The human body becomes weak, and an easy target for various diseases as we move towards old age. However, certain conditions are now widespread and do not require the victim to get into their ‘old age’. The environment is severely affected by various impurities revolving around us in the form of particles due to which diseases like diabetes, irregular or high blood pressure, and various others on the rise.

Among all these, the most commonly caused and recorded disease is diabetes that is now even common in youngsters and infants. Diabetes affects multiple body parts and weakens the overall body stamina. It lowers the performance of your platelets (a type of blood cell) due to which a diabetic patient takes an extra-long time to recover even from small wounds and injuries.

Diabetes has become one of the leading and common cause of non-traumatic lower extremity amputations, not only in the United States and Australia but in many other parts of the world.

If a certain prescribed level of diabetes is not controlled through medicines and prevention of sweet food that it can increase the blood sugar level that can become a reason for slow recovering ulcers in your body. The wounds also can easily get significant and more severe, which later becomes a reason of various other illnesses as well.

After a lot of research and study by various health professionals, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is supported as an effective treatment for diabetic wounds and ulcers. In this article, we will be exploring real-world experience in using Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Diabetes Wounds and Ulcers.

Before digging into Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, let’s revisit the diabetes wounds and ulcers.

Tip: Symptoms of Types 2 Diabetes in Women, Men and Children ould be not the same.

What Are Diabetic Wounds and Ulcers?

An ulcer is a type of wound that is an open sore, and it happens to almost 15 per cent of patients that are a victim of diabetes. It usually occurs on the bottom of the foot. If they are not treated on time and accurately, they easily can get severe and results in further dangerous complications. It can even result in making the foot useless. From the 15 per cent of the ulcer patients, 6 per cent sadly end up in the hospital due to various ulcer related complications.

People who use insulin for the management of diabetes are the most common victims of diabetes ulcer or diabetic wounds. The patients who get their kidney weak due to diabetes are also on the same list of high-risk for diabetes wounds.

Tip: Everything about Diabetic Wound Care and Treatment were covered previously.

Tip: It’s best to use Best Wound Dressing Products for the best outcomes.

What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

The environment in which we live contains numerous particles of hazardous diseases and impurities that are enough to make any wound or illness severe. People nowadays hardly get to breathe pure oxygen due to overgrowing pollution in every part of the world.

Supply the wounds with clean oxygen is one of the main reasons for improving and enhancing the concept of Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy (HBOT). The process includes the intake of only pure oxygen in a pressurized and controlled room, chamber or tube.

Hyperbaric oxygen procedure is performed to recover and heal wounds that there for a long time (chronic), become worse over time and do not recover due to diabetes or radiation. Apart from this, high-pressure oxygen is also helpful in overcoming severe infections and removing bubbles of air in blood vessels (air embolism).

Why do Health Professionals prefer Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

Our body is already an open victim for millions of germs present in the polluted environment. Therefore, in order to make it strong and help it to overcome the effects of diabetes, every human body requires a sufficient amount of oxygen to inhale and function properly.

Diabetes also affects the tissues of your body, which make your healing power less effective and the damaged tissues require a higher amount of oxygen to recover and survive.

High-pressure oxygen therapy helps in increasing the ratio of oxygen in your blood which results in retaining a healthy oxygen level in the blood and helps your tissues to function more effectively to prevent infections.

Tip: Here some valuable tips on How to Speed Up Wound Healing.

Is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Effective?

As per the American Diabetes Association, the hyperbaric oxygen therapy is entitled as a least harmful and highly effective process in treating diabetic foot ulcers.

The use of this therapy is not only restricted for diabetic patients, as professional health experts also suggest it is effective in the treatment of the following conditions.

Anemia

HBOT is effective in case of severe and long-term anemia. As in this type of disease, the body encounters a sufficient decrease of oxygen due to a lack of red blood cells or substance required for healthy blood cells (e.g. iron).

Brain Abscess

It is a type of condition that occurs due to inflammation and when all the infected elements within the body start to harm the body altogether in the form of ear infection, dental abscess, and paranasal sinuses.

Arterial Gas Embolism

The Arterial Gas Embolism is a catastrophic condition that happens when gas bubbles enter in the arterial vasculature and block or disrupt blood flow. This also results in the improper arterial circulation, which results in decompression sickness.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning happens when you intake an excessive amount of carbon monoxide. It is a gas that forms due to the burning of any fuel such as kerosene, oil, charcoal, etc.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning is considered as the silent killer because when a person inhales carbon monoxide, that decreases the level of oxygen by replacing it and there comes a time when the organs stop working due to excess carbon monoxide and a low percentage of oxygen.

Crushing Injury

An injury that occurs due to the application of excessive force or pressure on a body part is called a crushing injury. It mostly happens when a part of the body is crushed between two heavy obstacles, let’s say, a car accident.

Gangrene

Gangrene is a type of infection that occurs when the tissues of the body area die due to severe damage. It can also be a result of an underlying illness, infections or any injury.

Gangrene that occurs inside the body is extremely dangerous as it harms various organs, and muscles.

Radiation Injury

The process of radiation is very critical, and it can cause damage to the tissues due to exposure to ionizing radiation. Excess dosage of ionizing radiation can become a reason for acute illness by decreasing the blood cell count.

Hyperbaric Oxygen May Not Work for Some Diseases

The scientist and other health professionals are still working on if the hyperbaric oxygen therapy can treat and resolve some major illnesses such as;

• AIDS/ HIV
• Allergies
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Autism
• Bell’s palsy
• Brain injury
• Cancer
• Cerebral palsy
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Cirrhosis
• Depression
• Gastrointestinal ulcer
• Heart disease
• Heatstroke
• Hepatitis
• Multiple Sclerosis

The effectiveness and safety of HBOT as a treatment for the above medical conditions currently have not been scientifically proven.

The Procedure of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is a medical technology that doesn’t require hospitalization as the treatment is considered an outpatient procedure. However, if a patient is already in the hospital and under observation, then the doctors may prefer to perform the therapy as an inpatient procedure. There are also some situations depending upon the condition and nature of the disease in the patient that can cause the patient to get a transfer to a hyperbaric oxygen facility (separate from the hospital).

Tip: Did you know How to Choose the Best Doctor to Treat Your Diabetes Wounds? If not, just follow the link.

You should remember, every hospital does not have hyperbaric chambers. Usually, less than 10% of hospitals in a given country have hyperbaric chambers.

The transfer of patients depends on how severe their condition is as some patients become very sensitive and would struggle in a room full of other patients.

Types of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Settings

Following are the two types of settings that you can encounter to receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Single Unit

A single unit is for people who are weak and sensitive to a limit that they can get easily ill just by being with other patients. Due to insufficient oxygen, their body becomes highly adaptive towards other diseases (e.g. hospital-acquired pneumonia). These types of patients are kept in a monospace unit (a clear and large plastic tube).

Unit for Accommodating Several People

It is a large room unit that has the capacity to accommodate many patients receiving hyperbaric oxygen treatment at a given time. It contains enough space for patients to lie down or sit. These rooms accommodate people who can survive together in a single unit and are not weak enough to get harmed due to the risk of spreading their infections.

Is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Beneficial?

Many have blessed with the benefits and anticipated health results by receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy. However, the results are not that much apparent after the first-session session, in some patients.

If a person wishes to seek a noticeable improvement and betterment in their body, then the health professionals prescribe multiple sessions and duration for each session.

The number of sessions also prominently depend upon the medical condition of a person. The number of treatments can vary from 1 to even 40, yet it all depends upon the critical and sensitive condition of a patient. People who are a victim of the following conditions most likely get multiple sessions and treatments.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
– requires 3 to 4 HBOT visits, and they can increase depending upon the severity of the condition.

Non-healing wounds – non-healing wounds are dangerous as such wounds become an easy way to get further infections and diseases progression to the bloodstream (Septicemia). Therefore, it is recommended to get the therapy, and patients with such wounds require 20 to 40 treatments depending upon how severe they are.

Apart from these major diseases, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is proven to help patients to overcome the decompression sickness, arterial gas embolism, and multiple kinds of drug addiction, mental illness and even depression.

Tip: InfraRed Heating Mats and Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Devices can improve the progress of healing chronic wounds too.