The benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy can last a lifetime. For example, patients who suffer from radiation injuries have their injuries healed with HBOT, and they almost never return.
Hyperbaric medicine stimulates increased cell reproduction that can continue for up to two months after a series of multiple successive hyperbaric sessions.
There are many other effects that occur for variable periods of time and depend upon many conditions, including the patient’s health status, the severity of the problem and the patient's age and sex. For example, a 78-year-old with diabetic wounds who would otherwise require amputation of their toes would most likely find their wounds healed. However, because the diabetes itself does not go away, this patient may need additional sessions several months later.
Hyperbaric treatment affects many parts of the body, disease processes and physiology. It boosts your immune system and supercharges your body's healing process. It stimulates stem cell reproduction, gene expression and red blood cell growth, heals certain brain injuries and radiation damage throughout the body, kills infections, and heals your skin, bones, muscle and organ tissues. If you have questions about whether hyperbaric treatment can help with your condition or that of a family member, give us a call. We would love to talk it through with you.
The benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy can last a lifetime. For example, patients who suffer from radiation injuries have their injuries healed with HBOT, and they almost never return.
Hyperbaric medicine stimulates increased cell reproduction that can continue for up to two months after a series of multiple successive hyperbaric sessions.
There are many other effects that occur for variable periods of time and depend upon many conditions, including the patient’s health status, the severity of the problem and the patient's age and sex. For example, a 78-year-old with diabetic wounds who would otherwise require amputation of their toes would most likely find their wounds healed. However, because the diabetes itself does not go away, this patient may need additional sessions several months later.
For these reasons, patients are followed by their health professionals during their treatments.
Most patients feel better after their hyperbaric treatment in a number of ways. For example, athletes who come in for rapid injury recovery, they can feel significant pain relief after just one treatment. The pressure with the oxygen reduces swelling, forcing more oxygen and nutrients into the injured or diseased areas. This can relieve pain and improve range of motion. Thus, movement and intensive activity are easier. At the same time, we also warn athletes that they may feel so pain-free that they may want to go immediately back to their full training schedule. We try to encourage them to give their tissues more time to fully heal before resuming their heavy training schedule.
In other cases, a patient can feel worse for a short time after treatment, as their body is detoxifying. The oxygen that floods a patient’s system can stimulate cells to detoxify rapidly or re-invigorate cells that were idling or not functioning fully. In some cases, the treatment can cause such a rapid detoxification effect that it can cause stress and what is called a herxheimer reaction. This may occur when there is an active infection. This may lead to mild flu like symptoms.
However, hyperbaric treatment helps these infections heal more rapidly, and so after the requisite number of treatments, patients feel significantly better and at times, they tell us that they have not felt so pain free and able to function again for years or even decades.
A hyperbaric technician is a health professional who has been certified to administer hyperbaric oxygen therapy to patients. A hyperbaric technician gets certified when they:
Michael Jackson did use a hyperbaric chamber to heal a burn he got while making a Pepsi commercial. Burns are an approved condition for treatment in a hyperbaric chamber for reimbursement by Medicare. Hyperbaric chambers are often used to heal burns quicker and with less scarring, sometimes saving the life of someone with significant burns across their body. Sometimes hyperbarics reduces or entirely removes pain from burns.
Whether Michael took a nap while he was in his chamber is not unlikely, but no one has made known his sleeping habits while he had the burn and used the hyperbaric chamber. Our patients often take naps while in the chamber. Michael Jackson did donate his hyperbaric chamber to a children's hospital after he was done.
A hyperbaric Chamber is used with pure oxygen to treat patients for a wide range of conditions, from radiation damage to concussion and TBI, to sudden deafness and sports injuries. For a list of conditions we treat, click the link "Treatable Diagnoses" at the top of the page. In some cases, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat discomfort from other medical treatments, such as chemotherapy, to reduce the side effects they would otherwise experience. Patients also use hyperbaric oxygen therapy to reduce or eliminate headaches, including migraine headaches. In such cases, if a patient suddenly ceases their regular hyperbaric protocol, their symptoms will very likely come back within 3 to7 days. Thus, it is important to complete the hyperbaric protocol, to ensure complete healing.
The cost of a hyperbaric chamber depends on several factors, with the most significant being whether you purchase a soft-sided chamber or a hard-sided chamber. More and more soft-sided chambers have entered the market over recent years, but research has shown medically significant results only with hard-sided chambers. In general, soft-sided chambers only pressurize up to 1.3 ATA, whereas hard-sided chambers pressurize up to 2.4 ATA (up to 2.8 in some cases). Also, soft-sided chambers only generally supply only 31% oxygen, whereas hard-sided chambers supply 100% oxygen. Soft-sided chambers are much less expensive and require oxygen concentrators, which pull oxygen from the surrounding air to provide a greater concentration. In contrast, hard chambers require air compressors, oxygen storage containers, and medical-grade air and oxygen. Before are purchase a hyperbaric chamber, call us to discuss the optimal chamber, because each treatment protocol requires specific pressures and oxygen concentrations, and we are here to help you heal.
You can buy a hyperbaric chamber, but to get the best results, we recommend you use a hard-sided chamber, which can be pressurized up to 2.4x your normal atmospheric pressure, and can provide you with 100% oxygen.
Hard chambers often cost well over $100,000. You can use or purchase a soft-sided chamber, but soft-sided chambers cannot be pressurized sufficiently to heal most medical conditions, and you can only receive 31% oxygen. However, they are significantly lower cost.
Patients treated in soft chambers report feeling better. However, research to-date has not shown that they provide the same healing power as hard-sided chambers. Doctors who refer patients to Bay Area Hyperbarics recommend hard chambers, so you can receive the full healing power of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
The cost of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HB0T) depends on many factors, including the number of treatments and whether your condition is covered by insurance. The FDA and Medicare approve 14 medical conditions for treatment by hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Call us and we can talk with you about your diagnosis, and if your condition is covered by insurance, we'll help you through the process of getting covered.
As of December, 2019, we have heard of no cases of insurance covering the purchase of a hyperbaric chamber. However, Medicare and many forms of insurance pay for you to receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy at a certified hyperbaric clinic, such as Bay Area Hyperbarics. To learn which conditions hyperbarics treats, refer to Conditions covered by insurance.
Medicare will cover the cost hyperbaric treatments for a number of treatable diagnoses at Bay Area Hyperbarics, if the treatments are for an approved condition. See Treatable Diagnoses.
Medicare pays for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy treatment if you have a covered condition. Refer to our list of Insurance-approved conditions.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is covered by insurance for specific conditions. Bay Area Hyperbarics does also offer treatment to patients that do not have covered conditions. Give us a call and we can help you determine whether your condition can be paid by insurance. If it cannot, we can work out a treatment protocol that can help you feel as good as you did before your condition arose! Call us at (408) 356–7438.