One thought on “Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for Late Stage Lyme Disease”
A friend of a friend claimed her hair fell out and she prematurely aged from soft-shell HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) sessions every other day for a few weeks. This isn’t really possible from the relatively low pressure of soft-shell tanks—which operate at only 1.3-1.5 ATA (atmospheres absolute)—and it isn’t something that happens in higher-pressure hard-shell medical chambers either (which operate at 2.4-3.0 ATA).
Hair loss and premature aging are not recognized side effects of standard hyperbaric therapy, even in medical-grade chambers used properly. The documented side effects of HBOT include temporary vision changes, ear and sinus barotrauma, and oxygen toxicity under specific conditions—but nothing that would cause rapid hair loss or visible aging. There’s no physiological mechanism by which it could happen, especially not from the minimal exposure of a few weeks of low-pressure sessions.
This unproven claim caused someone I know to abandon the idea of getting a chamber, which is frustrating because they were actually considering it for a legitimate health reason—and now they’re making a health decision based on an implausible anecdote rather than actual evidence.
I encourage you to research carefully before deciding either way. Look for evidence specific to your health needs, check the credibility of your sources, and be skeptical of dramatic anecdotes—especially ones that contradict how the body actually works. The real cost of poor critical thinking on health decisions isn’t just believing false claims; it’s avoiding treatments that might actually help you, based on stories that don’t hold up to scrutiny.
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A friend of a friend claimed her hair fell out and she prematurely aged from soft-shell HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) sessions every other day for a few weeks. This isn’t really possible from the relatively low pressure of soft-shell tanks—which operate at only 1.3-1.5 ATA (atmospheres absolute)—and it isn’t something that happens in higher-pressure hard-shell medical chambers either (which operate at 2.4-3.0 ATA).
Hair loss and premature aging are not recognized side effects of standard hyperbaric therapy, even in medical-grade chambers used properly. The documented side effects of HBOT include temporary vision changes, ear and sinus barotrauma, and oxygen toxicity under specific conditions—but nothing that would cause rapid hair loss or visible aging. There’s no physiological mechanism by which it could happen, especially not from the minimal exposure of a few weeks of low-pressure sessions.
This unproven claim caused someone I know to abandon the idea of getting a chamber, which is frustrating because they were actually considering it for a legitimate health reason—and now they’re making a health decision based on an implausible anecdote rather than actual evidence.
I encourage you to research carefully before deciding either way. Look for evidence specific to your health needs, check the credibility of your sources, and be skeptical of dramatic anecdotes—especially ones that contradict how the body actually works. The real cost of poor critical thinking on health decisions isn’t just believing false claims; it’s avoiding treatments that might actually help you, based on stories that don’t hold up to scrutiny.