeks after 11 days more and no positive effect.

 

I was today in HBOT but... i was too scared about the noise to turn it on...

I was going to literally pass out there, my fear about the noise inside is too great to bear and manage.

Can someone tell me to just go for it? I know that it can help but my anxiety is a monster.

I have a little video from YT with the same chamber, can someone say if it's ok?

TURN DOWN THE VOLUME ofc. The moment inside the chamber is at 03:31 and 03:39

Jak dotlenić mózg? | Alicja Czyrska

Doctors there said that if i change my mind we can start immediately after my phone so it's not a problem.

@Jan64 @Bill Bauer You two have been inside, sorry for disturbing but please help

 

I have had five HBOT sessions. During the first 3 sessions, it was loud inside of the chamber. During the fourth or fifth session, it turned out that in that chamber the "flow through" rate was set to maximum. When it got set to a minimum, it got less noisy. Setting it to a minimum doesn't change anything. The pressure inside of the chamber is the same, and so is the fraction of air inside of the chamber that is oxygen.

I was told not to bring anything into the chamber. By session 4 or 5, I found out that it is ok to bring a pair of ear plugs, provided I insert them only after the chamber gets pressurized and provided I remove them when they start to return the chamber to a normal pressure level.

When the flow-through rate is set to a minimum, and when one wears earplugs, it is a lot less noisier inside of the chamber.

In my case, as a result of the noise I was exposed during the earlier sessions, my T had reacted and got louder. The noise must not have been That loud, as it didn't spike after the first session, and perhaps it was a little louder the next day. To make a long story short, when it was time to go for my sixth session, my T was louder than my baseline, I got scared and I stopped going to those HBOT sessions. My T settled down within a couple of days.

Now I believe that it was a mistake to stop those sessions. I made some progress in the weeks and months that followed, and it is possible that that progress was made as a result of HBOT, and that there would have been more progress had I continued with HBOT. The noise (which was maximum noise as the flow through rate was set to maximum for at least three of the sessions) was not loud enough to do any permanent damage, like I said my T settled very soon after my fifth HBOT session.

So there is a chance that your T will spike a little, but don't worry about it. Also, if you learn from my mistakes and ask them to change the flow through rate, and wear ear plugs, you will probably be ok.

 

That's a good news Bill!

Have you been in individual or in a group chamber with other patients? There's a chance that i will get HBOT for free from my insurance, but if so it will be a group chamber with other people inside.

For individual chamber, i have to pay myself.

 

I was inside of an individual chamber. Perhaps the group one will be quieter, as in an individual chamber the oxygen is pumped right next to one's head and that is what is making all of the noise.

By the way, the earplugs need to be brand new. You don't want the dirt on old earplugs to ignite.

 

I remember that at the hospital that the group chamber was very loud outside, even in earplugs it was destroying my head. Maybe inside it's quieter.

Individual chamber was very quiet outside but this video above takes my anxiety to monster lvl, but your answers calmed me.

So wear earplugs after pressure is established, and take them off before they will start to normalize it. And take brand new earplugs, got it

 

I just realized that while one waits for the chamber to be pressurized, one can stick one's fingers into one's ears. Doing so will protect your ears, somewhat. You could then take the fingers out once a minute or so for a fraction of a second to ensure that the pressure inside of the ears is equalized with the pressure in the chamber.

I can't believe it took me 11 months to come up with this idea! I wish I were to figure it out last February, when I was getting those HBOT sessions.

If it is loud outside of group chambers, you may want to ask the patients and the HBOT attendants about how the noise level inside the group chamber compares to that inside of an individual chamber. I know that the noise inside of an individual chamber was not Too bad (even when it was at a maximum volume and when I wasn't wearing plugs). But who knows - it could be a lot louder inside of a group chamber. You may want to get to the bottom of this, before you go inside of a group chamber.

 

I asked patients about the group chamber but most of them was old, and already somewhat deaf

Also, we know that when someone without T says "It's ok" for us it can be mega extra loud. It will be hard to find someone with T who attends the group chamber outside TinnitusTalk.

I think that i have to stick with individual chamber, 1 doctor said that it's a lot quiet than the group chamber from her own experience.

 

You could attempt to find someone who has experience in both types of chambers. You could then ask them whether the noise is louder inside of the group chamber (instead of asking them whether it gets loud there)...

 

Hmm, that's a good idea.

For now i have only opinion from the staff in clinic where they do individual HBOT, but we know that they can say that to sell me a session.

But for sure, individual chamber outside is barely noticeable so for now i think it's gonna be better.

 

I 've only been in group chambers made by Haux Germany. I measure loudness of environments a lot, just in order to decide whether I have to plug my ears. I estimate the sound level of a Haux (when you are in) and when pressurizing from 1 ATA to 2.5 ATA at 83-85 dB(A) and stable at 2.5 ATA: 78-80 ATA. When depressurizing: 80-82 dB(A). I used an Peltor Optime II provided by the facility (www.ivhg.nl). And that was oké, did not have spikes.

 

Wow that's loud, i think the risk is too big :<

 

But when using ear protection: - 15dB so with bone conduction around 70-75 dB(A) that is quite save.

 

It's strange but the clinic allowed me to use ear plugs and ear muffs even during ascending and descending from the pressure. Should i trust them? Isn't it should cause barotrauma immediately?

 

I also used earplugs during ascending and descending. No problem. Air goes just along the ear muffs and the skin. My in ear plug contains a small hole, air can also go through that... Just clear your ears properly to prevent barotrauma...

 

Hi all,

just very briefly. I am in my third month of tinnitus and was offered the HBOT.

1. The first two sessions were ok no change in my T volume, pitch ot anything else.
2. After that the 3rd session my T travelled from my "bad" right ear to my better "left" ear. I have a bilateral tinnitus by the way - the left ear just a mild like glass type of ringing, the right ear was originally the one where the high-pitch frequency tone is (was) located.
3. After my fourth session I got a spike in both of my ears - they were ringing loud.
4. Then there was a weekend - everything went to its baseline.
5. Now repeat. Monday, after my fifth session it is the left ear again that's ringing loud and my right originaly bad ear seemed to quiet down.

A side note: Now after 8 hours after the HBOT I can still hear the left ear ring but it has got quiter.

Who knows what will happen tomorrow? Should I quit or give it some more time? HBOT is still considered the best rehab for noise-induced tinnitus. Just worried about a permanent spike.

I had all the tests done before to make sure I am an ok candidate for this type of a treatment - audiologist's hearing test, tympanometery and an acoustic relfex test - all was good.

Any advice, tips, tricks, pointers? Anybody got a similar experience?

P.S.: Also, I share the hyperbaric chamber with 5 other people who like to talk a lot the first 15 minutes we're inside. Then there's the fan going to keep the temperature at the same level. All six of us when we put the masks on breathing literally Darth Vader style. Could it be my hyperacusis reacting too?

 

Seriously, nobody has any advice or idea what may be the cause of it?

 

T Spikes are normal after the HBOT sessions. Effect of the HBOT can come between 6-8 weeks after the last treatment.