My experience with Donnay's Oxygen therapy for some Types of MCS
Starting in January of 1978 I had low-level carbon monoxide exposures consistently until April 1987. Of course, I did not know what was going on. I became ill by March of 1978 with what would later be diagnosed as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and MCS. I was disabled by these illnesses until 2010, when I did the Donnay Oxygen protocol that is on the MCSRR.org website. I had significant and lasting improvements from the treatment.
I first heard of low-level carbon monoxide poisoning or MUSES in the summer of 2010. I saw the symptoms, criteria and treatment protocol on the MCSRR.org website when looking for MCS information. The bold statement, "Unlike people with MUSES, who react to all kinds of stimuli, people with MCS usually react badly only to chemicals & molds," caught my attention enough to read Albert Donnay's article, as I did react to all kinds of stimuli.
I filled out question 5 of Mr. Donnay's Protocol for diagnosing and treating symptoms (of MUSES) - current symptoms, and scored 10, with seven or more being highly probable that you have had carbon monoxide exposures. My curiosity was peaked, but I had no awareness of having been exposed to much CO.
With some recall and research, I made a log of long-term carbon monoxide exposures between 1978 and 1987. I was living in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska. The research revealed one to three ongoing carbon monoxide sources to which I was continuously exposed during those years. Please see my blog "My Carbon Monoxide Exposures".
At that point, I was starting to believe there was a reason to investigate the MUSES connection further. I went to my internist and took my notes and a hard copy of Donnay's literature. After careful review, he agreed to order the arterial and venous blood gas draws per Donnay's instructions. The draws were done at the local hospital, where a new protocol had to be worked out to accommodate the arterial - blood lab, and the venous - pulmonary department, being in the same room with the necessary gear. The samples were run through the pulmonary department's equipment as I waited, and five minutes later I had the results.
Plugging the arterial and venous blood gas numbers into the gap calculations provided by A. Donnay, revealed a positive, or oxygen deficient result. Please see the blog "My Blood Gas Results"
I started planning to do the oxygen therapy. Mr. Donnay provided me with the name of a man who had done this, in my state (N.M.), and I had several discussions with him about his results and experience with the oxygen therapy protocol that Donnay recommends. I purchased an oxygen concentrator and tentatively started the therapy. Donnay recommends stopping any non-essential prescription drugs, and so I started to phase off the low level of Tramadol that I was taking but stayed on a small amount of SSRI. I slowly increased the oxygen level to the 5 liters needed.
The therapy consisted of breathing oxygen at 5 liters for two hours, at one time, each day for eight weeks. This is done while lying on your back. I used an oxygen concentrator bag and non-re-breather mask. As I was too sensitive to plastics to use the standard hospital oxygen supplies, I substituted Tygon tubing for the plastic tubing usually used. I also used a ceramic breathing mask and a collection bag set-up purchased from The Environmental Health Center in Dallas. (Afterward, Donnay told me he recommends using a nasal cannula.)
The first change I noticed in my body happened at about 2 weeks into the therapy. I started yawning: I had not yawned for 30 years. At the end of two months there was a definitely increased tolerance to sense stimuli; that is to being touched, hearing loud sounds, temperature variations, etc.
At that time I returned to the hospital and had the exact same blood draws that I had had before the treatment. Again I was given the results quickly and then and there plugged them into the gap formulas. The hypoxia was corrected.
For the next several months I had a changed environment, a more toxic environment and other stresses to my system. I thought it would be a good idea to redo the treatment, as Donnay said this may be necessary. After repeating the therapy for another 6 weeks, there were additional improvements in my health; that is a decrease in symptoms.
What to me was the most significant change in symptoms started in the second oxygen therapy session. My body temperature returned to normal. At the onset of the illness, in 1978, my body temperature dropped to about 96.4 degrees and stayed there for the next 15 years. After having mercury amalgams removed from 16 teeth in 1990, my body temperature went up to about 97.4. After the first 2 month treatment with oxygen it increased a few tenths of a percent and after the second treatment, it has returned to normal.
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Update
This article is for people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
Four years ago I did an oxygen protocol that gave me great relief and improvement from MCS.
I would like to share that what I did and how it helped me. I will also give some background about my MCS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so you can relate it to yours.
I have been disabled by MCS/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia for forty years. In 2010 I did the oxygen protocol designed by Albert Donnay and explained on the MCSRR.org website under MUSES. I had great improvement from that treatment, and have continued to improve since.
The treatment uses oxygen from a regular oxygen concentrator. It takes 6-8 weeks at 2 hours per day on the hightest concentration. That is it.
This protocol is for low-level carbon monoxide poisoning. Donnay has questionaires on the web page to determine if you have the symptoms of low level carbon monoxide poisoning (or MUSES). He is very clear that not all people with MCS have MUSES. Those who have heightened sensitivity to sounds, temperature changes, touch, etc are likely candidates. It is all explained very well on the web site.
Here is the best part! There is a medical test to determine if you have this condition!
I love that. After so many years of non-specific tests and deducing what was wrong with me, it was wonderful to have a test that was positive. After the treament I repeated the test, and it was negative😂
Prior to seeing this treatement, did not know I had had a lot of carbon monoxide exposure. But, when I sat down and made a list of my exposures, there were a lot. Then, I read about things that also increase carbon monoxide in your body - like working with paints and strippers. Also carbon monoxide is created by the body when you are under stress. So, don't write this off until you at least look at the questionaires on the web site. (please see my blog page "Cheryl's Carbon Monoxide Exposures")
The medical test is for blood gases. There is a blood draw of arterial and veinous blood at the same sitting, the blood is analyzed, and then the numbers are put into a worksheet to determine if you are hypoxic in this way. Again specific instructions and the worksheet are all on the web site. (Please see my blog page "My Blood Gas Results".)
The improvements I initially experienced were: 1) The Blood gases became normal - I was no longer hypoxic. 2) My body temperature went from 96.5 to 98.6 (it had been in the 96 range for 40 years). It has remained solidly at 98.6 for four years. 3) I became much less sensitive to sounds, temperature changes, light and dark, barometric changes (and, not at all sensitive to some things). 4) Much less reactive to foods and chemicals 5)There were other changes that were not a big deal, but were indicative of something having changed in my body. One of these was that I started yawning. I hadn't yawned for 40 years. I now yawn every evening. yeah! Another example - I now get the flue and colds. I have not had the flu or colds for 40 years - but now, my body knows how to get normally sick.
Unlike some other treatments the results of this treatement have endured. I have many other symptoms that did not immediately respond. I think thus: I have been oxygen deficient for 40 years, so it is not surprising that my body would not entirely recover. I felt that if this was the actual crux of my illness that I should slowly get better in other ways. That has happened. I also find that now I can see a difference when I try something - change my supplements or diet for example. I can now tell when I am having a reaction to something.
It is my hope that others who see this will judge whether they fit the profile for long term low level carbon monoxide poisoning: That they will have doctors who will order the blood gas tests: And that they will do the therapy and recover to the extent that I have recovered. I hope they do this sooner and younger than I did. For those with MUSES there is life after MCS.
Personal Health History
We who have tried so many therapies without long term improvement tend to be unbelieving and dismissive of anyone claiming to be better. I am providing this summary of my MCS/fibro/CFIDS history so that those with these conditions can compare their experiences; and to show that I was very ill for a very long time.
When I was about 25 years old, after a not very healthy childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, I made an effort to improve my health with diet and exercise. By the time I was 28, I was active in several sports, and was seldom sick. I really enjoyed being healthy and participating in active sports. My two sons were also healthy and hardy. I had a degree in computer science and worked hard as an analyst programmer.
In 1978 I moved to Fairbanks, AK, to take a good job at the University of Alaska. Soon after arrival I developed a sore throat that continued until I left Fairbanks. After about three months I started to have pains in my arms and legs, feeling weak, depressed and tired. I was having trouble thinking clearly. These symptoms were episodic.
This "disease" continued to progress over the years, and trips to doctors were of no help at all. In 1982 I was tentatively diagnosed with MS. A year later the Virginia Mason Clinic in Seattle came up with the name Fibromyalgia. Several years later I read of the "type two allergy" and went to a clinical ecologist who tested for, and diagnosed, chemical sensitivity, food allergies and many air-born allergies. At this point the pains in my arms and legs were so intense that I would close my office door, lie down on the floor in a ball, and cry. New symptoms were: ongoing bladder and urinary problems, gigantic long and painful periods, rage, weeping and a catatonic state. When I tried to keep a symptom log the number of issues didn't fall below 20 ongoing symptoms.
At 40 years of age I moved out of Alaska, but did not recover my health. I went on disability and started a series of efforts to overcome the illness that I was then calling MCS/CFIDS. The only relief of my symptoms was avoidance of the indoor and outdoor air pollution that is endemic in our world. I was also told that I needed rest, rest and more rest. And so, I withdrew from all activities involving other people and places outside of my home. For 20 years I was in bed about 18 hours per day.
Over those twenty years my husband and I moved about ten times - trying to find an environment in which I could function and be out of pain. We modified several homes for my needs, and stripped down and rebuilt five travel trailers for me to live in while I changed to various locations. The culmination was our buying land in a remote part of New Mexico where there was very little air pollution. We built a house there using all less toxic materials.
In NM I discovered that even in an almost perfectly toxin free environment I was still ill. I had many fewer symptoms: The reactions to petrol fumes, air conditioning, laundry products, scents, cleaning products, pesticides, and molds - such as various headaches, sudden weakness, sore throats, swollen glands, muscle pain, incontinence, crying jags, irritability, stomach cramping and nausea - were in abatement as long as I stayed in my special environment. I was still ill however. I found once the masking "reactions" stopped, that I was left with a very low energy level, brain fog, sleepiness, dizziness, depression and a low body temperature. There were also the symptoms of being chemically sensitive (but away from chemicals), noise sensitive, temperature sensitive, air pressure sensitive, food sensitive, emf sensitive and allergies. As time went by, despite trying to maintain a level of exercise and good diet, I was becoming weaker and weaker.
During these years I tried many treatments, some with temporary improvement, all with huge bills. (Plese see "Other Treaments I have Tried")
As I became less able to do anything my situational type of depression grew. At sixty I was giving away my heirlooms and planning homes for my pets.
Fortunately, I discovered the article "Good News for MCS People" on MCSRR.org website and the MUSES phenomena.
As I write this it has been about four years since the last oxygen therapy. I have done more in those three years than in the twenty-five previous years. Initially I moved back to the NW and lived near my children and family members. Then I returned to Tucson. (That involved sellin three houses adn three long idistance moves.) Best of all I was able to step up and help where I was needed.
I still use air cleaners, and do my best to avoid chemical exposures. I still have reactions to severe chemical exposures, but recover completely after removing myself from them. I have continued to get stronger and increase my stamina, which was at zero. I can walk a mile or two, walk upstairs, stay up and out of bed for twelve hours and go to selected events and stores and restaurants. My diet is including more and more foods.
Four years ago I did an oxygen protocol that gave me great relief and improvement from MCS.
I would like to share that what I did and how it helped me. I will also give some background about my MCS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so you can relate it to yours.
I have been disabled by MCS/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia for forty years. In 2010 I did the oxygen protocol designed by Albert Donnay and explained on the MCSRR.org website under MUSES. I had great improvement from that treatment, and have continued to improve since.
The treatment uses oxygen from a regular oxygen concentrator. It takes 6-8 weeks at 2 hours per day on the hightest concentration. That is it.
This protocol is for low-level carbon monoxide poisoning. Donnay has questionaires on the web page to determine if you have the symptoms of low level carbon monoxide poisoning (or MUSES). He is very clear that not all people with MCS have MUSES. Those who have heightened sensitivity to sounds, temperature changes, touch, etc are likely candidates. It is all explained very well on the web site.
Here is the best part! There is a medical test to determine if you have this condition!
I love that. After so many years of non-specific tests and deducing what was wrong with me, it was wonderful to have a test that was positive. After the treament I repeated the test, and it was negative😂
Prior to seeing this treatement, did not know I had had a lot of carbon monoxide exposure. But, when I sat down and made a list of my exposures, there were a lot. Then, I read about things that also increase carbon monoxide in your body - like working with paints and strippers. Also carbon monoxide is created by the body when you are under stress. So, don't write this off until you at least look at the questionaires on the web site. (please see my blog page "Cheryl's Carbon Monoxide Exposures")
The medical test is for blood gases. There is a blood draw of arterial and veinous blood at the same sitting, the blood is analyzed, and then the numbers are put into a worksheet to determine if you are hypoxic in this way. Again specific instructions and the worksheet are all on the web site. (Please see my blog page "My Blood Gas Results".)
The improvements I initially experienced were: 1) The Blood gases became normal - I was no longer hypoxic. 2) My body temperature went from 96.5 to 98.6 (it had been in the 96 range for 40 years). It has remained solidly at 98.6 for four years. 3) I became much less sensitive to sounds, temperature changes, light and dark, barometric changes (and, not at all sensitive to some things). 4) Much less reactive to foods and chemicals 5)There were other changes that were not a big deal, but were indicative of something having changed in my body. One of these was that I started yawning. I hadn't yawned for 40 years. I now yawn every evening. yeah! Another example - I now get the flue and colds. I have not had the flu or colds for 40 years - but now, my body knows how to get normally sick.
Unlike some other treatments the results of this treatement have endured. I have many other symptoms that did not immediately respond. I think thus: I have been oxygen deficient for 40 years, so it is not surprising that my body would not entirely recover. I felt that if this was the actual crux of my illness that I should slowly get better in other ways. That has happened. I also find that now I can see a difference when I try something - change my supplements or diet for example. I can now tell when I am having a reaction to something.
It is my hope that others who see this will judge whether they fit the profile for long term low level carbon monoxide poisoning: That they will have doctors who will order the blood gas tests: And that they will do the therapy and recover to the extent that I have recovered. I hope they do this sooner and younger than I did. For those with MUSES there is life after MCS.
Personal Health History
We who have tried so many therapies without long term improvement tend to be unbelieving and dismissive of anyone claiming to be better. I am providing this summary of my MCS/fibro/CFIDS history so that those with these conditions can compare their experiences; and to show that I was very ill for a very long time.
When I was about 25 years old, after a not very healthy childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, I made an effort to improve my health with diet and exercise. By the time I was 28, I was active in several sports, and was seldom sick. I really enjoyed being healthy and participating in active sports. My two sons were also healthy and hardy. I had a degree in computer science and worked hard as an analyst programmer.
In 1978 I moved to Fairbanks, AK, to take a good job at the University of Alaska. Soon after arrival I developed a sore throat that continued until I left Fairbanks. After about three months I started to have pains in my arms and legs, feeling weak, depressed and tired. I was having trouble thinking clearly. These symptoms were episodic.
This "disease" continued to progress over the years, and trips to doctors were of no help at all. In 1982 I was tentatively diagnosed with MS. A year later the Virginia Mason Clinic in Seattle came up with the name Fibromyalgia. Several years later I read of the "type two allergy" and went to a clinical ecologist who tested for, and diagnosed, chemical sensitivity, food allergies and many air-born allergies. At this point the pains in my arms and legs were so intense that I would close my office door, lie down on the floor in a ball, and cry. New symptoms were: ongoing bladder and urinary problems, gigantic long and painful periods, rage, weeping and a catatonic state. When I tried to keep a symptom log the number of issues didn't fall below 20 ongoing symptoms.
At 40 years of age I moved out of Alaska, but did not recover my health. I went on disability and started a series of efforts to overcome the illness that I was then calling MCS/CFIDS. The only relief of my symptoms was avoidance of the indoor and outdoor air pollution that is endemic in our world. I was also told that I needed rest, rest and more rest. And so, I withdrew from all activities involving other people and places outside of my home. For 20 years I was in bed about 18 hours per day.
Over those twenty years my husband and I moved about ten times - trying to find an environment in which I could function and be out of pain. We modified several homes for my needs, and stripped down and rebuilt five travel trailers for me to live in while I changed to various locations. The culmination was our buying land in a remote part of New Mexico where there was very little air pollution. We built a house there using all less toxic materials.
In NM I discovered that even in an almost perfectly toxin free environment I was still ill. I had many fewer symptoms: The reactions to petrol fumes, air conditioning, laundry products, scents, cleaning products, pesticides, and molds - such as various headaches, sudden weakness, sore throats, swollen glands, muscle pain, incontinence, crying jags, irritability, stomach cramping and nausea - were in abatement as long as I stayed in my special environment. I was still ill however. I found once the masking "reactions" stopped, that I was left with a very low energy level, brain fog, sleepiness, dizziness, depression and a low body temperature. There were also the symptoms of being chemically sensitive (but away from chemicals), noise sensitive, temperature sensitive, air pressure sensitive, food sensitive, emf sensitive and allergies. As time went by, despite trying to maintain a level of exercise and good diet, I was becoming weaker and weaker.
During these years I tried many treatments, some with temporary improvement, all with huge bills. (Plese see "Other Treaments I have Tried")
As I became less able to do anything my situational type of depression grew. At sixty I was giving away my heirlooms and planning homes for my pets.
Fortunately, I discovered the article "Good News for MCS People" on MCSRR.org website and the MUSES phenomena.
As I write this it has been about four years since the last oxygen therapy. I have done more in those three years than in the twenty-five previous years. Initially I moved back to the NW and lived near my children and family members. Then I returned to Tucson. (That involved sellin three houses adn three long idistance moves.) Best of all I was able to step up and help where I was needed.
I still use air cleaners, and do my best to avoid chemical exposures. I still have reactions to severe chemical exposures, but recover completely after removing myself from them. I have continued to get stronger and increase my stamina, which was at zero. I can walk a mile or two, walk upstairs, stay up and out of bed for twelve hours and go to selected events and stores and restaurants. My diet is including more and more foods.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)