Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as Fibromyalgia Treatment
In the recent years, we’ve seen a rise in interest in health and wellness. This includes healthier lifestyle habits such as consuming less processed and healthier foods, staying away from unhealthy substances, getting proper exercise, and even focusing on mental health.
Apart from this, there are also many alternative treatments that have become more popular to aid in the healing or maintenance of certain illnesses and conditions.
Whether it’s chronic ailments, non-healing wounds, or injuries, we now have a plethora of choices in terms of treatment. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an innovative treatment that promotes healing of many existing conditions.
In this blog, we talk about hyperbaric oxygen therapy and fibromyalgia, and how HBOT can help reduce symptoms.
An Overview of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Fibromyalgia
In order to understand how hyperbaric oxygen therapy works, we need to understand the body’s natural circulation process.
The Natural Circulation Process
Our heart pumps blood into our lungs. Oxygen is then inhaled and attaches itself to our red blood cells.
As our blood circulates, the oxygen splits from the red blood cells and gets absorbed by tissues and cells that are then converted into energy.
This cycle continuously happens as we breathe oxygen allowing the human body to gain the fuel it needs to perform everyday functions like healing through wounds and combating infection.
A healthy circulatory system typically saturates oxygen at almost 100% capacity.
The difference between regular breathing compared to breathing in a hyperbaric chamber under pressure is found in oxygen absorption.
In a hyperbaric chamber, our body’s oxygen absorption increases by 28% to 40%. This increase in absorption allows oxygen to dissolve directly into our cells, tissues, and blood plasma which promotes further healing, quickens recovery, restores mitochondrial function, reduces inflammation, kills anaerobic infections, fuels cells, and helps the nervous system recover. This additional oxygen provides relief for people with autoimmune and degenerative diseases and inflammatory conditions. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may also beneficial individuals who have infections like Lyme Disease, autism, dementia, and post-surgical healing.
Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes by pain all over the body. Also called widespread pain, it can also be accompanied by
Stiffness Throughout the Body
Anxiety / Depression
Fatigue
Difficulty Sleeping
memory and or concentration Problems
Headaches
Emotional and/or Mental Distress
People with fibromyalgia may have a lower pain tolerance.
In the US, 4 million adults are diagnosed with fibromyalgia, around 2% of the adult population.
Its cause is unknown, but it can be treated and managed effectively.
Medication, reducing stress, and talk therapy are some options that help control fibromyalgia symptoms.
Apart from pain and disability, fibromyalgia complications can lead to lower quality of life, more frequent hospitalizations, and higher rates of other rheumatic conditions.
Symptoms of fibromyalgia include cognitive disabilities, pain and fatigue.
It is also associated with other conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, painful bladder syndrome, temporomandibular joint disorders, migraines and other types of headaches, anxiety, and depression.
Certain factors can cause fibromyalgia including genetics, infections, and physical or emotional events such as an accident or chronic stress. It is more common in women than in men.
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Can Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Diminish Fibromyalgia?
While there are many ways to manage fibromyalgia, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is highly recommended for treatment. If you’ve read our previous blogs, the mechanisms of hyperbaric oxygen and fibromyalgia are very similar to those we’ve seen in other studies.
With the additional oxygenation brought about by hyperbaric oxygen therapy, fibromyalgia is helped through the improvement of the metabolic function of the brain.
The pressurized oxygen in the hyperbaric chamber improves circulation and blood flow, significantly decreasing inflammation in the nervous system.
Because of this, there is an increased blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which increases the capacity of brain function.
It also supports autonomic regulation, which balances the sympathetic (the body’s response to stressful situations) and parasympathetic nervous system (prevents the body from overworking and returns it to a composed and calm state).
Another important effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy is that it increases the metabolic function of the mitochondria, which generates energy for our cells to function.
With an increase in the function of mitochondria, we see an increase in stem cell regulation which then repair damaged cells and create new cells.
These new cells are used to heal and improve organs and tissues in the body that needs them. In the same way that hyperbaric oxygen helps promote healing for many other conditions, this does the same for fibromyalgia.
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