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A highly active and athletic 29 year old, Richard
first contracted Lyme while horseback riding in the Adirondacks in 1990. Soon, the disease began to ravage his
body. He could not sleep, suffered
from flu like symptoms and lost 40 pounds in the course of a month. He could not walk for 200 feet without
passing out and entered the hospital emergency room on a monthly basis for
extreme allergic reaction that caused severe swelling in his throat,
preventing him from properly breathing.
After visits to 36 different physicians and specialists, his
symptoms continued to escalate, so he began delving into the world of
medical research in order to save his own life.
Richard thus began to educate himself on everything having
to do with immune disorders, possible therapies as well as relevant medical
studies around the country. He soon
discovered the research of Donald Freeman, M.D., and William Fife, Ph.D.,
at Texas A&M University. Both
were conducting studies using hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a treatment for
various immune disorders. The study
theorized that the pressurized treatments had an immune modulating effect
on those extremely dysfunctional immune systems. This interested Richard as
he noted improvements in his condition after a scuba diving trip (increased
pressure similar to hyperbaric) and observed severe set backs when he flew
on a plane, which simulates a decreased pressure environment.
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He soon acquired a hospital grade hyperbaric oxygen
chamber in 1994 and began using the chamber for 60-minute sessions a few
times a week. After noticing
immediate improvement, Richard began a quest to scientifically document his
results and contacted James McCoy, PhD. at an immunology lab in order to
verify the effects of hyperbaric on the immune system. A Lymphocyte
Blastogenesis Assay was performed pre and post hyperbaric treatments to
measure T and B cell functionality. The results had proved that hyperbaric
oxygen therapy had a re-balancing effect on the immune system. Richard’s
normally elevated B cells and low T cells moved into the normal range after
each session with hyperbaric therapy.
The trial was duplicated 11 times with identical results.
Within the first couple of weeks,
Richard’s symptomology began to disappear, but his use of the hyperbaric
chamber continued, even through his remission. He followed the Life Force Hyperbaric Protocol of 3
treatments per week for 2 months and then subsequent treatments of twice a
week for 2 years.
Due to the high operating expenses and
usability issues of his hospital grade unit, he reluctantly began to cut
back on hyperbaric treatments. The
unit weighed 1500 lbs and operated off of 100% liquid oxygen. Treatments were performed in his garage
because of the size of the unit and there was always the danger of using
100% oxygen.
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Richard did more
research and stumbled on a portable mild hyperbaric chamber, which operated
at significantly lower costs than his hospital grade unit. The portable chamber used ambient air to
operate thereby eliminating the concerns about oxygen toxicity
and other dangers surrounding the use of liquid oxygen that was required
with the hospital grade unit. With
the portable chamber, he was also able to perform self-treatments and
placed the chamber in a bedroom for greater overall treatment comfort. He continued to use the new portable
chamber to maintain his remission from Lyme and as an internal and external
stressor control to avoid colds and flu’s and quickly recover from a foot
surgery.
Richard was fortunate to be able to gain access to a
hyperbaric chamber for his Lyme recovery, although most patients are not
able to afford a hospital grade unit.
However, due to recent advancements in technology, portable mild
hyperbaric chambers are more accessible to patients with a price starting
at $9,500, and financed for as little as $4 per day. These chambers are catching on like wildfire
with chronic disease patients who like these chambers because of the low
operating cost, safety, ease of use, portability and low price tag. Due to the comfort of the portable
chamber, the hospital grade hyperbaric unit now sits idle in the garage.
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