Written By Urban Wellness Group
January 2, 2018
Ever wondered what HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) and high dose vitamin C IV therapy are? Have you considered either for your cancer treatment? Both can help your body recover and have been shown to be effective parts of cancer treatment plans.
In this month’s post, we’ll go over just what HBOT and high dose vitamin C treatments entail and how they might be able to help with cancer treatment and recovery.
What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, or HBOT, helps your body absorb more oxygen into the bloodstream. HBOT sessions last 60-90 minutes and involve:
- Lying in a pressurized hyperbaric chamber
- Breathing in pure oxygen
The combination of pure oxygen and atmospheric pressure allows your body to absorb more oxygen into the bloodstream. This promotes healing and cell growth, encouraging the natural healing process in a safe way.
Benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
The primary benefit of HBOT is that it encourages your body to do what it does best: heal itself. Hyperbaric therapy can help speed up the body’s natural healing process, providing a safe way to help your body recover from cancer treatments like chemotherapy.
Other benefits include:
- Increased blood flow and new blood vessel growth
- Reduced swelling around inflamed areas of your body
- Promotion of the body’s immune system
- Quicker healing by increasing the flow of oxygen to damaged tissue
- Minimal side-effects compared to more invasive traditional therapies
What Can HBOT Treat?
In addition to cancer, hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help with the treatment of:
- Autism
- Strokes
- Sports injuries
- Inflammation
- Traumatic brain injury
- Neurological conditions
How Does HBOT Work as Part of a Cancer Treatment?
While hyperbaric oxygen therapy should never be used as a complete substitute for cancer treatments prescribed by your doctor, it has been shown to stymie cancer growth.
For a long time, many believed that adding oxygen to the bloodstream would actually increase the growth of cancer cells. The thinking went that since oxygen is such a central part of general wound healing, that cancer cells would also grow with increased exposure to oxygen.
Fortunately, studies have shown that HBOT does not increase cancer growth. They also show that HBOT can actually decrease tumor growth and progression through increasing oxygen plasma levels through HBOT.
According to this study, HBOT “might have tumor-inhibitory effects in certain cancer subtypes.”
HBOT and The Natural Healing Process
HBOT has also been shown to provide relief to patients as part of their cancer treatment recovery plans.
Since hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases the dissolved oxygen in your bloodstream and reduces inflammation, the healing process is sped up. You are able recover more quickly from chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
With radiation therapy, both cancerous cells and healthy cells are attacked the same, leaving healthy tissues damaged. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been shown to help provide oxygen and nutrients to these damaged tissues, helping these areas grow new blood vessels (which may have been damaged during radiation) and tissues to heal.
This leaves your body in better shape and less likely to experienced delayed radiation injuries.
Hyperbaric Chambers and Cancer
There is also evidence to suggest that HBOT can “increase tissue oxygen pressure and content to prevent the resistance, recurrence, and metastasis of cancer,” if used alongside primary cancer treatment.
What is High Dose Vitamin C IV Therapy?
High dose vitamin C IV therapy works to provide bioavailable vitamin C to your body through an intravenous (IV) drip.
Since the human body does not naturally produce vitamin C, we need to either consume it in foods, or take supplements to get all we need. Unfortunately, when consumed orally vitamin C cannot be absorbed in very high doses. High doses taken orally could even lead to health problems like gastrointestinal discomfort.
IV therapy works to get your body high does of vitamin C without GI discomfort. When high doses are administered through an IV drip, vitamin C enters the bloodstream where your body is able to fully absorb it with no gastrointestinal side-effects.
Benefits of Vitamin C IV Therapy
There are numerous benefits to a vitamin C IV drip, including…
- Maintaining collagen production in your body. Collagen is the primary structural protein found in in your connective tissue, meaning it is extremely important to your health.
- Reducing sensitivities to allergens. Vitamin C has been shown to have antihistaminic effect on the body, meaning it is great for those with allergies!
- Antioxidant effects. Vitamin C, particularly in high doses, helps stymie the growth of damaging molecules that can lead to health issues like cancer and high cholesterol.
- Providing support for the immune system. Vitamin C helps the immune system combat and neutralize bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.
What Can High Dose Vitamin C Treat?
In addition to cancer, high dose vitamin C IV therapy can help with treatment of:
- Anemia
- Vitamin deficiencies
- Dehydration
Read our blog post on 5 Common Conditions IV Therapy Can Treat.
How Does Vitamin C IV Therapy Work as Part of a Cancer Treatment
IV therapy has been shown to be a effective as part of a larger treatment plan to fight cancer.
High Dose Vitamin C and Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy utilizes powerful drugs to target and destroy cancer cells. Unfortunately, these drugs will also affect healthy cells that you don’t want to destroy. Side effects can include:
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Lose of appetite
- Digestive issues
- Hair loss
Vitamin C works to reduce toxicity in your body, and helps your body receive chemotherapy more effectively. Used in conjunction with radiation therapy, it will work to let cancer cells be attacked while protecting the healthy cells.
High Dose Vitamin C’s Anti-Cancer Properties
Vitamin C also contains anti-cancer properties of its own. As discussed, it works to bolster your immune system and fight off oxidants damaging to your body.
The Best Way To Utilize Vitamin C IV Therapy and HBOT to Fight Cancer
The best way to utilize vitamin C IV therapy and HBOT is as part of a doctor-prescribed cancer treatment. Both methods are excellent resources for recovery and help bolster your immune system and healthy cells in your body.
This makes both methods a great complementary option to help you recover from the harsh effects that chemotherapy has on your body.
Neither HBOT or IV Vitamin C have major side effects that will affect your cancer treatment.