I was supposed to get back to you all last week about my fatigue, but my MS made me forget; not my fault.Had I remembered to include my findings I would've told you that other than the two occasions mentioned where I had fatigue, there were no other times up until last Friday where I had any. Over the last seven days, I have experienced fatigue on just the one occasion - Wednesday afternoon. I can live with that!
I restarted my hyperbarick oxygen therapy (HBOT) last Friday afternoon. For those that don't know, HBOT is where you breath 100% oxygen at a depth of 33 feet below sea level.
It was nice getting back in the submarine again. Okay, it's not a submarine and it doesn't actually go under water. It feels like you're in a submarine though. You get locked in a large metal cylinder and they adjust the air pressure until it's the equivalent of being 33 feet below sea level. This takes approximately 15 minutes to. 'dive' to this depth and at this point, I need to point out that you can forget this treatment if you suffer with Claustrophobia as that door won't open until the air pressure is identical on both sides of the door. When you reach the desired depth, you put on a mask that has been connected to an oxygen tank, and, erm..., breathe. And that's it. The oxygen is pure oxygen.
When we inhale air, about 70% is Nitrogen. You've got some inert gases too, and the remaining 20% (ish) is Oxygen. Obviously the oxygen you're inhaling in the tank is 100%.
That's the Science lesson over, now back to why HBOT helps me. You're having the oxygen for an hour at a time. I don't notice any changes straight away, but that evening I feel more alert, my cognition is better. You know what 'cog fog' is like. I suppose it is all linked to fatigue which is better. Also my bladder is much better. I can control it more. It's a bloody nightmare when your bladder is in control of you!!
I should point out that trials were done on this therapy for people with MS, but the results came back inconclusive, so the National Institute of Clinical Health and Excellence (NICE) (why isn't it called NICHE?)chose not adopt it as a therapy for MS. Basically it helps some and makes no difference to others.
My fatigue and my bladder are two things that have improved since I started taking Gilenya. I know it's the drug that had caused these improvements because I stopped the oxygen when I started the medication. If I had continued my oxygen, I wouldn't know if the Gilenya was working.
The effects I get from the oxygen don't last forever. I go in the tank on a Friday and I'm good for the weekend. I would go twice a week, but unfortunately they're not open every day.
I would definitely advise you to look into it and see if you have a hyperbarick oxygen chamber near you. I'm lucky, the one I go to isn't even 20 miles away. What harm can it do? There are no adverse effects to breathing in oxygen. Nothing can go wrong. Go on, try it.
Enjoy your weekend,
Dan
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