Experiences

Michael Jackson had his hyperbaric chamber, I have the CVAC pod! 

Thank you so much for adding years to my life!!! 

Athletes especially pro's and ex-pro's ya'll need to get hip to this! 

I'm not running a 4.30 40yrd dash for nothing! 

Peace!

(Kenny Bell brings you the player moves in EA Sports' 

Madden Football franchise through motion capture!) 

 I decided to give CVAC a try when terrible pain from 3 surgeries in 15 months and a constant battle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was pretty much ruling my life, or rather lack of quality of life.

The first few sessions left me with clogged up ears but feeling rather energetic and my vision seemed much clearer. That was enough for me to continue twice a week, 40 minute sessions. Within a couple weeks I stopped taking my once a week B-12 shots that I needed for my CFS. 

I have not taken one since! My energy levels are amazing and I’m able to work circles around everyone I know.

My pain levels have dropped to liveable and some days I am pain free. I never dreamed I would ever have no pain for a whole day or a week! My strength is returning and muscle is building in my leg and hip area that had the surgeries. My balance had been very bad since two surgeries came with complications. I had major nerve damage and balance was my enemy. Now I can actually stand on one leg and walk on uneven surfaces without feeling like I’m going to fall down.

Also menopause came creeping in during my recovery process. I was having bad sweats all day and night long. After 4 months using CVAC I am down to one sweat attack a day and maybe one during the night.

I can’t say enough good things about CVAC. 

I truly feel that it has given me my life back. I recommend it to anyone feeling sluggish or dealing with an injury or chronic illness. While everyone around me has suffered from the flu and cold season, I have remained healthy. I am active and energetic again and I have CVAC to thank for that!

I am an adapter type person who has a hard time recognizing small changes… maybe because I have a million things on 

my plate each and every day. 

When I first started using CVAC, I really didn’t notice any recognizable differences until I was at a criterium bicycle race and was racing with the men for a hard workout. While I was racing, I noticed that instead of my mouth hanging open for breath as I normally do during such a hard workout, that I actually felt like I had greater endurance with less effort. When I looked around, every guy around me had their mouths open and was breathing hard, yet I was relaxed and felt faster and stronger! 

It was one of those ah-ha moments where it finally hit me that the CVAC is working! I was lucky enough to have a photo catch me in that exact moment in that race as a visual example (see photo).

I have been a regular user of the CVAC system since then, and have enjoyed the preparation and recovery benefits it offers. 

I can say that it has been one of my “secret training weapons”, that I hope to share with everyone who is interested in achieving the same benefits that I have realized!

(Denise is a USA national cycling champion and holds the World Cycling Land Speed Record for both men & women!)

I am a 56 year old woman with fibromyalgia, degenerative disc disease, chronic migraines, peripheral neuropathy, insomnia, back pain, 

sciatica, chronic sinus problems and have been diagnosed with

 chronic major depression in the past.

 Who wouldn’t be a bit depressed with all this right? 

After being in chronic pain for over 30 years frankly I was a bit skeptical about how sitting in a pod might help me. I’d had three surgeries on my spine and too many other procedures to mention. 

The list of pharmaceuticals I was on was appalling. Of course with every pill I took as prescribed by my doctors another symptom/problem would occur. At this point I felt I had nothing to lose.

When I first started sessions. I was in a terrific amount of pain, overweight, and extremely unfit due to lack of movement or exercise.

One of the first changes I noticed after using the CVAC technology was I slept better; I did not wake up as often through out the night.

I also noticed I did not seem so “foggy”. Often during Fibromyalgia flare ups, I would get a feeling of fogginess, sometimes referred to as fibro-fog. After a couple of months of CVAC sessions, I felt much clearer mentally and actually had a higher energy level. I began to take outdoor walks again and was losing weight. Boom! I was now a believer.

I did have to go through a period of detoxification as my body began to heal itself. Today I delight and practically jump in and out of the pod with joy at my progress, no longer needing assistance getting in and out. I have ceased all medications for Fibromyalgia (Lyrica, Neurontin, Cymbalta). 

My FS symptoms have all but subsided. I take no pharmaceuticals for migraines, insomnia, and use no mind-altering pain medicines for my degenerative disc disease as I did before. I used to have from 18-28 migraines a month but they are gone. I exercise regularly now, long robust walks, sometimes I even run! What a miracle!

I play wheelchair tennis in the Paralympics. In London I came home with a gold medal in doubles and a silver medal in singles. 

I’m age 38. I’ve been using CVAC for a little over a year now, and before I was using CVAC, my training regimen was always grueling and hard because of being in a wheelchair, pushing the chair all the time (not just in everyday life but on the court makes for a challenging time!). 

I also hit the weights, I swim, I ride bikes, I do a lot other activities too. Before CVAC I seemed to not recover as quick. After using CVAC, within a matter of just a couple of weeks, I noticed a huge difference in my recovery. I was able to train harder and longer, I was also able to sleep better at night, and I didn’t seem as exhausted. I was ready to go to bed when it was bed time. I slept well.  woke up feeling refreshed and ready 

to go and do it again the next day. 

I think it is great, I’m happy and will continue to use it. 

 If you know someone with Dercum's Disease, please pass this on:

People with Dercum’s disease have painful fatty lipomas, swelling and fatigue that limit their ability to exercise, so they miss the benefits of the regular muscle contraction provided by exercise that stimulates healthy fluid flow through blood vessels, body tissues and lymphatic vessels. Exercise also increases mitochondria, which break down fat and eliminate the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and other toxins generated by the body during exercise. Exercise does more even after it is completed; it turns on survival genes that help protect the body against future stressful events. By engaging in regular use of the CVAC process, many people with Dercum’s disease who cannot engage in traditional exercise training are experiencing less pain and fatigue, better cognition, feel healthier, stronger and more limber, and are able to participate more in their lives. 

Just as with exercise, people with Dercum’s disease who use the CVAC process regularly, gain the most long-term benefits.

Study: Herbst KL, Rutledge T. 2010. Pilot study: rapidly cycling hypobaric pressure improves pain after 5 days in adiposis dolorosa. 

J Pain Res. 3:147-53.: 10.2147/JPR.S12351.

 I cannot recommend CVAC any higher. My own performance was enhanced before traveling with Team USA to London in 2007. 

During training, I had accomplished a high of 100 repetitions with 40lb. dumbbells UNTIL my last 2 weeks of training when we discovered CVAC. Within my final 2 weeks, I doubled my rep count! 

Upon arrival in England we were informed that the weight had been changed to 22kg (approx. 45lbs). Team USA emerged victorious beating the favored Team from Dubais by a slim margin of only 12 lifts and took the World Title in the team division. I personally delivered 238 repetitions (more than I had ever done with 40s even). 

I performed well enough to get 5th place individually but I can honestly say that CVAC made the difference in getting the World Title that year. 

Now, here I go again...

Just time for a quick workout....and, after hitting the CVAC for a week, I moved up to 45's for the sprints to 50 reps. (Up from 30's....felt strong). Thank you CVAC. This time I will be shooting for a 100,000 pound lift with 25's (4,000 reps without putting the weights down) and setting the bar for the fastest time to 100,000 pounds Vertical Lifted (nobody has 

completed this...I hold the record for 75,750).

 Hi everyone! 

I want y'all to know that those two young men in this pic are my sons. 

Both of them are diagnosed with Dercums Disease, as am I. 

The one standing beside the CVAC pod had spent a good bit of time in a wheel chair or using a walker the year prior to this photo. 

And, both had been in brutal pain almost constantly. 

Thanks to CVAC their lives have improved in every way. I just want you to know that I am one grateful mom and one happy member of the CVAC family! Thank you CVAC and everyone who is a part of the CVAC team! 

I’m 85 years old. I have been doing sessions at CVAC for 6 ½ years. Someone I met at the track told me about CVAC. So, I checked it out. 

I found it very beneficial. It helped me to run easier and recuperate faster. In 2011, I really started having trouble with my aortic valve. CVAC helped me hang in there until I had valve replacement surgery. It also helped me to come back faster than what I was told it would take me. They thought it would be a whole year, instead it has been only 9 months. 

With continued use of CVAC sessions I hope to compete again in both track and weightlifting.

(just 13 months after heart surgery to have his aortic valve replaced, Jim and his daughter, Debbie, brought home both trophies and medals 

at their track and weightlifting competitions)

 In late 2005 Mary was hospitalized with a urinary tract infection but had also contracted shingles that settled in the nerves of her right arm. The constant pain became so severe in her arm that she could not bear anyone touching it and could no longer use it to write, eat, or even get dressed.

She was moved to a rehabilitation center and, after great effort, was released and returned home. Unfortunately, soon after, a fall at home returned her to the rehab center but this time she declined to a point that she was moved to full term care where she spent the next 2-1/2 years.

Mary weighed around 130 lbs. prior to her first hospitalization but was over 180 lbs. in November 2008 when she moved from the nursing home and in with her daughter. At this point she required 24 hour care. Mary could no longer get out of bed, get dressed, or go to the bathroom by herself and, due to renal insufficiency, she had to be lying down for her kidneys to work. Many times she expressed openly how she wished she could die to escape from the pain.

From the time she moved in with her daughter until January 2009 Mary took CVAC sessions three times a week for an hour at the lowest level (Tier 1). During this time Mary had a care-giver throughout the day but her daughter took care of her at night. Mary would ring a bell when she needed help to go to the bathroom usually four to seven times a night.

One morning in January her daughter awoke to the realization that there were no bells and no calls for help that night. Susan assumed the worst but was relieved at the thought that Mary had, at least, passed away peacefully in her sleep.

When she looked in on her mother she was surprised to see Mary was breathing. Asked what happened Mary happily said that she was able to get up and use the bathroom for the first time on her own!

Since her health and strength began to improve Mary started physical therapy to go along with her CVAC sessions and has been able to remain fit and active... and happy to be alive!

(photo of Mary celebrating her 85th birthday with a bike ride, 

September 15, 2010, @ 110 lbs)

I’m 38 and a flight attendant. I have been using CVAC since 2011. My coach, Dan Vinson, who has used CVAC in the past told me about it and

brought me in on a ride one day. I was getting ready for a big race and he told me to come in as much as I could before that race. And so I did. 

I was going pretty well in the race but I had a crash on the last day so I was out but the CVAC helped me further down the line. A month later when I did the State Championship 40 K Time Trial I had to fly to Sydney the week of the time trial. I was pretty upset because when I came back from the trip, I was really, really tired and really jet lagged. It was hard for me to get going. It takes, at least, 2 days for me to recover. 

As soon as I got back, I got into the CVAC pod, literally the day I flew in.  The next day was my race and I felt really, really good, I felt rested. It was a hot, windy day and I put out a speed I had never put out in my life, even during training. I won by, I believe, 30 seconds in my age group! 

So, I was pretty happy and truly believe had I not gone to CVAC to help with the recovery from my trip I would have been really tired.

Also, a couple of things – I suffer from allergies and asthma. And I truly believe that CVAC helps balance out my body and helps me with my allergies as well as my asthma. I have noticed a difference lately because I had been having troubles breathing after I had stopped CVAC a little bit ago.  After going back I am now able to breathe again. I am able to push the power in my threshold where I wasn’t able to a few months ago because of my asthma. Now that I am back using CVAC I can totally tell the difference with my breathing and also with my recovery. Which is another thing I really like CVAC for – is I’ll do a really hard effort ride and I’ll come in and get some recovery from CVAC and the next day I feel great. That’s really what it’s about for me and I really enjoy coming here.