Under Pressure

Follow me as I plunge to new depths in search of a solution to Pelvic Radiation Disease

Saturday 12 February 2011

Deep

More to come when I jump into the deep...

Posted by pressure Girl at 19:15

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Pressure TV

The Multi Chamber

My living room for the next 8 weeks

What's This Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBOT) All About?

HBO therapy can help in a number of different situations where body tissues have suffered from a decrease in oxygen levels. Traditionally, we think of hyperbaric chambers as something for divers who have "the bends" or for smoke inhalation but it turns out that medical professionals have been using it for a variety of conditions for many years, including, more recently, radiation necrosis (body tissue dying off after radiotherapy treatment.

How is the chamber used?

Breathing in 100% (pure) oxygen under increased pressure (HBO) allows extra oxygen to be taken up by the blood stream and dissolved at a far greater rate than if pressure was not used.

This extra oxygen can help where healing is slowed down by infection or where blood supply is limited by damage to the tissues.

It assists healing by raising tissue oxygen levels to normal in areas where they are reduced through illness or injury, encourages new vessels to grow and carry additional blood. There's more to it than that, of course, but essentially it increases the body's ability to heal itself by creating the perfect environment for oxygen to be absorbed.

In a nutshell, the HBOT will allow my body to heal fast enough to stop the damage caused by radiation (or even heal some of it) before that damage is able to put the kibosh on it.

HBOT and cancer

Radiotherapy treatment can be great at curing cancer but can also cause it's own little realm of chaos. Radiotherapy can cause changes in the oxygen supply to tissues in the treated area, this is because it affects normal healthy cells and blood vessels as well as the evil nasty cancer cells.

The knock on effect of this is that small blood vessels in those areas can be damaged causing less blood supplied to that area. It then becomes more difficult for oxygen and nutrients to reach the tissues.

Over a period of time, these affected tissues may start to break down and become fragile. This can cause ulcers (like open sores) and, in some cases, tissues may eventually die off completely - called radiation necrosis. These radiation injuries can occur very slowly over a number of months or even years.

Research into the use of HBO in treating long term side effects of radiotherapy is ongoing in the UK, however, studies already suggest that there is benefit in using this type of treatment.

How Can You Get HBOT?

Well, there's the challenge. You need to make sure that you are seen by a specialist in Pelvic Radiation Disease who can properly assess your condition and treatment requirements who will then refer you for this type of treatment. It's important to note that there may be other treatments that are right for you rather than HBOT but you MUST be assessed properly to know this. Simply being handed a bunch of pills without anyone performing a single sensible test on you can leave patients feeling frustrated, isolated and unsupported.

Once your specialist decides that this is the right treatment for you, you will then be referred to the hyperbaric unit.

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  - The Abyss
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Very Cool Places to Get Help

Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust - The UK's only charity dedicated to cervical cancer
Pelvic Radiation Disease Association - providing support for patients affected by the condition
The Prostate Cancer Charity
Prostate Scotland

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