Trauma may be described as a body wound or shock due to accident or injury. Permanent injury or death due to trauma is often caused by free radicals generated when the tissues of the body are physically disrupted. This is well-documented in spinal cord injury cases where the free radical damage that occurs immediately after the injury causes permanent paralysis. Trauma involving massive bleeding may preclude the use of antioxidants such as ginkgo that could accelerate hemorrhaging. Vitamin E administration has been shown to reverse free radical damage induced by trauma and to reverse the effects of lipid peroxidation after trauma.
Antioxidants appear to protect against many forms of permanent damage inflicted by trauma.
The hormone pregnenolone has been shown to protect against paralysis from spinal cord injury in laboratory animals. The immediate administration of 400 mg of pregnenolone, along with 800 IU of vitamin E, to a spinal injury patient might be advisable. Vitamin E could speed the bleeding process, so do not use Vitamin E if excessive bleeding is occurring. Patients Nutritional supplementation, both enteric and intravenous, has been shown to impede further physical degeneration and accelerate the healing process in immunocompromised trauma patients. In the same studies, an improvement in total lymphocyte count was seen.