William S. Maxfield - The Oxygen Cure: A Complete Guide to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

William S. Maxfield, MD, and Jodie Gould

Humanix Books

The Oxygen Cure

Copyright 2017 by Humanix Books

All rights reserved

Humanix Books, P.O. Box 20989, West Palm Beach, FL 33416, USA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Maxfield, William S., author.

Title: The oxygen cure : a complete guide to hyperbaric oxygen therapy / Dr. William S. Maxfield.

Description: West Palm Beach, FL : Humanix Books, [2016] | Includes .

Identifiers: LCCN 2016037589 (print) | LCCN 2016038341 (ebook) | ISBN 9781630060510 (paperback) | ISBN 9781630060527 (E-book) | ISBN 9781630060527 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Hyperbaric oxygenation. | BISAC: HEALTH & FITNESS / Alternative Therapies. | HEALTH & FITNESS / Diseases / General. | HEALTH & FITNESS / Pain Management.

Classification: LCC RM666.O83 M39 2016 (print) | LCC RM666.O83 (ebook) | DDC 615.8/36dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037589

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Cover Design: Tom Lau

Interior Design: Scribe Inc.

Humanix Books is a division of Humanix Publishing, LLC. Its trademark, consisting of the words Humanix is registered in the Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this book is meant to be used for general resource purposes only; it is not intended as specific medical advice for any individual and should not substitute medical advice from a healthcare professional. If you have (or think you may have) a medical problem, speak to your doctor or healthcare practitioner immediately about your risk and possible treatments. Do not engage in any therapy or treatment without consulting a medical professional.

ISBN: 978-1-63006-051-0 (Trade Paper)

ISBN: 978-1-63006-052-7 (E-book)

For more than 25 years, Ive worked as a specialist in hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), a medical procedure in which you enter an enclosed body chamber to breathe pure oxygen at air pressure levels that are higher than what we naturally inhale. You do not need a medical degree to understand how HBOT works. Did you know that there is 21 percent oxygen in the air that we breathe? Simply put, HBOT works by having patients breathe 100 percent oxygen in a pressurized, closed environment. The lungs transfer this oxygen to the red blood cells (more on those later) and push oxygen into the fluid of the blood. The oxygen-filled cells are then carried around the body by the plasma (fluid), which travels through the blood vessels. HBOT uses oxygen to treat tissues in the body that have been damaged by oxygen deprivation.

What happens next is nothing short of miraculous. By giving our bodies these infusions of oxygen where we need them most (at various levels and frequencies), we can heal wounds and burns, restore lost cognitive function, treat cancer patients suffering from chemotherapy side effects, and, at times, help myriad illnesses and diseases go into remission. HBOT is a holistic treatment that targets the underlying disease or condition, not just the symptoms.

As a board-certified physician in hyperbaric medicine, radiology, and nuclear medicine, Ive seen thousands of seemingly hopeless cases transformed by this natural healing process. Im currently a HBOT consultant based in Odessa, Florida, where I treat a wide range of medical conditions, including dementia, stroke, heart ailments, migraines, asthma, emphysema, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, cerebral palsy, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

My colleagues and I have saved countless fingers, toes, legs, and hands from amputation. Weve helped the bedridden to walk, the mute to talk, and the deaf to hear, and the near blind to see. Hold on a minute, you say. Is Dr. Maxfield a doctor or a faith healer? Why should I trust a treatment that hasnt been entirely embraced by the American Medical Association and only approved for 14 indications by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? All I can tell you is that medicine isnt perfect and it continues to make advances and to evolve. If you are old enough, you might remember a time when smoking cigarettes was not considered hazardous to your health by the surgeon general. And what once seemed more like science fiction than real science (transplants, preventive vaccines, laser surgery) is now taken for granted. The same is the case for HBOT, which, although misunderstood by many in traditional medicine and still the best-kept medical secret, is rapidly becoming a widely accepted as a scientifically proven medical alternative to drug therapy and invasive surgeries. I will explain why this proven therapy has been kept under wraps.

When people think of HBOT, they might picture Michael Jackson sleeping in an oxygen chamber in search of eternal youth. What you might not know is that he discovered HBOT at a hospital while recovering from a burn he received while filming a commercial. As it turns out, not only is hyperbaric oxygen therapy an approved and excellent treatment for burns, it has also been found to help certain conditions associated with aging, such as osteoporosis, arthritis, dementia, poor eyesight, and even wrinkles. It is currently most often used for traumatic brain injuries and healing wounds.

While HBOT sounds breathtakingly simple, keep in mind that it is a medical procedure that should be supervised and administered (at least in the beginning of treatment) by a trained and certified oxygen therapy clinician. The correct dose of HBOT varies depending on each persons condition. Patients are exposed to increased levels of oxygen delivered over a period of time. Doctors like me, and other experts included in this book who are trained in HBOT, decide on a patients protocol based on their experience, research, and the patients scan results.

The good news for those who have tried and failed with other treatments, including surgeries or medications, or have been told by traditional physicians that HBOT is quackeryor worse, harmfulthere are more and more studies and clinical trials being done every year that verify hyperbaric oxygen therapys remarkable healing properties and even curative benefits for a variety of common conditions and life-threatening diseases. HBOT has being widely used in other countries such as Russia, China, Cuba, Canada, England, Israel, and parts of South America for decades with enormous success.

I come from a family of physicians, including my father and my two brothers, who were all doctors. My father, who was a general practitioner, was a believer in alternative medicineand many years ahead of his timeduring the early 20th century. He was the first to use an X-ray machine in east Texas in 1903. I still have a photo of the machine, which was operated with a hand-crank. In the picture, there are electrical wires on the ceiling and the wall coming to the machine. My father had added an electric motor, and a year later, that same machine was powered by electricity. My dad worked in an East Texas town that had salt mines, so many of his patients would come in with work-related fractures. My dad recognized the value that an X-ray machine provided by helping him diagnosis his patients injuries.

My father preferred natural remedies that treated the underlying disease rather than the symptoms, which is what traditional medicine tends to do. He was so ahead of his time that he understood the connection between lifestyle and health, and he would frequently advise his patients to keep their weight down by eating nutritionally balanced foods and exercising. I remember him forbidding my siblings and me from eating ice cream, not because of the dangers of sugar, but because he thought it was too cold. His theory turned out not to be scientifically sound, but, conversely, research now shows the risks of contracting esophageal cancer from drinking beverages, such as coffee, that are too hot.