For people with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), everyday tasks we take for granted can be excruciating. RSD, otherwise known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), is a debilitating disorder that causes severe discomfort in the skin. People with RSD can feel pain by lightly touching something. The skin is also known to swell and develop rashes, not to mention that it may change color. In addition, people suffer from weakness, temperature changes, sweating, muscle atrophy, and chronic fatigue. For RSD patients, something as simply as walking a flight of stairs or writing with a pen can be (and often is) a severe challenge.
Fortunately for people with the disorder, there is hope. RSD treatment exists and is perfectly available in many hospitals and clinics around the country. One treatment specifically, hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy, is effective in treating the worst aspects of the disease. What is it? Hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatment uses high levels of oxygen to help reduce pain, restore tissue, improve your immune system, and provide genuine relief for your entire body. This FDA-approved therapy involves the patient entering a pressure-sealed chamber that has an air pressure two to three times higher than normal atmospheric pressure. By increasing the air pressure, oxygen can be delivered to the body in much higher quantities — far higher than would be possible if the patient inhaled pure oxygen under normal pressure. A common treatment used for decompression sickness, hyperbaric oxygen chambers have also been used on patients with AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, radiation necrosis, and Lyme disease.
There are a number of RSD treatment centers around the country that specialize in treating this terrible disease. What these patients have to endure everyday is extraordinary. They deserve the best RSD treatment available — and for that, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is there to help. For more information about RSD and the therapy, feel free to leave a comment or question at the bottom.
