The Many Benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment

Hyperbaric chambers are becoming one of the most popular and controversial forms of alternative medicine to emerge in recent years. The buzz around the treatment is so great due to claims of limitless health benefits from curing a minor headache to have the potential of curing AIDS and cancer. While oxygen treatment does indeed have many benefits, it is important to separate the facts about hyperbaric oxygen treatment from fiction and unproven speculation.

Many advocates of oxygen therapy believe that they've pinpointed both the cause for disease and the way to circumvent it. Experts believe that the answer is simply introducing more oxygen into the body. The human body is comprised mostly of water, and oxygen makes up 8/9 of oxygen. It stands to reason that the more oxygen let into the bloodstream, the more will be carried to cells.This process is most effectively administered with a hyperbaric oxygen chamber due to the closed environment and increased percentage of oxygen present in the air being breathed. Increased oxygen levels are essential for rapid repair of cells, and the higher ratio of oxygen present in hyperbaric oxygen chambers is about three times that of the air we breathe.

Advocates of the treatment have reported some astounding results in their studies. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment has been known to reverse some of the effects of two of the diseases that are sweeping current culture. Effects of both cancer and AIDS epidemics have been some of the top health concerns in modern times, and hyperbaric oxygen treatment has proven to reverse the ailments to some degree. In addition to these major concerns, the use of oxygen therapy has been known to alleviate health problems of all shapes and sizes.

A medical treatment that is performed in special establishments or by medical facilities who have the equipment, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat a diverse series of illness. It is the primary treatment for some illnesses, but offers a wide scope for healing benefits associated with many ailments. Hyperbaric oxygen chambers are necessary for the treatment and offer a pressurized environment in order to produce maximum results. Patients are placed inside the chamber which is then compressed to the level ordered by the physician using pure oxygen.

The air we breathe contains 21% oxygen. By introducing 100% pure oxygen into the pressurized chamber, the simple concept allows a greater volume of oxygen without increasing the pressure. It is the "hyperbaric" (high pressure) dose of oxygen that yields the benefits.

By delivering oxygen to a patient via hyperbaric chamber, it greatly increases the amount the amount delivered to cells and body tissues via the bloodstream. The benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy lie in the amount of oxygen carried within the bloodstream, and the hyperbaric chamber shows little healing benefits to direct contact with wounds. For this reason, garments are usually left in place during treatment, and nearly all of the benefits are internal. Depending on the amount of time treatment lasts, hyperbaric oxygen can yield these positive effects:

• Increased oxygen delivered to damaged tissue
• Greater blood vessel formation
• Advanced and rapid wound healing
• Improved immune system and infection control
• Preservation of damaged tissues
• Detoxification
• Reduced effects from stored toxins in the body
• Reductions or elimination of tissue obstruction by gas bubbles

Many believe that oxygen therapy can act as a universal treatment and have a positive effect on nearly every category of disease. This information is primarily kept secret for two reasons:

• There is little concrete evidence to the lasting effects as well as a lack of exposure
• If Proven true, and if these treatments were readily exposed to the public, it would render 98% of all drugs, testing, and disease related surgery obsolete.

The alternative nature of hyperbaric oxygen treatment has been around for quite awhile, and advocates attest that the cure has been around for ages. It has been independently reported effective against virtually every disease at one time or another, the evidence spanning thousands of public-domain medical articles which have never been collected or correlated until recently. Many advocates of the treatment believe that the reason it hasn't become more mainstream is because it provides no real financial gain.

Claims have been made and studies conducted on these ailments:

• Cancer
• Hypoxia and Lung Disease
• AIDS
• Severe limb trauma
• Headaches
• Autism

Provided below are some of the claims made by studies in hyperbaric oxygen treatment and their results. Many facts have been extracted from these studies, but enough concrete evidence to establish the treatment as a cure for the ailments is yet to be determined/publicly announced. Researchers have been studying the effects of the treatment since it first appeared years ago. Here are the facts about hyperbaric medicine treatment.

Cancer - Research done using hyperbaric treatment as a potential cure for cancer revolves around the production of hydrogen peroxide as a way to destroy cancerous growths. Hydrogen peroxide is produced naturally in the body, but at a greater rate with an increased flow of oxygen. Mounting evidence is being collected that suggests hyperbaric oxygen therapy does in fact have positive results on cancer patients. Although not accepted as a legitimate cure for the disease, the majority of the evidence lies in the removal of tumors. In tumors, there exists many areas with irregular blood flow. Many studies conducted correlate an increased flow of oxygen with a more regular blood flow and a large decrease in tumorous growths.

Hypoxia and Lung Disease - Some believe that the most important benefit of hyperbaric oxygen treatment hinges on the long term effects on the survival in patients with hypoxemia. Tissue hypoxia leads to problems in nearly every major organ in the human body resulting in memory loss, impaired judgment, cardiac ischemia, and hypertension. One early study found a 30 to 40% increase in longevity with severely hypoxemic patients on continuous oxygen therapy. Oxygen treatment in these situations can improve cardiac work and result in greater oxygen delivery to cells.

AIDS - Unfortunately, hyperbaric treatment has not been proven to destroy the HIV virus, but studies have shown that certain AIDS patients who suffer from a certain ailment known as pneumocystic carinii pneumonia can find positive results from oxygen therapy. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment may replace the current method known as face mask continuous positive airway pressure (FMCPAP).

Trauma to Limbs - Preservation of tissue and avoiding complications of limb trauma such as necrosis, and preventing infection. Acting as a possible enhancement on the wound healing process, hyperoxygenation can circumvent many factors that would prevent a limb from healing properly. Individuals over the age of 40 showed even more benefits to using hyperbaric oxygen treatment in accelerating the healing process and preventing complications associated with heavy limb trauma.

Headaches - Carbon monoxide is the most common form of poisoning cured by hyperbaric oxygen treatment, and although it hasn't been connected with the common headache, slight inhalation of the substance can be fixed with hyperbaric oxygen treatment. Studies have shown that mild cases of carbon monoxide poisoning can be cured with oxygen therapy. The most prevalent cause of poison induced death in the United States, the condition may be characterized as loss of consciousness, neurological deficits, and other symptoms. In addition to circumventing mild cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, hyperbaric medicine has also been proven to increase motor skills and brain activity.