Dumfries & Galloway’s First Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber Is Now In Dumfries

Just Breathe O2 is a community interest company, dedicated to bringing hyperbaric oxygen therapy to the Borderlands community, providing individuals with the opportunity to self manage the symptoms associated with long term and complex health concerns.

DGWGO went along to meet Beth Morrison of Just Breathe O2 to find out more about Just Breathe O2 which is situated at Grierson House at The Crichton.

Just Breath O2 – Website

The Just Breathe O2 website lists all the conditions that can benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy and the other general benefits.

Beth told DGWGO “Oxygen Therapy, also referred to as Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, has been supporting people living with Multiple Sclerosis in the UK since the middle of the last century.  Throughout the years it has been proven to benefit many more health conditions and today is also accessed by many top athletes in order to speed recovery times and assist in enhancing their performance.  It is a non-invasive and extremely safe therapy that has helped many individuals regain a substantial level of independence.”

Conditions Oxygen Therapy Can Benefit

Wound and Burn Healing – Oxygen therapy helps to heal wounds and helps treat chronic ulceration.

Virus Treatment – Breathing oxygen under pressure is virucidal i.e. it kills viruses.

Fibromyalgia – Oxygen therapy can help reduce pain levels, clear ‘brain fog’ and assist with insomnia.

Diabetes – Oxygen therapy has been used to treat diabetic wounds and can prevent people living with diabetes from losing limbs.

Alcohol & Drug Detoxification – Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has a documented role in alcohol and drug detoxification with claims that it reduces the time of withdrawal by up to half. It can also help reduce the symptoms and cravings experienced during nicotine withdrawal.

Stroke – Accessing oxygen under pressure following a stroke can help to reduce the swelling and protect brain cells, which reduces the extent of irreversible brain damage.

Sports Recovery – What do Michael Phelps and Novac Djokovic have in common? They, alongside thousands of other world class athletes access oxygen therapy to improve their athletic performance and aid recovery of sports injuries.

Post Radiotherapy Trauma – There is a risk of serious complications developing after radiation treatment for cancer. Radiation treatment kills good cells along with bad cells. With oxygen therapy the destructive effect of radiation can be mitigated as the therapy improves oxygen supply to damaged tissue and stimulates healing.

Long COVID and Oxygen Therapy

Beth said “Oxygen therapy can help with post-viral syndrome and in particular long COVID. There’s been quite a lot of information coming out recently on the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy with long COVID. It can help to reduce inflammation which can be a trigger for a lot of the side effects with long COVID. So, it’ll be interesting to see what transpires as the research continues.”