wright
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Just to add something else
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is breathing oxygen under high pressure (i.e. hyperbaria). This will cause the partial pressure of oxygen to be raised in the body, which will cause more oxygen to be dissolved in our blood. These artificially inflated levels of oxygen can be used to make more superoxide causing more oxidative stress to our cells (e.g. motor neurons), which again, is a theory in the etiology of ALS.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is very different than breathing supplemental oxygen and sometimes, one has no choice but to breathe supplemental oxygen if their oxygen saturation levels are too low. Having said that, if one were to breathe high levels of oxygen, often and for prolonged periods of time (for example, a fireman and the use of oxygen masks when fighting fires), this could potentially cause additional oxidative stress to the cells of our bodies (e.g. motor neurons). That is complete speculation, but gives a scenario where "extra" oxygen can cause harm.
As a further note: high level of oxygen is certainly by no means the only thing that causes oxidative stress in our bodies. Many, many, many things that we are exposed to, cause damage also . . . AND . . . our bodies naturally produce these molecules that cause oxidative damage as well.
Anyway, I just wanted to clear that up a bit.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is breathing oxygen under high pressure (i.e. hyperbaria). This will cause the partial pressure of oxygen to be raised in the body, which will cause more oxygen to be dissolved in our blood. These artificially inflated levels of oxygen can be used to make more superoxide causing more oxidative stress to our cells (e.g. motor neurons), which again, is a theory in the etiology of ALS.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is very different than breathing supplemental oxygen and sometimes, one has no choice but to breathe supplemental oxygen if their oxygen saturation levels are too low. Having said that, if one were to breathe high levels of oxygen, often and for prolonged periods of time (for example, a fireman and the use of oxygen masks when fighting fires), this could potentially cause additional oxidative stress to the cells of our bodies (e.g. motor neurons). That is complete speculation, but gives a scenario where "extra" oxygen can cause harm.
As a further note: high level of oxygen is certainly by no means the only thing that causes oxidative stress in our bodies. Many, many, many things that we are exposed to, cause damage also . . . AND . . . our bodies naturally produce these molecules that cause oxidative damage as well.
Anyway, I just wanted to clear that up a bit.
