Hyperbaric HBOT Oxygen Therapy

True Life - Matthew's Story

Matthew is a twin {twin 2} born at 28weeks gestation with an adgar score of 5. He was born with severe respiratory disease syndrome which was complicated by a viral pneumonia colonised with MRSA and an umbilical hernia also severe chronic lung disease, jaundice, and infection –oesophageal.

Matthew in Chamber

Matthew had increasing oxygen requirements due to significant respiratory deterioration, there were multiple areas of collapse/consolidation and he required high frequency ventilation as he was unable to achieve good gases, as he had a staph/epidermidis sepsis and this caused a deterioration of his respiratory condition, there for it was impossible to get him off the ventilation as he had a large amount of apnoeas desaturations due to his prematurity. He also was anaemia and had several top/up blood transfusions. Shortly after birth he had an ultrasound screen which showed a mild degree of ventricular dilatation.

Matthew was diagnosed at 15 months with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, he is more severe on the left side the muscles in his trunk and legs are very tight the tightness is in a pattern of flexion {bending} and he stands on his toes with his knees and hips bent ,he has wore AFO {splints} since the age of 1 year these are to keep his ankles at 90 degree and encourage a stretch on his calf muscle in order to help him stand and to try to put his heels flat on the floor. Matthew walks with a K-Walker and uses his wheel chair as he often becomes tired, due to fatigue; His fine motor skills are also affected in his hands.

Since he was diagnosed we have tried many different treatments

First we tried BOTOX INJECTIONS which helped reduce his spasticity and muscle spasms we done this 3 times over a period of 2 years first starting in November 2002 at THE PORTLAND HOSPITAL IN LONDON in conjunction with this we also done intensive physiotherapy and functional nerve stimulation he had the injections in to his calf muscles. Hamstrings and adductors, this released some of the tension in his muscles and gave the opportunity to increase his stretches and active movement. But this treatment only last between 3/6 months within the body it is not a cure, as each time you have it you get less effect/benefit so for now we have decided this is not for him anymore.

Second treatment In December 2004 we took Matthew for 2 months to COMPLETE WELLNESS CENTER IN ORLANDO for a course of HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPHY he would go in a Monoplace Chamber for 60 minutes twice a day and he would breathe in 100 percent co2 oxygen this provided excellent results his speech it is much clearer now. He is also more sociable he now likes to mix with other children as before he would not, sleeping has also been a problem since birth Matthew would sleep for short periods he now sleeps much longer and wakes only sometimes usually when he is ill/sick. It also reduced his spasticity improved his balance and co-ordination we saw a huge change in him. The biggest thing is he no longer suffers from fatigue and no longer uses his K-Walker. Since returning back to the UK we still do hyperbaric twice a week at our local MS CENTER as we believe this is is a good treatment for Matthew as it helps to manage his spssticity it is not a cure but it can do him no harm only good and we plan to do this as long as he is getting improvement from the sessions.

Matthew in Chamber