How does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) help with the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis?
Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an incurable disease of the central nervous system. “Sclerosis” refers to scarring of the white matter of the brain and spinal cord. MS usually strikes young adults and in time can render a person unable to write, speak, and walk. Some 400,000 Americans live with MS, and 200 more are diagnosed every week. About 80% of people with MS experience cycles of remission and relapse.
In multiple sclerosis the body’s own immune system attacks the lines of communication between nerve cells. But scientists don’t know the root cause of this mechanism. Over the past two decades, extensive international medical research has demonstrated that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) can play an extremely important role in the treatment of MS. In many European countries, HBO is now considered an integral part of the MS treatment program – in England alone, over 10,000 MS patients are currently receiving hyperbaric oxygen treatment.
Many MS people report improvements in their overall symptoms and their functional ability. Patients have reported improvements with their ataxia, numbness in their fingers and hands, balance, visual fields, concentration, pain, weakness, and dizziness.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments should be initiated as soon as the condition is diagnosed, and before irreversible lesions have become established. This does not mean that patients whose diagnosis was determined more than five years previously will not benefit.