IMAGE: “Army Sgt. Margaux Mange experienced severe PTSD symptoms after serving in Iraq. She says hyperbaric oxygen therapy helped her symptoms significantly improve”. Visual: Courtesy Margaux Mange via UNDARK.ORG
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy has been used for well over a hundred years to heal brain injuries. But within the past several years, HBOT has become more popular among the veteran community to heal PTSD, TBI and Post-concussion syndrome.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy involves the patient breathing 100% medical grade oxygen in a pressurized chamber. The combination of oxygen and pressure saturates the blood plasma and carries the increased oxygen to the areas of the body where it needs it most. HBOT has been clinically proven to reduce inflammation, promote growth of new blood vessels, and activate stem cell production.
The result = relief for our veteran community
Unsatisfied with her medication regimen and still struggling with both TBI and PTSD symptoms, Mange said she spoke with an Army counselor, who helped her enroll in a small study to test the effectiveness of a treatment often associated with undersea medicine: hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
“I had constant nightmares,” Mange wrote, and “no desire to leave bed.”
In 2013, three years after her final HBOT session, Mange joined a team of veterans on a journey to the South Pole, led by the military service organization Walking with the Wounded. “I had to physically pull everything that would help me survive on a sled behind me,” she wrote to Undark. “Life on the other side of my injuries was doable.” Today, she still experiences some headaches and PTSD symptoms, but they are manageable: “I am married to a wonderful man,” Mange wrote, adding that that she had a two-year-old and another kid on the way — a baby who is now 6 weeks old.
“Finally,” she wrote, “my life is in order.”
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