The home units only go to 1.3 psi or about 10 feet. You'll need a script from your doctor to buy both the Gamow bag (chamber) and the oxygen concentrator, that will put about about 95% oxygen. (that's piped into the chamber and into a mask). Without getting super deep into details, you'll be breathing twenty something percent oxygen under pressure.
What will that do? flood your body with oxygen. I'll talk about the benefits in the next post.
So on to the manufacturers. Mhbot was really a phoenix or born from Gamow bags. Gamow bags were and still are used for high altitude mountaineering. When someone becomes ill with altitude sickness, they stick em in a Gamow bag, pressure it, and it has the same effect as bringing them down several thousand feet in altitude. (because the air is denser under pressure, thus more oxygen molicules per square liter of air).
Well, it turns out that people starting using these Gamow bags for Autism, CP, lyme and other stuff.
The first company that ran with this and is still in business is Oxyhealth. Based in California, they have been manufacturing these bags for years and years, and have sold THOUSANDS. They have become not only popular for alternative medicine, but athletes have gotten into the mix as well. Many famous football players and others now use these bags just before a game for performance, or just after for recovery.
But I'm getting off track. Needless to say, Oxyhealth has been around for a long time, and builds a quality bag. It was my first bag (which I still own) and has served me well. The design is well thought out, and they have been in business long enough to work out any bugs in the engineering.
They produce three sizes. I started with the smallest chamber b/c of cost. I won't lie, its very constricting inside. If you can afford one of the larger models, get it. If you panic in small confined spaces, also not the bag for you. (the small I mean). There is no getting around getting into one of these for the therapy, but the largest of the bags are in fact, large. In fact, they feel much bigger once inside than they do looking at it from the outside.
Reminds me of my Ford Fiesta in college. My friends called it the pregnant roller skate. But I have to tell you, although a small car, it had TONS of room inside. Not sure how that phenomenon works, but it does sometimes.
I really like Oxyhealth. After owning the bag for several years (like 3 or 4), some of the heat seals on the ports started to loosen. I gave Oxyhealth a call and they were aware that some of their bags were experiencing this issue. The bag was well out of warranty, but all I had to do was pay for shipping to California (about 30 bucks) and they resealed (using a new technology) and sent it back to me free of charge. WOW, that's taking care of the customer. They get my endorsement.
But alas, I moved on and bought the second companies bag as well. Performance-hyperbarics came to market about two years ago and was built by a guy who lives in Hawaii. I purchased this second bag because I really wanted a larger bag to be able to move around in. The performance bag is less expensive as a comparably sized Oxyhealth bag, and it is a two bag system, a bag within a bag. The outer bag gets latched up, allow the inner bag to hold the pressure. Because of this, Performance has a higher rating (1.5 psi or about 17 feet of sea water) internationally, but only approved for 1.3 in the USA.
I like both units, and both have their advantages and disadvantages. I'll do a little quick compare for you. Certain features may be more or less important to different people. So lets have at it:
OxyHealth Performance
1. Max Pressure 1.3 1.5 (1.3 USA)
2. Price 12-22k 13k
3. Self Entry Yes InMyHumbleOpinion: NO
4. Self Exit Yes Yes with some effort
5. Zipper ease of use Easy Difficult
6. Controls Skimpy Awesome
7. Compressor Good Better
8. Oxygen Concentrator N/A Very Nice
9. Customer Service Excellent Mixed Results
10. Weight Heavy Heaviest
So, I have both bags. I'm sure your asking yourself; which one does he use? Well, I use the performance bag now. The zipper is nightmare, even though I have waxed that thing over and over (wax is suppose to loosen the tension). And, even though performance says that you can do self entry, I think the practicality of that does not exist. There are straps on the outside, and I have my wife check those straps as the bag inflates to make sure they are not on a gauge or valve. In addition, reaching out to close up the airplane like belts would be a nightmare.
However, after taking all that into consideration, one fact remains clear: the Performance bag, for the same price, is larger and can potentially dive deeper. I'm sorry, physics are physics, and if you want to build a bag that can withstand higher pressures, you are going to sacrifice some "luxuries".
So what bag would I recommend? Well, if you live alone, or don't have access to have someone put you into the chamber. If you or someone else can pull close a rather nasty zipper that fights back, then you have to go with the Oxyhealth chamber. And its a good chamber. There are more of them, they are tested, and they have good service (or at least have provided me with good service in the past). The OxyHealth chamber does everything you need it to do, and they build a quality product.
If you have have someone that can put you into the chamber and close it up behind you, if you want more room for less money and can deal with the zipper, if potentially higher pressures are important to you (they are for me !!!), then Performance is the chamber you should buy. If I was single, I would never buy a performance chamber. But I'm not single, and its the one I choose to use. How's that for a mixed endorsement!
These are only my observations. OxyHealth would say that higher pressures are dangerous (at least I think they would) and Performance would say that their zippers are fine (at least I think that's what they would say). I can only tell you what I've experienced. At the end of the day, I think that Performance probably has a chamber that will last longer, can go deeper, and thus provide me with a better recovery. I was not swooned by their customer service, but I have only interacted with them briefly. ( I bought one of their used chambers that was only 3 months old, but Spencer was sure to tell me that it was now out of warranty and he seemed a bit peeved that I purchased one of his used ones instead of a new one. Given that OxyHealth had replaced and resealed a better part of the entire tube AFTER 4 years, you can see dis-taste with Performances "customer service". ) But hey, things change, and at the end of the day, given an extra pair of hands, I'd choose the performance chamber.
OK. I think that will bring us to our next post......Why Oxygen and what is it doing inside our bodies?
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