Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Gives a Soldier His Life Back

Jacob L. Mathers
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) Testimonial

            My son was injured on April 17, 2006 during his 2^nd tour to Iraq in Ramadi.  A car bomb made its way into their compound, and blew up.  After completing his 2^nd tour, we began to notice changes.  Jake then went on a third tour with the 22^nd MEU.  Upon his return in January 2008, he was complaining of everything from nightmares, panic attacks, migraine headaches, memory problems, eye control, forgetfulness, and more.  We began seeing more and more of these symptoms appear.  I had to assist my son in 2008 from 2500 miles away, get to and from doctor visits. I had to remind him of the time, remind him what time he needed to leave, sometimes assist him while driving to get to the proper place.  He had an appointment in Raleigh, NC and had to drive from Camp Lejeune.  The drive to the doctor took him a little over 2 hours.  Coming home, it took him 9 hours.  He kept forgetting where he needed to go.  He got turned around, and finally I had to stay on the telephone with him while looking at a road map to guide him back to the base.  

Harch HBOT for Infant Problems with the Brain or Brain Trauma:
Shaken Baby Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy CP, Infant Brain Injury,
Infant Neurological Disorders

HBOT for an Infant/Child Brain Injury

According to Dr. Harch, "HBOT for infants is no different than HBOT for adults except that infants can be exquisitely sensitive to oxygen and thus, require careful dosing." In the early 1990s Dr. Harch began an investigation of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in pediatric brain injury.  Beginning with the first cerebral palsy (CP) child he applied HBOT and SPECT brain blood flow imaging (discussed below) to any child with a neurological diagnosis primarily involving the brain. What he found was that HBOT acted like a generic drug on a multitude of different brain disorders in children, including genetic disorders. In those seminal years he found that children as young as six months could be treated safely. That 6 month old girl was a shaken baby who was treated four months after her injury when she was finally stable enough to travel.  She had seizures, was paralyzed, blind, and very fragile. By the end of the first two months of treatment she was more alert and aware, responding to her mother, developing vision, and free of seizures.  Dr. Harch then took her off her seizure medications and she remained seizure free. Her case is published in the Textbook of Hyperbaric Medicine, by K.K. Jain, 3rd Edition, Chapter 18.  Her remarkable and shocking brain scans can also be viewed in the congressional testimony that Dr. Harch gave to the House of Representatives in 2002. That testimony is featured on www.hbot.com  (congressional testimonies) In addition, a book has been written about her case called I Am Still Standing, by Sue Ann Worsley (Publish America).  In the book the grandmother recounts the family's courageous trek to New Orleans to be the first child in the world to be treated with HBOT for shaken baby syndrome. Their efforts were rewarded with a baby who regained vision, a relationship with her mother, and eventually movement in her legs. 

What these early cases showed was that brain injury in infants could be successfully and safely treated. Since that time hundreds of children with over 50 different neurological diagnoses have been treated by Dr. Harch. What is important, however, is that different brain injuries and diagnoses can require different doses of HBOT. Seizure disorders, for example, if treated at higher pressures and higher frequency of treatments can be aggravated by HBOT.  Similarly, autistic patients can be very sensitive to HBOT and require individual dosing. Since the initial safe treatment of so many children with brain injury at Dr. Harch's clinic in New Orleans thousands and thousands of children have been treated in the U.S. and worldwide by Dr. Neubauer and other physicians.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Rehab for Brain Injury is Included as the VFW Reiterates High Priority Issues

"We are treating TBI/PTSD, we are restoring lives - not just talking about it!" states Juliette from Dr Harch's office.
 
Following the recent NPR/ProPublica series on veteran suicides and treatment for TBI and PTSD Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma called for an emergent hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. During the hearing General Chandler (Vice Chief of Staff, Air Force), mentioned to Senator Levin that the Air Force was having success treating airmen with hyperbaric oxygen. While not specifically stated General Chandler was likely referring to the experience of Dr. Eddie Zant in Fort Walton Beach, Florida who had been treating brain injured airmen from nearby Eglin Air Force Base. Dr. Zant has treated over a dozen brain injured airmen using the HBOT protocol developed for chronic TBI by Dr. Paul Harch of LSU School of Medicine, New Orleans. Dr. Harch is the founding president of the International Hyperbaric Medical Association and current president of the International Hyperbaric Medical Foundation. IHMF. Dr. Harch submitted the unsolicited attached "Testimony for the Record" to the Committee in June calling attention to the possible contribution of off-label FDA blackbox labeled drugs to the suicide epidemic in U.S. veterans. The testimony also announced to the committee the effectiveness of HBOT in the treatment of blast-induced TBI, the possibility of preventing suicides if HBOT could be delivered in a timely fashion, and the commencement of N-BIRR, the National Brain Injury Rescue and Rehabilitation Project. At Senator Inhofe’s direction Dr. Harch’s testimony will be included in the hearing record.

Tomorrow night (Mon. 8/3/09) on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric there will be a special piece on a veteran that has been followed by 60 Minutes and CBS since his injury 5 years ago in Iraq.  He is a double amputee with a brain injury who recently underwent HBOT in New Orleans at our clinic for his TBI.  Because of the severity of his injury he was not treated under the current LSU pilot trial that I am conducting.  Instead, he became one of my private patients, received the exact same protocol as the study patients, and benefited accordingly.  He was so moved by his experience that he called CBS to report the latest chapter in his recovery.  I have not seen the final edited segment, but believe that it highlights his plight in the military medical system.  I hope it is positive.