The Hazards of Oxygen

Reprinted from UMDNJ HealthState Summer 2002, used by permission.
 

One of the most common treatment errors for people with neuromuscular disorders is oxygen therapy, which Bach likens to "putting a Band-Aid on a cancer." He says that oxygen should never be used for people with neuromuscular conditions unless pneumonia has resulted in the need for intubation and intensive care.

Oxygen turns off the brain's drive to breathe and greatly increases the likelihood of ventilatory failure, basically allowing the blood's carbon dioxide to increase to levels that render a person unconscious and cause him to stop breathing entirely (respiratory arrest).

Usually decreases in blood oxygen levels are caused by airway secretions that the patient is not strong enough to clear without training in Bach's methods and the secretions themselves can also result in respiratory arrest.