Therapy Feedback 1

In March 2020, just before the first lockdown, I got covid. I was not particularly ill with it, but over the next 6 months I got more and more fatigued and by September 2020 I was bedridden with long covid. I had many of the long covid symptoms, the worst were fatigue and brain fog, but also joint pain, PoTs, no sense of taste or smell and sciatica. For this document, I refer to this level of fatigue and brain fog as 20.

In June 2021 my cortisol level was tested with an injection, a Short Synacthen Test (SST). Surprisingly all symptoms cleared up within 1 week of the test.
 

About 9 months later the fatigue and brain fog started to return, but never to the initial level. At this point I could get up and dressed most days and walk about 200 metres, with some support. I could have a brief conversation, but not on a difficult topic. I am taking this as my starting point for oxygen therapy and refer to it as level 10 on the fatigue scale.
 

In March 2023 I purchased a soft shell hyperbaric chamber and oxygen concentrator to use at home.  The chamber pressurised to 1.3 atmospheres. I used it daily for 6 months an hour per session and it improved my fatigue and brain fog to level 7, but continuing to use it did not give further improvement.
 

In September 2024 I went to Rugby for 4 weeks to use the NHS hyperbaric chamber, at a cost of £200 a session. I had a total of 20 sessions. Each session lasted 90 minutes:

10  minutes breathing air while increasing pressure to 2.4 atmospheres

30 minutes breathing 100% oxygen

5 minutes breathing air

30 minutes breathing 100% oxygen

5 minutes breathing air

30 minutes breathing 100% oxygen

10  minutes breathing oxygen while decreasing pressure to 1 atmosphere
 

The first week I found really tiring. My fatigue and brain fog increased to level 9. By the end of the second week I was back to my starting fatigue level of 7. By the time I returned home after 20 sessions, most of my fatigue and brain fog had gone and was at level 2.
 

I have ischaemic brain injury from a cardiac arrest in 2012. I found some of the symptoms from this were improved. In the hopes of further improvements, I returned to Rugby in December 2024 for another 4 weeks as above. 
On returning home, I would describe my fatigue and brain fog as level 0.
 

The fatigue and brain fog started to creep back in. 

In December 2025 I spent 4 weeks using the hyperbaric chamber  at the Neuro Therapy Place in Edinburgh and the Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre in Stirling.  At both locations a session lasted 60 minutes at 2.0 atmospheres with 93% oxygen. I had 25 sessions in total. On returning home, I would describe my fatigue and brain fog as level 0.

Anonymous user- with permission