HBOT and PTSD: How it Works
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is a groundbreaking treatment that I am extremely passionate about. This treatment involves entering a pressurized environment, which, at ImmediateCare, is in chamber form. In the chamber, patients breathe 100% oxygen, which dissolves directly into their blood plasma, reaching tissues and cells that are difficult to reach without this modality. I have seen HBOT help heal a multitude of maladies, from TBIs, and chronic illnesses, to PTSD, the latter of which we are focusing on in today’s newsletter.
PTSD, short for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a horrible psychiatric disorder that can impact people’s entire lives. What Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy does is come in and promote neuroplasticity by stimulating the brain’s repair processes, which then helps aid the improvement of emotional regulation and cognitive function.
One of my patients, Reid Hettinger, has an extremely powerful story of how Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy has helped him take his life back from PTSD and truly heal from the illness. I was fortunate enough to have Reid share his story with me so that I could share it with all of you. You can listen and read more about Reid’s journey with HBOT below.
How HBOT Saved Reid Hettinger’s Life
Reid Hettinger was struggling for five years with brain injury and severe PTSD before he discovered Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. After a traumatic ordeal in the Amazon Basin in Peru, Reid found himself overtaken by mental illness and PTSD. In a constant state of panic, he was unable to work, and even the idea of hanging out with his family and friends seemed unfathomable and foreign. Reid was about to give up on the hope that anything would help when he came across a study of Israel documenting the success of PTSD and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. This was when his life would change forever.
For PTSD, Reid started with 60 90-minute sessions in the chamber. He quickly learned that his concerns about claustrophobia with his PTSD turned out to be completely unfounded, and surrendered himself to this therapy. Fairly soon after starting his HBOT sessions, Reid noticed that his thoughts were becoming more positive, and his depressive symptoms were decreasing. His life began to change. Reid came off all of his medications, started spending more time with family, and found himself coming out of the constant state of panic his body and mind had lived in for five years. Almost 2,000 days of living with PTSD, and this therapy was changing his life for the better.
As Reid has started getting more into understanding Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, he has gotten to understand the Fortius 420, the chamber we use here at ImmediateCare. This is an FDA-approved chamber, completely authorized, which, in Reid’s words, is critical because not only can it go to the high pressures that most medically recognized protocols call for, but it also is safe. Reid even goes as far as to say, “I wouldn’t get in any other chamber besides this one.”
When he is in the chamber, Reid does a multitude of things. ImmediateCare offers music to our HBOT patients, as we have audio devices on the outside of the chamber that pump music inside. Sometimes Reid will listen to music, Audible, and podcasts, as he is a self-proclaimed “podcast nerd”. In a relatable fashion, Reid says that there was even a time when there was an NFL game that he wanted to watch, so he put a tablet in the window and had the volume going so he could tune in. He’ll often do Sudoku as well. Reid calls being in the chamber his “me time” throughout the day.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy completely changed Reid’s life. He says he is “super grateful for this modality”, and you can tell he truly believes in it from how much it has helped him live life again. Reid reflects on how, through his experience with HBOT, he feels grateful to have grown close, both personally and medically, with me. Reid has become a close friend of mine, as well as an amazing patient, and it has been a beautiful journey to walk alongside him in his path of healing.
Great news: ImmediateCare is expanding to offer more HBOT chambers! More chambers equals more healing, and I cannot wait to welcome more patients in. I truly love this therapy, and know that it can help so many people. Contact me if you’re interested and we can get you in for some sessions.
