My hubby is scheduled to begin the HBO therapy next week but is concerned because the doc he had a consult with mentioned that some studies indicate this therapy could cause he cancer growth to speed up.. and then followed with the statement that there are just as many studies saying otherwise, but of course we are now very concerned. My hubby have stage 4 recurrent prostate cancer with 3 bone Mets. Currently on Xtandi and Eligard but has been passing blood in urine off and on since January and at times, severe, so something must be done to try and get this bleeding stopped. So I guess it’s “between a rock and hard place” for him/us.
If anyone has gone through the HBO therapy and can share their experience, we would appreciate it.
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Madbeach
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His doctor sounds like a Chicken Little. "there is no evidence indicating that HBO neither acts as a stimulator of tumor growth nor as an enhancer of recurrence. On the other hand, there is evidence that implies that HBO might have tumor-inhibitory effects in certain cancer subtypes"
TA, your response interests me. My husband has been dealing with "radiation cystitis" for nearly a year! It's mostly under control now with his self-cathing once/day. But indeed both his uro & onc said HBO would not be appropriate because hubs' likely having reoccurence (PSA very low, but doubling 3 months). A friend with severe RC is getting HBO - no indication of recurrence!
You remind me of the Buddhist sage Nagarjuna who ushered in the Mahayama or Middle Way in Buddhism. He would debate all others and destroy logically any proposition that was proposed: That assertation “A” was not true. That the alternative “B” was also not true. That both A and B could not be true. And That neither A nor B - also not true. The only thing that could stand was Voidness (Shunyata).
Your hubby , must be great man to have you . ? This is pretty much a SOC cite .. I’ve done alt med alongside the conventional imrt adt .. Hope springs eternal . If you think this will help him . Try it . I know a guy with a quad child . They swear by the HBO helping their son . I would do it in a second if I had the money and it was close to me . Does it oxygenate the cells? I say try anything to put down pc and feel better . Infared sauna is a well accepted homeopathic med . I got one .it melts the pains .. I am sorry to hear about the bleeding…thats a horrific thing to see everyday . Go for HBO! Report back progress please .. maybe try some vitamin c ivs along the the way . I did this twice weekly for over a year when I was between a rock and a hard place with pc. My wife’s love is the only reason that I’m here today . Let’s get a stop to that bleeding then he can be happy beach again . May God bless you both and get you through this present 🙏⛈ storm .
Hi, Lulu700: I've had HBO. I was diagnosed in 1999 and opted for brachy therapy first. It burned my bladder and urethra. Passing urine was like passing battery acid. Slowly got better. But then I became leaky Larry with slight urinary incontinence. I was on Casodex from the beginning. Then PSA went up to 13. Casodex was no longer effective. MOC said "no more radiation for you" and scheduled me for Cryo Surgery. The claimed it would be out patient surgery and I could play golf after a few days. What a nightmare!! Hospitalized for five days. My urine was dark red with blood. After I went home, the incontinence got worse. OC sent me to Dr. specializing in incontinence. Cystoscope showed my bladder was like and out shoe that had baked in the sun for years. No elasticity. He diagnosed Radiation Cystitis He sent me for 30 days of HBO (one hour per day for 30 days) This all happened while we were living in Denver. The only HO center was at Presbyterian Hospitl. This was in 2004. The doctors there were wonderful and spent a lot of time talking to me. HBO supercharges the blood with oxygen causing the tiny capillaries to reach out into tissue that is not getting enough blood. This is a very slow process and your husband will not notice any change or difference for a couple of years. But it does work. The HBO tank at Pres. Hosp. was 8' x 20' and could handle up to 6 people. It was usually just 2 or 3. This tank came from San Diego and was formerly a Navy divers tank used for the bends. I met a lot of people who had open head wounds that would not close and one man who had the same problem as I. I'm glad I did it. Still have incontinence but it is not as bad as it could be and my bladder now looks pretty healthy. If your husband is claustrophobic he may have trouble with it. Also ears will pop as they increase the interior pressure to something like 45 ft. below sea level. My story does not end there, but I think I have given you probably more than you wanted to hear. Oh, one other thing. This will mess with you vision. The pressure changes the shape of the eyeball and he will be tempted to get a new prescription. The HBO docs will warn him about this. Sight should come back to what it was before HBO. However, I still needed a new prescription.
I hope you find healing on your journey. You did confirm my fears of radiation and cryo surgery. I chose HIFU rather than radiation. I am doing OK but my PSA has been creeping up.
Good morning…..can you tell me(if you can recall); how many HBO sessions you had before the bleeding in the urine stopped? Thx and I hope you are doing well.
Hello, Madbeach: The bleeding in my bladder was stopped in the hospital after cryo surgery. HBO was prescribed because my bladder and urethra was damaged by the Brachy Therapy (radio active seeds) and Cryo. I had thirty one hour sessions of HBO thirty days in a row , including Sunday and Holidays. The one hour sessions consisted of about 10 minutes of pressurizing the tank to approximated 45 feet below sea level. Then 20 minutes of breathing pure oxygen through a mask. Then a break, and then another 20 minutes of pure oxygen through the mask, then slowly returning to sea level so to speak. To really learn about HBO, find and HBO center near you, make an initial appointment for a consultation and all of your questions will be answered. By the way, my bleeding was finally stopped by Doctors inserting a penile catheter and forcing saline water through it filling my bladder, then the bloody solution would exit through by Super Pubic catheter into my collection bag. They continued this until the exiting liquid became pink and eventually clear. It took about two quarts of saline. Today my bladder and urethra our pretty healthy, except my bladder is pretty small and can't hold much urine, therefore frequency is a bit of a problem. I also leak and wear adult diapers to avoid embarrassment.
I understand that cancer grows in a low oxygen environment so boosting oxygen levels is one very effective way of reducing the cancer. The HBOT chap in Townsville, Qld recommended two treatments a day for 5 days, but unfortunately I couldn't afford it.There are some wonderful results on youtube of stroke patients improving dramatically after HBOT.
I’ve had HBOT since August 2020 with great results. Oxygen is great for the body!
I would caution on using the right pressure for the right duration with experienced qualified support.
Not saying this treatment will help your husband but I got tremendous relief from my radiation flare and huge pain relief.
In terms of treatment schedule and results my initial treatment was for 6weeks @ ave 2.08 ATA 48.5 hours, using hard and soft chambers. PSA was 13.84 in April 2020 was estimated to double monthly but treatment seemed to slow doubling to 45PSA by end of August 2020.
Since this time I’ve had different HBOT protocol which hasn’t yielded the same results.
You may want to ensure Vitamin D3 levels are optimised along with lowering stress.
Since April 2021 my situation has declined significantly resulting in more radiotherapy and attempting radium 223 which landed me on hospital for 4weeks.
Right now I’m having hospice care to manage my bone pain.
Madbeach. I did 30 daily HBOT sessions a couple of years ago for extreme radiation cystitis post proton beam radiation. Long story short, as others have mentioned, my distance vision worsened which returned after about 6 weeks and the process created some mild hypertension that I never had. 6+ months post treatment I underwent another cystoscope expecting to wake up to another catheter after more cutting of scar tissue. I also had a lot of calcification in my prostate that my uro was concerned about removing and possibly tearing the prostate wall. Anyway, I awoke to no cath. Doc came in room and I asked what happened. He said no strictures and no more calcification. It had all disappeared. When I asked why or how his only explanation was the HBOT. 18+ months later I’m fine. It is a tedious process, in many ways more onerous than radiation which are very brief treatments. My sessions were 2 1/2 hours in tank. 3 30 minute “dives” with a little time in between. You can’t leave tank due to the pressurization. Others on forum have spoken to your question about oxygen and cancer cells. I just wanted to relate my personal experience. Oh and one other thing. It speeds up the development of cataracts so that turned into a positive for me. No more glasses or contacts! Everyone told me HBOT can’t hurt and it might help. For me it not only helped but eliminated potential life altering procedures.
Blood in urine was but a minor part of my issues. Probably didn’t mostly disappear for 3-4 months. This takes time to heal. Has someone alarmed you or your husband about some blood in urine being very serious as none of my docs were overly concerned with that particular issue.
The blood showing in my hubby’s urine was not just a few drops or a few days. He even had to have a transfusion and given iron as well. We pushed for the HBO, since there doesn’t seem to be any other successful options. We just hope it works for him. Just one of many health issues we are dealing with. Thx for your input.
I had a session of 40, which helped but still had occasional minor bleeds. A year later I had another 40. I haven't had a bleed for years. The 02 under pressure assists natural healing by getting enriched blood throughout the body. It is impossible to say how much it helps. I am an Ex Royal Navy Diver. In the 60's I treated for various problems Gas Gangrene, etc. It was very successful, saved lives. I am a firm believer in HBO. The reason it is not more widely used is because their is not enough research into it. The big Pharma's won't touch it no money in it. It is also very difficult to get a large global trial to confirm its benefit. Hope this is of some help.
Good luck! I am a HBO veteran. Contrary to most others who have posted, I had 60 daily 2-hour HBO treatments in 2020 to address urinary radiation proctitis from radiation treatments a few years earlier. I have been on Lupron for some time. Sounds like a lot of HBO treatments required, but I certainly caught up on many movies I had not seen (My HBO facility in Venice FL had a great movie library!) HBO worked very well for me - no more catheters - with some occasionally slight urinary bleeding! US Medicare along with my Medicare supplement covered everything (I think they will cover 60 treatments per year?). My vision did change a bit as my doctors indicated it would, but returned to normal in about 6 weeks after treatments (actually it improved slightly). Everyone is different - but I ran into several other guys who were going through the exact treatments, and almost every one of them had positive results.
Madbeach:The HBO healing process took some time for me. I could clearly see positive progress after 25 days (5 weeks) but I wanted to continue to see if the urinary bleeding would stop entirely. At 40 sessions, I felt my bleeding was reduced by 95%. The HBO facility I used in FL was very close and very friendly so I went ahead and signed up for another 20 sessions (You need a "prescription" to get the additional 20 sessions under my insurance - but that was easy to obtain). Today, 99% of my urinary bleeding has stopped and I have a supply of catheters I have not used since starting my HBO treatments. I consider myself "cured" from where I was in 2020. Wish I had better news on how fast the process works, but as far as I know, you can simply quit the treatments at any time if you feel that you no longer need the treatments. For me personally, I did not get there until I had 60 treatments, but it is hard from me to gauge the seriousness of my situation compared to others. There is no "test" that you get as to whether your internal urinary bleeding has ceased, the attending HBO physician simply asks you how you are doing - very informal. The physician relies on your assessment. Hope this helps and Good Luck! 👍
Hi…can you tell me how many HBO treatments you had before you saw the bleeding stopped. I know u said u had 60 sessions but just wondering if the bleeding stopped prior to the 60th session and if so, what was the determining factor to have you do 60?
I read your post. I did something similar to hyperbaric, LIVE O2. The fluoroquinolones repeatedly used and in combinations for biopsies attacked many of my old, forgotten, mostly long healed injuries, shoulders and a SI ligament in my back. LIVE O2 is beneficial in healing soft tissue.
Info is on the net. Not all could do this as it requires cycling. After a LIVE O2 session my flesh would retain a "rosy" color for many hours as a result of the oxygenation from the LIVE O2 workout. It wasn't unusual for people to comment on the "healthy" color I had.
As many have noted in response to your post, cancer doesn't like oxygen. At least that what I have also read.
I did LIVE O2 for nearly three years. It was switched out for a hyperbaric chamber. I received a call one day and was asked if I was interested in the entire LIVE O2 set up as well as a really good LifeFitness cycle for $750. I didn't declined the offer which is a regret I have to this day. Excellent for healing, a good cardio workout which strangely energized me because of the O2 level in my body I suppose--quick recovery from a workout lasting a little over 20 minutes and two pounds gone. Yes, there was a scale in that room and I used it.
I did LIVE O2 sessions in 2016 and 2017. In early 2018 the doctor decided to sell it the setup. They called me first and offered it to me for $750. That was the LIVE O2 unit with the large O2 unit and --a LifeFitness variable resistance bike! The bike was easily worth $750 used.
I believe that the LIVE O2 units sell for about $6,000 now.
A hard session on that for 21 minutes and I'd lose a pound but still be sweating. My color would be rosy for the rest of the day--O2 tissue saturation to the point where several people who knew me remarked about my "healthy" color.
worked for me 2 years ago to stop perfuse bleeding of bladder. The cystitis was caused by Kaiser 15 years prior when Kaiser did a unnecessary scaled down salvage radiation. 15 rounds of HBO stopped the blood but I continued 60 rounds.
I did some HBO therapy but only had enough money to cover a dozen sessions. I now follow a free approach to bring oxygen to my cells, the Wim Hoff method. It consists of breathing techniques and of exposure to the cold (through cold showers in my case). This also helps clear your head and, at least in my case, lowers my blood pressure to normal levels for a bit so I do the breathing exercises a few times a day. You can do it for free using YouTube videos that contain a timer and Wim's voice. In my case, I subscribed to the phone app for about $8 a month.
I am in the middle of HBO with 12 sessions completed for Radiation Cystitis. I had to stop due to impact on my lungs. Doc said pure oxygen actually irritates the lungs and I had lung surgery to remove cancer about 12 months ago. In addition, it made my asthma worse (also from the lung surgery). I will go back on HBO, but use shorter chamber times in about a week. I hope it works as it has not a been a positive for me.
We had a consultation with HBOT specialist after Radiation/hyperthermia on my husband’s vertebrae & hips in Feb 21. He recommended 6x week for 2hrs day and then back off a day a week slowly. Of course insurance wouldn’t cover it until you have permanent negative symptoms (like your husband perhaps) and our local places that offer it don’t offer that much nor could we afford that much. But somehow, by the grace of God I literally found the exact same $25k chamber they offered on Craigslist 10 miles from our house and bought it for $12.5k.
After a few months of IV-C and 12 hours/week in the chamber, my husbands scans were showing improvement. And his pain subsided!!
It’s not a cancer cure. BUT combined with other things, I do think it helps and keeps quality of life a little better.
If there are only 3 bone Mets it could be a good idea to consider Cyber knife. I had one met in my pelvic bone and it was completely destroyed after only one 45 min procedure.As to HBO therapy I had it many years ago before my cancer was discovered and at that time it was a part of some general health supportive program. Honestly I felt no results apart of understanding what means claustrophobia.
Generally speaking any whole body actions which are increasing blood circulation could be dangerous as cancer cells are circulating with blood as well and" improved" blood circulation could also provoke increase cells grow and the cancer cells could be the first to react. It is purely my personal understanding and in no way a recommendation.
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