Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Two years ago I stumbled across a story about a girl name Grace who lives in Wisconsin and has a metabolic disorder. Doctors told her mom that she would not live past the age of two. Today Grace is seven years old and the inspiration for us to bring our daughter, Emily, to receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). So what exactly is HBOT?

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is the inhalation of 100%
medical grade oxygen at greater than normal atmospheric pressure. This is the equivalent of breathing 100% oxygen underwater from depths of 16.5 feet or more.

The benefits of oxygen supersaturation have become accepted by much of the international community for a wide range of conditions. The oxygen levels in the blood are increased up to 200%, and in the rest of the body, substantially more. The increase in oxygen helps to heal wounds, fight infections, reduce swelling and remove toxins from the body. As atmospheric pressure increases, so does the concentration levels of the oxygen.*

*taken from Life Force Therapies USA web site.

Emily suffers from idiopathic intractable multi-focal complex partial seizures. In short she has a neurological condition that causes her to have seizures everyday. At Emily's worst point she was have upwards of 1,600 clonic seizures in a day. She is currently taking five seizure medications and has the Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) as well. We did not take Emily to hyperbaric therapy for her to gain better control of the seizures, but for all of the other benefits that is has on the brain and body. Hopefully after enough treatments the brain will realize that it no longer needs to seize.

I am more than happy to provide more details about HBOT if you wish to contact me directly. I just didn't want to create an extremely long Blog. However, here is a quick list of all of the benefits that Emily had after completing 144 HBOT sessions:

• Better eye contact - even with people she is not familiar with
• Much more vocalizing and new words
• More attentive
• Stronger core and head control
• The ability to watch something other than a Baby Einstein or Brainy Baby movie
• Better control while eating and drinking
• Better motor planning skills
• Improved response time to questions
• Better tracking of objects
• Willing to try new things without complaining
• Able to go on an outing of any length without a meltdown or any crying

KristyK