Decatron & Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
 

Hi All,
I haven't posted for a while but thought it's time to share. Since the necrosis, I started taking Decatron and dealing with the side effects (tapering down from 16mg). My extent of exercise; which is my fun thing to do is walking a few laps around my house. My left side has nerve damage so I am taking pain meds to control that Hopefully. there's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm pretty down right now.

I've read a lot on this site on Decatron side effects but if anyone wants to share advice to me, please send it along. I want to feel better.

Had a full Spine MRI and nothing new; thank god for that. Going for Brain MRI and hopefully that will show no progresssion and hopefully some improvement. Pray, pray, pray for that.

There aren't many treatments for necrosis but there are a few; Avastin and HBOT. After several consults with Neuro Oncologists, I am going to start the HBOT. There isn't a lot of research on this, there are studies that have has shown improvements. Maybe I'll be the trailblazor to make pubmed. If all goes well, I'll start next week.

Love,

Kris...

Re: Decatron & Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
 

HI Kris,
My heart goes out to you. If you go back and read my posts you will notice that I had to subsequent brain surgeries that turned out to be necroses. I hated the decadron. in addition to everything it did to my body I was manic. At one point HBOT was a possibility, but everyone was convinced I probably had progression with the exception of my surgeon. Nevertheless, he felt it was best to have surgery a third time. I feel your frustration and hope the HBOT works for you.
Kind regards,
Barbara

Re: Decatron & Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
 

Hi Kris,
I will cross my fingers in hopes that all goes well for you and that you will be feeling better soon. Let us know how the hyperbaric treatment goes !!

Re: Decatron & Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
 

Sorry to hear that you have been feeling down. I am hoping very hard that the treatment and the brain MRI go well.
Trish

Re: Decatron & Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
 

Kris,

This newer experiment showed positive effect of HBOT on reducing necrosis:

Anesth Analg. 2011 May 19. [Epub ahead of print]
Hyperbaric Oxygenation Therapy Alleviates Chronic Constrictive Injury-Induced Neuropathic Pain and Reduces Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha Production.

Li F, Fang L, Huang S, Yang Z, Nandi J, Thomas S, Chen C, Camporesi E.
Source

From the *Department of Anesthesiology, Upstate Medical University;

Abstract

Background: The development of hyperalgesia and allodynia after chronic constrictive injury (CCI) is associated with significantly increased tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-1β. Theoretically, if the production of TNF-α and/or IL-1β could be reduced, neuropathic pain syndrome may be alleviated. Recently, a beneficial effect of hyperbaric oxygenation therapy (HBOT) in the treatment of pain disorders has been suggested. Our present study was designed to examine the hypotheses that (1) CCI-induced neuropathic pain may be associated with increased production of TNF-α and IL-1β, (2) HBOT may alleviate CCI-induced neuropathic pain, and (3) the alleviated neuropathic pain may be associated with reduced production of TNF-α and/or IL-1β.

Methods: Male rats (weighing 250-300 g) were anesthetized with ketamine and xylazine. The common sciatic nerve was exposed through the biceps femoris. Proximal to the sciatic's trifurcation, 4 ligatures were loosely tied around the nerve. In the sham group, an identical dissection was performed without ligation of the sciatic nerve. Mechanical allodynia and cold allodynia were tested by von Frey filament stimulation and the spread of acetone, respectively. HBO rats (n = 18) were exposed to pure oxygen for 1 hour at 2.4 atm once a day. Non-HBO (n = 18) and sham rats (n = 6) were placed in the HBOT chamber breathing air. TNF-α and IL-1β in the sciatic nerve were assayed with ELISA. The presence of TNF-α protein in homogenates was verified by Western blot analysis. Results: CCI induced significant cold and mechanical allodynia as measured after CCI on days 4 and 7. The cold allodynia response frequency was significantly lower in HBO rats than in non-HBO rats. The values were 20% ± 1.6% vs 50% ± 4.5% on day 4 and 40% ± 4.6% vs 70% ± 4.5% on day 7 (F = 87.42, confidence interval [for the difference between HBO and non-HBO] = 29.612 ± 8.781, P < 0.05 for day 4 and day 7). The threshold of mechanical allodynia significantly increased in HBO rats compared with non-HBO rats. The values were 6.20 ± 0.9 vs 4.1 ± 1.0 g on day 4 and 3.8.2 ± 0.5 vs 2.3 ± 0.4 g on day 7 (F = 18.8, confidence interval [for the difference between HBO and non-HBO] = 1.806 ± 1.171, P < 0.05 for day 4 and day 7). TNF-α content was significantly higher in non-HBO rats than in sham rats on day 4 (17.89 ± 0.83 vs 10.66 ± 1.1 pg/mg protein, P < 0.05) and day 7 (18.97 ± 1.57 vs 9.09 ± 1.5 pg/mg protein, P < 0.05).

HBOT significantly reduced TNF-α content to near the level in sham rats, which was 10.94 ± 2.78 and 11.32 ± 2.98 pg/mg protein on day 4 (P < 0.05 versus non-HBO) and 7 (P < 0.05 versus non-HBO), respectively. Western blot analysis confirmed the presence of proteins with molecular weights of 51 kDa in the rat sciatic nerve homogenates. IL-1β content was also significantly higher in non-HBO rats than in sham rats on day 4 (636 ± 74 vs 256 ± 31 pg/mg protein, P < 0.05) and on day 7 (687 ± 89 vs 288 ± 35 pg/mg protein, P < 0.05). HBOT had no effect on IL-1β content, which was 671 ± 85 pg/mg protein on day 4 and 672 ± 75 pg/mg protein on day 7 in HBO rats (P = not significant versus non-HBO rats).

Conclusion: These data show that HBOT alleviates CCI-induced neuropathic pain and inhibits endoneuronal TNF-α production, but not IL-1β in CCI-induced neuropathic pain. Reduced TNF-α production may, at least in part, contribute to the beneficial effect of HBOT.

Re: Decatron & Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
 

By the way, Chemocare has a good link on Decadron:

http://www.chemocare.com/bio/decadron.asp

Take care and keep us updated.

Re: Decatron & Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
 

Hi, Kris,
I'm praying that HBOT will go well, and that this treatment will take care of the necrosis for good.
Hang in there.
Love,
KarlaV.