Customer Rating: 
Summary: Everyone needs to know the benefits of HBOT
Comment: Everyone needs to be aware of the benefits of HBOT.
I bought "Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy" by Richard Neubauer when I heard HBOT is an effective treatment for diabetic foot wounds. I was sensitive to the subject having had a 92-year-old aunt die (unnecessarily I believe) of a diabetic foot wound in 2005. No one in her nursing home, her doctor's office or in a nearby wound care center mentioned the word "hyperbaric" to her even though HBOT had been available for years at a hospital 30-minutes away in the adjacent county and had been approved for payment by Medicare for several years. The wound care center offered to amputate her leg and she refused. Although at her age she undoubtedly would have eventually died of something else, she needn't have suffered such a painful death.
After I read a second book, "The Oxygen Revolution" by Paul Harch, I wondered if any doctors in my county were aware of the benefits of HBOT. I phoned the doctor who ran the HBOT facility in the adjacent county and a he emailed me the names of seven doctors in my county who had referred patients to him. All but one were surgeons. None were general practitioners.
At this point I decided to take a proactive stance, and purchased sets of these two books and gave them to the nursing directors of the eight nursing homes in my county. They were appreciative and a portion of them had some knowledge of HBOT. At one home they spoke of one of their diabetic foot wound patients who several months earlier was referred to the HBOT center in the adjacent county and was now at home, cured. Also, I discovered that the local wound care center that in 2005 seemed not to know of HBOT, was now installing two HBOT chambers at their own facility.
While HBOT is not a cure for all conditions, in conjunction with other treatments it often brings about amazingly improved outcomes. About a dozen conditions are approved for treatment by Medicare. These conditions are usually treated at hospital-run HBOT facilities at nearby wound care centers. The many dozens of other illnesses not yet covered by Medicare must be paid for out-of-pocket and are usually treated at the much less expensive privately operated HBOT facilities. One is located in another adjacent county to mine, also about 30-minutes away.
While the authors of these two books recommend always using an HBOT facility that has a doctor on the staff, the doctor director of my nearest hospital-operated facility speaks very highly of my nearest privately-operated facility and its safety noting the EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) who operate their equipment are fully qualified to deal with anything that might occur.
To the best of my understanding, Medicare approved injuries include carbon monoxide poisoning, healing of radiation damaged tissue, impeded healing of wounds due insufficient local blood flow and cyanide poisoning plus much more.
Insurance sometimes cover bones and tissue that are difficult to heal, swelling of the brain (cerebral edema), crush injuries, burn injuries and drug resistant infections.
Conditions not yet approved by Medicare for which improved outcomes have been reported include stroke recovery, cerebral palsy, autism, coma, head injuries, spinal cord injuries, Lyme's disease and many, many other maladies.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, Google "HBOT and hyperbaric oxygen therapy" and learn more. Meanwhile I fully recommend these two books on the subject.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book on Hyperbarics - Easy to Understand
Comment: This book is an integral part of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Clinic we run here in White Rock, BC, Canada. We refer to it often and keep copies on hand for our clients to read. We highly recommend this book - Neubauer and Morton were/are pioneers in the field of hyperbaric medicine. This book is written intelligently but also in a way that anyone without MD behind their name can understand it as well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hyperbaric Medicine for Neurological Conditions
Comment: Nothing is more traumatic and challenging than brain injury: for the brain is our master conductor, the place where self resides. For those who suffer any kind of deficit in brain function - whether from autism, stroke, learning disorders, sports-injuries, spinal cord injuries, near-drowning or traumatic brain injury - it often seems there is no answer, and no hope.
But there is hope. New findings in neuroscience prove that the brain continues to develop new neurons throughout life, that the brain can grow new connections, and that with proper treatment the seemingly intractable cases of brain injury can improve remarkably. One treatment that has proven quite effective is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy - a treatment in which patients breathe pure oxygen inside a special chamber with a slightly increased amout of atmospheric pressure (less pressure than an airplane). In many cases those who suffer from these conditions show great improvement in speech, memory, social and cognitive abilities after undergoing a series of hyperbaric oxygen treatments. In head injuries if cerebral blood flow is interrupted a negative chain reaction is started. The lack of oxygen, or hypoxia, disturbs, neuron metabolism within the alarmingly short time of just 6 seconds. neurons begin to die without blood flow. In serious injury or heart attack or significant stroke, for instance, measurable activity in the cerebral cortex - our thinking brain - can cease within 2 minutes and brain damage begins within 5 minutes. Within 10 minutes, the brain stem, responsable for our basic motor functions stops. Brain and heart tissue deprived of its oxygen supply may undergo necrosis or infarction. However, hyperbaric oxygen treatment has proven itself to help awaken the sleeping neurons in the ischemic penumbral areas of the injured brain, allowing new growth of neurons, and healing of the brain and body. Overall, there is a decrease of cerebral edema, an increase in cerebral blood flow and an increase in oxygen to the neurons which help to maintain proper cellular function. This accounts for the "miracles" that we often see with hyperbaric treatment.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is also used for respiratory conditions, carbon monoxide poisoning, wound healing and for divers with decompression sickness.
"Oxygen is to the brain what rain is to the desert ~ it creates an oasis in life".
Lane scott, PhD is a neuroscience medical researcher in Campbell, California and is the administrative director at StanfordHyperbarics.com
Customer Rating:
Summary: Read this book NOW if your child has CP/brain injury!!!!
Comment: Summary:A must read book if you know someone with a stroke, Cerebral Palsy, or other brain injury. HBOT has many well-established clinical applications on a widely diverse number of conditions and diseases. The most interesting is the application for restoring cognitive abilities in brain injured children and adults. After all, the brain remains the final frontier of medicine!
Send me an e-mail for any questions (parent to parent)and I can send websites for further info.
TEXAS NOW REQUIRES THIRD PARTY PAYMENTS FOR HBOT FOR COGNITIVE INJURIES!! BUY THIS BOOK TODAY, AND GET THOSE THERAPIES IMMEDIATELY!
Review:
The book is well written, and makes heavy medical science easy to read. It explains the medical and physiological science of hyperbaric oxygen treatments ("HBOT") in some detail, but was written for you and me to read and understand. It reviews HBOT for many different diseases and conditions, including MS, stroke, arthritis etc. The commonality for these diseases and their response to HBOT is they each have systemic circulatory problems and an immune response, with disruption of cellular metabolism as root problems in their etiology.
It is very helpful for parents and patients to understand whether or not HBOT would be a viable treatment alternative. It also discusses how HBOT affects the condition, or disease, and whether the treatments are curative (carbon dioxide poisoning), or simply maintain the current state (multiple sclerosis).
If you have a child, or relative who has had a stroke, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis (yes- MS), order this book NOW! Learn all you can about HBOT, its applications to your loved one's condition. When you consider all the pain, agony, lost income and costs associated with currently insurance approved therapies, and the dismal results achieved, spend a few dollars and an hour to read the relevant parts of the book and think outside the box, a little. HBOT is not laetrile. HBOT is a well established (everywhere else in the world) and basic technology that enables your body to get a boost to naturally repair itself through its own natural physiological response to oxygen under pressure. HBOT is used every day in the US for wound care - which has much of the same basis as neurological wound care (stroke, asphyxia, or brain injury).
The Author
Dr. Neubauer is one of the world's top experts on HBOT and his work, efforts and patient care are well-respected by other top HBOT experts. He is known and respected as the "Grandfather of HBOT for neurological conditions". While at his center for my daughter's treatments I met a number of HBOT experts who visit him to confer and continue research and had the privilege of reading letters from many more HBOT physician- scientists from UK, Canada, Italy, China, Russia, the US, etc.
HBOT Summaries
HBOT is used worldwide for various injuries including various poisonings, and crushed wound injuries (sic - car accidents, etc.). HBOT is used in many advanced countries including UK, Italy, Russia, Japan and China (and many poorer countries) for treating closed wound brain injuries from birth, accidents, or strokes. HBOT is not accepted by the US medical community, yet, due to the lack of double-blinded studies as well as due to the lack of understanding of the underlying physiology. Note: the underlying physiology of approximately 50% of the drugs listed in the Physician's Desk Reference are poorly understood.
HBOT has been clinically demonstrated to be effective in treating a variety of closed wound brain damage injuries by enabling the body to re-establish damaged blood vessels, and by "waking up" neurons made dormant from injuries. Recent Russian studies show some of the underlying physiological mechanisms (for neurological injuries) appear to be the elimination of the deficit and restoration of CO2 formation and consequently the autoregulation of the O2 transport to the neuron (using minimized hyperbaric treatments - 1.1 - 1.2 ATA). Essentially, correcting the effects of oxygen deprivation from the injury by re-establishing micro-circulatory and intra-cellular O2 / CO2 metabolisms. The disrupted neuronal metabolisms appear throughout the "penumbra" of the brain injury. This helps explain Dr. Neubauer's theory "waking up" of sleeping/dormant neurons.
Personal Experience
My daughter (Rebecca, five yo) has extremely severe cerebral palsy (died at birth for 35 minutes, life support for 6 days; no viable EEG, etc.). Going into the HBOT therapies, I was excited and hopeful. But, not prepared for how I was amazed at her response, as well as the improvement in her brain (SPECT) scans. I had several leading doctors (cardiologists and pediatric neurologists) read her SPECT scan results and each expert was astounded at the changes. Rebecca gained metabolic activity in 80%+ of the areas that were previously inactive/dormant prior to HBOT treatments. Rebecca clearly demonstrated the physical ability improvements corresponding with SPECT scan improvements. Her improved physical control, coordination and motor learning were easily measured and noted by every therapist and doctor who regularly works with her.
HBOT for CP children
For children, HBOT is not a miracle cure. Children must grow, develop and mature through stages. Each stage provides a neurological basis for developing into the following stage. HBOT enables the patient to revitalize damaged, but living but otherwise non-functional neurons. However, once those neurons are revitalized, they need input on how to develop, where to establish connections, and how to be integrated into the brain and body's general system. Thus, HBOT must be co-treated with physical therapies.
Recent HBOT Clinical Findings Dr. Neubauer's recent International Symposium on HBOT for CP and the Brain Injured Child (July 25-28, 2001) presented numerous positive clinical research findings on HBOT for brain injuries. While there is substantial work to be done to better understand the underlying metabolic and physiological principles of what happens on the cellular and systemic levels, there is very little doubt about the efficacy of HBOT for treating neurologic injuries and conditions.
Many HBOT Center Medical Directors can name cortically blind CP patients who have gained sight after 40-150 HBOT treatments. This is exceptionally objective clinical information that should be pursued.
BUY THIS BOOK!!!!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good explanation of hyperbaric oxygen written for the layman
Comment: An easy to understand, very knowledgeable book focusing on the uses of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) in the medical field. The book includes an overview of HBO, the theory behind it, what kinds of problems can be treated, and the outcomes of those treatments. The authors have included case studies and many references to back up their findings. It is refreshing to find a book that has been written for the layperson. It is filled with facts and explanations. A person who reads it will grasp a good knowledge of HBO and will be able to decide whether to persue the therapy. The book includes chapters on Strokes, brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, Aids, treating difficult wounds, burns, bone disorders, Lyme disease, circulatory problems, and problems associated with radiation treatments. Overall the book is a good first look at HBO therapy as well as a good quick reference book for those of us in the field!
