Special Report – Veterans and HBOT
The unfortunate truth is that countless veterans, just like Simon, repeatedly battle suicidal thoughts. They struggle from their battle wounds and PTSD with each passing minute.
These brave souls protected our country, and it’s beyond time that we protect their future. Thankfully there is hope in HBOT.
Watch the 30 Minute Special Report
Veterans are at especially high risk for suicide due to the injuries they’ve endured and the horrific images they’ve seen. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) rank high among the reasons why veterans are choosing death over living. But there is hope for new beginnings. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is helping war veterans turn their lives around.
In this Special Report, Edward diGirolamo, host of the HBOT News Network, dives into HBOT and what the state of North Carolina is doing to help get veterans this life saving therapy. We hear from Melissa Spain, CEO of the Community Foundation of NC East, as she discusses their involvement to get NC Senate Bill 442 passed; a bill that has appropriated funds to provide HBOT to NC veterans who suffer from TBI and PTSD.
We are also greeted by Elena Schertz, Nurse Practitioner at Extivita-RTP in Durham, NC. Elena gives us a tour of their state-of-the-art clinic where soldiers are receiving HBOT. One of their veteran patients, Simon LeMay, agreed to share his story with us to help spread the hope that exists within the world of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Meet a true American Hero, Simon LeMay, retired Sergeant Major with 25-years in the US Marine Corps. LeMay was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan five times during a ten year period. He lost his best friend in battle and witnessed horrific incidents of violence and injury among his Marine bothers. Although LeMay was blessed to avoid serious physical injury to himself, he did come home with an invisible wound of war.
IED exposures left him with a TBI and visions of war and death haunted him with PTSD. Simon turned to alcohol and pain pills to ease the emotional and physical pain, leading him down a dark tunnel of depression and suicidal thoughts that almost ended in demise.
After hearing about it from friends, his loving family talked him into trying hyperbaric oxygen therapy to help heal his brain injuries. LeMay received treatment at Extivita- RTP in Durham, NC and states after 20-30 treatments he started realizing that he was once again “starting to feel emotion,” with the sense of worthlessness disappearing and the suicidal ideation being no more.
“I started looking forward to the next day,” Simon exclaims.
Also included in this Special Report is a raw and personal interview with Cate, Simon’s wife. Today she is thrilled with Simon’s progress, even calling hyperbaric oxygen therapy “God sent.”
Guest
Organizations
For more information about the guest organizations featured in this special, please click on the links.
North Carolina Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Clinic
Extivita RTP
NC HBOT for Veterans Program
The Community Foundation of NC East
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Recent HBOT News
Clinical Trial – Hyperbaric Oxygenation in Diabetic Ulcer
Hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) involves breathing of 100% oxygen under elevated ambient
pressure. In correlation to the pressure level oxygen dissolves in the plasma resulting in an
increase of total oxygen in the body. The elevated tissue levels of oxygen may persist for
hours, instigating healing processes in wounds caused by disturbances in of perfusion in
small vessels, a condition often found in patient with diabetes.
We plan a prospective, double-blind randomized clinical study in 80 patients with chronic
diabetic ulcer. All will have optimum treatment of diabetes. The HBO group will be given HBO
at 2.4 bar, 90 min., 30 sessions, controls will have sham HBO. Routine wound care will be
identical in both groups. Before, during and after treatment (3, 6 and 12 months), a number
of monitoring and imaging procedures will be done, cells in the bloodstream indicating
improved healing will be determined.
Hypothesis: HBO will instigate the healing process in the majority of patients with chronic
diabetic leg ulcer, provided the patency of the large vessels is given.
Effects of hyperbaric oxygen on eye tracking abnormalities in males after mild traumatic brain injury.
The effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) on eye movement abnormalities in 60 military servicemembers with at least one mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) from combat were examined in a single-center, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, prospective study at the Naval Medicine Operational Training Center. During the 10 wk of the study, each subject was delivered a series of 40, once a day, hyperbaric chamber compressions at a pressure of 2.0 atmospheres absolute (ATA). At each session, subjects breathed one of three preassigned oxygen fractions (10.5%, 75%, or 100%) for 1 h, resulting in an oxygen exposure equivalent to breathing either surface air, 100% oxygen at 1.5 ATA, or 100% oxygen at 2.0 ATA, respectively. Using a standardized, validated, computerized eye tracking protocol, fixation, saccades, and smooth pursuit eye movements were measured just prior to intervention and immediately postintervention. Between and within groups testing of pre- and postintervention means revealed no significant differences on eye movement abnormalities and no significant main effect for HBO2 at either 1.5 ATA or 2.0 ATA equivalent compared with the sham-control. This study demonstrated that neither 1.5 nor 2.0 ATA equivalent HBO2 had an effect on postconcussive eye movement abnormalities after mild TBI when compared with a sham-control.
Effects of hyperbaric oxygen on MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression and spinal cord edema after spinal cord injury.
Abstract: To evaluate the effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression and spinal cord edema after acute spinal cord injury (SCI). Ninety-six healthy adult Sprague − Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: sham, sham + HBO, SCI,...