I’m booked for a trial assessment at the Herts MS Centre in Letchworth in early September. I don’t have MS but they offer something I’ve searched over 30 years for – oxygen. I have a degree of Parkinson’s Disease which annoys me immensely. The hands shaking, sudden loss of balance and the clumsiness have always been with me but over that last 3 years they have become much worse. Insomnia has become chronic and my thinking is becoming hesitant. I have a shortness
of breath which only happens sporadically and I’ve noticed I’m starting to breath through my mouth a lot more.

Roger Jefcoate suggested I might like to try oxygen therapy at one of the MS centres around the country. A visit to the local centre elicited the information that the centre is waiting for clarification on the exact meaning of the applicable legislation before offering the treatment to other than MS sufferers.

On 7th September I’m sitting in a special little room with 5 or 6 others while we have oxygen pumped at us. The atmospheric pressure is equivalent to being 16 feet under water. I’ve never been down that far. People have tried to tell me not to expect too much. I’ve been a psychiatric nurse and I know the power of belief. If I can see oxygen therapy as an effective placebo and knowing that placebos work then I go into it with supreme confidence.

There are 20 sessions ending up at an atmospheric pressure of 33 feet underwater. Is it safe? HertsMS Centre have been doing this for 30 years with no comebacks so, YES! it’s safe. And besides there’s a second element …My computer is crowded with ebooks and other potentially useful information which I rarely look at.

In early August I had the thought that I need to re-read Claud Bristol’s book ‘The Magic of Believing’. I have it as a pdf and I wanted it to be different this time so I printed it and stapled it in 10 to 20 page sections. The pdf is 329 pages long – too heavy and bulky to carry around when travelling on buses. Besides, now I can write notes where the thought occurs to me. I can see how this would fit with my idea of oxygen as an effective placebo.

I’ve bought myself an A4 diary, day to a page, and I’m using it to follow Malcom Baxter’s advice about writing down daily my self talk before starting my daily activity. Of course, Big Pharma can’t make any money out this so the medical establishment won’t be in a hurry to support it. Look for further news in the November issue.

David Hands