Your Joplin Chiropractor Offers Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Lyme Disease

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) involves patients breathing 97 percent oxygen while sitting in a chamber pressurized above sea level pressure. HBOT has been shown to eliminate bacterial infections by enriching the body's soft tissues with pure oxygen. Since most bacteria are anaerobes (bacteria that thrive in low oxygen environments), infusing tissues with oxygen naturally kills inflammatory bacteria.

In addition, HBOT supports leukocyte activity (white blood cells released by the immune system to kill infectious bacteria) and appears to improve the ability of some antibiotics to manage Lyme disease. Since Lyme disease bacteria are anaerobic, your chiropractor in Joplin recommends adults with Lyme disease seek holistic treatment using HBOT.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Offers Symptomatic Relief from Lyme Disease

The deer tick and the western black-legged tick are the only two ticks known to carry and transmit Lyme disease to humans. Lyme disease symptoms come in three phases:

First phase: development of a red rash that looks like a "bull's eye", joint/muscle stiffness, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue.

Second phase: the disappearance of the rash, followed by nervous, heart and joint system diseases.

Third phase: heart inflammation, paralysis of facial muscles, arthritis/joint inflammation and increasing depression and anxiety.

Lyme disease is not curable. Instead, doctors typically prescribe antibiotics to prevent symptoms from progressing past the first phase. Unfortunately, antibiotics do not completely eliminate anaerobic bacteria. Moreover, antibiotics tend to kill all bacteria in the body, even beneficial bacteria that live in your digestive system. Combining HBOT with antibiotics, or using HBOT as the primary treatment for Lyme disease, is rapidly increasing in popularity as research and patient feedback is proving HBOT to be highly effective at managing symptoms of Lyme disease.

Have You Been Diagnosed with Lyme Disease? Call Skaggs Chiropractic Today to Schedule a Consultation Appointment

A hyperbaric oxygen therapy session lasts about 50 minutes and is an entirely comfortable experience. Some people feel slight ear pressure that can be relieved by opening the mouth repeatedly or swallowing to make their ears pop. It is normal for HBOT patients to have a mild fever, headache, and chills following two or more hyperbaric oxygen therapy sessions. Referred to as the Herxheimer response, these symptoms are temporary and indicate Lyme disease bacteria are dying in your body. Once many anaerobic bacteria are eradicated by HBOT, your Lyme disease symptoms will significantly lessen and some may disappear altogether.

Learn more about the many health benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for Lyme disease and other systemic infections by calling Skaggs Chiropractic today at 417-624-4242.