Legislators on the House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee were briefed on the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for treating PTSD and other traumatic brain injuries during a meeting at the General Assembly on Tuesday. The committee learned about how the nonprofit HBOT for Heroes is helping veterans recover from mental illnesses after returning from deployment with oxygen therapy.
“I have two Purple Hearts. I was wounded twice in Afghanistan. I was a Combat Infantryman,” said David Buzzard, who now works for HBOT for Heroes. “Took some shrapnel in the side of the face here. And subsequently, I have issues — PTSD, TBI, anger issues, sleep problems, mobility problems.”
Facing severe issues, Buzzard decided to try HBOT, which involves several sessions of sitting in a chamber and breathing in pure oxygen two times Earth’s atmospheric pressure. The therapy supports everything from mobility to cognitive function, promoting new neural pathways by reducing brain inflammation and swelling, which can cause impulsive decision-making and contribute to recidivism in veterans.
“I did three sessions of HBOT, my sleep went from three and a half to four hours of terrible sleep — I mean rocking and rolling and never actually getting that deep sleep — to about seven hours of deep sleep at night,” said Buzzard. “I started identifying my joints weren’t hurting quite as much when I went to pick up my daughter when we play. And then I started noticing my anger issues were actually, again, alleviated. I wasn’t so pointed with my wife.”
Because it did amazing things for his body, Buzzard joined HBOT for Heroes to help more North Carolinians have access to the transformational therapy. Buzzard watched nine friends who he was deployed with commit suicide, all of whom had been on psychoactive drugs. He said he wants HBOT to be an option for as many veterans as possible.
Proponents pointed to the large veteran population in North Carolina as a reason to continue stepping up with state aid for veterans. About 136,000 of North Carolina veterans are suffering from issues like TBI and PTSD. Executive director Edward di Girolamo pointed out that 100 veterans in North Carolina will take their lives this year because they have had traumatic brain injuries and in defense of our country.
The General Assembly appropriated about $1 million in 2023 for the treatment, and the organization is hoping to secure more funds to increase care as the General Assembly negotiates a budget deal over the next month.
“So the state of North Carolina, one of the few states in the nation, has stood up and has paid for treatments,” said di Girolamo, “We, at this point, have treated nearly 300 veterans. We have 900 on the waiting list. There is a strong demand for the state to continue to step up… 10 years ago, I was introduced to this amazing therapy. It is a cure; it is not a coping mechanism.”
Funding is not currently appropriated for the program in the Senate’s budget proposal, but the House budget is expected to be released in the coming weeks and could provide additional funds.
In North Carolina, a public-private partnership is set to open a new facility near the Marine Corps Museum, expanding capacity beyond the current RDU site to treat more veterans, surpassing the state funding sought for the next two years.
Insurance doesn’t cover hyperbaric oxygen therapy because the FDA hasn’t approved it for 100 years. Without FDA approval, CMS and the VA won’t accept it either. At a September roundtable with the Veterans Affairs Committee with US Rep. Greg Murphy, R-NC3, VA psychiatric officials admitted after an hour of questioning that they follow FDA protocols strictly.
It took an hour of interrogation for them to finally admit they don’t do anything without the FDA approval. And so the FDA has blocked that at the VA level,” added di Girolamo. “The psychiatric chiefs wouldn’t even admit that a traumatic brain injury causes inflammation. So it’s not in their book. It’s not in their protocol. They don’t do it.”
The post Lawmakers explore oxygen therapy as game-changer for PTSD and TBI first appeared on Carolina Journal.