Oxygen Therapy Oxygen therapy is quickly becoming one of the most controversial yet effective forms of alternative medicine to enter the medical spotlight as we approach the end of the millennium. It has many potential uses, ranging from a means of relieving headaches to a possible cure for AIDS and cancer, and the treatments appear simple and cheap. Oxygen therapy, however, remains an unclear area in the medical community. Despite all the claims that have been made, little evidence has been brought to the public's attention to confirm or deny the validity of these reports. It will be shown, however, that, like many other scientific claims, it is easy to separate oxygen therapy fact from fiction. Many proponents of oxygen therapy believe its potential uses are limitless. This is because:For many years the health sciences have sought to identify the primary physical cause of all disease and the panacea that this fundamental principle would provide. Now both have been found, but their sheer simplicity makes them initially difficult to accept since it seems that if it were that easy, we should have been using them all along. This fundamental cause of all disease, according to Forest, is lack of oxygen. This is made evident by the fact that the body is "composed primarily of water, which is eight-ninths oxygen", and "oxygen alone is in such constant demand that its absence leads to death within minutes" (http ://www.oxytherapy.com/oxyfiles/oxy00009.html). The reasoning behind particular methods of O2 therapy: Oxidative therapy: It must be understood that oxygen therapy can be administered in many forms, but the basics behind the treatments are essentially the same. For example, hydrogen peroxide... middle of paper... (1975). Hyperbaric hydrogen therapy: a possible treatment for cancer. Science, 190, 152-154. Tarpy, S. P., Farber, H. W. (1994). Chronic lung disease: when to prescribe home oxygen. Geriatrics, 49, 27-28, 31-33.Teicher, B. A. & Rose, C. M. (1984). Oxygen-carrying perfluorochemical emulsion as an adjuvant to radiotherapy in mice. Cancer Research, 44, 4285-4288.Tibbles, P. & Edelsberg, J. S. (1996). Hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The New England Journal of Medicine, 334, 1642-1648.Vassa, N., Twardowski, Z. J. & Campbell, J. (1994). Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in calciphylaxis-induced skin necrosis in a patient on peritoneal dialysis. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 23, 878-881. Weitzenblum, E., Kessler, R., Oswald, M. & Fraisse, P. (1994). Medical treatment of pulmonary hypertension in chronic lung disease. European Respiratory Journal, 7, 148-152.