Why is oxygen so important?
Every day an average adult consumes 2 kg of food, 1 liter of water and almost 550 liters of oxygen. 90 % of our daily energy comes from oxygen and the rest food and water. Human brain is 2 % of the total weight and uses 25% of the oxygen we breath. We need this oxygen for the energy cycle that sustains life. When we do not have enough oxygen in our body tissues a series of events occur that if not corrected lead to disease conditions, either infection, tissue destruction or both. If there is low oxygen in tissues (hypoxia) there is a short window of opportunity to correct it. An excellent method to correct tissue hypoxia is by using a hyperbaric chamber.
What do you feel inside a hyperbaric chamber?
When the chamber is pressurization, your ears may feel pressure changes. You might feel a little painful in ears. To equalize the pressure and avoid the feeling of fullness in ears, You can yanwing, swallowing or "blow the nose". Other than this ear pressure there are no unusual or different sensations.
How does being inside a pressurized chamber give us more oxygen?
When we are inside a chamber pressurized at 1.3 or 1.5 times of the normal air pressure it may not feel different, but breathing pure oxygen in such a chamber gives us 7-8 times the regular amount of oxygen. Henry's Law- Henry's law states that for a gas-liquid interface the amount of the gas that dissolves in the liquid is proportional to its partial pressure. The pressurized oxygen dissolves directly into all body fluids. In a few minutes this extra oxygen builds up tissue oxygen levels far above normal. This action has been scientifically proven to stimulate healing.
What improvements can I expect to see ?
This is one of those questions which has so many different variables and answers we will have to generalize. We will answer this question from general experience and with the understanding that no 2 people get the same results. It is very rare that we do not see improvements. What we are looking for is an improvement in the quality of life for anyone.
When will I know how many sessions of hbot are enough?
You will not. What you will be able to notice is whether you are continuing to get improvements. A clinical study on 1730 subjects shows the need of around 15 sessions for acute injuries and 40 for chronic ones. If you saw results during the first 40 sessions, do another 40. If improvements continue, do another 40. Etc. Etc. You are a better judge of the number of sessions needed than any Doctor.
What about Oxygen Toxicity?
Oxygen Toxicity is not a problem at pressures below 1.5 ATA. Many times stress is mistaken for oxygen toxicity. Occasionally, there may be a patient who is more sensitive to Oxygen than others and pressures may need to be adjusted to meet the needs of the patient.