Treating Diabetes With HBOT

Diabetes affects more than 12 million people and is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. With diabetes primarily affecting the small blood vessels, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been demonstrated to stimulate angiogenesis to help ameliorate compromised blood flow and prevent organ failure. Research has shown that HBOT can lower blood sugar levels by increasing cellular sensitivity to insulin and skeletal muscle reception of glucose. Furthermore, recent reports have provided evidence towards linking HBOT to regenerating pancreatic islets of Langerhans, thus potentially producing more insulin. HBOT is often beneficial in treating osteomyelitis and cellulitis, in addition to preventing systemic toxicity and permanent disability. With chronic diabetes, impaired circulation reduces wound healing capability and promotes ulcerations. HBOT increases the amount of oxygen available to ulcerated areas, leading to increased fibroblast activation.

Studies have demonstrated the benefits of HBOT for diabetes with the following:

• Improve Blood Chemistry Profile: fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin HbA1C, lipid profiles
• Advance Glycemic Control: increases pancreatic islets of Langerhans, improves insulin sensitivity, increases skeletal muscle reception of glucose
• Decrease Cardiovascular Risk: promotes long-term blood pressure control, attenuates metabolic syndrome, reduces risk of sudden heart attack due to ventricular arrhythmias
• Stimulate Angiogenesis & Reduce Inflammation: improves brain function & reduces risk of stroke, enhances heart function & reduces risk of heart attack, reduces risk of diabetic retinopathy, decreases risk of diabetic neuropathy, minimizes risk of diabetic nephropathy, combats cellulitis
• Enhance Internal/External Healing: proliferates epithelialization, promotes closure of non-healing wounds, decreases risk of infection, ameliorates ulcerations, reduces risk of amputation, remediates osteomyelitis

Study: Amputation Rate Decreased with HBOT

• A study published in 2008 evaluated the efficacy of HBOT with respect to decreasing amputation rates for patients with diabetic foot ulcer. A total of 184 consecutive patients received an average of 39 HBOT sessions (60 to 120 minutes a day, six times a week with patients’ progress evaluated at 3, 6 & 12 months) as an adjunct to standard treatment modalities for diabetic foot ulcer. Following treatment, 115 (62 percent) were completely healed, 31 (17 percent) showed no improvement and 38 (21 percent) underwent amputation. HBOT’s success was illustrated by the attenuation to hypoxic tissue by the mechanisms of angiogenesis, fibroblast replication, collagen synthesis, revascularization, epithelialization and increased leukocyte bactericidal activity. This study confirmed that HBOT can help to reduce major amputation rates in diabetic foot ulcers by repairing tissue.
• This finding is especially noteworthy considering other conventional treatments had failed.

HBOT SHOWS PROMISE

Here’s a little HBOT history for you….

OXYGEN THERAPY SHOWS PROMISE AGAINST A VARIETY OF AILMENTS

 

By Dr. Patrick Massey for the Daily Herald

 

A number of years ago, it was believed that doing surgery in large pressure chambers (hyperbaric chambers) would improve outcomes. To that end, some medical centers began to do surgery in hyperbaric chambers.

Hyperbaric chambers were very expensive and the overall results were not positive enough to justify the expense of doing surgery in them. As a result, over the next 30 years, hyperbaric chambers were rarely used.

However, advances in technology have lowered the cost of hyperbaric chambers to the point where physicians and medical centers are using them again.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is done inside a hyperbaric chamber. The patient is exposed to 100 percent oxygen at pressures slightly higher than normal in order to supersaturate the tissues with oxygen. First developed in the early 1900s by Orville Cunningham, hyperbaric therapy was not really used until the 1940s to treat deep-sea divers with decompression sickness. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was used during heart and lung surgery. Later, it was found to be beneficial to treat carbon monoxide poisoning and other medical conditions.

Although hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been the subject of controversy because of the lack of well controlled medical studies, there are a number of medical conditions for which there is substantial evidence that it is effective. These include decompression sickness (scuba diving), moderate to severe carbon monoxide poisoning, prevention and treatment of osteoradionecrosis (radiation therapy-induced bone damage), radiation therapy-induced soft-tissue damage, skin graft healing, enhanced healing after plastic surgery and in the treatment of chronic skin ulcers.

There are a number of other medical conditions for which hyperbaric oxygen might be beneficial but good clinical trials are lacking. Among these are autism, stroke, dementia, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, diabetic skin ulcers and even chronic fatigue syndrome. How hyperbaric oxygen helps decompression sickness and carbon monoxide poisoning is clearly defined. However, for most chronic medical conditions, how it works is less clear. It is believed higher oxygenation of the blood and tissues stimulates the growth of new blood vessels and nerves. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy might also reduce swelling and help acute brain and spinal cord injuries. There is some evidence that it might also help lymphedema, swelling and impairment from damage to the lymph system.

The side effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy are often mild and reversible. The most common side effects are claustrophobia and a readily reversible change in vision clarity. The only absolute reason to avoid hyperbaric therapy is a collapsed lung.

Just how…exactly…does HBOT work?

I get this question often. Sometimes it’s hard to explain, but here is an answer that I believe that everyone can understand.

The moderately increased pressure will dramatically increase the amount of oxygen that will be safely delivered to all tissues in the body, even to places that have naturally restricted blood flow (i.e. the body’s white tissues), lower than normal flow or even blockages.

The air that we breathe usually provides enough oxygen for both normal body metabolism and the repair of tissue damage after injury or illness. However, tissue damage or disease also involves the blood vessels within the tissue and this may reduce blood flow. So, just when more oxygen is needed, the supply is reduced and recovery may be limited or even prevented.

By increasing the concentration of oxygen in the blood, more of it can be delivered to damaged tissue to establish normal oxygen values and so allow recovery to take place. Oxygen diffuses under pressure because of the laws of physics in plasma, which supplies all body tissues with oxygen.

In a myriad of documented cases HBOT has produced remarkable and miraculous benefits for a wide variety of serious medical conditions. HBOT has been clinically proven to produce a more efficient immune system, a more rapid regeneration of cells, and is proven to work as a potent anti-aging therapy. Simply stated, significantly increasing the delivery of oxygen to all tissues throughout one’s body results in improved health and vitality. Breathing pressurized oxygen allows every fluid in your body to better absorb the life giving gas.

Once these fluids are “supercharged” with oxygen, there is an increased oxygen supply to all of your body systems and organs. You’ll witness peak wellness, peak energy and peak mental acuity. Healing from virtually every illness and even post-surgery will occur faster and more extensively. You will discover amazing, restful rejuvenating sleep. With continued treatments over a period of time you’ll experience the anti-aging benefits provided by HBOT.

So You’re interested in HyperBarics…Now What

Hyperbaric oxygen is used to treat all conditions which benefit from increased tissue oxygen availability, as well as infections where it can be used for its antibiotic properties, either as the primary therapy, or in conjunction with other drugs. It can also be used cosmetically for anti-aging, acne, and other conditions. HBOT can be used to treat whatever ails you.

Insurance and Medicare consider  the following conditions for HBOT to be covered for payment:

Air or Gas Embolism
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Compartment Syndrome/Crush Injury/Other Traumatic Ischemias
Decompression Sickness (Bends)
Diabetic and Selected Wounds
Exceptional Blood Loss (Anemia)
Gas Gangrene
Intracranial Abscess
Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infection
Osteoradionecrosis and Radiation Tissue Damage
Osteomyelitis (Refractory)
Skin Grafts and (Compromised) Flaps
Thermal Burns

The following conditions are off-label which may or may not be covered by insurance or Medicare:

Autism
Cerebral Palsy
Lyme Disease
Migraine
Multiple Sclerosis
Near Drowning
Recovery from Plastic Surgery
Sports Injuries
Stroke
Traumatic Brain Injury

At Empower Wellness Center, we will go above and beyond to be certain that you get the treatment you need.  YOU are why we have done this.  This service is for you and your loved ones.  If you have questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact us.

For Me and Mine

One day, an old mule accidentally he fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer evaluated the situation and thought to himself, that neither the well nor the old mule was worth the efforts to save them. Therefore he decided to haul in dirt to bury the old mule in the well. 

So the farmer called his neighbors and together they started shoveling dirt into the well. The old mule was terrified and hysterical in the beginning. But soon one hopeful idea came to his mind – every time a shovel of dirt lands on my back, I will shake it off and step up! 

He repeated these words to himself again and again: “Shake it off and step up”. This way he could use the struggle and the panic to encourage himself.

After some time, the mule had stepped over the well‘s wall. Although terribly tired, he was the winner, he had saved his own life. He decided to face his adversity positively and not to give up, and in the end, he was the winner.

 What seemed like would bury him, actually saved him. He had owned his confidence and unresting efforts. 

Like the mule we will face challenges. If we hold on to divine hope long enough, the trials of fire brings forth a rebirth just as the the phoenix that rises up from the ashes. 

For the real development of the soul, it is essential to be truthful to our situation and our true feelings. We must hold on to the higher hope in the divine. Divine hope starts from being honest with ourselves.

Sometimes, unlike the mule, we may hem and haw about our problems unconsciously blaming others or our circumstances for the dirt being thrown unto us.  We might even fall into despair when we keep a stiff upper lip – the temptation of trying to impress others and inflate our importance in order to appear like a superhero without knowing when to call for help.  

Instead of being authentic, we brag about our ability to handle our problems by reframing the truth about the situation. We lose ourselves in adapting too much to the expectations of others and lose touch with our soul and what is truly important to us. When we are truly honest with ourselves…well, that is when we reclaim our inner strength and power.

A new timeline is formed and we gain a new direction to endless possibilities as we see light ahead. That is the moment of divine hope taking place where flow and hope is restored in us. When we are in our flow, we recognize the hope of our problems as the very stepping stones to the next level of achievement.

 

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are  there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” ― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

 

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” – The Book of Revelations

 

 

 

 

What is HBOT?

Consider this analogy:

A bottle of soda-pop is a pressurized vessel. In the bottle there is liquid. There is also ‘carbonation’ (the gas) and pressure. When the bottle is sealed, bubbles are not seen. The moment the cap is twisted and the seal is broken, there is a ‘swish’ and the pressure is released from the bottle. Now, all of a sudden there is a formation of bubbles in the bottle, and as time goes, they grow and float to the top of the liquid. Certainly the pressure in the bottle is quite high and the nature of the gas (carbonation) is a different than the 21% oxygen in the ambient air. However the concept is the same. In the hyperbaric chamber, as the pressure goes up, more oxygen from the air is ‘pushed’ into the fluids of the body.

The healing process occurs when a severely compromised tissue in the body begins to receive oxygen, and blood circulation to the tissue resumes. Note: The damaged tissue may not have been receiving enough blood for it to heal, due to a lack of blood circulation caused by the initial trauma.

What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

Hyperbaric Therapy, also known as Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, HBO or HBOT, is a specialized therapy that uses an increase in atmospheric pressure to allow the body to incorporate more oxygen into blood cells, blood plasma, cerebral-spinal fluid, and other body fluids.

At sea level the atmospheric pressure is 1ATA (14.7 psi or pounds per square inch), which allows the lungs to absorb a normal amount of oxygen from the air. At higher altitudes, the pressure drops and the lungs are not able to absorb as much oxygen from the air. This is why oxygen masks drop in an airplane at high altitudes – to increase the oxygen content due to the lack of pressure. The exact opposite happens at lower altitudes (below sea level). There, the pressure is greater (above 1ATA) and now the lungs can more easily absorb the oxygen, and at a greater volume.  What this means for you is you can treat almost any condition from cancer to post-traumatic-stress disorder to diabetes with nature’s cure. Oxygen.

Strength Training for Women? It’s Important….Here’s Some Reasons Why

Compared to cardiovascular training, weight training or strength training for women gets little attention. With new understandings in the importance of strength training for women it’s beginning to garner much needed acknowledgement. More and more women are beginning to understand overall health (and not just a low calorie or low fat diets that don’t work in the long term) from different types of training. Keeping body fat to a minimum and improving fitness health is what strength/weight training is geared for among a few other things, one of which is building muscle mass.

Here are just a few reasons why strength training is vitally important for women:

Prevents osteoporosis

Even a person suffering from osteoporosis can benefit from strength training by increasing bone density.  Weight training has been proven to stop the development of osteoporosis.

Better quality of life

Regular strength training allows women to move about their day more easily and effortlessly. Not to mention the calming effect it has on one’s mental health.

Body Strength

The tendons and muscles become incredibly strong giving the body the extra support it needs on a daily basis.

Aids in the anti-aging process

Don’t like sagging skin? (who does) Strength training prevents just that while enhancing your muscle. The aging process is slowed with training.

All strength, no bulk

Often women are concerned that they will begin to bulk up and look like a body builder. Not so with strength training. The body becomes firm and toned, it leans out the muscles.

Energy levels through the roof

 With this type of training you are giving your body, body, and brain the necessary nutrients: oxygen, increased blood flow, and heartbeat during your workouts. You will feel more alive and energize and able to reduce stress not only in your body, but in your life too.

If you wish to start strength training speak with a professional trainer or begin reading up on it. And it’s always important before beginning any training to consult a physician regarding important questions or concerns you might have.

High Intensity Interval Training: Why We Do What We Do

I’m about to share with you the single best exercise for burning fat. But first, I want to explain the number one mistake people are making in the gym, today.

This mistake is leading to some pretty big consequences like:

• Causing you to age faster
• Breaking down your joints
• Causing your body to STORE fat, instead of burn it
• Causing your hormones to get out of balanceMost people who want to burn fat and lose weight falsely assume that going to the gym and doing traditional aerobic exercise, like jogging on the treadmill, is the best way to see results.If you’ve been spending hours on the treadmill and not seeing any results, it’s because long distance cardiovascular exercise can decrease testosterone and raise your stress hormone levels like cortisol. Increased levels of cortisol stimulate the appetite, increase fat storage, and slow down or inhibit exercise recovery.The Journal of Sports Sciences found that long periods of aerobic exercise increased oxidative stress leading to chronic inflammation.If you want to see results fast without the negative benefits of cardiovascular exercise, your best option is burst training.  Burst training (aka interval training) combines short, high intensity bursts of exercise, with slow, recovery phases, repeated during one exercise session.  Burst training is done at 85-100% maximum heart rate rather than 50-70% in moderate endurance activity.Essentially, burst training is exercising like a sprinter rather than a marathon runner.Burst (or interval) training isn’t necessarily new. Elite athletes and Olympians have known this secret to exercising and have been doing interval training for years. The research proves that anybody – not just elite athletes – can do interval training and achieve amazing results, no matter your experience or fitness level.The reason burst training works is because it produces a unique metabolic response in your body. Intermittent sprinting causes your body to not burn as much fat during exercise but after exercise your metabolism stays elevated and will continue to burn fat for the next 24-48 hours!Another study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, April 2007, researched eight different women in their early 20’s. They were told to cycle for 10 sets of four minutes of hard riding, followed by two minutes of rest.Key Benefits of Burst Training
• After two weeks, the amount of fat burned increased by 36 percent, and their cardiovascular fitness improved by 13 percent.
• Also, chemicals called catecholamines are produced which allow more fat to be burned and this causes increased fat oxidation which drives greater weight loss. The women from the study lost the most weight off their legs and buttocks.
• Research from the University of New South Wales Medical Sciences found that burst (interval) cardio could burn more than 3 times more body fat than moderate cardio. The researchers studied two groups and found that the group who did eight seconds of sprinting on a bike, followed by 12 seconds of exercising lightly for 20 minutes, lost THREE TIMES as much fat as other women, who exercised at a continuous, regular pace for 40 minutes.
• One of the major benefits of burst training is that it can be done in the comfort of your own home with no or minimal equipment.  An easy example of burst training would be going to a track and walking the curves and sprinting the straight aways.  Or getting on a spin bike and cycling hard for 20 seconds then going easy for 20 seconds, then repeating that cycle for between 10 to 40 minutes.
• Similar exercise methods to burst training include High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and the Tabata method. With burst and other types of interval training you are getting the same cardiovascular benefits as endurance exercise but without the negative side effects.  Also, burst training is the fastest way to lose weight and burn fat fast.
• So, What’s the #1 Exercise to Burn Fat Fast?
• A recent study in Psychoneuroendocrinology showed evidence of long-term high cortisol levels in aerobic endurance athletes.  Researchers tested levels of hair cortisol in 304 endurance athletes (runners, cyclists, and triathletes) and compared to non-athletes.  The results showed higher cortisol levels with higher training volumes.
• But recent research is proving that long distance cardiovascular exercise is NOT the fastest way to burn fat and lose weight.
• The number one mistake is doing way too much cardio.

• Can burn up to 3x more body-fat than moderate cardio
• After two weeks of interval training, fat burning increased by 36%
• Your body will continue to burn fat for the next 48 hours after you are done exercising
• You can workout in less time and see better resultsBurst training is exactly what we do at Empower Wellness. We have our own YouTube channel where you can watch and participate in burst training right from your living room; plus you have a real life Personal Training to help you through every aspect of your training.
• Complete Burst Training Program