Oxygen therapy. Something in the Air Hyperbarics Breathe Life. By Carolyn Heneghan

Transcription

1 Oxygn thrapy Somthing in th Air Hyprbarics Brath Lif into TBI and PTSD Thrapy By Carolyn Hnghan

2 Traumatic brain injury is on th ris in th U.S. Th CDC rportd that btwn 2001 and 2010, rats of TBI-rlatd mrgncy dpartmnt visits ros by 70 prcnt whil hospitalization rats incrasd by 11 prcnt and dath rats dcrasd by 7 prcnt. For a long tim, tratmnts for traumatic brain injury (TBI) hav bn nonxistnt, and popl xprincing TBI hav had to dal with varying lvls of physical, mntal, and motional disability bcaus of it. Howvr, nw rsarch has confirmd prvious thoris that hyprbaric oxygn thrapy (HBOT) can b an ffctiv tratmnt for TBI and now possibly vn post-traumatic strss disordr (PTSD). This rsarch, conductd by Dr. Paul Harch, a Nw Orlans-basd hyprbaric mdicin physician and rsarchr, could hav significant implications for modrn TBI and PTSD tratmnts. What is traumatic brain injury? Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is dfind by th Cntrs for Disas Control and Prvntion as any bump, blow or jolt to th had or a pntrating had injury that disrupts th normal function of th brain. This trauma causs damag to th whit mattr, th tracts for which snap and caus loss of lctrical transmission. This damag, says Dr. Harch, is lik lowring bandwidth. Procssing spd slows down, which mans popl ar slowr at thinking, hav troubl multi-tasking and oftn can t b in high snsory stimulation nvironmnts. Th brain can form nw pathways, which nabls many popl with TBI to adapt rathr than succumb to svr, dbilitating nurological issus. Howvr, instad of forming a complt pathway, th brain xtnds th xisting damagd pathways to try to maintain or rplac th connctions that ar lost. Undr i bliv it s going to rvolutioniz th filds of mdicin and nurology strssd conditions, such as low oxygn, high altitud or slp dprivation, th ffcts of th old injury can rturn. Patints most commonly rport hadachs as a symptom, which has bn idntifid as likly bing du to injury to th mnings, whr snsation occurs. Othr common symptoms includ fatigu, dizzinss, attntion and concntration difficultis, short-trm mmory loss, slp disruption, irritability, mood swings, dprssion, and anxity, among othrs. Not all blows to th had caus TBI. Whn thy do, thy can rang from mild, with just a momntary chang in consciousnss or mntal status, to svr, which can caus a longr priod of unconsciousnss or amnsia aftr th incidnt, th CDC rports. Rgardlss of svrity, all TBI cass can hav varying ffcts on th brain. According to th CDC, th lading caus of TBI is falls, which accountd for 40% of all TBI-rlatd mrgncy dpartmnt visits, hospitalizations or daths in th U.S. from Falls wr a particularly high caus of brain trauma for childrn agd 0 to 14 (55 prcnt) and adults agd 65 and oldr (81%). Othr causs includ blunt trauma, such as bing hit by an objct, motor vhicl crashs, assaults, or ssntially any incidnt that rattls th brain around in th skull Italian physician Sanctorius adapts th thrmomtr for clinical us. c Stphn Hals crats a dvic to masur blood prssur in horss Anton van Luwnhok crats th light microscop and latr publishs drawings of th bactria h obsrvs.

3 oxygn thrapy Th Link Btwn TBI and PTSD TBI has bn potntially linkd to PTSD as wll, so if a tratmnt for TBI can b found, symptoms of PTSD may also b amlioratd, particularly if th two causalitis wr concurrnt. Whil PTSD can occur without a blow to th had, thy can b conjoind in on brain-injuring incidnt. Whil th two conditions may sm to symptomatically ovrlap, thy actually may not. TBI is a physical injury to th brain with a constllation of symptoms, and th othr is a psychiatric condition with its own diffrnt st of symptoms. Howvr, th longr somon has PTSD, slp dprivation, a consistnt laboration of strss hormons, and othr strains on th brain can vntually caus physical damag to th brain. In a similar light, having an injury to th brain may possibly injur cntrs of th brain that mak a prson mor suscptibl to dvloping PTSD. In ths cass, th two conditions may bgin to ovrlap. Dr. Harch tratd on patint with svr PTSD symptoms with HBOT, and aftr a coupl dozn tratmnts, th patint rturnd saying that his PTSD symptoms wr gon. This has ld Dr. Harch to bliv that HBot may b intrrupting th circulating loop of lctrical activity involvd with PTSD. Trat th TBI, and PTSD may b tratd along with it. How Hyprbaric Oxygn Affcts th Brain HBOT involvs placing a patint in a total body chambr and having him inhal 100 prcnt oxygn for a priod of tim whil atmosphric prssur is incrasd and controlld by a physician. In doing so, this thrapy stimulats nw tissu to form. Physicians most commonly us this tratmnt for svr wounds and diving accidnts, but rsarch from th past fw dcads has shown that hyprbaric oxygn may hav mor haling powr for th brain than prviously thought. Dr. Harch, who has conductd xtnsiv rsarch with HBOT ovr th past svral dcads, says that to stimulat nw tissu, Paul Harch, MD a tratmnt must stimulat Dna and caus th nuclus of th cll to divid. Thus, hyprbaric oxygn acts as a DNA signaling drug that incrass th production of hormons that stimulat growth in diffrnt tissus. On study showd that hyprbaric oxygn turnd on and off spcific gns that contribut to tissu growth. Th tratmnt was found to turn on gns that cod for growth and rpair hormons as wll as antiinflammatory gns that qull inflammation in th body. Simultanously, th tratmnt supprsss and turns off pro-inflammatory gns and th gns that cod for programmd cll dath. Dr. Harch thus calls HBOT th most nduring, most panoramic, and most ffctiv gn thrapy that has vr bn idntifid. Hyprbaric Rsarch in Action Dr. Harch s study is comprisd of two groups of patints, both of which rciv oxygn tratmnt for th sam duration of tim but at diffrnt intrvals. To bgin, potntial participants fill out consnt forms and scrning qustionnairs whrin thy must mt crtain rquirmnts and thrsholds to b a part of th study. If chosn, thy go through a full structurd intrviw, th Ohio Stat Univrsity TBI Idntification Mthod, to idntify incidnts of TBI in th last 10 yars, from which th patint is still symptomatic, and th svrity of thos symptoms. Dr. Harch thn has a convrsation about th incidnts and symptoms at lngth to dtrmin if th potntial participant mts any xclusion critria. 24 MAY / JUN 2015 I Halthcar Journal of nw orlans

4 On study showd that hyprbaric oxygn turnd on and off spcific gns that contribut to tissu growth. Th tratmnt was found to turn on gns that cod for growth and rpair hormons as wll as anti-inflammatory gns that qull inflammation in th body. Simultanously, th tratmnt supprsss and turns off pro-inflammatory gns and th gns that cod for programmd cll dath. If thy pass this stag, participants prform a full day of tsting with a nuropsychologist followd by a rviw and physical with Dr. Harch as wll as scrning for prgnancy and drug and alcohol abus. From thr, a computr randomizs th participants into on of two groups. If th participant is in th control group, h rturns hom for ight wks and livs as usual without starting any nw mdications or thrapis. At ight wks, h rturns and dos a rpat battry of tsting and thn starts HBOT onc a day, fiv days a wk, for ight wks. Aftr th 40 tratmnts, th participant is xamind by Dr. Harch and thn rturns hom for anothr ight wks. Finally, th participant rturns onc mor for cognitiv tsting and a visit with Dr. Harch, and thn th participant has compltd th study. Th othr group also bgins with full tsting with th nuropsychologist and Dr. Harch, but instad of going hom for ight wks, th participant starts HBOT right away, th sam ight-wk tratmnt as th control group. Aftr th ight wks, th participant rturns hom for ight wks, rturns for follow-up tsting, and thn is don with th study. No on in th study is givn a placbo or fak tratmnt, which som hav contstd as bing a kink in th rsarch protocol. Howvr, Dr. Harch says that a placbo for HBOT is currntly unknown, as a physician has not bn abl to prtnd to giv a patint prssurizd oxygn without actually doing so without th patint knowing. Dr. Harch finds an argumnt for any placbo ffct to b highly unlikly. Aftr gathring all of th scrning and cognitiv tst rsults, Dr. Harch statistically compars a participant s status and lvls of symptoms, IQ, tc. from th bginning of th study to immdiatly aftr HBOT. H thn again statistically analyzs symptom rsults from th nd of tratmnt to aftr th ight wks th participant rturnd hom to dtrmin if th changs wr maintaind onc tratmnt was compltd. Th primary comparison bing mad is th rsults of no tratmnt vrsus tratmnt. Th goal is to s whthr th HBOT has th sam rsult on both groups as wll as to assss th prmannc of HBOT tratmnt and whthr th rsults dissipat ovr tim Th mrcury thrmomtr is cratd by Gabril Fahrnhit Th stthoscop is invntd by R.T.H. Lannc Chst prcussion bcoms an accptd diagnostic tool. Halthcar Journal of nw orlans I MAY / JUN

5 oxygn thrapy What Th Rsarch Found Dr. Harch has sn significant changs as a rsult of th HBot. Th avrag chang in participants IQ was 14 points. On avrag, participants improvd a full standard dviation in dlayd mmory and two-thirds of a standard dviation in working mmory and attntion. Eight of th 13 cognitiv tsts had xtrmly strong statistically significant changs, and all ight of th motional masurs, such as ffcts on dprssion, anxity, quality of lif, and so on, had highly statistically significant improvmnts as wll. Participants also xprincd a significant rduction in suicidal idation and wr abl to dcras th dosag or discontinu thir psychoactiv mdication. Dr. Harch also compard th participants brain blood flow (SPECT) scan rsults to SPECT scan rsults from a prvious LSU study on halthy, normal popl. Initially, th brain-injurd participants SPECT scans wr statistically, significantly abnormal compard to th SPECT scans of thos in th arlir study. Howvr, aftr HBot, th two groups bcam narly indistinguishabl. Brain blood flow had almost compltly bn normalizd in a widsprad mannr in addition to th improvmnts in cognitiv scors. Ths rsults ar in concordanc with prvious HBOT studis, and Dr. Harch fls thy bar significant wight on th futur of TBI mdicin. H is also currntly conducting anothr HBOT study for which h is activly sking participants who hav xprincd traumatic brain injury at last six months to tn yars ago ( Th rsarch affcts on of th most In addition, I m going to apply this to cancr. W hav vidnc that in conjunction with othr agnts that w hav idntifid as tumoricidal, w can combin thm with hyprbaric oxygn. common conditions that w hav in socity, said Dr. Harch. TBI is on of th biggst halth problms, on of th biggst drivrs of halthcar costs, and on of th biggst contributors to long-trm disability and unmploymnt, substanc abus, homlssnss, vn criminal activity. H continud, A thrapy that stops th injury procss vry arly on if rndrd soon aftr th TBI, or that can hlp long-trm dysfunctional patints by hlping to amliorat thir symptoms and mak thm mor functional, could potntially hav a hug impact. This just has trmndous importanc and application to socity. I bliv it s going to rvolutioniz th filds of mdicin and nurology. Futur Applications of Hyprbaric Oxygn Whil HBOT has shown positiv rsults for wound rpair and now TBI and PTSD, Dr. Harch dos not plan to stop thr. In his book, Th Oxygn Rvolution, Dr. Harch tlls th story of his mothr, who dvlopd svr dmntia in hr old ag and was not givn long to liv. Howvr, aftr hyprbaric oxygn tratmnts, many of hr physical, mntal, and motional facultis improvd, and hr lif was xtndd by svral yars. Dr. Harch is drivn to rplicat thos rsults in othr cognitivly impaird patints and is currntly dsigning studis to rsarch tratmnts for various groups, but h has still mor in stor for xciting potntial uss for hyprbaric oxygn thrapy. In addition, I m going to apply this to cancr, said Dr. Harch. W hav vidnc that in conjunction with othr agnts that w hav idntifid as tumoricidal, w can combin thm with hyprbaric oxygn. Dr. Harch will discuss ths tratmnts and mor in th upcoming updat to his book. Whil Nw Orlans may not b as wll known for mdical rsarch contributions as othr parts of th country, Dr. Harch blivs that tid may turn with th discovry of nw utilitis for hyprbaric oxygn thrapis. I firmly bliv this is going to lad th country and rvolutioniz mdicin in its applications, said Dr. Harch. And it all startd, or I should say rally blossomd, right hr. n 1817 British physiologist Marshall Hall publishs On Diagnosis Wilhlm Conrad Rontgn discovrs x-rays and crats an imag of his wif s hand. c Lab tsts ar dvlopd for common disass such as tubrculosis, cholra, typhoid, diphthria, though th curs lag far bhind. 26 MAY / JUN 2015 I Halthcar Journal of nw orlans