My bestie who is battling ovarian cancer is using this as part of her overcoming cancer plan and reckons it really helps. It gives her a boost of energy and seemes to have helped get her through the chemo stages with hardly any fatigue or sickness. It seems to be endorsed at least unofficially by many oncologists. I think the basic premise is that cancer hates oxygen and tries to expand into oxygen deprived areas and also about creating white blood cells, I think. I went along to an open evening to see around the place which is run as a charity. You sit in these things which look like diving bells and breathe in highly pressurized oxygen via a facemask. It is also popular with MS sufferers and many say it helps them, and with people with various forms of chronic fatigue. On the list of things they say it might help is 'immune conditions' so I'm wondering whether to give it a go - if it helps the inflammation of MS might it help us? Anybody got any thoughts or experience?
Anyone tried hyperbaric Oxygen therapy? - PMRGCAuk
Anyone tried hyperbaric Oxygen therapy?
Have a search - there was a discussion about it not so long ago. Have you got a link for the charity? Otherwise it cannot be easy or cheap to access.
I think the cost varies between £75-£150 a session. Mind you, you might need a load of sessions!!
Not expensive, you make a donation and most people pay £20 a session. You've hit the nail on the head - how many sessions do you need to know if it's working. One of the organisers said a woman had cured her peripheral neuropathy, but that was after about 100 sessions I thnk he said. My mate has about one session a week so has had about a dozen.
Wow 100 sessions at £20 a go!!
I think I'd be prepared to try about 10. Same with anything, you don't know til you try it. I'm still pondering whether to go for acupuncture for my back but that's about £60 a session and I reckon you'd need at least 4 to see if it made a difference. I wasted £100s on osteopathy which didn't help and spent more on physiotherapy, which I think has helped a bit. *sigh* even my chiropodist charges £35 for half an hour. It's expensive being ill innit 😀
I've just splashed a dollop on a chiropractor here - who reckones that 3 sessions should achieve something so not the big pressure to keep going for ever. It was INTERESTING - but something has at least changed and the low back pain is different and easier to live with. I've had 2 sessions, 1 to come.
I'm convinced that the main part of my back pain is inflammation, so for the last 2-3 weeks I have blitzed it with Ibuprofen, taking the max dose you're allowed. As I get a mast-cell reaction to ibuprofen this has meant me being wiped out and drowsy a lot of the time. BUT I think it is working, I am far more mobile than I was a month ago and can actually do some of the exercises the NHS physio gave me, which I tried to tell her were impossible for me to do before - she wanted me to do tings like the the plank and other pilates type exercises and I said ffs I can't even lie down, we have to get rid of the spasms and inflammation first! I'm on the waiting list to see an MSK specialist in spines as I wondered if a steroid injection might help me, but in the meantime things seem to be finally moving in the right direction. Fingers crossed and cheap therapy at only 79p a packet of Ibuprofen. A funny story on that- I tried to buy 3 packets once and the guy on the checkout said I could only buy 2 at a time. So I paid for 2, then went in again and bought another 2, paying at another checkout. How bloomin ridiculous 😆😆
I think my ffs would have been in capitals ... THE PLANK???????
Christian does something he calls neural therapy - these subcutaneous injections which stimulate the underlying tissue to heal itself but in combination with a week of daily infusions of some NSAID (no idea what) in highish doses. I look as if I've been beaten because of the bruising but it works on the back however bad the spasms. I also get an NSAID that is banned in the UK - but it has different adverse effects, no cardiac ones. I have finally found a way of using it and paracetamol together that seems to work and doesn't cause a headache - yet at least. All painkillers here are only available from the pharmacy, at full price ...
I remember you mentioning neural therapy a while back - can't see it being available here. Will pick Dr M's brains at the next appointment
I think there are private physio clinics that offer it.
Buying any 2 of paracetamol, ibuprofen and aspire has been around for years. It was to stop suicides and I often said if you want to do that you can just go to different checkouts or shops. In most supermarkets the checkout actually blocks the sale of any more than 2
I had a brilliant osteopath and she then moved to Canada. I tried a bunch of other osteopaths and physios and they were rubbish in comparison. It goes to show how important it is to get the right person. I found acupuncture did not help me at all.
She must feel it does her good I suppose!
I looked into this when I was considering options for my Fibromyalgia, Tremors and Migraines.Unfortunately, it is one of those things that can be effective but needs to be continued long term.
When you stop having sessions in a pretty short time the relief you got from it wears off. The amount of sessions you have per month is really dependent on the type of condition you are trying to relieve.
So , although it might help it's usually better for relief of short term pain and conditions , in the way your friend is receiving it , unless you can afford to have regular sessions until your PMR is no longer active.
It's not a cure; it's a complementary treatment.
The person suffering peripheral neuropathy would probably need to continue having sessions to manage the problem , unless the reason they had PN in the first place has a cure which means the PN no longer occurred for that reason . 100 sessions sounds like a lot to get a significant change like that , which does seem to imply that her other treatments and lifestyle changes also played a part in her improvement.
I chose not to try it in the end because of the distance to travel for it, and the cost, knowing that , as my conditions are lifetime health issues , the investment would need to be long term and I didn't want to get used to the effect of it only to find that I might not be able to get it in the future.
Although I do get supplemental oxygen therapy now for prevention and treatment of my Cluster Headaches and I find that this also gives me some general body pain relief and I feel less Fatigue as well as reducing my headache flares in general. But that is a long term treatment which I am prescribed on the NHS.
Thanks for the info
Yes I have tried it (of course!)
There are so many claims made for it . The guy who treated me has been doing it for decades and made all sorts of claims for it, including that he would cure me of PMR - I didn't believe him!
One problem was that I got Covid in the middle of the set of treatments, but the therapy made absolutely no difference to any of my symptoms-just for a change!
I bought some canisters of oxygen a couple of years ago when Covid was rampaging through the populace, laying many people low. My thinking was that I'd be able to keep myself going if I had my own oxygen supply. The cans were £10 each off Ebay, and I've used 2 of them I think as boosters when I've not been feeling well.
I have one of my oxygen cans sitting on my computer table as I sit here and type this, and there have been times recently when I've had a bad cold that's gone down on to my chest, when I've had the odd whiff or two of oxygen, just to help get my breath back.
I also bought an oxygen concentration machine. That cost around £150 as far as I can remember, but although it may be useful, I didn't use it as much as I thought I might. I still have it sitting out in the garage, and as far as I know it still works, but when I did get Covid my breathing wasn't affected, so I never used it after all.
Other than that, I just find pure oxygen makes me feel dizzy, and slightly nauseous, so I don't normally bother with it.
Dizziness and Nausea are the two most common side effects with supplemental oxygen. Dehydration is also common and can sometimes be the cause of the other side effects so it is also advised to drink a large glass of water before a session and after.The way to get used to using it is literally to start on both small doses , so when using the basic machines you would start at the lowest setting. And you would only do a short session , 5 mins max. But you could do this three times a day.
Also check which type of mask you use. The ones that go up the nose can feel comfortable and make you feel sick. It's worth purchasing the face mask with bag and attaching it to your machine instead.
Your body needs to have time to adjust to getting a more direct and larger supply of oxygen . You probably wouldn't feel a whole lot of difference at first because of the low volume and duration.
But as you gradually increase , to mid setting for 5 mins then 8 mins , then 10 , then 15 three times a day giving 3 days per setting and time you should feel some improvement. Finally , high setting through the same durations .
Unfortunately, unlike the prescribed bottle air or the larger more expensive oxygen machines most cans or budget machines online don't give enough litres per minute of oxygen to gain the same significant benefit to breathing and fatigue as is recommended medically.
If you choose to try a machine to help with pain and fatigue try this system . If you don't find any significant improvement from it after 6-8 weeks it's probably not going to be worth continuing for you , except during an infection, possibly.
I wouldn't keep it in the garage though. It's medical equipment and needs to be kept sterile as these machines take air from the surroundings and convert them , so any particles of dirt , germs or dust that could get into them as you store them could end up being fed back through to a certain degree and cause an infection rather than treating it.
The cans are pointless and very expensive . The budget machines can give up to 9 litres of oxygen but usually can't manage the max for more than a few minutes and generally top off around 7.5-8litres per minute.
This can be mildly therapeutic for pain relief and should alleviate some Fatigue and improve your sleep before bed but it isn't the flow required medically to treat or support most oxygen treated illnesses or pain conditions. Most pain therapies require between 10 -15litres per min.
The big machines are very costly but are the only ones that get close to the recommended amount of oxygen flow, so obviously you need to have an idea that Oxygen Therapy suits you long term before any investment.
Thanks for the info, all that is new knowledge for me, I don't think it's the same as high-pressure barometric oxygen whihc has to be done sitting in a diving-bell type tank
No it's not the same as the pressurised tank , I was replying to Minispec about the supplemental oxygen they were trying.The hyperbaric therapy is more effective for certain types of wound and cell healing and pain recovery problems but it isn't a cure and the relief wears off after a while if you still have the condition you were getting treatment for according to people I've spoken to whom use it. So it's a long term thing .
Neat O2 isn't actually very good for you!!! Especially if you aren't being closely monitored ...
science.howstuffworks.com/q...
This is a reply to both Blearyeyed and PMRpro.
Thank you both for your replies, especially Blearyeyed for such a detailed and comprehensive post.
My reason for buying the cans of oxygen, and the concentrator, were to help overcome any shortness of breath if I should catch Covid. It was when we were all being frightened to death by the constant media and governmental messages about saving the NHS. So I thought I'd do my bit and try to ensure that I didn't end up in hospital if I did catch Covid.
When I did finally catch Covid, in October 2021, I didn't have any shortness of breath at all. Neither did my wife or son, and we all went through the experience together.
Instead I had a constant really bad headache that did respond a little to painkillers, but lasted for the best part of two weeks, along with no appetite and extreme weakness. My wife suffered more than I did but in a similar fashion, and for her it was also accompanied by a singular (thank goodness!) bout of incontinence. For our son (who lives with us) there was some weakness, but he also lost his senses of smell and taste, although he retained some strength and stamina, and was able to do some shopping when we became short of food after the first week.
So for us the oxygen supplies and machine were not really needed at all. As I said in my earlier post, I still have several of the cans and the machine is now sitting out in my garage, doing nothing. As for keeping the machine sterile, it's just sitting in a large plastic bag, so is probably ingesting some dust and dirt particles. However, when in use the oxygen collected and concentrated by it is passed through water, and the water has to be changed before each session in order to ensure that all dust particles are removed.
As it's not been needed I'll probably gather all the bits and rebox them, then sell it on, either on Ebay or Amazon, as it was not a cheap investment to make, and having it sitting out there rotting slowly is just money going rusty for no good reason.
I’ve not tried it personally. However my niece in law had a series of 4-5 sessions that reversed her debilitating long covid symptoms ie, fatigue, memory lost, aching muscles etc.
Did the effect last?
The effect could have lasted , but in the sense that rather than the chamber treatment reversing the symptoms on its own , it helped speed up the recovery process and when the Long COVID itself had completely been resolved no more sessions would be needed.They are brilliant treatments according to a number of MS and Fibro patients I've spoken to but when you require it for a chronic condition they can reduce the intensity and length of a flare and increase the length of time between incidents but only if you use the treatment consistently long term .
For acute severe symptoms during or after a major illness they could certainly give relief and speed up recovery times from treatments , it's just unfortunate it hasn't been picked up on by the NHS.
One issue I suppose isn't just cost and training but because of the amount of sessions required ( they can't get away with these 10-12 sessions and then you are done strategies) and because as with any oxygen therapy it can cause some patients side effects further down the line.
I've heard it is also used for people suffering from things like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) so it makes sense that it might help people with long covid
Yes CFS/ M.E patients try it in a similar way to Fibro patients if they can get access to it.Unfortunately, with the lifetime chronic conditions the therapy can end up being a pretty hefty lifetime investment if you want to keep getting the results, and you need to consider the side effects of having to use it on a long term basis.
To get to a maintenance level for CFS , Fibro or chronic pain it can take 5 sessions a week for upto 60 sessions, then you can drop back to 1-2 sessions a week to hopefully maintain the reduction in pain and fatigue . The greatest length of time before symptoms fully return in pain or neurological conditions after stopping sessions is approx 12 months, but generally symptoms can begin to return in a as little as 2 months.
It's effectiveness in patients with cancer , post surgery or post infection has more to do with speeding up cell recovery and wound healing.
Like all oxygen therapies , even for Fatigue , ironically the commonest short term side effect is temporary sleepiness.
Remarkably so, her memory and strength returned she was able to go back to work. They are now full converts. The academic who runs the chamber has been publishing on it trying to convince doctors in the NHS of it's benefits and of using higher O2 concentrations in some hospital settings.
This is interesting. I know they use hyperbaric chambers for some cancers.I'm a scuba diver and dive often and have always felt great once under the water. The oxygen I'm breathing is high because of my certification as well it's like being in a hyperbaric chamber for over 2 hrs. The high concentration of oxygen was a benefit for diving because you come up less fatigued.
I always felt the hyperbaric part a benefit but oxygen now was an added bonus.
Thanks for the update
Interesting. So do you thnk it helps with some aspects of having PMR eg fatigue?
I can't definitively say yes. But for me diving I always felt better. I contributed it to being in a hyperbaric chamber that we know has benefits with certain illnesses, but now who's to say it wasn't also the high degree of oxygen.
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