My husband is now 14 months post hypoxic brain injury. He is 33 years old. Over the last 6-8 months he has been been making steady but good progress working with his Neuro Psychologist and Rehab team. He is determined to gain as much independence and his old life back possible. His only deficit is now cognition ie Short Term memory. Depending on how significant the event is will depend on his retention time, but in most cases with a few prompts or hints he will find the memory stored somewhere.
My question is has anyone had any experience of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, with Hypoxic Brain Injuries? Did you see any effects from it? Good or bad.
There isn’t a lot of literature around it’s effectiveness in hypoxic brain injuries, more traumatic brain injuries and mainly USA.
We live in The North West England, if anyone is aware of reputable companies that offer this service privately, I would be grateful for recommendations. Obviously aware this is not available on NHS.
Thank you all in advance.
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Hi, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been approved by the NHS for certain conditions. You may be able to get this in Nottingham, closest to the North West. Other locations are London and Oban in Scotland. There are private providers too. Do some google searches, ask your GP for a referral, there's nothing to lose.
Sorry I've no direct experience but here's a link to 'Oxify' who opened a new branch in Manchester in July this year. They seem to welcome pre-treatment visits from potential patients.
Hi, I looked into this for my husband, and found a place in Chester that does it. We never ended up doing it though partly because it had been a while and I'd read it's better done sooner rather than later, but also because covid hit then. I'll try and find it again, can't remember now, but you may be able to Google it. I read that some people have had success with it. Good luck.
I’ve read a little of research that says it helps but every case is different and all brains are very different.
I’d like to try it myself if I could find a place to do it. Apparently one doctor I saw said it is best the earlier in an injury… another said if you have sone other long term issues like central sleep apnea it would definitely help.
It won’t damage anything so to me it’s worth a few sessions to see if it helps with memory.
It’s great to hear about progress! My short term is crappy compared to how it used to be… For long term I’ve learned some parts of my memory are stuck (there but I cannot find them) and prompts help. I’m more visual so seeing a photo helps me pull all the details out. There’s nothing specific I’ve found to fix it more other than the time of the brain rewiring itself. Also attention can contribute to short term memory so keep that in mind too. Often it can be not enough attention & focus at the time (instead of just remembering).
Keep us posted if you find a place and you husband has a good outcome from it!
P.S. Thanks for reminder that I need to find a place here in Canada. 😜
My dad's anoxic brain injury occurred last week and I asked his ICU doctor and his cardiologist about hyperbaric oxygen therapy but both said they have concerns with that treatment because (a) my dad's oxygenating fine on his own (which is true) and (b) they have concerns of the release of free radicals the hyperbaric oxygen therapy releases and not sure what harm my dad would receive from it.
Hi. I just found your post and I would love to hear from you about your experience with HBOT. My son suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury three months ago and I am considering doing 40 treatments of HBOT to help him with his memory. Did you find the treatments beneficial? Do you feel it is worth it? Thank you in advance for your time.
Hi there, not very good at writing so I don't have time to do this well but thought I'd shoot you a reply in case you're desperate!
I did 40 treatments, 5/week at 1.5 ATA. Short answer is yes, I would definitely recommend it and think it is worth it.
In general, I found that the treatments 'woke up my brain'. Some things I specifically remember: I grew in awareness. I started to be aware of what day it was. Before it was like my brain was so tired I was stuck in the immediate. Then I started thinking ahead of right now, to say, 10 minutes from now, an hour from now, etc. Got an idea of what I was going on that week instead of waking up and asking someone if I had to do anything. Then generally my awareness grew from there.
Other thing everyone noticed is that I started to reply in full sentences. Before I would begrudgingly get out replies in two or three words. During HBOT that increased, and by the end I was having (very small) back and forth dialogues with people. Would say the benefits were non-placebo because of the number of people who also commented on my progress.
It was also great for pain. I felt pain free for the first time since my car crash, but sadly those benefits didn't continue; the cognitive ones did. If I had had the money at the time, I would've done another 40. Heck, if I had the money now I'd buy a chamber and put it in my house! Think it did me the world of good. But the improvements were subtle in my case - significant, but came on gradually.
Also remember feeling very tired the first two weeks. Apparently a normal side effect of the oxygen. Would wake up, go sleep in the chamber, come home and sleep some more. Improved after a while as I got used to it.
Thanks for your quick response. My sons injury happened approximately 3 months ago. He is making steady progress but I think this could really benefit him. How long after your tbi did you start the treatments?
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