Clinical studies and anecdotal evidence support community delivered hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) use for Long COVID symptom management
Long COVID sufferers, indeed all those with post-viral effects, along with those with ME, CFS and other energy limiting conditions should balance the positive impacts with the PEM/PESE impact. It is preferable that a person with LC is able to be upright for 4 hours a day before starting on a programme. Further study of HBOT and LC, particularly the impact on mitochondrial action is ongoing and positive.
Study: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for long COVID: a prospective registry
Conclusion: Due to the observational nature of this study, a causal effect of HBOT can certainly not be established. However, the results from this registry do demonstrate that 56–63% of long COVID patients treated with HBOT report increased quality of life 3 months after HBOT. The largest improvement was seen on social functioning, energy/fatigue, and physical functioning. Furthermore, there was a major reduction of severe to extreme cognitive symptoms 3 months after treatment
Letter to the Editor: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a therapeutic option for post-COVID syndrome fatigue
Conclusions: mitochondrial dysfunction is known to play a role in the pathogenesis of chronic fatigue syndromes and to be at least partly revertible with HBOT. The available evidence seems to support the benefits of HBOT for fatigue, cognitive symptoms, and quality of life in patients with post-COVID syndrome; this effect may persist in the long term
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S217358082600091X
Community-delivered hyperbaric oxygen therapy for people affected by long COVID: a pilot study
Conclusions: The aims of this pilot study were to assess fatigue, quality of life and shortness of breath over 4 weeks of HBOT (delivered at 1.4 ATA) and to explore participants' experiences of HBOT service provision in a community setting. The results of this preliminary study showed HBOT improved fatigue, dyspnoea and quality of life in those with long COVID, which is similar to previous studies (Robbins et al, 2021;Kitala et al, 2022;Zant et al, 2022;Zilberman-Itskovich et al, 2022).
Participants in this study experienced a variety of profound, fluctuating long COVID symptoms, including chronic fatigue, brain fog, joint pain and shortness of breath, which adversely affected personal, professional and family life. Consequently, the physical and psychosocial impact of the condition was considerable and often unpredictable.