Why one of the most powerful healing tools was quietly sidelined
In the early 1900s, hospitals were built around oxygen.
Not figuratively.
Literally.
Entire medical buildings were designed with pressurized chambers at their core.
Surgeons operated inside them.
Patients recovered inside them.
Infections dropped.
Wounds healed faster.
Outcomes improved.
Oxygen wasn’t considered “alternative.”
It was foundational.
And then – it vanished.
Not because it stopped working.
Not because it failed trials.
Not because it harmed patients.
It disappeared because medicine changed.
And today, hyperbaric oxygen therapy – HBOT – exists in a strange medical limbo:
- quietly powerful
- wildly misunderstood
- and used far less than the science supports
This is the story of how oxygen became controversial…
and why we’re bringing it back.
And before we talk about how this therapy disappeared —
I want to tell you why this file matters right now.
I’m Dr. Kristen Lindgren, and welcome back to The Dysfunction Files.
This is the series where we talk about the therapies that work…
the systems that ignore them…
and the uncomfortable space in between.
Because if you’ve ever been told “there’s nothing wrong”
while your body clearly disagrees –
you already know this isn’t a failure of biology.
It’s a failure of the system.
So today, we’re opening a file that should never have been closed.
Let’s get into it.
Before we talk about history –
before we talk about systems –
before we talk about oxygen –
I want to share an anonymous clinical case.
This is not a testimonial.
It’s not proof.
And it’s not meant to replace controlled data.
It’s simply a pattern that changed how I think.
The patient was a woman in her late sixties. Let’s call her Linda for the sake of the story.
Linda was Previously healthy.
Active. Independent.
No significant medical history.
After a major immune activation event in late 2021 – followed by multiple viral infections over the next few years – her health unraveled.
Not subtly.
Systemically.
She developed:
- severe inflammatory bowel disease
- new, life-threatening food allergies
- progressive shortness of breath
- and ultimately, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
She was hospitalized.
She saw every appropriate specialist.
She followed recommendations carefully.
When conventional options ran out, she pursued integrative care.
Over time, nearly everything was tried:
- immune modulation
- anti-inflammatory strategies
- gut protocols
- peptides
- hormone optimization
- nutritional and detoxification support
Some interventions helped briefly.
Nothing lasted.
This was one of those cases where progress never held –
and each setback felt heavier than the last.
Her labs reflected profound immune dysregulation –
persistently elevated inflammatory signaling,
and repeated clinical setbacks after each infection.
Then, almost as a last resort, hyperbaric oxygen therapy was suggested.
And I want to be clear:
There was skepticism – on all sides.
It was time-intensive.
It required consistency.
And it was explained that improvement, if it happened at all, would likely take 30 to 40 sessions before it could be meaningfully assessed.
But with nothing to lose, Linda agreed.
Over the following months, something shifted.
Not dramatically at first.
But steadily.
Breathing improved.
Gut symptoms stabilized.
Inflammatory markers declined.
Objective lab abnormalities that had persisted for years finally began to move – significantly.
At her next follow-up, the immune markers that once dominated her case were less than half of where they had been.
For the first time in years, the trajectory had changed.
This doesn’t mean hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a cure all.
It doesn’t mean it works for everyone.
And it doesn’t replace rigorous science.
But it raises an important question:
What if oxygen – not another drug – was the missing variable?
And once you ask that question,
the rest of this story starts to make sense.
The Original Therapy
Before antibiotics.
Before steroids.
Before biologics and targeted therapies.
There was environmental medicine.
Early physicians understood something modern medicine often forgets:
cells don’t heal in isolation.
They heal – or fail – based on the environment they live in.
And oxygen wasn’t just supportive.
Oxygen was central.
By the late 1800s and early 1900s, hyperbaric chambers weren’t rare curiosities.
They were integrated into hospitals.
Entire facilities were built around pressurized air.
Surgeons operated inside them.
Patients recovered inside them.
Infections were treated inside them.
Outcomes improved.
Not subtly.
Noticeably.
Long before we understood mitochondria…
long before we could measure inflammatory cytokines…
physicians could see that when tissues were flooded with oxygen, the body behaved differently.
Healing accelerated.
Infection retreated.
Recovery changed.
Oxygen wasn’t alternative medicine.
It was medicine.
The Shift Nobody Talks About
Then came antibiotics.
And to be clear – they were miraculous.
Life-saving.
Transformational.
But they didn’t just add a tool to medicine.
They changed its philosophy.
Medicine shifted from asking:
How do we optimize healing conditions?
to:
What drug targets this diagnosis?
The focus moved away from terrain…
away from physiology…
away from environment.
And toward molecules, mechanisms, and margins.
Oxygen didn’t disappear because it failed.
It disappeared because it didn’t fit the new model.
You see, You can’t patent oxygen.
You can’t brand pressure.
You can’t build an empire on air.
And slowly – quietly -hyperbaric medicine was pushed to the margins.
Not debunked.
Not disproven.
Just… forgotten…or buried.
Europe Never Forgot
Here’s where the story gets uncomfortable.
Because while hyperbaric oxygen therapy faded in the United States…
Europe never abandoned it.
In countries like Italy, Germany, France, and parts of Scandinavia, HBOT never became fringe.
It remained integrated into mainstream care.
It’s used – and often covered – for:
- neurological recovery
- radiation injury
- wound healing
- post-infectious syndromes
- brain injury
- inflammatory conditions
Not because Europe is “alternative.”
But because their systems:
- value physiology over billing codes
- integrate therapies based on outcomes
- and are slower to discard tools that actually work
In other words…
HBOT didn’t become controversial everywhere.
It only became controversial in systems where reimbursement – not recovery – drives decision-making.
Two Medical Philosophies
In the U.S., HBOT became siloed.
If it didn’t fit one of the 14 or 15 narrow insurance indications, it was labeled:
“Experimental.”
Not unsafe.
Not ineffective.
Just… inconvenient.
Meanwhile, European clinicians kept asking a different question:
Does this improve tissue oxygenation?
Does this improve mitochondrial function?
Does the patient get better?
And when the answer was yes –
they kept using it.
Same biology.
Same human cells.
Very different outcomes.
So when people ask:
“Why does HBOT help so many different conditions?”
The real question is:
Why wouldn’t a therapy that improves oxygen delivery, inflammation, and cellular signaling help most chronic illness?
And that’s where the real mystery begins.
What HBOT Actually Does
Let’s clear something up.
HBOT doesn’t directly treat disease.
It changes the biological terrain.
Inside a hard-shell hyperbaric chamber:
- atmospheric pressure increases
- oxygen is delivered at concentrations you cannot achieve by breathing normally
- oxygen dissolves directly into plasma – not just red blood cells
That last part matters.
Because plasma-dissolved oxygen can:
- reach damaged tissue with poor blood flow
- penetrate inflamed or injured areas
- cross into spaces red blood cells can’t access
This triggers a cascade:
As the Cellular level, it
- increased mitochondrial ATP
- reduced oxidative stress (yes – paradoxically because HBOT increases oxygen availability, not ROS)
- improved signaling
- activation of repair pathways
Neurologic
- neuroplasticity
- reduced neuroinflammation
- improved cerebral blood flow
- enhanced synaptic function
Vascular
- angiogenesis
- improved long-term oxygen delivery
- accelerates wound healing
in the Immune system
- modulation of inflammatory cytokines
- enhanced immune response
- improved antimicrobial effectiveness
This is why HBOT doesn’t belong to one specialty.
It touches everything.
The Conditions It Helps
HBOT confuses conventional medicine for one reason:
It helps too many “unrelated” conditions.
But they really aren’t unrelated at all.
They share common roots:
- hypoxia
- inflammation
- mitochondrial dysfunction
- impaired signaling
- poor tissue perfusion
Long COVID & Long Vax Syndromes
Months – sometimes years – after infection or immune activation patients experience:
- brain fog
- fatigue
- exercise intolerance
- headaches
- autonomic dysfunction
- cognitive slowing
Often with “normal” imaging and “normal” labs.
What isn’t normal is:
- oxygen utilization
- mitochondrial efficiency
- neuroinflammation
- microvascular circulation
HBOT addresses all four.
Not overnight.
Not magically.
But meaningfully.
And for patients told “we don’t know what else to do” –
that matters.
Parkinson’s & Neurodegenerative Conditions
Are Not just dopamine loss.
But:
- mitochondrial failure
- oxidative stress
- impaired oxygen utilization
- chronic inflammation
HBOT doesn’t cure Parkinson’s.
But it can slow progression, improve function, and support quality of life – especially as part of a multimodal approach.
Wounds & Radiation Injury
This is where insurance finally admits HBOT works.
Chronic wounds.
Radiation injury.
Diabetic ulcers.
Because oxygen:
- drives collagen synthesis
- supports fibroblasts
- enables angiogenesis
- enhances immune defense
Tissue heals when it finally gets what it needs.
Cancer Support & Recovery
HBOT is not a cancer cure.
But cancer does not exist in a vacuum – it exists in an environment.
And one of cancer’s biggest advantages is hypoxia.
As tumors grow, their blood supply becomes chaotic and inefficient.
Oxygen delivery drops.
Inflammation rises.
Normal cellular signaling breaks down.
That hypoxic environment:
- promotes tumor aggressiveness
- suppresses immune surveillance
- and makes cancer more resistant to treatment
Radiation therapy, for example, requires oxygen to work optimally.
Without adequate oxygen, tumors can be significantly more radio-resistant.
Chemotherapy depends on blood flow and mitochondrial function.
Hypoxia and mitochondrial dysfunction reduce drug delivery, increase toxicity to healthy tissue, and impair recovery between cycles.
HBOT doesn’t attack cancer cells directly.
It re-oxygenates tissue, improves microcirculation, and supports mitochondrial efficiency in surrounding healthy cells.
By correcting hypoxia, HBOT can:
- make radiation more effective
- improve tissue recovery after chemotherapy
- reduce inflammation
- support immune function
- and help heal radiation-damaged tissue
This is why HBOT has an established role in treating radiation injury – and why it’s increasingly used as a supportive therapy during and after cancer treatment.
It’s not about replacing our other oncology tools.
It’s about supporting the terrain cancer exploits –
and helping patients tolerate treatment, recover more fully, and feel like themselves again.
And patients do feel the difference.
The Risks
Whenever a therapy sounds this broadly helpful, the next question is fair:
“ok – So What’s the catch?”
Most HBOT studies use:
- 1.5–2.5 ATA
- blocks of ~30–40 sessions
- sometimes more for neurologic or radiation conditions
HBOT has an excellent safety profile.
But the most discussed long-term risk is cataracts.
This risk is exceptionally low:
- dose-dependent
- associated with higher pressures and cumulative exposure
- uncommon
- and gradual
HBOT doesn’t create cataracts out of nowhere.
In susceptible individuals, it may accelerate a process already underway.
Cataracts are common, treatable, and reversible.
Meanwhile, untreated hypoxia and neuroinflammation can be permanently disabling.
The real question is not whether there’s risk –
but whether benefit outweighs risk for this patient.
Why We Brought HBOT to LFM
We didn’t buy hard-shell chambers because they’re trendy.
We bought them because patients needed them.
Oxygen was the missing variable.
We have seen HBOT become the multiplier.
Not a miracle.
Not a replacement.
But a foundation.
Who It’s For - And Who It’s Not
HBOT is ideal for:
- Long COVID / post-viral syndromes
- Long Vax-type neurologic symptoms
- chronic fatigue and brain fog
- neurologic conditions
- wound healing
- cancer care and recovery
It’s not for:
- untreated pneumothorax
- certain severe lung conditions
- people looking for instant fixes
This is biology – and real biologic change takes time.
Closing
Oxygen didn’t fail medicine.
Medicine moved away from it.
And now, a century later, we’re rediscovering what early physicians already knew:
Healing doesn’t start with a diagnosis.
It starts with the environment cells live in.
Sometimes the most powerful therapies aren’t new…
They’re just inconvenient.
I’m Dr. Kristen Lindgren,
and thank you for tuning in to another episode of The Dysfunction Files –
where we examine the therapies that work,
the systems that overlook them,
and the questions you were never encouraged to ask.
Until next time –
stay skeptical,
keep learning,
and remember:
you are in charge of your own healthcare.
I’ll see you for the next one.
Bye for now.
