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.
Watch the Podcast
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
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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Clinical Trial – Effects of Repetitive Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Patients With Acute Ischaemic Stroke
Background and Rationale:
Cerebrovascular disease is always ranked at the top causes of death and most of hospitalized
acute stroke patients have ischemic stroke [1].
Although the mortality rate of acute ischemic stroke is less than that of hemorrhagic stroke
[1], it still results in patient disabilities and complications that often lead to
significant costs to individuals, families, and society.
Traditional treatment for acute ischemic stroke includes thrombolytic therapy by injecting
tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) within three hours after onset of symptoms [2],
antiplatelets and/or anticoagulant agents administered within the first 48 hours. Clinically,
the narrow time window of thrombolytic therapy and coexisting contraindications limit the use
of t-PA [2]. Thus, searching for an effective supplemental treatment for acute ischemic
stroke is imperative.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is valuable in treating acute carbon monoxide poisoning
[3,4], air or gas embolism [5], facilitating wound healing [6] and has been used as an
adjuvant treatment for many neurological disorders that need further study as concussion [7]
, stroke [8,9], cerebral palsy [ 10],traumatic brain injury [ 11], cerebral air embolism
[12], Autism [13] and multiple sclerosis [14].
Indications of hyperbaric oxygen therapy recommended by undersea and hyperbaric medical
society (UHMS) [15] are 1.air or gas embolism [5], 2.carbon monoxide poisoning [3,4],
3.clostridial myositis and myonecrosis [16], 4.crush injury, compartment syndrome and other
acute traumatic ischemias [17], 5.decompression sickness [18], 6.arterial insufficiencies
[19], 7.severe anemia [20], 8.intracranial abscess [21], 9.necrotizing soft tissue infections
[22],10. refractory osteomyelitis [23], 11.delayed radiation injury [24], 12.compromised
grafts and flaps [25], 13.acute thermal burn injury [26] and 14.idiopathic sudden
sensorineural hearing loss [27].
Known mechanisms of HBOT-induced neuroprotection include enhancing neuronal viability via
increased tissue oxygen delivery to the area of diminished blood flow, reducing brain edema,
and improving metabolism after ischemia [28,29]. Furthermore, a recent study performed on a
rat suggested that upregulation of the expression of glial derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)
and nerve growth factor (NGF) might underlie the effect of HBOT [30].
The effectiveness of use of Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in human ischemic stroke is still
controversial that need further evaluation.
Clinical Trial – Effect of Adjuvant Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Bells Palsy Outcome
This is a randomized, single blinded, non-placebo controlled that will compare one group of
Bells Palsy patients receiving the current standard of care including oral corticosteroids
and oral antivirals against an experimental group receiving the current standard of care in
addition to hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Outcome assessment will be based on both objective
analyses of facial movements as well as subjective quality of life scales.