oxygen therapy
24
MAY / JUN 2015
I
Healthcare Journal of new orleans
The Link Between TBI and PTSD
TBI has been potentially linked to PTSD as
well, so if a treatment for TBI can be found,
symptoms of PTSDmay also be ameliorated,
particularly if the two causalities were con-
current. While PTSD can occur without a
blow to the head, they can be conjoined in
one brain-injuring incident.
While the two conditions may seem to
symptomatically overlap, they actuallymay
not. TBI is a physical injury to the brainwith
a constellation of symptoms, and the other is
a psychiatric conditionwith its own different
set of symptoms.
However, the longer someone has PTSD,
sleep deprivation, a consistent elaboration
of stress hormones, and other strains on the
brain can eventually cause physical damage
to the brain. In a similar light, having an injury
to the brainmay possibly injure centers of the
brain that make a person more susceptible
to developing PTSD. In these cases, the two
conditions may begin to overlap.
Dr. Harch treated one patient with severe
PTSD symptoms with HBOT, and after a
couple dozen treatments, the patient
returned saying that his PTSD symptoms
were gone. This has led Dr. Harch to believe
that HBOT may be interrupting the circu-
lating loop of electrical activity involved
with PTSD. Treat the TBI, and PTSD may
be treated along with it.
How Hyperbaric Oxygen
Affects the Brain
HBOT involves placing a patient in a total
body chamber and having him inhale 100
percent oxygen for a period of time while
atmospheric pressure is increased and con-
trolled by a physician. In doing so, this ther-
apy stimulates new tissue to form.
Physicians most commonly use this
treatment for severe wounds and diving
accidents, but research from the past few
decades has shown that hyperbaric oxygen
may have more healing power for the brain
than previously thought.
Dr. Harch, who has conducted extensive
research with HBOT over the past several
decades, says that to stimulate new tissue,
a treatment must stimulate DNA and cause
the nucleus of the cell to divide.Thus, hyper-
baric oxygen acts as a DNA signaling drug
that increases the production of hormones
that stimulate growth in different tissues.
One study showed that hyperbaric oxy-
gen turned on and off specific genes that
contribute to tissue growth. The treatment
was found to turn on genes that code for
growth and repair hormones as well as anti-
inflammatory genes that quell inflammation
in the body. Simultaneously, the treatment
suppresses and turns off pro-inflamma-
tory genes and the genes that code for pro-
grammed cell death.
Dr. Harch thus calls HBOT “the most
enduring, most panoramic, and most
effective gene therapy that has ever been
identified.”
Hyperbaric Research in Action
Dr. Harch’s study is comprised of two
groups of patients, both of which receive
oxygen treatment for the same duration
of time but at different intervals. To begin,
potential participants fill out consent forms
and screening questionnaires wherein
they must meet certain requirements and
thresholds to be a part of the study.
If chosen, they go through a full struc-
tured interview, the Ohio State Univer-
sity TBI Identification Method, to identify
incidents of TBI in the last 10 years, from
which the patient is still symptomatic, and
the severity of those symptoms. Dr. Harch
then has a conversation about the incidents
and symptoms at length to determine if the
potential participant meets any exclusion
criteria.
Paul Harch, MD