Mathew Embry speaks with retired anesthesiologist Bill Code about living with multiple sclerosis for nearly three decades. Diagnosed in 1996, Bill shares how his medical background and personal experience shaped his long-term approach to managing MS. The conversation explores hyperbaric oxygen therapy, omega-3 supplementation, the microvascular theory of MS, and the role of blood flow and cellular energy in neurological health. Bill also reflects on discipline, daily habits, and why many of the strategies he uses extend beyond MS to broader brain and recovery science.
Bill Code first noticed something was wrong during a particularly stressful summer. As an anesthesiologist, he relied completely on his hands — but his foot kept slipping off the bike pedal on his morning commute, his legs were weakening, and his right hand was losing its grip. By August, he could no longer empty a syringe. For someone whose career literally depended on that ability, the implications were terrifying.
"Denial is very powerful," he said. "If anybody's really good at it, physicians are." Despite having a sister diagnosed with MS eight years earlier, Code resisted the obvious. His family doctor expedited a referral to Dr. Paty at UBC — one of the world's leading MS neurologists — who confirmed the diagnosis. His wife was relieved. Bill was devastated.
The neurologist's advice: take six months off. If no improvement, take another six months. The journey had begun.
The financial and personal fallout was immense. Code was 43, with two kids in private school and another starting university. He had to leave his medical practice entirely. "I thought we were going to end up in a small apartment and be on welfare," he said. "It was a tough goal after working so hard for so many years."
Without strong pharmacological options — he would later be diagnosed with primary progressive MS — Code turned to lifestyle interventions. His neurologist had already recommended vitamin D. At an MS Society conference on complementary approaches, he heard Mathew Embry speak on the Best Bet Diet and stopped eating wheat soon after. Fish oil and optimized supplements followed.
Over the years, he could walk, cycle, and jog — not at peak fitness, but functionally and fully. "People can't tell that I have a problem."
Twelve years ago, Code began exploring oxygen therapy, which led him to a framework for understanding MS that diverges from conventional neurology. His hypothesis, developed alongside Dr. Philip James of Dundee — one of the world's leading oxygen researchers — is that MS is fundamentally a microvascular syndrome. The tiny blood vessels in the brain, far smaller than a human hair, become blocked or restricted. This creates localized oxygen deprivation, which triggers inflammation and causes the blood-brain barrier to leak.
"The number one trigger for inflammation in the body is lack of blood flow and secondary hypoxia," Code explained. When neurons don't get enough oxygen, they don't die — they go dormant. "Some people would call MS a series of miniature strokes." The vessels are too small to appear on MRI, which is why the connection has been difficult to document conventionally.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) places a person in a pressurized chamber breathing close to 100% oxygen — delivering 12 to 15 times the oxygen available in normal room air. Code points to a 1983 double-blind trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing it reduced MS attacks, as well as Israeli research demonstrating that 20 HBOT sessions can boost the body's own stem cells six to eight times, 40 sessions stimulate growth of new tiny blood vessels, and 60 sessions measurably improve cognition and can lengthen telomeres.
For Code personally, the first changes were dramatic improvements in migraine headaches — common in MS due to the same microvascular mechanism — followed by restored ability to concentrate and read complex material. In Canada, hard-chamber HBOT costs roughly $150–200 per session, with only about 40–50 such chambers available nationally — a significant accessibility barrier.
For everyday use, Code strongly advocates for home oxygen concentrators: portable devices roughly the size of a carry-on suitcase that filter nitrogen from room air and deliver 95% oxygen. They cost around $1,000–1,600 and are available without prescription.
While not as powerful as hyperbaric chambers, concentrators deliver four to five times the normal oxygen level — enough, Code says, to trigger meaningful healing. He recommends 30 minutes twice daily through a non-rebreathing mask. During an MS attack, a full hour. He also recommends using the concentrator during exercise (exercise with oxygen training, or EWOT), combining blood-flow benefits with the oxygen boost.
Contrary to the fear of supplemental oxygen in mainstream medicine, Code emphasizes it is extremely safe. The primary side effect is ear pressure — similar to what people experience on airplanes — and can be managed by equalizing gradually.
The other major development in Code's protocol is a specific form of fish oil he encountered in late 2024. Standard fish oil — even high-quality brands — is processed in ways that strip out the protective polyphenols naturally present in the algae-based omega-3 chain. Without those polyphenols, EPA and DHA oxidize rapidly, even before reaching the body's cells.
The newer approach, developed largely at the University of Oslo, adds high-quality olive oil polyphenols back to the fish oil after processing, creating a "balance oil" — 60% fish oil, 40% olive oil. The polyphenols protect the omega-3s long enough to integrate into cell membranes, including those of red blood cells. DHA-enriched red blood cells become more flexible, able to squeeze through blood vessels as narrow as two microns — smaller than a standard red blood cell — delivering oxygen to previously unreachable areas.
Within a month of switching, Code noticed improved cognition, reduced fatigue, and less gastrointestinal distress. He recommends a dose of 0.15 mL per kilogram of body weight daily.
Asked what he'd say to someone just diagnosed with MS today, Code's advice was specific: follow the Best Bet Diet or a comparable dietary approach; get on high-quality polyphenol-protected fish oil; optimize and measure vitamin D; test your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio (the North American average is roughly 25:1 — optimal is closer to 3:1) and work to bring it down; and get an oxygen concentrator.
"I've always said 'controlled,'" he told host Mathew Embry. "Cure is not a fair-enough thing, but control. You control your destiny." The phrase he carries from the circles he moves in: self-care is healthcare.
