Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves neurocognitive post-Covid functions, symptoms(nature.com)
nature.com
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves neurocognitive post-Covid functions, symptoms
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15565-0
8 comments
I have Long Covid and did 27 HBOT sessions. While I experienced an improvement in brain fog it is just a slight improvement and very far from being a cure.
It does however point to blood circulation problems (maybe cause by neurotransmitter autoantibodies) at the core of LC.
There are many fascinating HBOT studies coming out of Israel in particular.
However, we must be careful how we interpret them. One key feature of all the studies I've seen with significant positive results is that some subgroup with psychiatric co-morbidity improved. In this article they list many as references 16-19. But I will highlight 14. The title alone should make you think something is up
"Hadanny, A. et al. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can induce neuroplasticity and significant clinical improvement in patients suffering from fibromyalgia with a history of childhood sexual abuse-randomized controlled trial. Front. Psychol. 9, 2495. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02495 (2018)." [emphasis added by me].
Back to this study, it in particular notes improvement in depression/anxiety/somatization scores, that's the second most significant change, second to pain interference. Depression and anxiety are self explanatory, but somatization is the tendency to experience mental distress as physical symptoms. Pain interference is the degree to-which pain impairs function (working, looking after youself, social interactions etc).
It cites prior studies showing benefits to those with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyaldia and post-traumatic stress disorder. All conditions with significant co-morbid psychiatric conditions.
So is HBOT a treatment for depression/anxiety, or is it a treatment for a variety of conditions? Is depression the common mechanism of these conditions?
However, we must be careful how we interpret them. One key feature of all the studies I've seen with significant positive results is that some subgroup with psychiatric co-morbidity improved. In this article they list many as references 16-19. But I will highlight 14. The title alone should make you think something is up
"Hadanny, A. et al. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can induce neuroplasticity and significant clinical improvement in patients suffering from fibromyalgia with a history of childhood sexual abuse-randomized controlled trial. Front. Psychol. 9, 2495. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02495 (2018)." [emphasis added by me].
Back to this study, it in particular notes improvement in depression/anxiety/somatization scores, that's the second most significant change, second to pain interference. Depression and anxiety are self explanatory, but somatization is the tendency to experience mental distress as physical symptoms. Pain interference is the degree to-which pain impairs function (working, looking after youself, social interactions etc).
It cites prior studies showing benefits to those with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyaldia and post-traumatic stress disorder. All conditions with significant co-morbid psychiatric conditions.
So is HBOT a treatment for depression/anxiety, or is it a treatment for a variety of conditions? Is depression the common mechanism of these conditions?
I wonder if we'd be any taller if the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere was higher
I wonder if just a nasal oxygen feed would be helpful?
100% oxygen via nasal cannula, even at a barely tolerable 6L/minute. Still only results of an intake O2 concentration of <50% [0]. You can with heated humidified systems achieving rates approaching the 100% used here.
But they are still at atmospheric pressures, this research is on a combination of high oxygen (hyperoxia) and high pressures (hyperbaric), which leads to much higher partial pressures of oxygen within the body according to Dalton's equations[1].
[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526071/
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6420699/
But they are still at atmospheric pressures, this research is on a combination of high oxygen (hyperoxia) and high pressures (hyperbaric), which leads to much higher partial pressures of oxygen within the body according to Dalton's equations[1].
[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526071/
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6420699/
Oxygen in excess is toxic. The implications of this science-fact has been mostly forgotten by Medicine, but is commonly known by SCUBA divers (whose enemy is Nitrogen).
Just watched my mom's 98 year old friend get finished off with nasal oxygen (~week ago). Once she'd been on it for a day couldn't go without it. If the goal was to extend her life, they would have incorporated the antidote to oxygen toxicity.
I call it #MedicalHyperventilation [0], but afaik my term hasn't taken off.
[0] https://www.taxiwars.org/2021/06/folly-medical-hyperventilat...
Just watched my mom's 98 year old friend get finished off with nasal oxygen (~week ago). Once she'd been on it for a day couldn't go without it. If the goal was to extend her life, they would have incorporated the antidote to oxygen toxicity.
I call it #MedicalHyperventilation [0], but afaik my term hasn't taken off.
[0] https://www.taxiwars.org/2021/06/folly-medical-hyperventilat...
Confession: I have yet to read the piece; just responding to @wrycoder's question. A colleague of mine worked in hyperbaric immunology to discover protocols for anaerobic wound healing. The only protocol available then were from the Navy and it's "diving chambers" for dealing with "bends".
The game was to take patient something like 300' below sea level (hyperbaric) and then a) start the antibiotics and b) turn on the oxygen flow. The high pressure drives oxygen deep into the tissues, where it would otherwise not penetrate at sea level pressures.
He was working with a 14-gurney chamber at an Air Force base, using an experimental discovery system we were co-developing at the time.
The game was to take patient something like 300' below sea level (hyperbaric) and then a) start the antibiotics and b) turn on the oxygen flow. The high pressure drives oxygen deep into the tissues, where it would otherwise not penetrate at sea level pressures.
He was working with a 14-gurney chamber at an Air Force base, using an experimental discovery system we were co-developing at the time.
Really hope this lives up to what it seems it might.My wife's biggest COVID19 fear is 10 to 20 years from now and a lot of people are seeking medical help because what they called a cold back in the day deposited so many blood clots throughout their bodies that they have organs and muscle tissue all looking like swiss cheese from those clots suffocating tissue areas and have probably had a few strokes between today and their future visit.