More Oxygen to the Brain Helps in Fibromyalgi

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
Oxygen should theoretically help FM and ME/CFS patients. Both disorders may be associated with reduced blood flows in the brain or poor oxygen utilization. This study used hyperic oxygen chambers to increase oxygen concentrations in the blood - and hopefully the brain.

Hyperbaric oxygen chambers that expose patients to pure oxygen at higher-than-atmospheric pressures are commonly used to treat patients with embolisms, burns, carbon monoxide poisoning and decompression sickness (known to divers as "the bends"), among many other conditions.

One effect of exposure is to push more oxygen into a patient's bloodstream, which delivers it to the brain. Efrati's earlier trials found HBOT induces neuroplasticity that leads to repair of chronically impaired brain functions and improved quality of life for post-stroke and mild traumatic brain injury patients, even years after the initial injury.

Ben-Jacob said two patients spearheaded the push for the study. One was an Oxford graduate student who developed fibromyalgia after suffering a traumatic brain injury in a train crash. "By chance, the secretary of the department where she worked is the mother of the nurse in charge of the HBOT. She said you have to go and try to do it," he recalled.

The other, he said, is a professor of sociology who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorders due to child abuse. The professor had suffered from fibromyalgia for many years. Her symptoms got worse through the initial treatments - a common experience for other patients in the study who she said had suppressed memories due to child abuse - before they got better.

But by the end of treatment both women showed remarkable improvement, Ben-Jacob said.



They stated that people with traumatic brain injury and FM experienced complete remission of their symptoms. Infection triggered patients didn't fare as well but still improved.

They were able to associate the decreased brain activity in the over active areas of the brain associated with pain in FM (!)...Some people experienced a complete resolution of their symptoms.

"We have learned, for example, that when fibromyalgia is triggered by traumatic brain injury, we can expect complete resolution without any need for further treatment. However, when the trigger is attributed to other causes, such as fever-related diseases, patients will probably need periodic maintenance therapy."
 

Ughhh

Active Member
I don't have much to add other than that I personally think oxygen or a lack of oxygen plays some role in this. I had a dramatic worsening of symptoms when I moved to high altitude location. I felt like my body was constantly in a hypoxic low oxygen deprived state, but my blood oxygen levels read as normal. I felt like I couldn't breath and like my blood wasn't carrying oxygen where it was needed. They actually gave my oxygen machine bc I developed atypical headache that was similar to cluster headaches except mine was on both sides, and oxygen is used to treat them. I liked having the oxygen, but it didn't fix much I needed to get out of the high altitude.
 

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