IHHT for ME/CFS and Long Covid: My Honest Experience with Intermittent Hypoxic-Hyperoxic Therapy

There are moments on this path where 2 or more puzzle pieces finally come together and it simply feels right.

For the first years I researched so much and tried so much, and then for a very long time I didn't want to and couldn't do anything at all anymore.

I had stopped searching, and yet I was found.

TPS and IHHT were such a moment for me.

With ME/CFS and Long Covid I've been living for years in a reality where energy is no longer something I can take for granted — it's one of my most important currencies.

After a severe Crash (a combination of another infection, my 3rd vaccine, and a stay in rehab), nothing really worked for many, many months, even years. I was completely dependent on my mother's help and had the highest German care level (Pflegegrad 5). And yet, even on this long road, I got to learn and understand so much. Some things carried me, some things overwhelmed me, some things simply passed me by like a wave that didn't reach me. IHHT wasn't possible for me back then. Not financially, and also not within my Baseline.

But then, in December 2025, when I was at Prof. Citak's in Hamburg because of severe pain in my knees, so many interesting things fell into place.

I learned about TPS, and later, when he was a guest on my podcast, I also learned about IHHT.

I've shared videos about it on YouTube, but I also want to write it down, for everyone who finds reading easier.

About IHHT I want to write today as honestly as I can. Without promises of healing, only from my own personal experience, but also without making this approach smaller than it actually was for me.

What IHHT actually is

IHHT stands for Intermittent Hypoxic-Hyperoxic Therapy. You alternate between breathing air with reduced and air with increased oxygen, in gentle waves. The idea is to invite the body into adaptation processes, especially on the cellular level, especially around the mitochondria. The little power plants that are responsible for energy being produced in the first place.

Why I tried IHHT in the first place

Honestly? Simply because I trust Prof. Dr. Citak deeply and he offered it to me, alongside the TPS treatment.

My starting point: I'm already far along on my own path. Pacing has long been a fixed part of my everyday life. I know my Baseline well — it's stable. I understand my body's signals and symptoms and can prevent Crashes in time; I'm fairly certain which kind of stimulus could send me into a Crash.

Maybe you know the feeling: You've understood what's good for you. You're even living it. And yet there's still that one drop missing, the one that would finally get the vessel flowing. I wanted to know if there's something out there that doesn't work against my system but with it. Without me having to perform any more than I already do. (I like things simple and comfortable 😉

My experience

I did 8 sessions back-to-back, because that was simply my window of time; I would have preferred to go slower, or to stretch it out over a longer period. My body reacted to the shifts between oxygen levels. The first 3 sessions were very exhausting for me. I also got cold, and above all I learned to eat enough beforehand and afterwards, as a kind of energy balance.

IHHT is a private, self-pay treatment — not covered by statutory health insurance. I paid 70 € per session. But apparently there are also occupational therapists who offer IHHT, and then it can go through health insurance 😉

Many people take tests beforehand and add extra supplements. I didn't do any of that and I didn't do it on purpose. That's my path. I don't spend money on tests anymore. I listen to my intuition.

What IHHT means for me — and what it doesn't

For me, IHHT was never the big lever. More like a puzzle piece that was placed at the right time. A support on the way to more energy. It doesn't replace active rest or Pacing, but it supports regeneration and gives me a little new room to breathe.

What IHHT doesn't do for me: It doesn't undo overexertion. It doesn't replace missing Pacing. It doesn't wipe symptoms away in the short term. And it doesn't reverse a Crash.

If there's one thing these years have taught me, it's that everything is an interplay of many important building blocks and not the one solution. The main responsibility is mine: exertion, active rest, Pacing, nutrition, sleep, routines — my responsibility. But there is support, and there are things that genuinely make it easier.

What I'd watch out for with IHHT

If you're thinking about trying IHHT for yourself — here's my experience:

It's challenging and exhausting. Breathing becomes harder, it feels like a pressure on the chest. For me, it also triggered old memories from my first C-infection — so it was emotionally and cognitively exhausting as well, but above all physically.

The way to the practice, the 45-minute treatment (physically and emotionally demanding), the conversations there, and also the way back home — all of it should sit within your Baseline.

There is also IHT, which is apparently a little gentler, but I have no experience with it myself.

From the 4th day on, it became less exhausting for me and for my body — my pulse no longer rose as much.

You can find more about TPS and IHHT in my podcast episode #68 with Prof. Citak, and more about how it all unfolded for me personally in episode #69 Veränderung braucht Zeit (Change Needs Time) on Tidal Faces.

You'll also find more in my Reels, which I recorded throughout the treatment, and in the longer videos on YouTube.

Gesundheitszentrum Citak (Hamburg): https://citak.de/long-covid-zentrum

I'd be so happy if this text is a support for you — on your path, and with your decisions.

With love,
Leila