MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

​A debilitating nervous system disease, multiple sclerosis results in localized patches of inflammation in the brain and spinal cord, which may eventually scar. In 1983, a controlled, double-blind study reported a beneficial effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (New England Journal of Medicine). Another 10,000 patients have received HBO treatment in England. In most, an initial intensive course has been followed by intermittent maintenance treatment. 703 patients were followed for up to 13 years. Four hundred and sixty-four patients (66%) who completed the initial course continued with treatment for at least three years as they found that their condition was stabilized, or the previous rate of deterioration retarded. According to this study, about one maintenance treatment every two weeks over many years is required to appreciably arrest progression, and once weekly is even more effective. Another study in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, demonstrated a remarkable slowing of cerebellar function (coordination) deterioration in their report of 120 MS patients one year following hyperbaric oxygen treatment.