Esteemed Ophthalmologist Jerry Tennant, M.D., has many accomplishments to his credit, including founder and director of the Dallas Eye Institute, as well as being awarded the Order of Saint Sylvester by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 for his contributions to medicine. Yet it was during Tennant’s pioneering research in LASIK eye surgery that he went through a life-changing experience that shifted his focus toward integrative medicine. Today at the Tennant Institute for Integrative Medicine, Tennant, along with colleague James Oaks, M.D., use a whole person approach to care, along with advances such as hyperbaric oxygen, to help patients achieve wellness.

Tennant was encouraged to become an eye physician by a suggestion from his father. He graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School with his medical degree in 1964. Later in his career, while researching the laser for LASIK surgery, he was removing the scars from the cornea of a man that had leukemia. “We didn’t know at the time that the laser didn’t kill viruses, so as I removed the scars from his eye, viruses were released that went through my mask, up my nose and into my brain,” Tennant says. He was diagnosed with encephalitis and had to quit working due to health complications.

Doctors could not help Tennant, so he took his health into his own hands and began researching cellular biology and how pH measures of acidity and alkalinity and voltage affect cell function. His research led him to a Russian physician that had been working with voltage technology to increase cellular energy. He found ways to improve it, which led to his invention of the Tennant BioModulator, a non-invasive, drug-free device that uses voltage to relieve chronic pain.

Since patenting his device, Tennant has written several books about the role of nutrition and voltage in body. He also gives talks and has helped patients through his institute, where he and Oaks use holistic methods and techniques such as hyperbaric (high pressure) oxygen therapy to help people relieve pain.

While Oaks was in practice as a family physician in Tennessee, he learned of the BioModulator from one of his patients that experienced neck pain. “I explained to her that I also had neck pain from whiplash from a car accident. She pulled out the device out and treated my neck, and when I woke up the next day, I hadn’t experienced pain for the first time in six years.” Intrigued, Oaks connected with Tennant and began training with him in August 2014. Oaks joined Tennant’s practice in January to run the hyperbaric program.

Tennant observes that there are 3 million cases of fibromyalgia diagnosed each year in the U.S.. “The traditional thinking is that it can’t be cured or that it’s chronic and lasts for years,” he says. Instead, he cites Israeli studies that found 70 percent of fibromyalgia cases had been cured with hyperbaric oxygen.

Tennant says that bureaucracy within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t make the treatment widely accessible and insurance-approved outside of a hospital setting. “People who want to use it to get well have to come to a private clinic like ours that’s not involved with insurance,” he notes.

They both have seen positive results in their patients that receive hyperbaric oxygen treatment. Upon the first visit and consult, Oaks reviews the safety precautions and prepares each patient for entering the chamber. Treatments last approximately one hour. Typically, a series of treatments is necessary for most ailments.

Tennant says hyperbaric oxygen is also useful for patients that have wet macular degeneration, a chronic eye disease that causes blurred vision or a blind spot in the visual field. In addition to hyperbaric, the Tennant Institute promotes integrative care by analyzing each patient’s energy to every organ, their nutritional levels, lifestyle choices, vital signs and blood test results.

About 80 percent of the patients that come to Tennant Integrative come from other states and countries after seeing other doctors. “When you can take someone who’s desperate to get well and actually help them get well, that makes it all worthwhile to get up and come to work in the morning,” Tennant enthuses.

Oaks agrees: “It’s very inspiring and rewarding to come to work knowing that the patients we see are going to receive the help that they need.”

The Tennant Institute for Integrative Medicine is located at 35 Veranda Ln., Ste. 100, in Colleyville. For more information or to shop in the store, visit TennantInstitute.us.

Sheila Julson is a regular contributor to Natural Awakenings magazine.