Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT): General information and discussion of Home Units

[anartist]

just learned about this
do you really mean O2 pressure or chamber? (pic for reference)

to others, what kind of interval you reckon would be apropriated with 100% O2 @2ata?

I guess the pressure of oxygen to the face mask would be based on the flow rate, whether 5 litres, 10 litres, or 15 litres per minute.
But in our soft chambers at 1.5ATA we are not getting 100% oxygen through the face mask, and when the CO2 expelled and a % re-inhaled, is factored in are we even getting 90%?
Dr Afrati protocol is 20 minutes under oxygen, and 5 minutes breathing room air at pressure. Since I am doing 1 hour sessions, I changed that to 24 minutes under oxygen and 6 minutes breathing room air at pressure to keep the 4:1 ratio. I don't see why you couldn't do 25 minutes under oxygen and 5 minutes breathing room air though, as under the Dr Afrati protocol you would be breathing under oxygen for 50 minutes out of the hour, and 10 minutes breathing room air out of the hour. (20+5+20+5+10=60)

 

[Vinícius]

I guess the pressure of oxygen to the face mask would be based on the flow rate, whether 5 litres, 10 litres, or 15 litres per minute.
But in our soft chambers at 1.5ATA we are not getting 100% oxygen through the face mask, and when the CO2 expelled and a % re-inhaled, is factored in are we even getting 90%?
Dr Afrati protocol is 20 minutes under oxygen, and 5 minutes breathing room air at pressure. Since I am doing 1 hour sessions, I changed that to 24 minutes under oxygen and 6 minutes breathing room air at pressure to keep the 4:1 ratio. I don't see why you couldn't do 25 minutes under oxygen and 5 minutes breathing room air though, as under the Dr Afrati protocol you would be breathing under oxygen for 50 minutes out of the hour, and 10 minutes breathing room air out of the hour. (20+5+20+5+10=60)

yeah, i think scuba tanks would be much easier to set the flow and you could use any low flow rate concentrator given the appropriate compressor(and fill it to 200 bar or something)

in the clinic I'm going they use these tanks, the mask has a spring to set the tension on the inlet's check valve, it's simple but works

i got the book recommended here too will start reading

do you include the 15-30min de/pressurization period on O2 intervals?

a couple times i did a mix of circular breathing/E.E in there it was very relaxing

 

[88LS]

I finally received my Zoy-Tech chamber after about a month w/ freight shipping.

I’ve done about 35 sessions at another practice here in town in a premium priced 1.5 ata chamber and now about 5 in the new Zoy-Tech chamber (also at 1.5 ata); and honestly I can’t tell the difference… Maybe slightly longer time to reach full pressure.

I’ve made some slight adjustments on mine and am using a non-rebreather mask just fine. Very happy with it overall and will happily buy from them again.

 

[aimarok]

I will have to wait a little longer to be able to experience my zoy-HBOT. After I unpacked everything and put the chamber together, which was difficult doing it on my own, I realised that the compressor was damaged. It had a dent on the top of the unit and the lower counter screen was smashed.

I emailed to ask if it was safe to use and sent them a picture of the damage and of the original box to show that the damage most probably occurred before or during packaging. They said they would send me a new cover for the digital screen and that it should not impact the functioning of the unit.

Well, it doesn't work. I went over the instruction video at least 3 times and not a peep. No lights. No-one was home. To make it more frustrating, the unit they connect to in the demo video is not the same as the blue one that I received, yet it is shown to be in the room during the filming. I guess they used a bigger/stronger one with the same connections.

Anyhow, I asked what their policy was for damaged goods and made it clear that I was not in a financial position to pay for the delivery of another one so a solution had to be found. I paid over $400 for customs which was half my pension. I'd be ok with returning the non-functioning unit once the replacement arrived but I'm not paying for that either, so they'll have to come up with something.

Wait and see what happens, I guess. Murphy's law or Mercury retrograde or something...

Same story here: dent on the top, lower display pushed inside the body and cracked, rubber legs pushed inside, some internal damage, power cable broken. I believe the damage was done during shipment because of its nature: the box was thrown several times and there were no foam protection. I managed to repair the unit after I bought a new power cable, wheels and some tools. I wrote to Zoy-Tech about the incident and suggested to use foam protection.

If you are not into machines try to find someone experienced. There is a good chance the compressor can be fixed.

 

[Thor]

yeah, i think scuba tanks would be much easier to set the flow and you could use any low flow rate concentrator given the appropriate compressor(and fill it to 200 bar or something)

in the clinic I'm going they use these tanks, the mask has a spring to set the tension on the inlet's check valve, it's simple but works

i got the book recommended here too will start reading

do you include the 15-30min de/pressurization period on O2 intervals?

a couple times i did a mix of circular breathing/E.E in there it was very relaxing

I recall that in one of the YouTube videos (I think it was with Scott Scherr) he strongly recommended against doing breathing exercises under pressure (I believe he was talking about 2 ATA). If I recall it correctly, it had something to do with the fact that there is so much oxygen in the blood that you can hold your breath for a quite long time which can have other detrimental effects on the body - I don't remember what they were. So I'd be quite cautious with breathing exercises or at least do them gently.

 

[Vinícius]

,

I recall that in one of the YouTube videos (I think it was with Scott Scherr) he strongly recommended against doing breathing exercises under pressure (I believe he was talking about 2 ATA). If I recall it correctly, it had something to do with the fact that there is so much oxygen in the blood that you can hold your breath for a quite long time which can have other detrimental effects on the body - I don't remember what they were. So I'd be quite cautious with breathing exercises or at least do them gently.

yes, to be clear i was doing it in a way to slow down breathing and engage the vagus nerve
usually my pace is the slowest one in there group sessions

 

[Z...]

Same story here: dent on the top, lower display pushed inside the body and cracked, rubber legs pushed inside, some internal damage, power cable broken. I believe the damage was done during shipment because of its nature: the box was thrown several times and there were no foam protection. I managed to repair the unit after I bought a new power cable, wheels and some tools. I wrote to Zoy-Tech about the incident and suggested to use foam protection.

If you are not into machines try to find someone experienced. There is a good chance the compressor can be fixed.

So perhaps i should stick with Macy pan, havent seen any complaints here about their equipment.

 

[aimarok]

So perhaps i should stick with Macy pan, havent seen any complaints here about their equipment.

It's a problem with packaging not equipment per se. They started to produce those compressors only recently and had no proper packaging yet. This issue can be highlighted during purchase negotiations.

 

[liam1310]

It's a problem with packaging not equipment per se. They started to produce those compressors only recently and had no proper packaging yet. This issue can be highlighted during purchase negotiations.

I'm not far off 80 sessions with zoya. No issues with equipment. Can always tell them to pack it safely if its damaged and its on them to sort ASAP if damaged in transit.

 

[Thor]

I'm not far off 80 sessions with zoya. No issues with equipment. Can always tell them to pack it safely if its damaged and its on them to sort ASAP if damaged in transit.

I also received my Zoy pod without dents. The box had taken a bit of a beating but the compressor and the oxygen generator were fine. I managed to change some settings that it took the Zoy engineering team a couple of days to figure out but once that was remedied it's worked without problems.

I just ordered a 15 l/min oxygen generator from Zoy. It weighs 90 kilos and they need to send it in a wooden crate.

 

[stellar]

Same story here: dent on the top, lower display pushed inside the body and cracked, rubber legs pushed inside, some internal damage, power cable broken. I believe the damage was done during shipment because of its nature: the box was thrown several times and there were no foam protection. I managed to repair the unit after I bought a new power cable, wheels and some tools. I wrote to Zoy-Tech about the incident and suggested to use foam protection.

If you are not into machines try to find someone experienced. There is a good chance the compressor can be fixed.

Wow. I guess we won't be recommending these guys to anyone.

Mine didn't even have wheels, so it was a real struggle to move it. It did have foam packaging so I cannot understand the damage unless it was done beforehand and packaged anyway. Even the frame had a couple of predrilled holes that were not aligned so I had to find different screws to fit. And no instructions or warranty papers as well.

There has been no reply to my email either. Very unprofessional and disappointing.

I think I know someone who may be able to help. I just hope it works properly once that's done. It was a huge financial outlay for me and a disappointing experience to boot. I'm beginning to think there's something to 'don't buy chinese if you can help it' that I hear from people.

 

[Brewer]

I was a diver in the Navy and we had to learn about oxygen toxicity. Essentially if you’re working hard oxygen becomes potentially toxic to the body at about 1.6 ATA at 100% O2.

There’s treatments where patients breath 100% O2 at higher pressures, however those are always performed with someone observing inside the chamber with the patient who is relaxed.

For home use, it would make sense to limit the pressure of O2 below 1.6 ATA just to avoid the chance of convulsions.

I used to dive using nitrox at 36% O2. It was good and our dive computers had an algorithm that accounted for the Time Weighted Average so as to minimize the risk of O2 toxicity by accumulation over multiple dives. Did the Navy operate under TWAs? I know it applies with N2 but as O2 is metabolized I'm not sure the same would apply.
I had the bends back in the mid 80s and went to 3 bar for 4 hours and experienced some toxicity which rapidly diminished upon exit. Last week I went to 2 ATA in an Austrian made chamber. It was 20 minutes compression, 60 at 2 ATA and 20 decompression, I went bright pink and that's all. My only concern was the possibility of some dental barotrauma to one of my crowns. All good so far! Back in the chamber this afternoon!

 

[benkostka]

I used to dive using nitrox at 36% O2. It was good and our dive computers had an algorithm that accounted for the Time Weighted Average so as to minimize the risk of O2 toxicity by accumulation over multiple dives. Did the Navy operate under TWAs? I know it applies with N2 but as O2 is metabolized I'm not sure the same would apply.
I had the bends back in the mid 80s and went to 3 bar for 4 hours and experienced some toxicity which rapidly diminished upon exit. Last week I went to 2 ATA in an Austrian made chamber. It was 20 minutes compression, 60 at 2 ATA and 20 decompression, I went bright pink and that's all. My only concern was the possibility of some dental barotrauma to one of my crowns. All good so far! Back in the chamber this afternoon!

There’s lots of confusion here over O2 toxicity vs nitrogen narcosis or what causes the “bends”. It’s impossible to “accumulate O2 over multiple dives”, however you can accumulate N2 in your body and that’s why they recalculate dive time based off previous dives normally within a 24 hour period. Basically the same as the TWA method you mention.

Breathing 100% oxygen at any pressure will get rid of the dissolved N2 in your body, which is why they use it to cure the bends.

 

[Brewer]

There’s lots of confusion here over O2 toxicity vs nitrogen narcosis or what causes the “bends”. It’s impossible to “accumulate O2 over multiple dives”, however you can accumulate N2 in your body and that’s why they recalculate dive time based off previous dives normally within a 24 hour period. Basically the same as the TWA method you mention.

Breathing 100% oxygen at any pressure will get rid of the dissolved N2 in your body, which is why they use it to cure the bends.

Back when I was scuba diving on nitrox in 08 it was believed or considered a possibility to accumulate some O2 toxicity over multiple dives. Dive computers had the algorithm built in to avoid it involving both maximum depths, time and multiple dives. Might be the nanny-state of Australia at play here. Down under we panic about everything except untested 'vaccines'. When I was a medic I was yelled at for temporarily using O2 on blue babies (infants are more prone to O2 toxicity) even though it worked a treat!

Nitrogen would be purged from your system during HBOT, U2 pilots breath pure O2 before flying so no chance of it happening in HBOT just need to be aware of the possibility of O2 toxicity.

If concerned perhaps temporary removal of the mask during the therapy and breathe the 60% O2 air in the chamber. When I was treated for the bends I was given mask breaks to mitigate the O2 toxicity and to rehydrate.

 

[benkostka]

Back when I was scuba diving on nitrox in 08 it was believed or considered a possibility to accumulate some O2 toxicity over multiple dives. Dive computers had the algorithm built in to avoid it involving both maximum depths, time and multiple dives. Might be the nanny-state of Australia at play here. Down under we panic about everything except untested 'vaccines'. When I was a medic I was yelled at for temporarily using O2 on blue babies (infants are more prone to O2 toxicity) even though it worked a treat!

Nitrogen would be purged from your system during HBOT, U2 pilots breath pure O2 before flying so no chance of it happening in HBOT just need to be aware of the possibility of O2 toxicity.

If concerned perhaps temporary removal of the mask during the therapy and breathe the 60% O2 air in the chamber. When I was treated for the bends I was given mask breaks to mitigate the O2 toxicity and to rehydrate.

I think what you’re talking about is pulmonary oxygen toxicity which usually happens from very long dives. They’ve done research that pulmonary oxygen toxicity can happen if you breathe an oxygen concentration above 0.40 ATA for 24 hours.

Pulmonary oxygen toxicity: investigation and mentoring - PubMed

At sea level oxygen is toxic to man when breathed for more than twenty-four hours at a percentage greater than about forty percent. Pulmonary pathology is the first manifestation in subjects with previously normal lungs. In patients with pre-existing lung disease the results are often additive...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

From the studies that would possibly mean that there’s a limit to the percentage of oxygen that we can safely breathe at sea level, say below 40%. Just mentioning it because the C’s said we had higher oxygen concentrations in the past.