Mary V. was inquiring about HBOT, or Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.  “What do you think about this?  Is there any danger in trying it?”

A:   Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been shown to be helpful for PWCs  provided it is administered in a “solid chamber.”   There are canvas chambers currently selling in the market that don’t actually increase oxygenation, they just increase the atmospheric pressure and have no medical benefit.  I am not aware of any dangers, however.

Solid chamber HBOT has been shown to be effective for symptomatic relief of CFS. The problem is that the relief is short lived, and treatments need to be done once or twice weekly at a cost of $125 each.  The few patients that have pursued this tell me that the benefit decreases over time.  I have never known anybody to continue the treatment for long periods.