hyperbaric oxygen therapy

We used HBOT last fall to help heal my 16 yr old son's fistula,  during that time we saw his CRP and ESR markers fall to a normal range, and he was feeling very well / eating well, gaining weight etc.    He is on SCD and LDN, but in December/january his markers rose and a recent MRI showed inflammation in the terminal illeum.  His LDN was compounded incorrectly with lactose and we have fixed that and his markers are almost normal again, but he has never felt as well as he did while doing HBOT. 

We are thinking of purchasing a home HBOT to maintain remission  and I'm curious if anyone has heard anything or tried this?

There are many trials, journal reports etc of it healing peri-anal fistulas, and it has many, many studies of it lowering inflammation.    I live in Canada and did HBOT in Vancouver, BC, but the Dr. I have been consulting with is in California (and one in New Orleans).  They have said that HBOT will lower the inflammation but may or may not control the symptoms (nausea, diarrhea etc) of Crohn's, he has also said that he has sold many chambers to Crohn's patients to help with maintaining remission.  We all know what a frustrating disease Crohn's can be, what works for one may not work for another. 

My son is fairly asymptomatic, and at this time does not have many of the typical Crohn's symptoms, so we are not worried so much about controlling symptoms as we are about lowering inflammation, and getting him to put on some weight and gain a few inches in height.    While he did HBOT he gained 9 pounds in 4 weeks and had NO crohn's symptoms at all, a blood test taken at the end of the 4 weeks showed very low inflammatory markers.  

Also, it did heal his main fistula, another one came on after that, but that one had been developing before we started HBOT - as indicated by an MRI done in July 09.  A second MRI done this past May shows the first fistula is gone, and the second has a very short drain tract and is almost gone. 

That's our experience with HBOT, and I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has ever tried it. 

To purchase a hyperbaric unit, concentrator, connectors, masks, frame, everything you need to get going it will cost about $9000 US, to bring it into Canada with duty, exchange,  and GST it would be just over $10,000.   Unfortunately there are no guarantees that it will do the job, so the best bet is to go to a clinic and do some sessions to see if it will benefit you before investing in a chamber.  In Canada we payed around $100 per session, from what I understand it's over double that in the US, In Alberta it MAY be covered by medical (depending on your Dr.), but because Crohn's is considered an off label use it is not covered by insurance.  We were able to claim our expenses back on our income tax though. 

Because we had such good success with it last fall, the Dr's I have spoken with are suggesting that our son is a good candidate to be maintained with Hyperbaric, and really the chamber is supposed to last about 15 years, $10,000 is not that big of a price to pay if it works.   If not, I guess we can always sell it on E-bay or Craigslist, they are becoming very popular for families with autistic members. 

We have decided to go ahead and purchase one - this has not been a quick decision for us, we have been tossing it around for the last 6 months or so.  If anyone is interested I can post every once in a while and let you know how our son is doing.

ozonehole, I had to laugh at building your own - my dad is a retired dairy farmer with an old steel milk tank that he's always trying to figure out how to convert into a hyperbaric unit!!

Crazyharry, I'm quite sure insurance won't cover it, we are working with a Dr. just outside of San Francisco, he seems very knowledgeable - if you want his info I can pm it to you.   Also Dr. Paul Harch's office in New Orleans had lots of information for me, he was an ER Dr. and now focuses just on hyperbaric, and has a clinic, has written a book, etc.

We received our HBOT and O2 concentrator last Wednesday, my son has been in it twice a day since then, yesterday am was the first time since last November that he did not wake up and immediately have to head off to the bathroom, hopefully this is a sign of good things to continue.  We do not expect any real significant changes as he is basically already in remission, but a couple of things that could be improved on:  1) urgency in the morning upon waking.  2) less acidic bowel movements  3)  last fistula healed up 4)  a bit more variety of foods that agree with him.