What if you could unlock a new world of possibilities for your child with special needs? This week on the Special Parent Podcast, we have exciting insights to share as Sheri Reichman, a board-certified neurotherapist from East Valley Naturopathic Doctors, joins us. We explore the incredible potential of neurofeedback and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for children with autism and ADHD. Sheri brings her wealth of experience to the table, and together, we discuss how these alternative therapies can provide results that traditional medications might not.
Dive into our conversation about the personalized approach to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, where comfort and flexibility are key. We discuss how private chambers can be tailored to meet the unique needs of each child, making this therapy not only effective but also an enjoyable experience. From managing pressure changes to integrating screen time as a motivational tool, we cover creative strategies that make therapy sessions something children look forward to. Plus, we explore the advantages of home-use units, offering families the convenience of frequent sessions in their own space.
In our exploration of comprehensive therapy options, we discover how combining HBOT with neurofeedback can amplify the benefits and support overall brain health. Trevor's story illustrates the importance of addressing underlying health issues for the best outcomes, while Sheri shares invaluable advice on maximizing insurance benefits and crafting tailored treatment plans. This episode equips you with knowledge and hope, providing you with the tools to navigate your own family's journey with confidence. Whether you're new to alternative therapies or looking to expand your options, this episode is filled with insights and encouragement. Remember, you've got this!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Special Parent Podcast.
I'm Dr Deanna Iverson, a proudmom of three boys and two
incredible kids with specialneeds.
I'm here to remind you thatyou're not alone on this journey
.
Whether you're navigating thehighs, the lows or those moments
in between, this podcast isyour weekly dose of hope, help
and heartfelt guidance.
(00:20):
Together, we'll celebrate thevictories, tackle the challenges
and connect with a communitythat truly understands.
So grab your favorite cup ofcoffee or tea, settle in and
let's embark on this empoweringjourney together.
You've got this.
Have you ever wanted to explorealternative therapies, maybe in
(00:43):
lieu of even medication?
We are here today to talk abouttwo alternative therapies that
you can have for conditions likeautism, adhd and more.
Welcome to the Special ParentPodcast.
I'm Dr Deanna Iverson and I'mjoined here by a special guest
today.
This is my guest, sherryReichman.
Sherry, welcome, welcome.
Thank you.
(01:03):
It's so good to be here.
I'm so glad that you came hereto join me today.
I've actually worked withSherry for months now I don't
even know how many, even a yearor more, it wouldn't be that
long yeah.
So she you've helped a lot withmy kids, and so would you please
let our guests know like.
What is your background?
You work at East ValleyNaturopathic Doctors, which is
located in Mesa, arizona.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
What is your background and what is it that
you do?
Okay, my background well, I'm aneurotherapist, which is a
board certified neurofeedbackclinician, and I got my start
back in 2010 at a biofeedbackclinic in Scottsdale.
That's where I started mytraining.
Neurofeedback is a form ofbiofeedback and so naturally,
the clinic wanted to introduceand offer neurofeedback services
(01:50):
and since I was already a staffmember there, it was natural
for me to go start the trainingfor that, and so that's where I
started and later just got myBCIA, which is the Board
Certification for NeurofeedbackTraining.
It's Biofeedback CertificationInternational Alliance is what
(02:12):
it stands for.
But yeah, so I joined EastValley about five years later
and like, ended 2014, beginningof 2015 to pick up neurofeedback
services there.
I'm working with Dr Porter and,yeah, it's just blossomed and
grown every year that we've goneto seminars and learned
(02:38):
different techniques that areinvolved with neurofeedback
training and differentsupportive therapies that help
neurofeedback training as wellwith our special needs
individuals and those withoutspecial needs.
You know it helps everybody.
You don't have to have adiagnosed issue to engage in
neurofeedback and get benefit.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
And some of what I'll bring up today is some of the
research, so I'll touch a littlebit on those, just from some of
the research that I did.
So I found you guys.
I was actually I work in aschool and I was talking to a
parent whose child was diagnosedwith ADHD, but she felt there
was more to it than that and soshe started looking for
(03:21):
alternative therapies becauseshe really didn't want to put
her child on any of themedications that were offered
for ADHD, and she foundneurofeedback and had seen such
success.
I was talking to her about herchild and the growth and all the
things that he's, and she toldme about it and I was like, what
is this?
So I just did a basic Googlesearch and came upon East Valley
Naturopathic Doctors and that'show I started going with your
(03:45):
practice.
Like you said, I think it hasbeen over a year now, but I
don't know the exact date.
So, fact of the matter, it'sbeen a while and now I'm on my
second son coming through withyour practice.
So I did start with Jaden first,who's my oldest, and I have
seen absolutely incredibleresults with everything.
(04:05):
It's amazing.
I went from worried about a lotof things because of autism and
because of his ADHD, justconcerned about his ability to
function and be successful as anadult.
And now I don't have thoseworries.
I just had the typical parentworries.
He has made such growth andsuch improvement, and I know
(04:26):
that a lot of it is due to thetherapies he's been through.
So we are going to talk abouttwo different types of therapy
that they offer at theirfacility, and she'll touch on
some other things too, but thisepisode, this first one we're
going to talk about, ishyperbaric oxygen therapy, so
that's the first one that'regoing to talk about is
hyperbaric oxygen therapy, sothat's the first one that we
wanted to talk about.
Now.
My son, jaden, did hyperbaricoxygen therapy during junior
(04:49):
high, which was four or fiveyears ago now, and when we did
it, we initially did it as wefound a facility way on the
other side of Phoenix this wasactually during COVID, so not a
lot was open at the time andthey had a metal chamber that
was quite intimidating, but itfit six people and so it made my
(05:13):
son comfortable.
I could go in it with him.
So I can actually speak alittle bit to how, what I prefer
oxygen therapy is like.
So, yeah, I was able to do someof those therapies with him, and
now for Trevor, though, yourfacility offers a different
experience which, I'll have tobe honest, is a lot less
intimidating.
Oh good, it didn't scare Trevorat all, and I can tell you
(05:35):
right now that the experiencedefinitely scared Jaden.
We had several sessions wherewe just were trying to get him
to be okay with going insidethis big metal tube, and what
Trevor's experience.
I've actually taken picturesand posted on my Facebook page.
Oh great, he's like.
Oh okay, this looks kind ofspacious-like but fun almost.
So what we'll start with hereis what is hyperbaric oxygen
(06:00):
therapy?
What is that?
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
HBOT for short oxygen therapy.
What is that Right?
Hbot for short?
It is a therapy that increasesthe oxygen absorption to the
lungs and the under oxygenatedtissues of the body.
In a nutshell, so, oxygenatingthe body, brain tissues, lungs,
everything enhances health andhealing.
(06:23):
It also reduces inflammationand it's particularly good for
the autistic community, becausethose kiddos struggle with all
of those things.
They tend to have low oxygen tothe brain, they have immune
issues, they have inflammation,they have gut issues and all
those things can be helped withexcuse me, with hyperbaric
(06:44):
oxygen therapy.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, and that's one of the things that I found when
I started researching it and soI looked up some articles so
that our listeners could todayjust kind of hear some of that.
And it says that there's astrong inflammation state
associated with autism spectrum.
It's linked to immune systemdysfunction.
Neuroinflammation, neuroimmuneabnormalities have been
(07:07):
established with autism spectrumchildren and these are key
factors in development andmaintenance.
And so all of the symptoms thatare associated with oxygen is
or I'm sorry with autism as wellas with some other conditions
that are out there, especiallychildren with other disabilities
, or children that have beenthrough surgeries and just have
(07:28):
inflammation in the body, orchildren that have been put
under general anesthesia thosekinds of things.
You can have sleep disturbances, you can have behavioral
abnormalities.
All of these actually havefound to be in research and
studies and in my own personalchildren we have seen a
reduction in trouble, reductionin symptoms, just from
hyperbaric oxygen therapy soit's definitely an
(07:52):
anti-inflammatory in a sense.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Well, many conditions involve poor circulation, which
results in poor oxygenation ofthe tissues, including the brain
, and the inflammation factor islargely rooted in inflammation
in the gut.
So if we have GI issues, poornutrient uptake is present and
(08:18):
so that brain isn't gettingoxygen and it's not getting the
fuel or nutrients that it needsfor proper function.
So just simply increasing theoxygen levels has all of those
beneficial effects of betternutrient absorption, better
functionality, bettercirculation.
Oxygen is really a base answerfor optimizing function.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, and the best part that I liked about this was
there are no side effects.
And then there's that, unlike amedication I mean even just
taking ibuprofen, which istechnically an anti-inflammatory
, has side effects that can beassociated with it.
There are no side effectsassociated with this, right.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
No damage is going to occur as a result of doing HBOT
.
There are a few things that oneshould be aware of.
If, at birth, you've had a holein the heart, you should not do
hyperbaric.
If you're taking antabuse forLyme, hyperbaric oxygen therapy
(09:24):
can be very beneficial forautoimmune issues, but if you're
dealing with Lyme disease andyou're taking antabuse, you
should not go in the hyperbaricchamber.
Certain chemotherapy agents youcan still do hyperbarics, but
you need to just spread out thesessions.
Many autistic kids specifically,it's recommended to do it daily
, and a lot of other cases too.
(09:45):
You just need a minimum of sixhours between dives.
So daily can bring about reallygreat benefits.
One of the studies, too, thatwe had talked about, the kiddos
that were in that study werebetween ages of two and seven
and they did daily sessions for40 sessions and they had great
(10:07):
benefits.
So it's really safe.
We've had infants go in thechamber with great benefit that
were born with, you know,challenges with the cord being
wrapped around the neck orwhatnot, and so they suffered a
lack of oxygen for a time andtheir APGAR scores were very low
, and so this just really helpedgive them.
I don't know, I can't wait tillshe ages.
You know, she's just very youngyet, but I'm looking forward to
(10:30):
seeing you know her developmentas this young girl grows up.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, that's great and, like you were saying so,
other conditions that it can beused for.
There's a lot of researchAlzheimer's and dementia, A lot
of research on that one youmentioned, of course, like just
lack of oxygen in general.
Or I also read traumatic braininjury.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Oh, yeah, big time blood disorders.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
So, like you said, not a hole in the heart but a
blood disorder was one that cameup, and then they also have
done studies recently onimproved cognitive functioning.
Oh yeah, so, for example, mysecond son, which is starting
currently working throughsessions with you guys, he has a
lot of learning disabilities inpretty much across the board,
(11:14):
in all areas math, language,reading, et cetera, et cetera.
And one of the things I'mexcited to see because it talks
about how hyperbaric oxygentherapy is going to increase his
ability to learn.
It increases in cognitivefunctioning and decrease the
behaviors, and we've alreadystarted.
So we saw the increase inbehaviors, which is typical and
(11:38):
expected.
When you start any new therapy,you usually have an increase of
behaviors, but now we're alreadystarting to see that decrease,
and that doesn't mean at thispoint that the behaviors aren't
happening at all, but a lot oftimes they're less intense and
the recovery time is a lotfaster, right, so I feel like
(11:58):
there's a lot of hope for thedirection that we're headed with
it.
So that kind of leads to howdoes it work?
And kind of what are theeffects that people should
expect to start to see?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Right With HBOT.
Well, you're put into a chamberand that chamber is pressurized
to two to three times normalpressure and this is what
maximizes the oxygen absorptionin the lungs, thus into all the
other tissues of the body, muchbetter than you can do with any
kind of breath work at normalpressure.
(12:30):
So as you just do thesesessions through time and
repetition, then that oxygenatedtissue that was once lacking in
oxygen can heal and grow andoptimize and function, and so
that's really kind of themechanism behind it.
You just you're kind of dosingthe body with what it is starved
(12:52):
of and it can heal itself, itpromotes healing.
So, like you had said earlierabout, you know surgeries, it's
going to increase healing withthose wounds or you've had an
accident and have an injury dueto that, then that's going to
increase your healing time ordecrease that recovery time.
With learning disabilities, ofcourse you're fueling the brain
(13:15):
and you're getting thatcirculation improved and the
oxygenation improved and so thatthat brain can then function.
Yeah, there's a term that wecome to commonly with working
with children with disabilities,but also those without
disabilities we're working withhardware and software.
(13:37):
I like it.
So the hardware is like thephysical mechanisms or
components of our brain or ourbodies, and then there's the
software and that's how well isit functioning?
Is it processing correctly, andso that's kind of where the two
work really well together.
Hbot and neurofeedback, wherewe're supporting the hardware,
(14:01):
yes and then we're improving thefunction of the software, more
specifically with theneurofeedback.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Helping the body and the brain communicate Right.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You're improving the function overall.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Most of our kids are having behavioral issues because
something they're either unableto communicate or they're
unable to understand what'shappening within their own body,
within their own system, aroundthem, and so this is going to
help them improve that.
So what was really neat was Iwas super nervous to do this
with my middle son, trevor.
(14:36):
Super nervous because Trevorhas had multiple ear surgeries.
He's had I don't even know howmany ear tubes.
I think we've been through atleast 10 sets of tubes on
various levels and so I was like, okay, there's just no way he
can do this, no way he can dothis.
And I had in my head the metaltube, six people, so I can't, I
(15:02):
can't test things out like Icould.
And and so I was really gratefulwhen I found your location,
because I didn't feel obligatedto six other people in a tube,
and I loved how, basically, thestaff and me were in the room
when it was being pressurizedand we, you know, okay, tell us
if it's hurting or anything elselike that.
And also he was able to have hisphone or whatever.
(15:24):
It would be for another child,but for my son, if he could
watch his phone and do his thingon there, he could sit for the
whole hour because it's an hour.
Yeah, he could sit for thewhole hour because it's an hour.
He could sit for the whole hourinside there.
He didn't have any ear problemsand I thank you guys for that,
because that happened, becauseyou guys were willing to start
it real slow, to really just sitthere and stare at the window
(15:48):
and then if it was starting tobother him, we would just stop
and we could back off real slowand, and so I really appreciated
the staff for that.
So if you kind of will talk,you know, talk about how is it
that you can individualize thetreatment a little bit for the
needs?
If someone is afraid or doesn'tknow how their kid's going to
handle something, right, right,whether it's pressure or time.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Right, Everything's a factor that is like you said.
It's the beauty of having anindividual.
It's a private chamber for you.
If the child's very young, aparent can go in, like you did
in the big chamber, but it'sjust you two and we can bring it
up to pressure as slow as weneed to.
We've taken up to 15 minutes tobring a chamber up to pressure
(16:31):
to make it most comfortable forsomeone with eustachian tube
issues or even sinus issues thatcan be painful.
On that increase it's like goingup in an airplane or submerging
down into very deep into water,you feel that pressure build up
and for young children that'sscary.
They don't know how to equalizethe pressure in their ears.
(16:51):
So our staff is trained to helpcoach the children or
individuals to, you know, learnto equalize, maybe swallow.
We've gotten creative withsuckers and letting them suck on
them, so it encouragesswallowing and then talking to
them through the window.
Right, like I said, having aparent in there, right, and then
(17:13):
the depressurization can kindof feel a little uncomfortable
as well.
Not so much in the sit-up unitthat you guys have been using.
That's a new addition.
So we have two personalchambers.
One is a lay down, so you laydown in it and that one tends to
.
When you in that, um, supineposition or laying down, um,
(17:34):
pressure by nature is a littlehigher in the head, okay, um, so
it can be a little moreuncomfortable in that one coming
up to pressure.
Once you're up to pressure,that that feeling goes away
which are regulated in a sense,yeah, yeah, and you're just kind
of riding there.
It's very comfortable.
And then once you start todecompress the pressure, which
it's done very slowly to comfortlevel, then it's manageable by
(17:59):
again equalizing.
But being in the sitting upposition, like Trevor is, it's
almost not an issue.
When I've personally gone inthere, I haven't even felt the
need to equalize.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
I haven't seen him even try or struggle with it or
anything.
Awesome, yeah, he's.
And the first couple of timeswe went over all the techniques
right and I do know I think hewas kind of thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
But now that he's used to it he walks in, he kicks
off his shoes, yeah, it's likehis own little time to just do
whatever he wants, cause, likeyou said, you can take in a
tablet, a phone, you can wearheadphones because it can be
loud.
If somebody's sensitive tosounds you want to bring
headphones, we provide earplugsor special noise-canceling
(18:43):
headsets for you to wear on theincrease and filling it up and
bringing it down from pressurejust to help dampen the sound.
But once it's up to pressure,it's not too bad.
But yeah, they just sit andthey do their thing and they
have their own little time withtheir tablet or a book or
whatever and they can sleep inthere.
If they want, they can curl upin the chair, take a little nap.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
I mean and that's the great part about HBOT is you
don't have to be active in thetherapy, right?
No it?
Your body is just kind of doingthe natural work that it's
meant to do once it gets thatgreat oxygenation and, like said
, you can nap through it.
I'll be honest, my listenersknow I encourage you to bribe
your children if you need to,and so hey, if you're like, you
(19:31):
get a whole hour of electronictime if you will go do this.
Some of the kids might be likethis is the best thing ever.
How many days a week can we dothis?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I do get that feedback from a lot of kiddos.
They're like parents are likethis is the only time we get
screen time.
And then they're really lookingforward to their appointment.
And then there's no fight intrying to get them to stop what
they're doing and it's time togo to an appointment.
You just say the words and theygo.
Ah.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Right.
For children that have had manymedical appointments, that word
can be very anxiety riddling.
So if you just say hey, this isyour HBOT electronic time.
Yeah, they're probably way moreinto it you mentioned so there
was a study that was done andthey did it.
Was it 40 days in a row?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So obviously they're not going 40 days in a row, you
guys don't work 40 days in a row, so what are the options for
someone?
Who really wants to outside ofclinic times.
Are there any options forsomeone who wants to actually
really get working on it?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, so I mean you don't have to do it every day,
for the best benefit.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
We only go two days a week, but regular dives, yeah,
once twice a week.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
If you can manage a third one a week, great.
But yeah, clinics aren't open24-7.
And neither does your scheduleallow for a trip into the clinic
to do that.
So we do rent units.
You can purchase a unit and wehave a tech come in and help set
it up in your home for you andshow you how to use it.
(20:58):
It's really pretty easy, andthen you could use it every day
if you want, or the three timesa day, but you don't have to
make that appointment.
Well, if you have multiplefamily members.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
So you know, for example, I have a family member
who has Lewy body's dementia,and then there's, you know, my
son, and I'm actually thinkingJaden might benefit from one
more round before he goes off tocollege, just to kind of reset
and just continue to promotehealing and cognitive growth.
And so I think about if you're afamily that has multiple family
members.
It actually might be beneficialfor you, even financially, to
(21:37):
rent a unit or do something likethat, where you have it in the
home and you can use it at yourconvenience and the cost might
be offset also.
So if they called your officethey could find out about that
too then Right, yeah, we're veryflexible and we try and work
with everybody.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
We have payment plans .
There's the rental units, whichwe try and make the rentals be
a money saver for you because itsaves us staff time and an
appointment time if you're ableto do it at home.
The same goes for we also offerrentals for neurofeedback
(22:14):
training actually, which we'lltalk about another time.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I did that one, so we'll talk about that next time.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
But yeah, it's a money saver and we're just
trying to make everything aseasily accessible as possible
for people to get the help thatthey need.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah for sure.
Before we kind of wrap this oneup to talk about hyperbaric
oxygen therapy, one of thethings that we talked about here
was insurance, becauseobviously there's a cost
associated with anything thatwe're going to do, and I know
for us insurance has not coveredit, but I haven't attempted to
(22:50):
and I forgot what it's called.
You probably know.
I haven't attempted to getmoney from insurance, so can you
explain how that could work?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, so our office is an office of naturopathic
physicians and they are notcontracted with any insurance
health insurance company it's.
It's health insurance doesn'tcover naturopathic services, so
it's not even an option.
It's really, really sad, so,but what we can do is provide
(23:18):
what's called a super bill toyou.
So if you come to our officefor services and you pay for
those services upfront and thoseservices are completed, then we
can provide a document calledthe super bill.
That's what the insurancecompany will look for and you
can submit that to yourinsurance for reimbursement.
And most of our clients havecome back with 80% reimbursement
(23:42):
, some 100%.
It just depends on your plan,heck even 20% is something
better than nothing.
Right, right, and they're justlooking for the doctor's
recommendation, proper diagnosiscodes and then the plan, and
then they need to see that theplan was then followed out and
paid in full, and then they'llsay, okay, well, we'll reimburse
(24:04):
X amount, so it's worth it inthe end.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
It's definitely worth it at least to try to get that
I know of for.
So for us I like Jaden.
I didn't even realize that wasan option when he first did some
of his, so we've probably timedout on that.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So that's probably a timely thing with insurance too.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, so just something to keep in mind.
If you guys try it, keep inmind the time and you may have
to.
I don't know how you wouldsubmit and stuff like that, but
I'm sure every insurance companyand you guys can probably help
them walk through that, right.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So that's really important.
Yeah, it's a service that notall offices offer, because it is
a little bit of work on our end, but it's worth it to us if it
enables you to get the servicesyou need Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
So we've talked a lot about HBOT and both of my sons
have gone through HBOT andneurofeedback, which we're going
to talk about next.
But you can use themindividually and you can use
them together.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And so, for example, jaden did HBOT in junior high
but then he did neurofeedback inhigh school.
So there was a gap between thetwo Right, whereas Trevor is
going in and we're spending anhour and a half at the office
and we're doing HBOTneurofeedback all on the same
visit.
Yeah, is there an upside todoing it one way or the other,
(25:25):
downside, besides an hour and ahalf in the facility?
But what are the benefits ofone way or the other downside,
besides an hour and a half in?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
the facility.
But what are the benefits ofone way or the other?
Um, well, they're sosynergistic that it they help
each other, right?
Yeah, so hyperbaric is verysupportive service to really any
kind of therapy you're going toengage in.
Um neurofeedback it's it'shelpful with therapy you're
going to engage in Neurofeedback.
It's helpful because of thedirect impact hyperbaric has on
(25:52):
the health of the brain and itsfunctionality.
And then neurofeedback is kindof enhancing the function a
little bit further and a littlebit more specifically than just
simply increasing the oxygen tothe brain so it can behave or
work well as it's designed to do.
(26:15):
Neurofeedback- is getting alittle more specific on training
certain brain waves toward anoptimal state of function.
So with combining the twoyou're really enhancing your
neurofeedback experience becauseyou're giving extra support to
the brain's health extra supportto the brain's health
Separately.
You know you got benefit aswell because you supported
Jaden's brain's health with hisprior HBOTS.
You know sessions and he, youknow he felt and saw the
(26:38):
benefits of that and then lateron he engaged in neurofeedback
and I firmly believe that thatenabled him to respond as well
as he did to the neurofeedback,because the HBOT does get rid of
what can be complicatingfactors to responding as good as
you can with neurofeedbacktraining.
When there's inflammationpresent or gut issues or low
(27:02):
oxygen, then things like thattend to become complicating
factors and they can slow yourprogress.
Things like that tend to becomecomplicating factors and they
can slow your progress.
It won't prevent you fromprogressing from neurofeedback,
but it just makes you getbenefit faster.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And with Trevor.
Before we even started therapy,dr Porter and I met and we went
over some other issues that hewas having.
Inflammation pinged on him bigtime so we knew HBOT was
basically necessary.
But before we even started thatwe did the whole gut analysis
for him.
We found an allergy.
He only had one Remember howfunny that was.
(27:38):
We were actually expecting morethan that.
But he had one egg, both whiteand yolk, but that was it and
everything else was green andgolden.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
He got so lucky, he got so lucky, he got so lucky.
He had egg.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
So we've eliminated egg from his diet.
And then we actually you guyssaid I think we need to keep
looking at other stuff becausesome of the basic things aren't
working.
And so we did a fecal analysis,which I was not loving yeah,
it's a little traumatic, did notlove to do the poop sample,
I'll tell you that off the bat,but I'm really glad I did.
We discovered he had twoparasite infections, treated
(28:12):
those before we even started allof this.
So now my son's gut is reallygetting healing because we've
gotten rid of what was causingthe inflammation to begin with,
and now we're working on healinghis gut and his brain and all
the things.
So I loved how your your officeit were there's.
There's actually two parts toyour office that work together
(28:34):
in a sense.
You know, there's the doctor'soffice side of it, which does
more the natural practice doctor, and then there's the therapy
side of it.
Yeah, and so I love how that isa combination for you guys, and
so I wanted listeners to knowthat it's an all-inclusive
practice.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
It really is and getting started is.
We try and get you asall-inclusive from the get-go
and this can segue into our nexttopic of neurofeedback as well.
When you first, if you areinterested in seeing if we can
be of help to you or your child,we recommend you start with a
(29:13):
brain map, a qeeg, and then youcan meet with dr porter, who can
review those results with youbut also talk about other health
conditions or issues you mayhave concerns about, and I I
swear it's just a.
It's the most comprehensive wayto get the most comprehensive
(29:33):
plan written out for you.
Because he can.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
He can draw up lab orders for you to test for
certain things which you can getdone at a facility that your
insurance does cover.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yep, you can go.
We'll give you the lab order.
You can go to Sonora Quest orwherever you want to go, or you
can have the labs drawn in ouroffice.
We have a, a phlebotomist, andshe's great.
She's very gentle and so goodwith the young kiddos that are
really scared.
So a choice is yours.
But yeah, you're really gettingthe whole shebang because, with
neurofeedback, yeah, you'rereally getting the whole shebang
(30:05):
because with neurofeedback,especially with kiddos with ASD
or other disabilities, they comewith complicating factors.
I say that a lot, but it's true.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
It is what it is and we know it as parents right.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
You've got to address them also in order to get the
best results, especially whenyou're seeking to eventually go
into neurofeedback training.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
And that's what I love about this is we're
treating the whole childeventually go into neurofeedback
training.
And that's what I love aboutthis is we're treating the whole
child, and we're treating thewhole child without, in a sense,
without having what do you callit Side effects?
That's the word I was lookingfor Right right, treating the
whole child without side effects.
And so just before we sign off,I have to throw this out there
my middle son, who was onmultiple medications for
(30:47):
behavior my middle son, who wason multiple medications for
behavior included both behaviorsin and outside of the classroom
and everything else.
We have now reduced that downto one medication, and that one
medication is not even in thenarcotic form of like Adderall
and Ritalin and all those others.
It's not even in that class orthat category anymore.
(31:10):
So I do believe in this andthat is why we're talking about
it.
So we're going to pause herefor this one.
We have really gone overhyperbaric oxygen therapy, or
HBOT.
If you actually Google HBOT andEast Valley Naturopathic Doctors
, you will find a lot of greatinformation.
Their website is full ofinformation.
It's lacking, ms Sherry, so Ijust want you to know that you
(31:32):
won't see her on there yet.
Well, maybe you will now,because I'm going to put it out
there, but we are going to wrapthis up.
It's a good time to take abreak and we'll talk to you next
time when we reviewneurofeedback.
Thank you time when we bringyou neurofeedback.
Thank you for joining us andremember you've got this.
This program is made possibleby friends and partners of the
(31:53):
special parent podcast.
For more information and tojoin our mailing list, visit
specialparentorg.
Welcome to the Special Parent Podcast.
I'm Dr Deanna Iverson, a proudmom of three boys and two
incredible kids with specialneeds.
I'm here to remind you thatyou're not alone on this journey
.
Whether you're navigating thehighs, the lows or those moments
in between, this podcast isyour weekly dose of hope, help
and heartfelt guidance.
(00:20):
Together, we'll celebrate thevictories, tackle the challenges
and connect with a communitythat truly understands.
So grab your favorite cup ofcoffee or tea, settle in and
let's embark on this empoweringjourney together.
You've got this.
Have you ever wanted to explorealternative therapies, maybe in
(00:43):
lieu of even medication?
We are here today to talk abouttwo alternative therapies that
you can have for conditions likeautism, adhd and more.
Welcome to the Special ParentPodcast.
I'm Dr Deanna Iverson and I'mjoined here by a special guest
today.
This is my guest, sherryReichman.
Sherry, welcome, welcome.
Thank you.
(01:03):
It's so good to be here.
I'm so glad that you came hereto join me today.
I've actually worked withSherry for months now I don't
even know how many, even a yearor more, it wouldn't be that
long yeah.
So she you've helped a lot withmy kids, and so would you please
let our guests know like.
What is your background?
You work at East ValleyNaturopathic Doctors, which is
located in Mesa, arizona.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
What is your background and what is it that
you do?
Okay, my background well, I'm aneurotherapist, which is a
board certified neurofeedbackclinician, and I got my start
back in 2010 at a biofeedbackclinic in Scottsdale.
That's where I started mytraining.
Neurofeedback is a form ofbiofeedback and so naturally,
the clinic wanted to introduceand offer neurofeedback services
(01:50):
and since I was already a staffmember there, it was natural
for me to go start the trainingfor that, and so that's where I
started and later just got myBCIA, which is the Board
Certification for NeurofeedbackTraining.
It's Biofeedback CertificationInternational Alliance is what
(02:12):
it stands for.
But yeah, so I joined EastValley about five years later
and like, ended 2014, beginningof 2015 to pick up neurofeedback
services there.
I'm working with Dr Porter and,yeah, it's just blossomed and
grown every year that we've goneto seminars and learned
(02:38):
different techniques that areinvolved with neurofeedback
training and differentsupportive therapies that help
neurofeedback training as wellwith our special needs
individuals and those withoutspecial needs.
You know it helps everybody.
You don't have to have adiagnosed issue to engage in
neurofeedback and get benefit.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
And some of what I'll bring up today is some of the
research, so I'll touch a littlebit on those, just from some of
the research that I did.
So I found you guys.
I was actually I work in aschool and I was talking to a
parent whose child was diagnosedwith ADHD, but she felt there
was more to it than that and soshe started looking for
(03:21):
alternative therapies becauseshe really didn't want to put
her child on any of themedications that were offered
for ADHD, and she foundneurofeedback and had seen such
success.
I was talking to her about herchild and the growth and all the
things that he's, and she toldme about it and I was like, what
is this?
So I just did a basic Googlesearch and came upon East Valley
Naturopathic Doctors and that'show I started going with your
(03:45):
practice.
Like you said, I think it hasbeen over a year now, but I
don't know the exact date.
So, fact of the matter, it'sbeen a while and now I'm on my
second son coming through withyour practice.
So I did start with Jaden first,who's my oldest, and I have
seen absolutely incredibleresults with everything.
(04:05):
It's amazing.
I went from worried about a lotof things because of autism and
because of his ADHD, justconcerned about his ability to
function and be successful as anadult.
And now I don't have thoseworries.
I just had the typical parentworries.
He has made such growth andsuch improvement, and I know
(04:26):
that a lot of it is due to thetherapies he's been through.
So we are going to talk abouttwo different types of therapy
that they offer at theirfacility, and she'll touch on
some other things too, but thisepisode, this first one we're
going to talk about, ishyperbaric oxygen therapy, so
that's the first one that'regoing to talk about is
hyperbaric oxygen therapy, sothat's the first one that we
wanted to talk about.
Now.
My son, jaden, did hyperbaricoxygen therapy during junior
(04:49):
high, which was four or fiveyears ago now, and when we did
it, we initially did it as wefound a facility way on the
other side of Phoenix this wasactually during COVID, so not a
lot was open at the time andthey had a metal chamber that
was quite intimidating, but itfit six people and so it made my
(05:13):
son comfortable.
I could go in it with him.
So I can actually speak alittle bit to how, what I prefer
oxygen therapy is like.
So, yeah, I was able to do someof those therapies with him, and
now for Trevor, though, yourfacility offers a different
experience which, I'll have tobe honest, is a lot less
intimidating.
Oh good, it didn't scare Trevorat all, and I can tell you
(05:35):
right now that the experiencedefinitely scared Jaden.
We had several sessions wherewe just were trying to get him
to be okay with going insidethis big metal tube, and what
Trevor's experience.
I've actually taken picturesand posted on my Facebook page.
Oh great, he's like.
Oh okay, this looks kind ofspacious-like but fun almost.
So what we'll start with hereis what is hyperbaric oxygen
(06:00):
therapy?
What is that?
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
HBOT for short oxygen therapy.
What is that Right?
Hbot for short?
It is a therapy that increasesthe oxygen absorption to the
lungs and the under oxygenatedtissues of the body.
In a nutshell, so, oxygenatingthe body, brain tissues, lungs,
everything enhances health andhealing.
(06:23):
It also reduces inflammationand it's particularly good for
the autistic community, becausethose kiddos struggle with all
of those things.
They tend to have low oxygen tothe brain, they have immune
issues, they have inflammation,they have gut issues and all
those things can be helped withexcuse me, with hyperbaric
(06:44):
oxygen therapy.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, and that's one of the things that I found when
I started researching it and soI looked up some articles so
that our listeners could todayjust kind of hear some of that.
And it says that there's astrong inflammation state
associated with autism spectrum.
It's linked to immune systemdysfunction.
Neuroinflammation, neuroimmuneabnormalities have been
(07:07):
established with autism spectrumchildren and these are key
factors in development andmaintenance.
And so all of the symptoms thatare associated with oxygen is
or I'm sorry with autism as wellas with some other conditions
that are out there, especiallychildren with other disabilities
, or children that have beenthrough surgeries and just have
(07:28):
inflammation in the body, orchildren that have been put
under general anesthesia thosekinds of things.
You can have sleep disturbances, you can have behavioral
abnormalities.
All of these actually havefound to be in research and
studies and in my own personalchildren we have seen a
reduction in trouble, reductionin symptoms, just from
hyperbaric oxygen therapy soit's definitely an
(07:52):
anti-inflammatory in a sense.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Well, many conditions involve poor circulation, which
results in poor oxygenation ofthe tissues, including the brain
, and the inflammation factor islargely rooted in inflammation
in the gut.
So if we have GI issues, poornutrient uptake is present and
(08:18):
so that brain isn't gettingoxygen and it's not getting the
fuel or nutrients that it needsfor proper function.
So just simply increasing theoxygen levels has all of those
beneficial effects of betternutrient absorption, better
functionality, bettercirculation.
Oxygen is really a base answerfor optimizing function.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, and the best part that I liked about this was
there are no side effects.
And then there's that, unlike amedication I mean even just
taking ibuprofen, which istechnically an anti-inflammatory
, has side effects that can beassociated with it.
There are no side effectsassociated with this, right.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
No damage is going to occur as a result of doing HBOT
.
There are a few things that oneshould be aware of.
If, at birth, you've had a holein the heart, you should not do
hyperbaric.
If you're taking antabuse forLyme, hyperbaric oxygen therapy
(09:24):
can be very beneficial forautoimmune issues, but if you're
dealing with Lyme disease andyou're taking antabuse, you
should not go in the hyperbaricchamber.
Certain chemotherapy agents youcan still do hyperbarics, but
you need to just spread out thesessions.
Many autistic kids specifically,it's recommended to do it daily
, and a lot of other cases too.
(09:45):
You just need a minimum of sixhours between dives.
So daily can bring about reallygreat benefits.
One of the studies, too, thatwe had talked about, the kiddos
that were in that study werebetween ages of two and seven
and they did daily sessions for40 sessions and they had great
(10:07):
benefits.
So it's really safe.
We've had infants go in thechamber with great benefit that
were born with, you know,challenges with the cord being
wrapped around the neck orwhatnot, and so they suffered a
lack of oxygen for a time andtheir APGAR scores were very low
, and so this just really helpedgive them.
I don't know, I can't wait tillshe ages.
You know, she's just very youngyet, but I'm looking forward to
(10:30):
seeing you know her developmentas this young girl grows up.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, that's great and, like you were saying so,
other conditions that it can beused for.
There's a lot of researchAlzheimer's and dementia, A lot
of research on that one youmentioned, of course, like just
lack of oxygen in general.
Or I also read traumatic braininjury.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Oh, yeah, big time blood disorders.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
So, like you said, not a hole in the heart but a
blood disorder was one that cameup, and then they also have
done studies recently onimproved cognitive functioning.
Oh yeah, so, for example, mysecond son, which is starting
currently working throughsessions with you guys, he has a
lot of learning disabilities inpretty much across the board,
(11:14):
in all areas math, language,reading, et cetera, et cetera.
And one of the things I'mexcited to see because it talks
about how hyperbaric oxygentherapy is going to increase his
ability to learn.
It increases in cognitivefunctioning and decrease the
behaviors, and we've alreadystarted.
So we saw the increase inbehaviors, which is typical and
(11:38):
expected.
When you start any new therapy,you usually have an increase of
behaviors, but now we're alreadystarting to see that decrease,
and that doesn't mean at thispoint that the behaviors aren't
happening at all, but a lot oftimes they're less intense and
the recovery time is a lotfaster, right, so I feel like
(11:58):
there's a lot of hope for thedirection that we're headed with
it.
So that kind of leads to howdoes it work?
And kind of what are theeffects that people should
expect to start to see?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Right With HBOT.
Well, you're put into a chamberand that chamber is pressurized
to two to three times normalpressure and this is what
maximizes the oxygen absorptionin the lungs, thus into all the
other tissues of the body, muchbetter than you can do with any
kind of breath work at normalpressure.
(12:30):
So as you just do thesesessions through time and
repetition, then that oxygenatedtissue that was once lacking in
oxygen can heal and grow andoptimize and function, and so
that's really kind of themechanism behind it.
You just you're kind of dosingthe body with what it is starved
(12:52):
of and it can heal itself, itpromotes healing.
So, like you had said earlierabout, you know surgeries, it's
going to increase healing withthose wounds or you've had an
accident and have an injury dueto that, then that's going to
increase your healing time ordecrease that recovery time.
With learning disabilities, ofcourse you're fueling the brain
(13:15):
and you're getting thatcirculation improved and the
oxygenation improved and so thatthat brain can then function.
Yeah, there's a term that wecome to commonly with working
with children with disabilities,but also those without
disabilities we're working withhardware and software.
(13:37):
I like it.
So the hardware is like thephysical mechanisms or
components of our brain or ourbodies, and then there's the
software and that's how well isit functioning?
Is it processing correctly, andso that's kind of where the two
work really well together.
Hbot and neurofeedback, wherewe're supporting the hardware,
(14:01):
yes and then we're improving thefunction of the software, more
specifically with theneurofeedback.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Helping the body and the brain communicate Right.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You're improving the function overall.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Most of our kids are having behavioral issues because
something they're either unableto communicate or they're
unable to understand what'shappening within their own body,
within their own system, aroundthem, and so this is going to
help them improve that.
So what was really neat was Iwas super nervous to do this
with my middle son, trevor.
(14:36):
Super nervous because Trevorhas had multiple ear surgeries.
He's had I don't even know howmany ear tubes.
I think we've been through atleast 10 sets of tubes on
various levels and so I was like, okay, there's just no way he
can do this, no way he can dothis.
And I had in my head the metaltube, six people, so I can't, I
(15:02):
can't test things out like Icould.
And and so I was really gratefulwhen I found your location,
because I didn't feel obligatedto six other people in a tube,
and I loved how, basically, thestaff and me were in the room
when it was being pressurizedand we, you know, okay, tell us
if it's hurting or anything elselike that.
And also he was able to have hisphone or whatever.
(15:24):
It would be for another child,but for my son, if he could
watch his phone and do his thingon there, he could sit for the
whole hour because it's an hour.
Yeah, he could sit for thewhole hour because it's an hour.
He could sit for the whole hourinside there.
He didn't have any ear problemsand I thank you guys for that,
because that happened, becauseyou guys were willing to start
it real slow, to really just sitthere and stare at the window
(15:48):
and then if it was starting tobother him, we would just stop
and we could back off real slowand, and so I really appreciated
the staff for that.
So if you kind of will talk,you know, talk about how is it
that you can individualize thetreatment a little bit for the
needs?
If someone is afraid or doesn'tknow how their kid's going to
handle something, right, right,whether it's pressure or time.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Right, Everything's a factor that is like you said.
It's the beauty of having anindividual.
It's a private chamber for you.
If the child's very young, aparent can go in, like you did
in the big chamber, but it'sjust you two and we can bring it
up to pressure as slow as weneed to.
We've taken up to 15 minutes tobring a chamber up to pressure
(16:31):
to make it most comfortable forsomeone with eustachian tube
issues or even sinus issues thatcan be painful.
On that increase it's like goingup in an airplane or submerging
down into very deep into water,you feel that pressure build up
and for young children that'sscary.
They don't know how to equalizethe pressure in their ears.
(16:51):
So our staff is trained to helpcoach the children or
individuals to, you know, learnto equalize, maybe swallow.
We've gotten creative withsuckers and letting them suck on
them, so it encouragesswallowing and then talking to
them through the window.
Right, like I said, having aparent in there, right, and then
(17:13):
the depressurization can kindof feel a little uncomfortable
as well.
Not so much in the sit-up unitthat you guys have been using.
That's a new addition.
So we have two personalchambers.
One is a lay down, so you laydown in it and that one tends to
.
When you in that, um, supineposition or laying down, um,
(17:34):
pressure by nature is a littlehigher in the head, okay, um, so
it can be a little moreuncomfortable in that one coming
up to pressure.
Once you're up to pressure,that that feeling goes away
which are regulated in a sense,yeah, yeah, and you're just kind
of riding there.
It's very comfortable.
And then once you start todecompress the pressure, which
it's done very slowly to comfortlevel, then it's manageable by
(17:59):
again equalizing.
But being in the sitting upposition, like Trevor is, it's
almost not an issue.
When I've personally gone inthere, I haven't even felt the
need to equalize.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
I haven't seen him even try or struggle with it or
anything.
Awesome, yeah, he's.
And the first couple of timeswe went over all the techniques
right and I do know I think hewas kind of thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
But now that he's used to it he walks in, he kicks
off his shoes, yeah, it's likehis own little time to just do
whatever he wants, cause, likeyou said, you can take in a
tablet, a phone, you can wearheadphones because it can be
loud.
If somebody's sensitive tosounds you want to bring
headphones, we provide earplugsor special noise-canceling
(18:43):
headsets for you to wear on theincrease and filling it up and
bringing it down from pressurejust to help dampen the sound.
But once it's up to pressure,it's not too bad.
But yeah, they just sit andthey do their thing and they
have their own little time withtheir tablet or a book or
whatever and they can sleep inthere.
If they want, they can curl upin the chair, take a little nap.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
I mean and that's the great part about HBOT is you
don't have to be active in thetherapy, right?
No it?
Your body is just kind of doingthe natural work that it's
meant to do once it gets thatgreat oxygenation and, like said
, you can nap through it.
I'll be honest, my listenersknow I encourage you to bribe
your children if you need to,and so hey, if you're like, you
(19:31):
get a whole hour of electronictime if you will go do this.
Some of the kids might be likethis is the best thing ever.
How many days a week can we dothis?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I do get that feedback from a lot of kiddos.
They're like parents are likethis is the only time we get
screen time.
And then they're really lookingforward to their appointment.
And then there's no fight intrying to get them to stop what
they're doing and it's time togo to an appointment.
You just say the words and theygo.
Ah.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Right.
For children that have had manymedical appointments, that word
can be very anxiety riddling.
So if you just say hey, this isyour HBOT electronic time.
Yeah, they're probably way moreinto it you mentioned so there
was a study that was done andthey did it.
Was it 40 days in a row?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So obviously they're not going 40 days in a row, you
guys don't work 40 days in a row, so what are the options for
someone?
Who really wants to outside ofclinic times.
Are there any options forsomeone who wants to actually
really get working on it?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, so I mean you don't have to do it every day,
for the best benefit.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
We only go two days a week, but regular dives, yeah,
once twice a week.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
If you can manage a third one a week, great.
But yeah, clinics aren't open24-7.
And neither does your scheduleallow for a trip into the clinic
to do that.
So we do rent units.
You can purchase a unit and wehave a tech come in and help set
it up in your home for you andshow you how to use it.
(20:58):
It's really pretty easy, andthen you could use it every day
if you want, or the three timesa day, but you don't have to
make that appointment.
Well, if you have multiplefamily members.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
So you know, for example, I have a family member
who has Lewy body's dementia,and then there's, you know, my
son, and I'm actually thinkingJaden might benefit from one
more round before he goes off tocollege, just to kind of reset
and just continue to promotehealing and cognitive growth.
And so I think about if you're afamily that has multiple family
members.
It actually might be beneficialfor you, even financially, to
(21:37):
rent a unit or do something likethat, where you have it in the
home and you can use it at yourconvenience and the cost might
be offset also.
So if they called your officethey could find out about that
too then Right, yeah, we're veryflexible and we try and work
with everybody.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
We have payment plans .
There's the rental units, whichwe try and make the rentals be
a money saver for you because itsaves us staff time and an
appointment time if you're ableto do it at home.
The same goes for we also offerrentals for neurofeedback
(22:14):
training actually, which we'lltalk about another time.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I did that one, so we'll talk about that next time.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
But yeah, it's a money saver and we're just
trying to make everything aseasily accessible as possible
for people to get the help thatthey need.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah for sure.
Before we kind of wrap this oneup to talk about hyperbaric
oxygen therapy, one of thethings that we talked about here
was insurance, becauseobviously there's a cost
associated with anything thatwe're going to do, and I know
for us insurance has not coveredit, but I haven't attempted to
(22:50):
and I forgot what it's called.
You probably know.
I haven't attempted to getmoney from insurance, so can you
explain how that could work?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, so our office is an office of naturopathic
physicians and they are notcontracted with any insurance
health insurance company it's.
It's health insurance doesn'tcover naturopathic services, so
it's not even an option.
It's really, really sad, so,but what we can do is provide
(23:18):
what's called a super bill toyou.
So if you come to our officefor services and you pay for
those services upfront and thoseservices are completed, then we
can provide a document calledthe super bill.
That's what the insurancecompany will look for and you
can submit that to yourinsurance for reimbursement.
And most of our clients havecome back with 80% reimbursement
(23:42):
, some 100%.
It just depends on your plan,heck even 20% is something
better than nothing.
Right, right, and they're justlooking for the doctor's
recommendation, proper diagnosiscodes and then the plan, and
then they need to see that theplan was then followed out and
paid in full, and then they'llsay, okay, well, we'll reimburse
(24:04):
X amount, so it's worth it inthe end.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
It's definitely worth it at least to try to get that
I know of for.
So for us I like Jaden.
I didn't even realize that wasan option when he first did some
of his, so we've probably timedout on that.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So that's probably a timely thing with insurance too.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, so just something to keep in mind.
If you guys try it, keep inmind the time and you may have
to.
I don't know how you wouldsubmit and stuff like that, but
I'm sure every insurance companyand you guys can probably help
them walk through that, right.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So that's really important.
Yeah, it's a service that notall offices offer, because it is
a little bit of work on our end, but it's worth it to us if it
enables you to get the servicesyou need Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
So we've talked a lot about HBOT and both of my sons
have gone through HBOT andneurofeedback, which we're going
to talk about next.
But you can use themindividually and you can use
them together.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And so, for example, jaden did HBOT in junior high
but then he did neurofeedback inhigh school.
So there was a gap between thetwo Right, whereas Trevor is
going in and we're spending anhour and a half at the office
and we're doing HBOTneurofeedback all on the same
visit.
Yeah, is there an upside todoing it one way or the other,
(25:25):
downside, besides an hour and ahalf in the facility?
But what are the benefits ofone way or the other downside,
besides an hour and a half in?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
the facility.
But what are the benefits ofone way or the other?
Um, well, they're sosynergistic that it they help
each other, right?
Yeah, so hyperbaric is verysupportive service to really any
kind of therapy you're going toengage in.
Um neurofeedback it's it'shelpful with therapy you're
going to engage in Neurofeedback.
It's helpful because of thedirect impact hyperbaric has on
(25:52):
the health of the brain and itsfunctionality.
And then neurofeedback is kindof enhancing the function a
little bit further and a littlebit more specifically than just
simply increasing the oxygen tothe brain so it can behave or
work well as it's designed to do.
(26:15):
Neurofeedback- is getting alittle more specific on training
certain brain waves toward anoptimal state of function.
So with combining the twoyou're really enhancing your
neurofeedback experience becauseyou're giving extra support to
the brain's health extra supportto the brain's health
Separately.
You know you got benefit aswell because you supported
Jaden's brain's health with hisprior HBOTS.
You know sessions and he, youknow he felt and saw the
(26:38):
benefits of that and then lateron he engaged in neurofeedback
and I firmly believe that thatenabled him to respond as well
as he did to the neurofeedback,because the HBOT does get rid of
what can be complicatingfactors to responding as good as
you can with neurofeedbacktraining.
When there's inflammationpresent or gut issues or low
(27:02):
oxygen, then things like thattend to become complicating
factors and they can slow yourprogress.
Things like that tend to becomecomplicating factors and they
can slow your progress.
It won't prevent you fromprogressing from neurofeedback,
but it just makes you getbenefit faster.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And with Trevor.
Before we even started therapy,dr Porter and I met and we went
over some other issues that hewas having.
Inflammation pinged on him bigtime so we knew HBOT was
basically necessary.
But before we even started thatwe did the whole gut analysis
for him.
We found an allergy.
He only had one Remember howfunny that was.
(27:38):
We were actually expecting morethan that.
But he had one egg, both whiteand yolk, but that was it and
everything else was green andgolden.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
He got so lucky, he got so lucky, he got so lucky.
He had egg.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
So we've eliminated egg from his diet.
And then we actually you guyssaid I think we need to keep
looking at other stuff becausesome of the basic things aren't
working.
And so we did a fecal analysis,which I was not loving yeah,
it's a little traumatic, did notlove to do the poop sample,
I'll tell you that off the bat,but I'm really glad I did.
We discovered he had twoparasite infections, treated
(28:12):
those before we even started allof this.
So now my son's gut is reallygetting healing because we've
gotten rid of what was causingthe inflammation to begin with,
and now we're working on healinghis gut and his brain and all
the things.
So I loved how your your officeit were there's.
There's actually two parts toyour office that work together
(28:34):
in a sense.
You know, there's the doctor'soffice side of it, which does
more the natural practice doctor, and then there's the therapy
side of it.
Yeah, and so I love how that isa combination for you guys, and
so I wanted listeners to knowthat it's an all-inclusive
practice.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
It really is and getting started is.
We try and get you asall-inclusive from the get-go
and this can segue into our nexttopic of neurofeedback as well.
When you first, if you areinterested in seeing if we can
be of help to you or your child,we recommend you start with a
(29:13):
brain map, a qeeg, and then youcan meet with dr porter, who can
review those results with youbut also talk about other health
conditions or issues you mayhave concerns about, and I I
swear it's just a.
It's the most comprehensive wayto get the most comprehensive
(29:33):
plan written out for you.
Because he can.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
He can draw up lab orders for you to test for
certain things which you can getdone at a facility that your
insurance does cover.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yep, you can go.
We'll give you the lab order.
You can go to Sonora Quest orwherever you want to go, or you
can have the labs drawn in ouroffice.
We have a, a phlebotomist, andshe's great.
She's very gentle and so goodwith the young kiddos that are
really scared.
So a choice is yours.
But yeah, you're really gettingthe whole shebang because, with
neurofeedback, yeah, you'rereally getting the whole shebang
(30:05):
because with neurofeedback,especially with kiddos with ASD
or other disabilities, they comewith complicating factors.
I say that a lot, but it's true.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
It is what it is and we know it as parents right.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
You've got to address them also in order to get the
best results, especially whenyou're seeking to eventually go
into neurofeedback training.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
And that's what I love about this is we're
treating the whole childeventually go into neurofeedback
training.
And that's what I love aboutthis is we're treating the whole
child, and we're treating thewhole child without, in a sense,
without having what do you callit Side effects?
That's the word I was lookingfor Right right, treating the
whole child without side effects.
And so just before we sign off,I have to throw this out there
my middle son, who was onmultiple medications for
(30:47):
behavior my middle son, who wason multiple medications for
behavior included both behaviorsin and outside of the classroom
and everything else.
We have now reduced that downto one medication, and that one
medication is not even in thenarcotic form of like Adderall
and Ritalin and all those others.
It's not even in that class orthat category anymore.
(31:10):
So I do believe in this andthat is why we're talking about
it.
So we're going to pause herefor this one.
We have really gone overhyperbaric oxygen therapy, or
HBOT.
If you actually Google HBOT andEast Valley Naturopathic Doctors
, you will find a lot of greatinformation.
Their website is full ofinformation.
It's lacking, ms Sherry, so Ijust want you to know that you
(31:32):
won't see her on there yet.
Well, maybe you will now,because I'm going to put it out
there, but we are going to wrapthis up.
It's a good time to take abreak and we'll talk to you next
time when we reviewneurofeedback.
Thank you time when we bringyou neurofeedback.
Thank you for joining us andremember you've got this.
This program is made possibleby friends and partners of the
(31:53):
special parent podcast.
For more information and tojoin our mailing list, visit
specialparentorg.
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