HBOT Conversations:
Laurie Anderson (Part 3)

Healing COVID with HBOT

 

Dr. Laurie is a Doctor of Pharmacy, and a graduate of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) School of Pharmacy and the Pharmacy Practice Residency Program at the University of California – San Francisco (UCSF).  Dr. Laurie spent many years in clinical practice, first as a neurosurgery clinical pharmacist at UCSF Medical Center and then as a general medicine and critical care clinical pharmacist at Duke Medical Center.  For the past 14 years Dr. Laurie has been working in industry, and is currently a safety scientist in early phase drug development, designing safety strategies for First Time in Human clinical trials.

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.

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We continue Dr. Laurie Anderson’s HBOT News Network interview, diving in deeper to discuss our veteran population, does HBOT have a therapeutic index, and what is the research telling us about the HBOT industry.

Her interview has been released as a three part series. Part 1 and Part 2 has already been released with both focusing on her HBOT journey with COVID & Lyme Disease.

In Part 3 of Laurie’s podcast the conversation shifts.  It starts with the medical industry and the unfortunate “bad rap” that Hyperbaric Oxygen sometimes receives. Dr, Laurie refers to HBOT as a gift, so it’s truly unfortunate when the media focuses on the negative instead of the positive, influencing the public to not even try this life saving therapy.  Research trials are discussed, including the problems that the hyperbaric industry has identified in the sham, placebo and/or control group when researchers try to mimic HBOT with little pressure and they discover that everyone starts to improve. Those of us in this industry understand and effortlessly work to enlighten others that any amount of pressure is good and therapeutic.

The topic of our US military and the high rate of suicide among our service man and women arises.  Is there a solution to the veteran suicide epidemic our country is facing?  It appears there is.  di Girolamo speaks of Patriot Hyperbarics in Tulsa, and the success they have had treating veterans with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

“The Patriot Clinics in Tulsa treated some 500 veterans with PTSD, with donated money, donated chambers, and healed them. Most of them war-fighters, were in a bedroom, locked in the dark for years and years, like seven, ten years. And then they found Patriot Clinics and they got 40 treatments and then they got their executive function back. Some of them starting businesses. I saw videos of guys, you know, in the car on their way to the clinic on the first day and then on the 40th day, talking about their experience, it was just amazing.
There wasn’t some combined study about that. 500 souls were saved that didn’t commit suicide, they worked their way out of it.”

Dr. Laurie, who is a Doctor of Pharmacy, brings up an excellent point, and one that we’ve never discussed before on HBOT News.  We know that the FDA ultimately states that oxygen is a drug, and you are required to have a prescription for it.  But does Hyperbaric Oxygen have a therapeutic index like other drugs? And if so… how would a patient know they have reached the therapeutic index and how long is a patient at the therapeutic index? She explains it like this…

“If I apply this to drugs, like with a drug we would want to keep the level, generally, we try to keep the level of a drug in the blood inside the therapeutic index, right? So sometimes, depending on the half life of the drug, you can be in your therapeutic index by taking it once a day so you trickle up and down in between that therapeutic index. Some drugs have a shorter half life and you have to take it twice a day to stay in that therapeutic index.
So what keeps you in whatever is the defined therapeutic index, if that can be translated to oxygen therapy, you know, is it daily? Is it twice a day?”

di Girolamo wonders if in 20 years from now the industry will look back on this conversation and be shocked that we weren’t more focused on the therapeutic index. He stresses that the hyperbaric industry can’t even come together and decide the specific definition of hyperbaric oxygen, much less all these variables that Dr. Laurie has opened our eyes to. 

Dr. Laurie ends her time here with HBOT News stressing that for her HBOT healed her during a very sick time with COVID, and it helped her with many of the Lyme Disease symptoms she struggled with for years.  It worked for her, and she said it’s definitely worth a try to see if it can work for you.

 

Guests

Elena Schertz, NP

Dr. Laurie Anderson, Pharm.D.

Dr. Laurie is a Doctor of Pharmacy, and a graduate of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) School of Pharmacy and the Pharmacy Practice Residency Program at the University of California – San Francisco (UCSF).  Dr. Laurie spent many years in clinical practice, first as a neurosurgery clinical pharmacist at UCSF Medical Center and then as a general medicine and critical care clinical pharmacist at Duke Medical Center.  For the past 14 years Dr. Laurie has been working in industry, and is currently a safety scientist in early phase drug development, designing safety strategies for First Time in Human clinical trials.

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 – Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Hyperbaric Chamber for Women Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a multisystem disease, characterized by generalized chronic
musculoskeletal pain. In addition, there is a lot of care for fatigue, sleep disorders,
morning stiffness, cognitive disorders, depression, anxiety and stress. Other common symptoms
are back pain, headaches, irritable bowel, balance problems and deterioration of physical
function in general. Patients with fibromyalgia (FM) often show pain at specific points that
are known as "tender spots or tender spots, with an increased sensitivity to painful stimuli"
(hyperalgesia) and a decreased pain threshold (allodynia). which can be evidenced in the
physical examination and in the absence of anomalies that justify in the biological or image
tests. These pain points to pressure, based on the most specific and specific criteria for
the diagnosis of the disease, traditionally based on the criteria of the American College of
Rheumatology (ACR), according to which, should be presented so minus 11 out of 18 painful
points to confirm it. Although the etiology remains unknown and unclear, its appearance is
attributed to a problem of central sensitization, that is, changes in central processing,
which causes an alteration of the mechanisms that regulate the sensation of pain, with
amplification of nociceptive input . and perpetuation of painful stimuli. Fibromyalgia is
becoming a common syndrome in the countries of Western Europe, with a prevalence in the
general population that ranges between 1-3%, and specifically in Spain, around 2.4%. In
addition, it has a higher incidence in women than men (73-95%), predominantly affecting women
between the ages of 40-50 years. About 3% of women with fibromyalgia are at an age when
menopause occurs, so not only do they experience the symptoms of both states but they even
exacerbate the syndrome with each other. On the other hand, and in relation to its
chronicity, the care of this type of patients involves large costs for society with a
significant consumption of health resources in the field of primary care, as well as the
costs of work absenteeism. For these reasons, it is considered an important problem with a
great impact on the health system, and therefore more and more studies are being developed
with the aim of better understanding the pathophysiology of this disease. The therapeutic
approach includes low cost and easy access measures, such as physical exercise (EF) programs
to improve the symptoms of FM. Physical exercise has positive effects directly on pain, joint
and muscle stiffness, generalized sensitivity and fatigue, among others, and secondarily on
cognitive disorders. Thus, the vast majority of studies focus on low-impact aerobic exercise,
performed between 60% and 70% of the maximum heart rate two to three times a week. However,
to date, there is no study that compares the effectiveness of physical exercise with other
innovative therapeutic actions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), the
hyperbaric chamber (HBOT), in parameters related to pain and quality of life. the life of
patients with fibromyalgia. The general objective is the effectiveness of transcranial
magnetic stimulation and the hyperbaric chamber in women with fibromyalgia. As specific
objectives we propose:

To assess the effect of HBOT, TMS and EF on quality of life in women with fibromyalgia.

– Object the effect of HBOT, TMS and EF in cortical functioning.

– Evaluate the effect of HBOT, TMS and EF on fatigue.

– Evaluate the effect of HBOT, TMS and EF on psychological aspects, such as depression and
anxiety.

– Evaluate the effect of HBOT, TMS and EF on the perception of pain and the number of
painful points.

– Evaluate the effect of HBOT, TMS and EF on the quality of sleep.

– Evaluate the effect of HBOT, TMS and EF on the quality of life.

– Evaluate the effect of HBOT, TMS and EF on the pain constructs.

– Determine the effect of HBOT, TMS and EF on plasma endorphin levels.