Hyperbaric oxygen for stroke

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  June, 2005  by Thomas L. Hammons

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Editor:

This is a personal story about my 53 year-old daughter, Pamela.

First she had surgery for the removal of two benign tumors in the peritoneum in May of 2003. She had a siezure two days following surgery that acted like a paralytic stroke. She was completely blind and she could not walk or use her hands to feed herself. She was in a hospital for five months.

The day following the seizure in May of 2003, I called my friend David Steenblock, DO of Mission Viejo, California by phone. He has been treating stroke patients with paralysis with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Dr. Steenblock said that she needed hyperbaric oxygen treatment at once. I had no idea of the objection that the orthodox medical establishment had to its use on a patient like my daughter. According to orthodox medical thinking, hyperbaric oxygen is used in the treatment of burns and for nothing else. When my son-in-law made contact with a hospital with a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, he was told that the treatment could be of no help to my daughter.

And so it was for over a year. Then in August of 2004 my friend Glen Wilcoxson, MD here in Spanish Fort, Alabama bought a chamber for hyperbaric oxygen and he at once had some success in its use. My son-in-law talked to him and developed a liking for the treatment. So I bought a chamber for hyperbaric oxygen at a cost of $13,000 and had it shipped to his home in September of 2004. I felt that as I was fostering a treatment that the orthodox medical establishment was against, I should pay for the chamber.

As it has turned out it was the best money I have ever spent and I take great satisfaction in the results.

If my son-in-law could have found a doctor doing hyperbaric oxygen treatment, it would have cost $150 per treatment and nothing covered by insurance.

I think that many stroke patients could be helped by hyperbaric oxygen but with the medical establishment so against this treatment, it would be best to buy a chamber and do self-medication at home.

The following is her husband's Tom's report.

In May of 2003, my wife was diagnosed with two benign 5 cm tumors. One was an adrenal tumor and one was an ovarian tumor. Two doctors were engaged to operate. One was to remove the ovarian tumor and the other was to remove the adrenal tumor. The surgery went poorly and she went into renal failure almost immediately. Many complications set in during the next few days and she developed Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome as a result. This caused a total lack of muscular coordination and control as well as total blindness. She developed breathing problems and had a tracheotomy as well.

She remained hospitalized for five months in a series of three hospitals. Once she was home, she could not walk, feed herself, dress herself or even go to the bathroom herself. The following six months were spent with multiple therapists working with her several times each week. She was then able to walk a little with the use of a cane and could see shadows and tell the difference between light and dark but still could not feed herself and lacked coordination between her right side and her left. At the recommendation of Wayne Martin, her father, we started Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy on a daily basis for about 2-2 1/2 hours every day. Within the first three weeks she was able to clap her hands and interlace her fingers. At five weeks she was far more stable with her cane and her vision was beginning to improve. She was beginning to see colors better and more detail. After ten weeks of Hyperbaric Therapy she was able to get around the house on her own, feed herself, able to recognize some detail on a television screen, do some of her own dressing and was able to go to the bathroom on her own.

Her improvement was vastly accelerated after starting the Hyperbaric Therapy and I thank my father-in-law, Wayne Martin, profusely for recommending it.

Thomas L. Hammons

Wayne Martin, BS, ChE

25 Orchard Court

Fairhope, Alabama 36532 USA

Phone: 251-928-3975

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