Oxygen Therapy

[Abbey17]

Just a query, I have not heard of oxygen therapy before, but a colleague told me that it is used for a number of conditions and has been used for reducing inflammatory conditions and pain. Are any of you familiar with this?

[123-go]

Hi, Abbey17. I've never heard of oxygen therapy for the relief of pain or to reduce inflammation. I've only heard of it being used to help people with lung/breathing problems, etc. I would think that if it could reduce inflammation we would all be having this to help with our symptoms. ☺️

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to 123-go]

Don't think there is a lot of evidence for a lot of conditions - and availability is a problem.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I was at a science meeting on oxygen transport to tissue a few years ago where someone was presenting early results on the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in inflammatory conditions and we discussed it at length but apparently he left the department and headed in other directions. Thought it was a great shame!!!

Unfortunately the availability of hyperbaric O2 chambers is rather limited so not really very practical for use in common chronic condtiions. It is used for wound healing and burns as well as for divers but that is likely to be just limited usage once the conditon improves. It seems to be used for other conditions where there is no evidence to support its use. But with a single treatment session varying in cost from $100 up to $1000 depending on the facility it would become very expensive for a chronic condition.

[Krezan in reply to PMRpro]

There is a manufacturer in Korea that makes a HYPERBARIC OXYGEN CHAMBER and the company I work with has ordered one.

[YuliK in reply to PMRpro]

My daughters FiL had it for leg amputation due to his diabetes neglect.

His wound wasn’t healing, and HBO did help.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to YuliK]

My husband developed a technique to measure the oxygen in skin to predict likelihood of healing after amputation - it's a big problem, especially in diabetics.

[Abbey17 in reply to PMRpro]

Fantastic-so much we don’t know.

[123-go]

😩Just when you feel you've got a good'un they're up and off!Interesting information, PMRpro.

[Retallack]

I used to work in HBO chambers and we treated conditions as mentioned by PMRpro. Basically to help repair damaged tissues with high pressure oxygen. N o clinical evidence for pain or inflammation i am afraid.

[ChrisinNam]

I have heard of it being used, with great success, for "Cluster Headaches". Apparently the headaches were intolerable, and came in clusters lasting for days to weeks. The use of the oxygen therapy reduced the frequency of them and the length of time they lasted.

[Abbey17 in reply to ChrisinNam]

That’s really useful to know as my son has these. Thank you

[S4ndy]

My friend who has had MS for 40+ years has hyperbaric oxygen therapy every week at her local MS charity. She attributes remaining in remission to its use together with six monthly prednisolone infusions to keeping her as well as she is. She has noticed a decline in her mobility and health since the pandemic as she has been unable to access either treatment. She's back on track now and hoping to get an infusion soon. I've not heard of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for anything else though.

[YuliK]

After I lost the hearing in the left ear. ( sudden hearing loss) I did a course hyperbaric oxygen therapy. My ENT consultant recommended it. He had injected directly twice, through the eardrum 60 mg of cortisone and I was given

A very high dose of prednisone..nothing helped and I now have a perforated eardrum, resulting from the injections.

After I started prednisone for pmr I suddenly realized whilst laying on my right ear, that I didn’t hear anything at all.

This treatment was to no avail. No improvement ..it’s an expensive treatment indeed.

What I did notice during my treatment, was a handicapped young teenager ( I think he was after a car accident) who could hardly hold his head up ..he seemed to be improving. So what didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work for others.

My hearing hasn’t returned to my left ear. I now have a hearing aid.