PTSD
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for PTSD Treatment | Fayetteville, NC
PTSD
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, more commonly known as PTSD, is a mental health disorder triggered by a traumatic event. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a treatment in where you breathe in pure oxygen inside of a pressurized chamber. PTSD is most commonly found in people who served time in the military, suffered a traumatic childhood experience, or anyone else who has had a traumatic experience.
How Does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Work to Treat PTSD?
While PTSD is most commonly found in military veterans who lived under extremely stressful conditions while serving in the military or who experienced intense combat, PTSD can affect anyone. Someone who went through a sexual assault survived a car accident, or experienced any type of shocking or frightening event can have PTSD.
Many people will recover after an incident like the ones described above. However, for some, the pain and fear can continue for months or even years. Someone who suffers from this long-term pain and fear is afflicted with PTSD. PTSD is another level of stress and fear, to the point of feeling afraid when there isn’t any immediate threat. Flashbacks, nightmares, and frightening thoughts are all symptoms of having PTSD.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a treatment where the air pressure inside the oxygen chamber is increased two or three times to what is normal for everyday life. This allows more oxygen to be inhaled into your lungs and aids in healing the body, including the brain.
Because of the increase in oxygen, more blood will circulate throughout your body and get carried to places that need healing. Outside of causing mental damage, PTSD can also affect parts of your brain and cause physical damage to them. PTSD is also a coexisting condition for those who have suffered a traumatic brain injury, but not always.
Either way, PTSD causes damage to the brain tissue, and increased oxygen and blood flow help repair this damage. Here are a few of the areas of the brain and what can happen to them when impacted by PTSD.
The hippocampus can suffer atrophy.
The insular cortex can suffer altered activity and stimulation.
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis can suffer a reduction in activity.
The link between PTSD and these areas of the brain is that they all help distinguish the difference between dangerous situations and safe ones. If these three areas are damaged, you won’t be able to decide when something is safe or unsafe, and PTSD increases. The increased oxygen flow from hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps to heal these parts of the brain, thereby reducing the effects of PTSD.
North Carolina Hyperbarics is here to help you with your PTSD
North Carolina Hyperbarics and Wound Care are leading the way in developing independent hyperbaric facilities to assist in the recovery process of PTSD and the damage it causes. Each of our hyperbaric chambers is specifically designed for maximum comfort and healing. Because of the dramatic health benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on PTSD, we’re actively involved in assisting our military veterans during their recovery.
North Carolina Hyperbarics is proud to assist our local VA hospital as well as Fort Bragg in their efforts to treat veterans afflicted with PTSD. If you or someone you know is suffering from PTSD, North Carolina Hyperbarics is here to help.
HBOT helps white blood cells kill bacteria, and help osteoclast clean up the dead and infected bone. Once the infection is under control and all the dead bone is gone, new bone is laid down by osteoclasts. These processes require high levels of oxygen to function optimally. HBOT also helps antibiotics work better, and in conjunction with some antibiotics, helps eradicate the biofilms that form in many of these cases.
INCREASES WHITE BLOOD
CELL EFFECTIVENESS
IMPROVES QUALITY
OF LIFE IN PATIENTS
STIMULATES RELEASE
OF STEM CELLS
MOST CONDITIONS
COVERED BY INSURANCE
COMMONLY, THESE PATIENTS WILL RECEIVE 40-60 TREATMENTS TO CLEAR THE INFECTION.
Does a Hyperbaric Treatment Take?
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a non-invasive medical treatment administered by delivering 100% oxygen at pressures greater than two to three times the normal atmospheric (sea level) pressure to a patient in a chamber. Most HBOT treatments generally take about 2 hours. Treatments for some indications can last up to 4 hours. Serious diving injuries can require a treatment for longer than 5 hours. The hyperbaric physician will determine how long each patient’s HBOT treatment will last.
