My HBOT experience

Disclaimer: The information contained on this website is compiled of information on alternative treatments that I have used since my MS symptoms began in 1975. Some have helped my MS quite a bit, that does not  mean that they will help yours. They are mostly anecdotal evidence and you should seek the counsel of your physician before starting any new treatments.

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01-28-12  First of all Happy Birthday to my cousin Kim!!! Now onto my first experiences with my HBOT machine!!! First of all this is what it looks like; http://www.hyperbaric-dives.com/shallow.htm more video info on my type of chamber http://hyperbaricoptions.com/gallery/videos/setup-summit_to_sea_portable_hyperbaric_chambers.php  My awesome Jimmy came over Thursday night after work and put it all together he was here til after 10pm which I thought was awesome of him since he had to work the next day. I can't imagine having that type of energy, but sure hope to one day. The goal I was given by Dr. Saft was 90 minutes in the chamber 6 days a week, my first treatment on Thursday night was 45 minutes, and yesterday my mom came over and helped me with the treatment after viewing the DVD they sent, that treatment yesterday was also about 45 minutes long. This last one I had to cut short because I had to go to the bathroom even though I did urinate before hand. ?? Oh well. Today I plan on getting in that chamber for 90 minutes, AJ will be helping me today. One day when I am strong enough I will be able to use the chamber on my own like it shows on the 2nd HBOT video above. Soon I will have my mom film me getting in and out of this chamber and performing things like walking, the usual things doctors have you do to show balance and such. I am figuring out things to do with the chamber, for instance I start the treatment always chewing gum, that really helps stop the ear popping. The most interesting thing I think will be when I am able to compare the images of my brain to show any lesions healing. I will defiantly show those right here! I do believe between Dr. Wahls diet and these HBOT treatments I will be able to show some good healing, though I do not expect to ever be good as new, after 36 years with this disease I would find hat hard to believe, but I'll take what I can get! I need to remember also that Dr. Wahls has had this disease for a much shorter period of time than I and it appears to me anyway that her lesions are in different areas than mine. For instance I have always been able to walk to some degree where it appears she had a very hard time with being able to walk at all for a time. Of course not being a doctor myself that is just my opinion but I plan on asking my new Neuro about this. Have a great weekend! ~ Lisa

01-24-12  I can hardly believe we are in a new year. It has been a rough start for me. I had IVIG treatment on 12-28 & 29 then my son saw that I was looking like I was spacing out and not responding to him I reminded of what his late grandpa looked like when he had a stroke. So he called 911, what a great kid! I truly don't remember the paramedics at the house my ride to the hospital or being in the ER. Apparently I was having seizures because of the IVIG. It is really creepy to still not remember so much of that and still, I did not remember that night my mom, son or Jim being in my hospital room. I didn't even and still don't completely even remember Jim giving me a kiss. That night was a blur, not fun at all!!! So I had an MRI last night so when I go to my new Neruo he can compare the before MRI to the one after the seizures that will be Tuesday! I will see if I can get him to go along with me with having further MRI's to compare after my HBOT treatments. I just received the rest of my HBOT machine today, and Jim will put it together as soon as he can. I slept horrible as always last night I loved the one treatment I had...it gave mew so much energy...it did not help me sleep at all but I felt clear headed and my hope is that at some point it will help with the sleep after all it was one single treatment. I guess only time will tell, but I am very hopeful. I of course am doing my best to sticking to the diet aspect, I think that is A-1 important but it is very difficult when I don't sleep well at all, have no energy to cook food and need to wheel all the way to the kitchen, then cook etc.....so I will tend to eat what ever is available like peanut butter and rice cakes, both of which are foods that are allowed from my blood test. Okay, I am exhausted, time to try to vacuum at bit since my Daisey sheds a lot and we need to keep he fur out of my HBOT. She cannot be in my room anymore, kinda weird to get used to but a must. I'm so excited!  Stay tuned! ~ Lisa

09-10-11  I realized I forgot to update yesterday, and mention that though I did not have any help with sleep after that single treatment on the 8th, later that evening when speaking with Jim on the phone he was saying I was quite the chatterbox not searching for words as I usual do. I did feel a bit more energetic but the next day, back to the usual stumbling for words and exhaustion. I am rather hopeful with this treatment, it will be nice to really start using it on a daily basis. From what I have read it usually takes at least 40 treatments to see "real" results. That's not too many when I think about it, but I guess I'll just have to see what happens. Hopefully soon, but realistically not until March.  At the moment the best priced unit is the one from a place that has been in business making this type of product since 1984 Newtown Hyperbarics. I like that this is all they do. An MS friend contacted me yesterday, it was great hearing from him, over the years he has viewed my site and decided to try some of the things I have, like diet, having amalgam fillings removed and such. He had the CCSVI treatment performed recently and it has helped some with sleep, but he now would like to try the hbot after doing some research and seeing that it actually repairs the lesions. When he has the money he will be trying one of the units from Newtown Hyperbarics as well. I will ask him if he minds if I put his experience with that treatment on my site as well. I need to find a new Neurologist, I know I can get a prescription from my Chiro for the unit but I would like to have periodic MRI's to compare before and after pictures of some of the many lesions in my brain, and I do not believe he can order those. I would really like to post those results here for anyone interested to look at. It will be interesting to see what happens...Stay tuned! Have a great day! ~ Lisa

09-09-11  I'm grateful for no cost that treatment by clinical solutions it was a helpful experience. I was not expecting a one time miracle treatment of course and did not have one. I did realize what type of machine to avoid because that particular unit I could not get into it by myself. The machine I used yesterday was very comfortable, however I had to be able to stand up, place my legs one at a time into the zippered area,  hold on to a grab bar then sit down. Like I said it was very comfortable but there is absolutely no possible way I could use this machine by myself. I am hoping that the machine I would like to use will be easier to enter, and exit but I will have to find out when I actually receive it.  It at least from looking at the video on their site that it will be possible to operate this by myself and I just need to be able to first turn on the oxygen concentrator, from a sitting position place my legs into the zippered area, zip things up from the inside, start inflating. With either unit the inflating is done slowly and one needs to "pop their ears" as if on an airplane. It's been a long time since I have experienced that. I also found a different company whose HBOT unit is 2" wider and about the same price, I have not contacted them as of yet for more info, it is the newtowne hyperbarics link. I can see regardless this may be a very helpful treatment, but geez I have a long way to go. It is so difficult to simply think especially since I do not sleep with any type of regularity. There truly is nothing worse for me at the moment than not being able to sleep. I will probably still need to have the sleep study done once my vertigo is all gone. However I am still going to do more research on having HBOT done on a daily basis and saving the money to purchase my own machine. This is a link about an HBOT treatment for a different disease shown on the former Montel Williams show. I'm a lousy quitter, but admit to being really tired and frustrated at the moment.  The only thing I am not frustrated about is Jim, I am so grateful he is back in my life, he makes me laugh, I enjoy his company so much! Stay tuned....Have a great weekend!~ Lisa

09-07-11  Tomorrow at 10am I will be going to http://clinicalsolutionsinc.com.sprite.serviv.com/home/ to have my first HBOT treatment , they will be doing it at not charge, I am so thankful to them. This could not come at a better time. I am still experiencing dizziness from the vertigo, my right arm and leg are quite weak, I still sleep horribly so it will be interesting to see if I notice any changes, even though this will be just a single treatment. They also sell home units which will probably be the best price in the long run, so I am excited to hear about that! I must admit after this last bout with the summer heat and vertigo I have never felt more depressed about this disease...ever! So since I have changed my diet years ago after that blood test, and now my biggest hope is that I will be able to at some point see MRI pictures of the lesions in my brain start to disappear. Those I will definitely show on this page for others to see for themselves. I read quite a bit of information about that happening for other MS patients after HBOT treatments on the clinical solutions site under hyperbaric then under articles quite interesting. Of course it will be even more interesting if I see the same type of results happen for myself over time.

I'm frustrated but a really lousy quitter! I'll update later tomorrow! Stay tuned! ~ Lisa

07-20-11   I have recently found an HBOT machine that I believe I will be able to afford with the help of Lisle Senior High School class of '79 's Turkey Bowl XXXVI. It is from Healing Dives Portable Hyperbaric Chambers.  The way I look at it, I know from MRI images that I absolutely have lesions in my brain and would like to see if the lesions fade after have HBOT treatments. It also appears that this treatment is helpful for this new vascular aspect of MS. I think it will be really interesting over time to compare my MRI images and share them here online at my site. I believe as does Dr. Wahls that diet is key, however for myself I have had MS much longer than Dr Wahls and appear to have more lesions to my brain. I know I am not the only one and I would like to be able to show here that HBOT may help in actually repairing this damage of 36 years. I think it will be interesting to pay attention and see what changes may occur, chronic insomnia relief? return of balance? numbness? will I ever be clear headed enough to drive again? This could be life altering, I sure hope so. My world just seems more hopeful coincidentally? since my high school sweetheart and I began dating again in February thanks to Facebook and he does not care that I am now a cripple and I was the one who broke up with him!  Life can be strange how it works, I am one lucky lady, life is good! Never give up! ~ Lisa

08-06-10   I think it will be a long time before I can actually afford to have HBOT treatments. My reasoning behind having these types of treatments stems from reading info from Neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter who has information about how HBOT treatments can actually circulate the stem cells that already exist in our bodies by up to 800%. http://perlhealth.com/perlmutter-hyperberic-center/stem-cell-study/  So in the meantime I will stay with avoiding those foods my body shows for a fact I have an intolerance to.  The HBOT treatment is only covered by Medicare for wounds like diabetic ulcers and the like. So I started to think since HBOT is not a reality for me at the moment I might try visualization of course I cannot prove that that can really help but I figure it sure can't hurt and it helps calm my brain. When my parents divorced my mother had my 2 brothers and I learn TM - Transcendental Meditation. I was 10 at the time and thought it was kinda dorky but I am glad now that I learned how to do it. It sounds easy to simply repeat the one word mantra they gave me over and over in my head, but it is not my mind wanders to other thoughts and then I have to get back to repeating my mantra. It was interesting being taught how to do this, and back then all my brothers and I needed was to bring one weeks allowance, some fruit and flowers as payment. Then the teacher, mine was named Hepzibah, which I just looked up the meaning of her name. She taught me how to do the meditation, I'm glad I learned that.

The woman's name Hepzibah \zibah\ is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Hepzibah is "my delight is in her". Biblical name.

So while I am waiting to be able to have HBOT treatments which I will not hold my breath on I am doing visualization about the stem cells that already exist in my body. I will list here my visualization if any of you might like to give it a try. Here is a link if you would like to choose your own mantra; http://www.abc-of-meditation.com/meditation-techniques/choosemantra.asp It is very expensive to actually have someone teach you how to do TM, they ask for a lot more than a weeks allowance and some fruits & flowers. I'm all about the less expensive the better, especially free! I hope you find this info helpful.

My visualization is generally at bedtime, and I try to do this in the morning all depends on how I am feeling. I try to visualize the existing stem cells throughout my body as flashes of light, and for me I then try to visualize them congregating up to my brain since that is where most of my lesions are. It might be doing absolutely nothing but helping me relax, but relaxing is a good thing. Anyway that is my strange routine.

Never give up ~ Lisa