Getting PBM and HBOT in CDMX
Finding the edges, tuning the frequencies
Greetings from Mexico City!
I’ve spent most of the past 6 months here in Ciudad de Mexico (CDMX). And this past month, I’ve been going to a clinic to receive pulsed red light therapy (PBM) and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) at prices that are substantially lower than US prices.
For the past 18 months, I’ve been a digital nomad. The first 12 of those months were my son’s gap year, and we travelled together as a family, which I chronicled in You’re a Trip. He started college last August, and my wife and I went to Mexico City.
If we zoom out on the timeline, about 36 months ago, my wife’s health took a dramatic turn for the worse. Since then, she’s steadily gotten better, and seems to be finally turning the corner.
With her needs exceeding mine for a long while now, I actually haven’t received any healthcare for 18 months.
And now, I’m getting red light therapy and HBOT only because the clinic offered a package deal for two people that made my treatments so affordable, it was an offer I couldn't refuse.
I’m not totally new to red light therapy, but I was surprised to see how advanced the new full body beds can be.
We have portable red light, a Lumebox, which has been incredibly helpful on our travels—anytime I tweaked an ankle or shoulder, I’ve used the infrared setting. Whenever I felt like I might be getting sick, I’ve set it on my sternum.
But the Lumebox, like many red light devices, is simply on—you can’t choose a pulsed frequency for the light.
Frequencies enable photo-bio-modulation or PBM—the ability to entrain cells and neurons to activate and fire at a certain frequency. Different frequencies bring different benefits.
With this whole-body PBM red light bed, I can choose the following frequency presets: 73, 146, 293, 587, 1174, 2349, and 4698 Hz.
These PBM-capable beds aren’t cheap. Apparently, they go for between $50,000 and $80,000 USD.
I looked into it, and I believe the bed I’m using was manufactured in China, and sold in a white-label way by Elevé Health, based in California, which sells a variety of clinical devices with their name on the side. They have a B2B approach, distributing devices to other clinics. They seem to have a clinic of their own in Orange County.
Years ago, I bought a Vielight Gamma device for $1800 USD, and I’ve traveled with this device for the past 18 months, using it maybe a couple of times a week (I mainly brought it in case of emergency, if I suffered a mild head trauma).
That device only does one frequency: 40 Hz. This is a frequency of activation or up-regulation—sometimes used in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to end depression. But 40 Hz makes me drowsy—I can’t use it in the morning or I’ll be mentally sluggish for hours.
Advanced meditators typically reach brain frequencies of 100 Hz or more. Maybe I’m in a state of advanced meditation all the time? I’d like to think so!
There is now a newer, more expensive Vielight device that does higher frequencies. But it costs $5000 USD.
Meanwhile, Pulsed Electromagnetic Frequency (PEMF) devices also entrain cells and neurons to fire at certain frequencies—and PEMF devices, such as the NeoRhythm (which I also travel with) provide access to a broad range of frequencies at a much lower price point: $300 to $400 USD for the wearable device.
Could I combine the Lumebox with the NeoRhythm to get the benefits of red light and the benefits of PEMF-based bio-modulation? Yes. I believe this would be called jerry-rigging.
But I have glimpsed the non-jerry-rigged, more personalized future…
Soon, one will go to a clinic and received a fMRI or other brain scan. It will identify certain areas of the brain or certain neural networks as being inactive, underactive or overactive. (In the more distant future, it might also identify neuronal or vascular injury sites.)
Based on those results, one will then receive personalized red light therapies at specific frequencies targeting specific regions—while one is engaged in exercises that challenge the body and mind simultaneously.
And this process of measuring and treating will eventually happen in a closed-loop, single system (or device) that dynamically measures your brain activity in real-time, and treats and retrains your brain in real-time. It’ll be a dynamic, personalized process.
This kind of personalized therapy is available at a few psychiatric clinics in the US, but only if you have tens of thousands of dollars to spend on treatments. But it’s early days with this approach, and even though it’s more personalized, it still involves a jerry-rigged patchwork of different devices.
Meanwhile, one can now receive the same forms of treatment given at those clinics by using these newer full body red light therapy beds with PBM features, combined with other therapies like HBOT, NeoRhythm or other PEMF devices, the Lumebox, and the Mendi.
Added to these device-based treatments are essential physical practices, and nutrition of course. Things like Wim Hof breathing, a good diet, Seed probiotics, 10g of creatine a day, and walking 7 to 10,000 steps a day—never underestimate the healing power of walking, which helps with the brain’s glymphatic drainage.
Back to this $80,000 red light PBM bed that I have temporary access to.
I asked Perplexity which frequency preset I should use with the red light bed. Here was the answer:
Pulsed red/NIR light at low frequencies like 73 Hz mimics brain rhythms, boosting mitochondrial ATP in neurons, cerebral blood flow, and oxygenation more effectively than higher pulses for cognitive tasks. Your experience with 1174 Hz (mid-high range, good for general inflammation/pain gating as you’ve used) shifts to deeper repair at lower Hz; 73 Hz aligns with protocols for dementia, TBI recovery, and mental clarity seen in transcranial PBM trials.
Protocol Suggestion
Start with 10-15 min at 73 Hz, eyes closed, focusing on breath for synergy.
Alternate: 73 Hz (brain entrainment) then 1174 Hz (cellular signaling boost) in one 20-25 min session, 3-5x/week.
Track with a journal or EEG app (e.g., Muse, per your past use) for sharper thinking or calm.
So in my next session, I’m going to try 73 Hz and see what happens.
I will follow that with an HBOT session—red light therapy prepares the brain and body to benefit more from HBOT. (Our monthly membership for two includes daily red light and HBOT sessions for both of us.)
While Perplexity has been my AI of choice for health inquiries, I’ve joined the waitlist for ChatGPT Health, which is a dedicated health-specific agent.
Chat GPT Health has an integration with Function Health (and that link will get you $25 off Function). When I get back to the States, I’m going to get a new set of Function Health results, plug them into Chat GPT Health, and see what kind of personalized advice I receive.
Chat GPT Health has also created an agent for doctors. UCSF is already onboard and more hospitals and organizations will follow.
Their vision is that your AI medical assistant and the doctor’s AI medical assistant will work collaboratively to analyze your vast trove of data (including your genome, blood results, medical history, and anonymized cohorts of people like you and their results), and make personalized recommendations to your doctor and you.
Yesterday, I stopped for a focaccia sandwich at this little Italian deli here.
I asked the guy behind the counter, “Su harina es de Italia?”
“Si!” he replied. I gave him a thumbs up.
Later, enjoying the sandwich, a song began playing from the speakers above.
It was “Wait for Me” by Kings of Leon.
Years ago, when I threw myself back into the push to heal myself, I would listen to this song.
The singer implores someone: Wait for me, wait for me
But I wasn’t imploring someone else.
I imagined myself in the future, healed.
Wait for me.
Brainwave is a newsletter about brain health, a personal blog about my own journey, and an informational resource for people whose symptoms haven’t resolved after a concussion or mTBI. I aim to present this information clearly and concisely, spelling out what’s backed by science and what remains unknown. Nothing here is meant as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. I am not a physician or a healthcare practitioner of any kind; I’ve had a lot of sports-related head trauma and had to learn this stuff the hard way. If you found this information helpful or know someone who might benefit from it, please share and subscribe to Brainwave.