Effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and routine drugs on patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus com-plicated by postherpetic neuralgia

Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and routine drugs on patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus complicated by postherpetic neuralgia. Methods In the study, fifty-two patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus complicated by postherpetic neuralgia were divided into group A and group B in accordance with the random number table. Patients in group B were treated with diclofenac sodium sustained release tablets and methylcobalamin for 30 days. On the therapeutic basis of group B, pa-tients in group A were treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy in addition, once a day, 30 times in total. And then, the pain level, sleep quality and depression level of patients were evaluated at 1 month and 6 months af-ter treatment respectively. Results The pain level, sleep quality and depression level with different therapy methods at different testing time showed all decrease (P<0.05), but the values in group A decreased more re-markably than those in group B. Among patients in group A, there were 18 patients with VAS value at or below 3, which were significantly higher than that in group B. Conclusion Hyperbaric oxygen combined with diclof-enac sodium sustained release tablets and methylcobalamin can decrease patient’s level of pain, improve the quality of sleep, and reduce symptoms of depression, with better curative effects than single drug therapy. Key words: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy; Type 2 diabetes; Post-herpetic neuralgia; Value of pain; Value of sleep quality; Value of depression level