HBOT Conversations:
Laurie Anderson (Part 1)
Healing COVID with HBOT
Through her own journey navigating chronic illness, Dr. Laurie has explored and embraced many forms of alternative and non-traditional medicine to support her body for healing. She has gravitated towards practitioners and modalities that treat the whole patient, with the mantra that tending to mind, body and spirit is the true key to lasting health. Over the years, Dr. Laurie has discovered that this often leads to a ‘less is more’ approach. She discovered HBOT when she was struggling to heal from COVID, and now tells anyone who will listen about the power of oxygen and pressure.
Watch the Podcast
We are thrilled to have Dr. Laurie Anderson join us at the HBOT News Network. Dr. Laurie used Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to heal from a very serious COVID illness.
Dr. Laurie explains her background to the audience and that she received treatment in Raleigh, NC at the Extivita clinic. Her background is important and intriguing. Dr. Laurie is a Pharmacist by training, a PharmD. While she has done some clinical work in the past, her passion lies in the safety of clinical studies. She focuses on early phase clinical study work, designing risk mitigation strategies for first time in human studies. Dr. Laurie explained that in her line of work she looks at the risk profile of the assets coming out, the design risk mitigation strategies, and then follows them in the clinic to track them to help ensure that they know what’s safe and what isn’t. Essentially, she is part of the team that helps determine if certain drugs are safe and effective.
di Girolamo explains that when he first started looking at hyperbarics, he was personally trying to understand if it was indeed safe and effective. He found that it was, and was blown away that everyone wasn’t using it. This opened the door to Dr. Laurie telling her story of COVID healing with HBOT, and what led her to Extivita.
Dr. Laurie explains that she has a history of lyme diesease, and worked really hard not to get COVID in fear that she would struggle with complete healing. She had been vaccinated and boostered, and when she did get COVID she became very ill. In addition to losing her sense of smell and taste, she had a relentless cough, really awful fatigue, and some shortness of breath that that just wasn’t improving. She ended up on medical leave because she could not work, and when she started to reach the end of the medical leave she still was not improving. Dr. Laurie talked to the naturopath who had been following her for many years, and her naturopath suggested NAD infusions. Dr. Laurie had never heard of NAD infusions before, so she started to read about them and who does them locally in the Raleigh, NC area. That’s when Dr. Laurie was introduced to the Extivita clinic.
Dr. Laurie came to Extivita to start NAD infusions, but was also encouraged to try Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to heal from COVID. The clinic explained that they are seeing really great success using hyperbarics for COVID long-hauler patients. Dr. Laurie was hesitant due to her claustrophobia, but in the end she decided it was worth a try. She educated herself on HBOT, and found that there wasn’t a reason why she shouldn’t do it. She was desperate to heal from the COVID infection. So, she committed to 20 dives, 4 days a week and had phenomenal results; claiming significant improvement after only ten dives.
“I got to say, I was kind of blown away because I had been battling with no improvement for long enough to be concerned, and I came in and I think it was about maybe five or six dives in, and my taste and smell started returning. It was completely gone. And I started to see a change probably in maybe eight, nine or ten, that my cough started going away. I would say by 12 or 13 dives, I felt healed, I felt recovered and even better than I felt going in [the way I felt before getting COVID].”
Dr. Laurie exclaimed that she noticed a positive difference in her energy and sleep almost immediately. She was more restful, and she said she pays close attention to those things because her history with chronic illness.
“I just could tell a difference. And in my energy, mainly. My energy level and my sleep really shifted, which was a real gift.”
Dr. Laurie even shared her story in an Extivita testimonal, hopeful that others can also discover the powerful combination of oxygen and pressure to heal from COVID.
Stay tuned next week for Part 2 of Dr. Laurie’s podcast. We will talk with her about some other benefits of HBOT, and we’ll pick her brain on clinical trials involving hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Guests
Dr. Laurie Anderson, Pharm.D.
Through her own journey navigating chronic illness, Dr. Laurie has explored and embraced many forms of alternative and non-traditional medicine to support her body for healing. She has gravitated towards practitioners and modalities that treat the whole patient, with the mantra that tending to mind, body and spirit is the true key to lasting health. Over the years, Dr. Laurie has discovered that this often leads to a ‘less is more’ approach.
When not working, Dr. Laurie is an avid gardener, ballroom dancer and traveler with her husband. Remaining curious and finding joy in every day are her super powers.
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Recent HBOT News
Clinical Trial – Carbon Monoxide Monitoring and Emergency Treatment
Carbon monoxide (CO) has been called a "silent killer", and those patients who survive CO
poisoning are at risk of neurological damage, which may be permanent. CO is a leading cause
of unintentional poisoning deaths in the United States, and the odorless gas results in an
estimated average of 20,636 emergency department (ED) visits each year. Oxygen is the
antidote for CO poisoning, and it acts both by attenuating toxic effects and enhancing
elimination. A fractional inspired concentration of oxygen (FiO2) of 0.7 to 0.9 may be
achieved by administration of 100% oxygen delivered using a reservoir with a facemask that
prevents rebreathing. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may provide added benefit for patients with
CO poisoning, but this therapy is unavailable in many parts of the United States including
Vermont. Use of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask may achieve an FiO2 of 1.0,
but the effects of delivering an FiO2 of 1.0 compared to 0.7 in CO poisoning are unknown.
CPAP, by comparison, is inexpensive, portable, and available in most EDs. In this study, the
investigators are testing the hypothesis that oxygen delivered by CPAP will improve both CO
washout kinetics and functional outcomes, compared to the standard therapy of oxygen
delivered by non-rebreathing facemask. Specific Aim 1 will provide toxicokinetic data to
support a potential benefit in the use of CPAP for CO poisoning, by comparing CO elimination
kinetics in response to oxygen therapy delivered by non-rebreathing facemask versus CPAP. The
20 patients expected in our first year will provide adequate power to detect a 20% fall in
half-time of CO elimination. While CPAP may increase CO washout rates, as predicted in
Specific Aim 1, demonstration of real functional benefit will be tested in Specific Aim 2.
This Aim seeks to determine functional (neuropsychological) outcomes in patients with CO
poisoning treated with oxygen therapy delivered by non-rebreathing facemask versus CPAP. Data
showing a therapeutic benefit from CPAP in CO poisoning would have clinical implications.
Compared to hyperbaric oxygen therapy, CPAP therapy can begin earlier, including the
pre-hospital setting, for patients with known exposure. With the frequent nature of CO
poisoning and the widespread availability of CPAP, a potential benefit could lead to improved
outcomes for the 20,000+ patients who present to EDs annually.
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