Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy whilst on Gilenya

Everyday living
1

I’m having a first session of oxygen therapy in an hour and I’ve been on Gilenya (fingolimod) for a year. Does anyone know if the therapy will interfere with the Gilenya? My MS nurse is hard to get hold of so can’t ask her

2

Hi Smudgey,

I don’t use either, but I can’t see how or why they should interfere with one other.

HBOT isn’t a drug, so won’t have a list of adverse interactions with other drugs. How could breathing more oxygen stop your Gilenya working?

That doesn’t mean, of course, that HBOT is 100% risk-free. Side-effects are uncommon, but possible. But I don’t think interaction with anything you’re already taking is an issue.

To be honest, even if there was some uexpected (and, to me, as a layperson, inexplicable) reaction, there are probably not enough people who’ve been on both for detailed studies to have been done. How many people have so far been prescribed Gilenya? And of those, how many also have HBOT? I wouldn’t like to guess exact numbers, but I’d certainly guess: “Not many.” So I doubt your nurse would have meaningful figures to hand, to prove it’s safe (or not). You need large numbers of cases to be studied, before safety statistics become reliable. If only a handful of people have ever tried both, then the statistics would be worthless anyway. I just can’t see any logical reason there would be any issue, though.

Tina

3

Hi Smudgey

I view HBOT as a complementary therapy so I wouldn’t expect it to cause any complications. In my opinion it would be no different to having a massage or Reiki for instance. As Tina says, it isn’t a drug so I doubt very much it would cause an issue. I’m on Gilenya btw and as far as I’m aware, the only things we need to avoid are listed in the patient information leaflet - the main one of course is live vaccines.

Hope you enjoy the HBOT and feel some benefits.

Tracey x

4

No thats fine at the therapy centre i go to the only ones not allowed to use it is the cancer patients who are on kemo or however u spell it x

5

Thanks for your replies everyone. You’ve put my mind at rest.

6

Thanks for your replies everyone. You’ve put my mind at rest.