Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

                         

Oxygen – The Primal Nutrient

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is 100% safe and is
incredibly effective…

• Without oxygen we cannot live.
• Our energy comes from burning sugars and fats with oxygen.
• The biggest energy-hogs are cells in the brain - the little electricity-producing  pump-cells
• Irreversible brain death starts after just 4 minutes without oxygen.

You probably know that humans take the oxygen out of the air we breathe in our lungs?  Fortunately we live at the bottom of a sea of air - on the earth - where                                             the air is 21% oxygen.  

The weight of the atmosphere – all those miles of air above us - provides a fairly constant atmospheric pressure.  Combined with the action of the lungs, this pressure drives just the right amount of oxygen into the blood to keep us alive. Most of the time...

On a good day, all is well.  But…

• When cells are damaged they need more oxygen – much more oxygen – to heal
• On days with low pressure (as in wet, stormy weather) the oxygen levels are low, and many rheumatics have joint pain.
• With better weather and higher atmospheric pressure, the level of oxygen in the blood is a little higher, and the pain is relieved.  Hence all the old-wives-tales - traditional and ancient advice - to go into the mountains and 'take the air' when convalescing...

If we just increase the concentration of oxygen in the air that we breathe – with an oxygen mask for example – but the atmospheric pressure stays the same, not much will change.  This will load up the red hemoglobin in the blood with only a small increase in the percentage of ‘free’ oxygen.  

Now please don't misunderstand me, any increase in the amount of oxygen we take in is good. Yoga and deep breathing are great...  There are several things on the market today such as the Zadro Tranquil Sounds Oxygen Bar which makes sure the air you breathe is rich in oxygen - shown to be more effective than weight loss pills or anti-aging creams.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is where we increase and atmospheric pressure and the oxygen we breathe...

First you sit comfortably in an iron diving bell (reading a book or watching your favourite TV programs).  The pressure inside the diving bell is raised – as if you were going down in the ocean.  (In practice, you're just siting comfortably nside and watch TV through the window!)

Secondly, you are given pure oxygen to breathe through a mask.

Now, healing amounts of oxygen can seep in to saturate into the fluid part of the blood.  This oxygen bathes our damaged cells and enables the body to heal.

A common treatment (and the protocol changes for every condition) slowly “dives” you to the prescribed pressure - usually 1.5 to 2.5 atmospheres (ATA) – and holds you there for about 60 to 90 minutes.  Then slowly you are ‘surfaced’ to normal ‘room’ atmospheric pressure.

In long or high-pressure treatments your hyperbaric physician may prescribe ‘air breaks’ which are short rest periods when you breathe medical grade air through a facemask.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is a very safe and effective treatment for many difficult medical problems.  In fact, I've never seen a problem that isn't improved - if not cured.

An amazing 2 x normal atmospheric pressure causes 10 x more oxygen to circulate in the blood.  That's an incredible 5:1 ratio.  

This same concentration also applies to the improvement and increase of oxygent into the lymph fluid, the CSF (cerebral-spinal fluid).  

Oxygen literally pours into the water cells in our bodies.  And our bodies are made up of mostly water… 

And the oxygen enables the body to heal itself: way more powerfully than any medical treatment.  Oxygen also loads freely into the fatty tissue such as the brain.

Oxygen makes energy  Energy to heal 

                                   Energy to cleanse 

                                   Energy to detoxify

                                   Energy to restore

At the levels achieved in a hyperbaric chamber, oxygen can heal injuries and wounds, burns, and infections.

Brain and spinal cord injuries cause large areas of cells to become dormant –temporarily paralyzed, if you will - but still alive.  Hyperbaric oxygen therapy provides the jump-start of energy for these cells to come back ‘on line’.  Occasionally your computer freezes but when you re-boot it, everything works normally again.  This is a useful and simple analogy of what happens...

After 10 treatments, many new blood vessels form in the formerly oxygen-deprived parts.  Healing begins.

After 20 to 30 treatments the new, restored, blood supply can become permanent…

• With enough oxygen, fibroblast cells lay down connective fibres and heal discs, tendons, ligaments, and muscles.
• If oxygen is increased, infection-fighting immune cells in the blood get immensely powerful.
• These cells scour out debris faster, and make repairs that are stronger.

During every treatment: A qualified hyperbaric therapist must examine the patient for fitness for therapy, assess any medical contraindications, inform the patient or their guardian of any risks of the therapy - as well as the benefits - and obtain consent for therapy.

 

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is a very safe and effective treatment for many difficult medical problems including:

• Sports Injuries - the Canucks – and other professional hockey/sports teams - speed tissue repair and regeneration with oxygen saturation at HOC.

• Cerebral Palsy - latent - or penumbral - areas of the brain can be restored to higher function.  The new blood vessels formed are permanent.

• Brain Injury and Ischemic Stroke can be treated with lasting results.  There are always areas that can be brought back to life.

• Heart Attack can be healed with restorative oxygen.

• Multiple Sclerosis can benefit in the early stages of the disease, with low-pressure protocols.

• Surgery Recovery is dramatically improved by hyperbaric oxygen.

• Wounds and Chronic Ulcers are finally healed.

• Migraine, Broken Bones, and more can be successfully treated.

• Motor Vehicle Trauma cases see rapid reduction in pain and disability.

A naturopathic or hyperbaric physician may prescribe natural medicines to improve the safety and effectiveness of your hyperbaric treatments.  These may include:

• Vitamin E
• A good multi-vitamin
• Gingko biloba extract
• Valerian extract
• Traumeel homeopathic eardrops
• Grapeseed proanthocanids
• N-acetyl-cysteine
• Magnesium
• Coenzyme Q10