TreatNOW



HBOT Progress, 20192019 continues the unprecedented progress with respect to getting the DoD/VA/Army, Special Operations, and general medicine moving forward in recognizing that Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for TBI/PTSD/Concussion is safe, dramatically more effective and longer lasting, and much less expensive than all other interventions when treating and helping heal brain wounds. Please read to the end to see ACTIONS that individuals and clinics can take to make HBOT an insured standard of care for TBI/PTSD/Concussion. 1. Congressional legislation calling for the use of HBOT for TBI and PTSD has for the first time been introduced in both the House and Senate. The TBI and PTSD Treatment Act, S.2504 and HR 4370, have 15 sponsors. Active efforts in all relevant committees to garner more support for passage is a major goal for Q1. . The Center of Compassionate Innovation, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), expanded its HBOT Pilot Demonstration to five sites: Tulsa Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center at Oklahoma State Medical Center in Tulsa, OK; the David Grant Medical Center on Travis Air Force Base, CA; James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, in cooperation with the Undersea Oxygen Clinic and Florida Hospital; South Texas Veterans Health System in San Antonio, in cooperation with Nix Health and the San Antonio Military Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston; and Fargo VA Health Care System, in cooperation with Dr. Denham’s clinic, Healing with Hyperbarics, Fargo ND. See Pilot Demonstration paper at the end of these notes and this: 3. Dr. Daphne Denham, the nation’s premier expert on HBOT treatment of acute concussion, reports that 98% of her patients in her Fargo ND clinic [348 out of 350] treated within ten days of suffering a concussion, completely resolved their symptoms in five treatments or less [average of 2.4 treatments]. . Florida and North Carolina joined five other states that have now passed legislation calling for the use of HBOT for use with veterans: Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, and Arizona. Legislators in several other states are queuing legislative language along similar lines. Much more is available by contacting Eric Koleda at: . GEN Bauerle in Indiana and Eric Koleda in Kentucky, leaders in the TreatNOW Coalition, are helping start clinical trials in their states, using funds allocated by state agencies. Glenn Butler out of New Jersey and New York, has organized a small sponsored, multi-site study out of Princeton and other clinics he services.6. November 2019, the Pro Football Retired Players Association and TreatNOW took another step forward in teaming to provide HBOT to players and veterans with brain wounds. The Board of Directors voted to provide HBOT to a select number of retired players who they identify as needing help. TreatNOW is facilitating the treatments in Coalition clinics. The Executive Director of PFRPA, Mr. Robert Schmidt, reiterated their goal: “Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) greatly improves cognitive ability and pain relief for Traumatic Brain Injury. We hope to convince Congress, the DOD, and the VA to recognize the beneficial use of HBOT or, at a minimum, to fund such additional studies as they feel necessary even though we feel the evidence already exists to justify mass treatment. Football players will also benefit from action by the DOD and VA but that is secondary to our desire to help heal our combat veterans.” See Joe Namath’s latest: . PFRPA essentials can be found at .7. Duane Pohlman, Investigative Reporter out of Cincinatti’s WKRC, completed Part one of his multi-part series. It showed on Veteran’s Day. Part 2 is due January 19, with Part 3 due on Super Bowl Sunday. One of the Subjects of the video is the now-retired former Marine Simon leMay. He is the first USMC Wounded Warrior out of the WW Battalion/East, Camp Lejeune. His success was phenomenal and he is now a spokesman for the use of HBOT for TBI/PTSD/Concussion. He and three more Marines from the WWB were treated successfully at Ed diGirolamo’s EXTIVITA clinic in Durham, NC.8. After nearly a decade, and enormous work by TreatNOW Coalition clinics and researchers, the NBIRR Study was published. Data on 32 subjects confirmed once again that HBOT is safe and effective for TBI/PTSD. See: Mozayeni BR, Duncan W, Zant E, Love TL, Beckman RL, Stoller KP. The National Brain Injury, Rescue and Rehabilitation Study – a multicenter observational study of hyperbaric oxygen for mild traumatic brain injury with post-concussive symptoms. Med Gas Res. 2019;9(1):1-12. . The TreatNOW Team has been working for a decade to bring HBOT into the Special Operations Community. With the help of numerous TreatNOW Coalition clinics and Debbie Lee and America’s Mighty Warriors [ ] we have succeeded in treating and helping heal over 50 SpecOps Warriors, active and retired. We are currently working with the SEALs, the EOD community, SOCOM, Force Recon Marines, USMC WWB/East, and other SpecOps groups to formulate a plan to provide wellness and preparedness protocols using HBOT, and to treat and heal suicidal service members through outreach directly into the Teams, assisted by former members who are HBOT advocates.10. Dave Rogers is one of those advocates. He and Michael BEAR Clair and others started his wellness center to assist veterans going through HBOT in Fargo ND [ ]. He is our direct liaison to Special Operations, working with a network of the TreatNOW Team. He is focusing on Functional Medicine, working on identifying prospective patients for the VA Pilot Demonstration in Fargo, and with providing personalized care to veterans during their treatment.11. Increasingly, TreatNOW is collaborating with Functional Medicine exponents like CAPT Bryan Stepanenko, MD and SSGT Geoff Dardia out of Ft Bragg, NC. They see HBOT as integral to a broad, personalized, root-cause focused treatment plan for Special Operations, and the DoD writ large. Their MISSION is to accelerate dissemination and implementation of innovative solutions to address Holistic Brain Health & Suicide Prevention by sharing best practices and lessons learned among clinical systems conducting clinical care, education, and research to support the Warfighter Community. Their mnemonic is S-T-A-I-N-D representing their Framework for Root Causes of Dysfunction. There is no silver bullet. See: Functional Medicine – Geoff Dardia, Founding Director SOF Health Initiatives Program [ ]o Stress, Sleep, SNPso Trauma, Toxins, Tabletso Allergies, Autoimmuneo Infections, Ingestionso Nutritional Excesses & Deficiencieso Digestion, Dysbiosis12. The 13th HBOT 2019 Conference in Charleston SC in September was the largest and most successful HBOT conference to date, thanks to the hard work of Hyperbaric Medicine International CEO Paul Hoffecker and the outgoing HMI President Ben Richards. Executive Board Members of HMI now include Barry M. Meuse, President & Chairman of The Board; Joseph C. Maroon, MD; Xavier A. Figueroa, PhD; Dr. Diane Levitan, VMD & Diplomate, ACVIM; LTG Michael T. Flynn, USA, (Ret.); Edward di Girolamo, PE; and Dominic D’Agostino, PhD. HMI’s aggressive Agenda dovetails with the TreatNOW Coalition’s emphasis on suicide prevention through treatment; and getting HBOT on-label for TBI/PTSD. That includes passing national and state legislation mandating insured coverage for HBOT for brain wounds. HMI’s mission is to support research and effective treatment protocols; expand access to treatment; establish accreditation standards for practitioners; improve patient outcomes; and educate medical professionals and the general public about the benefits of hyperbaric medicine and related therapies. . At the September conference of HBOT2019, researchers showed evidence that further validated the safety and efficacy of HBOT for TBI/PTSD/Concussion. Several speakers also drew attention to data in studies that show HBOT cures suicidal ideation: eliminating in nearly all cases thoughts of suicide that patients attribute to alleviation of multiple symptoms, along with restoring hope and executive function. 13. Continuing the accumulation of positive data, Dr. George Wolf, the US Government’s premier HBOT expert, reported recently that “[HBOT] for mild [TBI] and PTSD should be considered a legitimate adjunct therapy.” . This reinforces data by Dr. Lindell Weaver in his Brain Injury and Mechanisms of Action of HBO2 for Persistent Post-Concussive Symptoms After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (BIMA) Protocol with 71 patients. His conclusions: “By 13 weeks, HBO2 improved post-concussive and PTSD symptoms, cognitive processing speed, sleep quality, and vestibular symptoms, most dramatically in those with PTSD.” . Kent McLaughlin found significant pro-angiogenic stem cell mobilization at much lower pressures than previously discovered. One UHMS official said that his findings cast a shadow over their definition of hyperbaric medicine which wrongly declares that anything below 1.4ata has no medicinal properties. Of course, DOD/VA/Army studies have wrongly depended on that definition to “prove” statistical non-significance for HBOT, even though their data in all 5 studies clearly show that all patients showed significant medical improvement.15. October 2019. The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to three physician-scientists from the United States and Britain - William G. Kaelin Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza - "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability." Their work established the genetic mechanisms that allow cells to respond to changes in oxygen levels. "If you think of the main causes of death in the US, three out of five are related to lack of oxygen," including heart attack, stroke [TBI?] and respiratory diseases, said Isha Jain, a scientist at the University of California at San Francisco. The Nobel solidifies the role of oxygen – and the role of hypoxia – in basic physiology. [We’re following research to discover when the Journals notice the role inflammation plays in impairing body systems – and the role that HBOT is already playing in restoring O2 to brain wound healing. Functional Medicine is already weighing in on precisely this point.]16. Dr Ray Quock, PhD, of Washington State Univ. presented on HBOT in the Treatment of Opioid Addiction. He showed how HBOT reduces the time for withdrawal from opioid addiction symptoms by up to one half, partially as a result of relief from chronic pain for three to four weeks.17. Dr. Xavier Figueroa summarized the current body of knowledge: "There is sufficient evidence for the safety and preliminary efficacy data from clinical studies to support the use of HBOT in mild traumatic brain injury/persistent post concussive syndrome (mTBI/PPCS). The reported positive outcomes and the durability of those outcomes has been demonstrated at six months post HBOT treatment. Given the current policy by Tricare and the VA to allow physicians to prescribe drugs or therapies in an off-label manner for mTBI/PPCS management and reimburse for the treatment, it is past time that HBOT be given the same opportunity. This is now an issue of policy modification and reimbursement, not an issue of scientific proof or preliminary clinical efficacy." 18. At the end of 2019,?over 6,200?brain-wounded veterans, citizens, active duty and athletes have experienced significant medical improvement since 2010 in the 93+ TreatNOW Coalition clinics using HBOT and other alternative therapies. See of Special Operations warriors were kept on active duty as a result of donations and unending pressure from individuals like Debbie Lee and America’s Mighty Warriors. See . When VA Secretary, Robert Wilkie, was sworn in, part of his charter from Congress was to confront the mental health epidemic among veterans who cannot get appointments and sufficient care. Executive Orders and legislation have put in place means to allow veterans to procure care outside the VA system when it is unavailable, or the wait times are egregious. Certainly HBOT qualifies as such a treatment since it is not even held out as an option for veterans. Billions of dollars continue to be spent on interventions that do not treat the physical wound to the brain. Not one of the 80+ therapies/processes/ procedures/devices, countless computer applications, nor 114+ prescribed drugs has been approved by the FDA for TBI, nor do they "treat" wounds. All are used off-label for TBI. All are controversial at some level. Many of them are brand-new and haven't even been explored in the literature. No risk analysis has been performed, and no tracking is done. Yet neither the DOD nor the VA provide Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy used off-label to treat and heal brain injury. With evidence over 10 years from over 6,200 successes in over 93 independent clinics around the US – and thousands more in Israel, Russia, China, Japan, the Philippines and a dozen more -- HBOT is the one therapy proved by over 17 clinical trials inside DOD/VA and around the world to treat and help heal the wound to the brain, safely and effectively.20. Dr. Philip B. James, MD, will be publishing his latest work, Oxygen and Healing the Brain. “The commercial jet aircraft used by billions of passengers every year are hyperbaric chambers equipped with oxygen masks which are deployed if the aircraft cabin loses pressure at altitude. They are needed because lack of oxygen, termed 'hypoxia', causes loss of consciousness being especially dangerous to the cells of the brain. Injuries and illnesses of the brain causes the same lack of oxygen in a smaller group of cells and, logically, should also be treated with more oxygen. The associated damage to small blood vessels causes leakage of water into the tissues and cells lack oxygen because they are effectively drowning.”21. Reiterating: At the UHMS conference in 2018, Dr Shai Efrati’s team from Israel divulged continuing research on the mechanisms of action of HBOT when treating non-healing wounds to the brain. They are also studying the beneficent effects of HBOT in stroke, fibromyalgia, cerebral palsy, Alzheimer’s, and age-related functional decline. They showed how the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen addresses directly the negative cascade of damage and degeneration both in the acute phase of wound stabilization after TBI/PTSD/Concussion, and in the acute and chronic phases of wound healing. This is accomplished by:· Decreasing levels of inflammatory biochemicals· Increased oxygenation to functioning mitochondria· Increases in blood flow independent of new blood vessel formation· Angiogenesis from the addition of oxygen: (growth of new blood vessels in the acute and chronic phases)· Up-regulation of key antioxidant enzymes and decreasing oxidative stress· Increased production of new mitochondria (the energy factories of the cells)· Neurogenesis: (growth of new neuronal tissue and Remyelination during and after the treatments are completed)· Bypassing functionally impaired hemoglobin molecules, the result of abnormal porphyrin production, thereby allowing increased delivery of oxygen directly to cells· Improvement in immune and autoimmune system disorder· Direct production of stem cells in the brain· Increases in the production of stem cells in the bone marrow with transfer to the Central Nervous System* * * * * * * * * The TreatNOW Coalition will continue to work toward its Mission and Vision: TreatNOW Mission: Stop suicides by identifying and treating veterans and others suffering from TBI/PTSD/Concussion. TreatNOW Goal: Ensure that over 1.5 million brain injured veterans and active duty service members, along with millions of citizens, get insured access to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and other proven alternative medical treatments for their Invisible WoundsACTIONS that individuals and clinics can take to make HBOT an insured standard of care for TBI/PTSD/Concussion include:1.Contact, organize, educate and pressure all your US Congressional Senators and Congressmen/women to enact S.2504 and HR 4370, the “TBI and PTSD Treatment Act,” by end of 2Q 2020. See HR4370 and S2504.2.Lead an effort at your state level. Enact HBOT legislation and expand the number of state HBOT legislative enactments from the current seven [OK, TX, IN, KY, AZ, FL, NC]to 14 states in 12 months.3.Leverage US Legislators to drive and mandate that the VA use already FDA approved HBOT for veterans with diabetic foot ulcers immediately to reduce or eliminate the number of veterans dying from amputations4.Work with our national TV media contacts to generate four national TV segments on HBOT for TBI/PTSD veterans over 12 months. Contact Eric Koleda at ewk7405@.5.Contact your local VA and inform them about their own Pilot Demonstration Program using HBOT for PTSD/TBI. Simultaneously, contact local VSOs and leverage media to let veterans know that they can apply to get treated in the program. Go online for details.For the TreatNOW Coalition:Robert L. Beckman, PhD703.346-8432heal@ ................
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