Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Thanks so much for this info. I am a lot calmer now.

 

Could i use Peltor Optime III or should i stick with II?

 

Hi Snake, Not a lot of difference between them. Peltor Optime III is also good. Regards, Jan

 

Do at least 10. You cannot get more easily. And paying it yourself is very expensive.

 

Roger that. I did 7 as of yet and didn't notice any improvement.

 

Where did you get it?

 

Czech Rep.

 

Hi,
my name is Mike and I'm very new to this whole area of tinnitus. I have only been recently diagnosed (within the past two weeks).

I have been researching furiously through all the different treatment options including HBOT. HBOT has interested me so much that I contacted a local hyperbaric facility.
After explaining my situation to them the doctor in charge the facility said that if I was to take HBOT therapy for tinnitus I would be wasting money. She claimed that it would be only appropriate if a severe sudden hearing loss (greater than 30 dB).

She was reluctant to receive me for therapy and only conceded that if I got a recommendation from an ENT who verified that I had severe hearing loss only then would she allow me to be treated.

She also said that she was a hyperbaric conference recently and it was stated that tinnitus was not one of the conditions that were empirically validated treatment.

Has anyone else encountered such problems when attempting to get HBOT training?
This whole situation is very frustrating. It's very hard to know to do next!

 

Hi there,

in my country HBOT is used for the treatment of accute tinnitus (viz attachment). I was reffered to it by two qualified ENT's and I don't have a severe hearing loss. If your read this thread you can notice that some people benefited from using this therapy and achieved reduction in their tinnitus or at least change in their tone/pitch to the less bothersome after using HBOT. Also, if you read specialized literature with regards to otolarylngology problems and tinnitus HBOT is noted there as one of the possible methods to treat tinnitus.

 

Thanks Jiri, that's very helpful. I've just seen a very unhelpful doctor today but I got referred on to a ENT at least. I'm not very optimistic however that he or she will refer me on to do HBOT. Maybe this can add further weight to my argument

 

No problem, glad I could be helpful. Also, if you say you're 2 weeks in I'd suggest to ask your new ENT to put you on a course of Prednisone - it's a corticosteroid. It helps to reduce inflamation etc. Then HBOT sounds good.

 

Anyone has any idea how loud (in dB) it could be in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber for 6 people? Rough estimates?

A fan + six guys breating in and out Darth Vader style. Obviously, no earplugs nor safety earmuffs allowed.

Type of chamber: STARMED 2000 (HAUX-life- support, SRN)

 

I will do thanks, I have to call them tomorrow for an appointment date. I hope it's not too long of a waiting list as HBOT is only really useful before 8weeks after onset it seems.

With regards to the steroid, the gp today did give me betnesol which is also a steroid but it was given under the presumption that this thing is caused by an infection. She is convinced that because of my age (32) I can't have tinnitus due to noise trauma. But ill defo ask about Prednisone. Thanks!

 

I was told the accute phase some say is either 3 days or some others say 3 months. I'm still in my month 3, so fingers crossed. Anyway in the book I got is stated that patients obtained some good results even in the sub-accute phase of 6 months.

You know, tinnitus. No one really knows but I thought they use HBOT for noise-induced T and hearing loss. Not too sure about infections and this kind of a therapy. I'm no expert.

 

Hello all,

I'm new in the forums and this is my first post ever. I'm also new with "T", as everyone seems to refer to tinnitus, which started eleven (11) days ago due to my own stupidity; Way too much volume using headphones for too many consecutive days left me with high pitch tone in both ears (around 11kHz).

I found this thread interesting even though I started my HBOT treatment at day 7, before stumbling upon this forum. This thread seems to contain mixed results, for obvious reasons, but there's also some incorrect information if you read through all of the posts.

As for my background, I'm in my 40s and live in Finland. I am certified NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver and I did my military service (and then worked for 6 months) in heavy field artillery.

Based on above "experience" there's really just a few options you can get HBOT treatment in Finland. First is if you have a scuba diving accident and accent too fast. If accident involves ruptured lung then you might even get a helicopter lift into chamber. Other one is if you are exposed to loud noises in military (e.g. handguns, cannons/howitzers), you'll end up in HBOT chamber for sure.

Other than that, there's only one place here where you can get the treatment, with or without ETN's referral. It does not come cheap as it's 900€ for 5x90min but the doctor/professor (emeritus) running it is considered to be "the best" around.

Someone here stated multiple times you should stay away from this treatment because it might be dangerous. I need to disagree on this matter. What you are doing here, as most if not everyone already knows, is that you go into a chamber, pressure in the chamber is increased and you breath pure oxygen via a mask for certain amount of time. Pure oxygen combined with external pressure forces more oxygen to your internal organs.

One "danger" I see here is that oxygen becomes toxic as the partial pressure of oxygen increases in the mixture of gasses. That partial pressure increases steeper with 100% oxygen, since only component is oxygen, than it would with air you normally breath, which consist of 21% oxygen. (So you can dive deeper with air than pure oxygen without fear of seizures and death but then other components of the gas come into play... like nitrogen build-up in tissues and narcosis.... but that's another discussion). In controlled environment this "danger" is not really a danger at all when dive time (duration of the treatment) and depth (pressure in the chamber) are moderate and within safe limits. Which they are.

Other "danger" is that you can't equalize pressure between your ears and sinuses as the pressure increases. This can be felt as discomfort or pain in your ears and in worst case it may cause some damage, too. Key is to equalize all the time and not just when your ears are already hurting because as the pressure increases, equalizing becomes harder. Worst thing you can do is NOT to abort the dive if you have ear problems you can't solve and just hang in there in pain because "what these other people would think". If there's any problem during the dive, call it.

Fortunately I can either block or pop my ears at will, just by breathing through nose, moving my jaws a little and using tongue to force air thru sinuses.

I'll be having my fifth (5) and last session today. During the treatment I have noticed that when pressure increases, my tinnitus goes away for whole 90 minutes. I know when we are back "in the surface" because that's when my T comes back. That-is-weird.

Beyond that, following my third HBOT session, I had a tinnitus free morning. It came back during the day but volume was significantly decreased. Today volume has increased again but treatment is definitely doing "something". I'm off to my fifth and last session now. I'll post post-treatment effects here in case anyone is that interested.

(sorry for this post being maybe a little inconsistent but I need to get going as I don't want to miss the last session! )

 

Just a little follow up from my 5th and last (at least for the moment) HBOT session.

Initial effects were the same as before. As the pressure increased in the tank, T went inaudible for whole 90 minutes and as decompression finished, it came back. And as it comes back it seems a little louder but maybe it's due to "silence" I have during the treatment. Also, high pitch sound turned into something more like crickets (=grasshoppers?).

Following night was again very silent but now after two, three days, it's the high pitch again. Difference is that it's volume has decreased something like 80%...90% from what it was initially, before the first treatment. It's much easier to ignore during the daily activities.

Let's see how it develops, follow up with doctor is 2 weeks from now. Of course I hoped total "recovery" but I'm more than happy with sound being that much lower now. Vacuuming and other louder noises makes it spike a little, though.

 

Im seriously thinking about doing some HBOT sessions myself since im still in the acute fase.
What interests me is that 'positive expectations before therapy' seem to (sometimes greatly) increase results in multiple study's. Im mostly a very upbeat guy and I wonder if doing a lot of self motivation and uplifting exercises before hand would optimise results before going in??
I got some very self motivating (and a bit woo woo up there) books lying around here that I might quickly finish before hand to get me in a more positive outlook on this thing if I decide to go trough with doing HBOT sessions.

If anyone is interested, a very famous self motivating (and positive outlook creating movie) would be:
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.

Also after reading the following (a bit odd) book I walked off with a lot more positive outlook somehow:
Ask and it is Given by Esther Hicks & Jerry Hicks.


Anyway, I bet these are a bit strange (feel good) books that few people read, but who knows if they could optimise results somehow. Il update if and when I do those expensive HBOT sessions.

 

Dear Friends,
I am new in the group. I suffer from T for 1.5 months now. After new year party my T started, we can say it is mainly noise induced. I visited 4 ENT since then and they said my eustachian tube is blocked, they prescribed a steroid nasal spray and said they can do nothing for T. I have a fullness sense and sometimes a pain in my ears also. I found a hyperbaric oxygen therapy center with google search and they accepted me. Yesterday I received my first treatment but now I feel my T increased! Noise inside the chamber is very high and also pressure change was causing my ears hurt and contributes more to my fullness sensation. So my question is, eventhough my T is noise induced, eustachian tube blokage problem makes me a non suitable patient for HBOT? I dont want to hurt my ears further and I doubt to continue HBOT for remaining 9 course.

 

I did 21 HBOT sessions. Nothing changed, not a 1% percent improvement, waste of money for me. Did it after around 2-3 months from onset. My tinnitus is mild to moderate, was stress induced.

 

I'm planning to do HBOT within the next few days. I had sudden hearing loss with accompanying dizziness, its about been about 9 days of onset. On the second day I was prescribed a 60mg prednisone taper with acyclovir, on day 8 I had my first steroid injection (doctor wants to do 4 shots within two weeks). In spite of whats been done, can't say I notice much improvement up to this point.

Anybody think its a good idea to just go ahead with HBOT... any precautions when I still feel dizzy? The whole week has left me dizzy and the only way I sleep is with sleeping pills. I understand all this steroid shots and pills dont help with dizziness either...

 

6-8 weeks? What is the logic behind this? I finished last week and lost hope in this therapy, why would have any effect after 6 weeks?

 

I don't know. Maybe the body takes some time to process the extra oxygen?

 

Did you get a proper instruction from the staff of the HBO-centre how to clear your ears? You can also use chewing gum etc... For the noise you can use ear protection like: https://www.amazon.com/3M-Earmuff-Protectors-Hearing-Protection/dp/B00009LI4K When I got HBOT the treatment centre provide this.
Kind regards,
Jan

 

I found a list of hyperbaric oxygen tanks in Belgium updated in 2017.

http://www.achobel.be/MemberList.htm

 

I had 12 sessions, 1.5h in 2.4ATA, started exactly one month after acoustic trauma, zero significant difference after all in T, H and sound distortions... After AT i had ET issues so i was afraid that through HBOT i will hurt my ears even more, that's why i was waiting so long before therapy. After first two, and i think 8th session i have woke up at night with both my ears clogged, making valsava and steam inhalation eased it a bit, but i was scared af, chamber operator said that it is pretty normal, when i came to 9th session he even asked if i had some issues this night, because other patients had some this night.
Every time in chamber i was making valsava to equalize pressure, my ETs weren't able to equalize without my help.

 

This morning I was quoted $3700 per session by a local hospital HBOT. They suggested 20 sessions. They're going to review my file and contact my insurance company to verify coverage.

 

$3700 / session? Better fly to the Netherlands and have pay 182,48 euro / session. Contact e.g. the facility near Utrecht (Maarssen, a little village nearby Utrecht (see and use Google translate www.ivgh.nl m.schuurman@ivhg.nl http://www.ivhg.nl/het-ivhg/ivhg-utrecht/

 

Yes, even cheaper! There are not many countries where HBOT is covered for tinnitus...
For the UK route you can contact Angela Ball (MS centre Bristol, UK)
Angela Ball <angela.ball@mstherapybristol.org.uk>
A few months ago I got the following e-mail:


Dear Jan

Hello my name is Angela I am the oxygen co-ordinator ,thank you for enquiring about oxygen treatment here at the centre , I have attached information pack that will need completing and sent/emailed back at your earliest convenience .

Not sure if treatment was the same back in 2000, you will need a block of 20 Monday – Friday, use the ascending protocol starting with 5 sessions at 1.5ata and so on depending what benefits you have . I have attached our timetable for you to look at, would this be possible for you to do?

Kind regards

Angela Ball

 

You don't get into the IVGH centre without a doctor's letter I suppose.