You may be
acquainted with hyperbaric oxygen treatment, in which a patient
breathes in additional oxygen while within a pressurized chamber, as
a care for the bends and carbon monoxide poisoning. But while a
little segment of families with autistic kids believe it helps their
kids, insurance often does not pay for it, and many doctors are
doubtful that it does any good.
New research in
today's BMC Pediatrics may give the care more credibility as care
for autism.
The randomized,
double-blind controlled study of 62 youngsters revealed that people
who received forty hours of treatment over a month were less
irritable, more responsive when folk spoke to them, made more eye
contact and were more companionable than youngsters who failed to
receive it. They were also less delicate to noise ( some autistic
youngsters experience a sort of sensory overload from loud sounds
and background noise ).
The most
improvement was noted in children older than 5 ( the study included
youngsters ages 2 to 7 ) who had milder autism. It is not clear why
the treatment helped, asserts study co-author Dan Rossignol, a
family surgeon at the Global Kid Development Resource Center in
Melbourne, Fla, which treats kids with developmental defects. But
the pressure may ease inflammation assumed to prohibit blood flow to
regions of autistic youngsters's brains that control speech, or
improve its capability to absorb oxygen, he tells
ScientificAmerican.com. "We're not claiming it's a cure," Rossignol
asserted, "but if you can improve understanding so a kid does not
run in front of a vehicle, or improve sleep, that is a benefit."
While the study only treated and tracked the kids for a month,
children who receive the same number of sessions outside of study
settings regularly remain better for longer, Rossignol announces.
Others improve
after eighty sessions, according to Robert Hendren, executive
director of the College of California Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, a
big autism research center. He adds that some fogeys also buy
chambers ( licensed by the Food and Drug Administration ) and give
their children continual "tune-ups" at home, though those treatments
have not been studied. While most kids tolerate the treatment well,
it could cause claustrophobia, bruising of the eardrums, sinus
discomfort and, rarely, fits, Rossignol announces.
A computed one
in 150 kids in the U.S. Have autism in what some are calling a
pandemic of the disorder, according to the Centers for Illness
Control and Prevention ( CDC ). Hendren, who wasn't involved in the
study, claims the study was "well done" but the findings have to be
confirmed by others before before hyperbaric oxygen treatment is
counseled as an autism treatment. He adds the results will probably
be utilised by doctors and folks petitioning insurers to pay for the
treatment, which costs roughly $120 to $150 per session and isn't
generally covered for autism. He speculates that ten percent of
autistic kids are getting the treatment.
"It's going to
cost plenty of cash and yet if it is working, it'd be vital to
provide youngsters with this sort of treatment," Hendren tells
ScientificAmerican.com.
"It may help reverse, in prinicple, some of the method that is
causing the autism."
Chambers
To Choose From
Click on
the Picture to Go To the Detailed Page
Free Shipping on all chambers w/in the USA
PORTABLE HYPERBARIC OXYGEN CHAMBERS
