(The Center Square) – Advocates of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for combat veterans urged a committee in the North Carolina House of Representatives on Tuesday to maintain or increase state funding for the treatment.
David Buzzard, wounded twice in Afghanistan, told the House Homeland Security and Military and Veterans Affairs Committee that he tried the treatment, called HBOT, after suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and other conditions.
He went to a nonprofit facility, where he sat in a pressurized chamber breathing 100% medical-grade oxygen.
“After three sessions of HBOT, my sleep went from three and half to four hours of terrible sleep to about seven hours of deep sleep a night,” Buzzard told the committee. “When you actually get a deep night of sleep, that helps a lot of issues in your body.”
He had fewer bouts of anger and his joints did not hurt as much.
“It’s done amazing things for my body,” said Buzzard.
He said he began telling other veterans about the treatment, knowing that they many were struggling with both physical and psychological damage from combat.
“Nine friends that I deployed with killed themselves, more than we lost in the Tangi Valley” of Afghanistan, Buzzard said.
Since 2021, the General Assembly with Republican majorities have made appropriations supporting HBOT treatments. The most recent fiscal year budget included $500,000.
Veterans are often prescribed drugs to help them cope with their psychological problems after combat, Buzzard said.
“This isn’t a pointed jab at any prescriptions,” he told legislators. “But this deserves to be an option for our veterans, our nation’s bravest.”
In 2023, the North Carolina Legislature appropriated $1 million over two years for the treatment.
The funding should be maintained or increased, the advocates said.
Legislators on the committee urged them to also tell their stories to members of the House and Senate appropriations committees which formulate the state budget.
