Ernie Harrison’s HBOT Experience
Lifting the Fog: A First Responder and Veteran Reclaims Health through HBOT
“I was able to sit back and watch my kids enjoy their time, enjoy my wife, and not be so concerned about everything around me. Before, I never would have done it.“
Ernie Harrison has spent his life in service. He served three years as an infantryman in the United States Army, including one combat tour in Iraq, then spent nearly a decade with the fire service in Greenville before becoming a paramedic. During his time in uniform he suffered two concussions roughly six months apart, one from a hard paratrooper landing and one from a head-first fall while deployed in Iraq. In the years since, he lived with a persistent mental fog and a sense that his thought process was not what it had once been, a fog that only deepened after COVID cost him his sense of taste and smell. Despite working out, going to therapy, taking medication, and staying active in his church, he could not find a consistent, lasting sense of himself. After hearing about HBOT on the radio, he decided to give it a try.
A Clearer, Sharper Mind
For years, Ernie described hitting a cognitive wall he simply could not break past whenever his thinking got stuck. As a paramedic, he understood the science behind pressurized oxygen reaching tissue that had long been starved of it. Through treatment, the fog that had followed him since his TBIs began to lift, leaving him feeling lighter and more like himself.
Restored Taste and Smell
After the second week of treatment, Ernie regained the sense of taste and smell he had lost to COVID eight to nine months earlier. He noticed it immediately at home, surprised by scents and flavors that had been absent for the better part of a year. Food tasted good again, a change he welcomed while joking that he now had to be careful about eating too well.
Better Sleep and a More Consistent Mood
Before HBOT, Ernie was sleeping only about two hours at a time, waking every thirty to sixty minutes. As his sleep improved, so did nearly everything connected to it. His wife noticed a cloud lifting. He laughed more easily, slept well, and was far more patient, gently talking his son through a difficult moment rather than reacting with frustration. She could see the difference right away.
Relief from Hypervigilance
As both a veteran and a first responder, Ernie had spent years in a state of constant alertness, always scanning for trouble. That began to ease with treatment. He took his children to the state fair, something he never would have attempted before, and found himself relaxed and present, watching them enjoy the day and enjoying his family without monitoring everything around him. It became a wonderful day and a memory his whole family treasures.