How Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy May Help Fibromyalgia

In a clinical study held in the Turkish Military Hospital, selected fibromyalgia patients were asked to go through 15 sessions of HBOT, each lasting 1.5 hours. The study is controlled with placebo given to some patients. During the course of the study, researchers consistently tracked the number of tender points and pain threshold of every individual patient. Upon the completion of the course, patients who went through HBOT were found to have a significant reduction of tender points and increased threshold of pain. The improvements were not observed in those who received placebo.

The positive outcome of this study prompted more in depth studies and raised hopes for a solution to fibromyalgia.

Potential Side Effect of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
However, this old but new treatment for fibromyalgia can result in dangerous complications when not administered appropriately. Its potential side effects to be considered are:

• Compression of body tissues due to the air pressure can result in a burst eardrum or lungs. This condition is known as Barotrauma.

• Oxygen toxicity can result from overabsorption of oxygen and cause symptoms such as seizures, vomiting and nausea

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