Is HBOT a potential treatment for COVID 19?
The SARS-CoV-2 virus (a new type of coronavirus that has been diagnosed in humans) has taken the world by storm ever since late 2019. Every country seems to have taken measures against COVID-19, the strategy being postponing the novel coronavirus as much as possible in order for mankind to come up with a cure.
Meanwhile, the medical community has gone into overdrive looking at potential treatments. There are over 1000 clinical trials underway across the world. One such treatment being investigated is hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).
HBOT drives more up to 12 times per oxygen into circulation. This massive infusion of oxygen can potentially overcome the hypoxia (low oxygen levels) seen in severely ill COVID-19 patients and possibly prevent intubation. HBOT also decreases inflammation. In the second week of COVID-19 infection, there is risk of a massive inflammatory response secondary to viral replication and cytokine storm. HBOT may mitigate this process.
Preliminary research in China looks promising and the world is getting creative: A hospital in Chicago is using a pressurized oxygen hood that mimics mild HBOT pressures to stave off intubation. There is even a company looking to retrofit airplanes as hyperbaric chambers to treat large numbers of people if this is needed. Airplanes are usually HYPO baric environments, not HYPERbaric, but there is evidently a way to make them massive makeshift HBOT chambers!
At NYU and LSU, there are studies underway that will put COVID-19 patients into chambers when they first get hypoxic but before they get severely ill. Currently France, Israel, and Sweden are commencing clinical trials as well.
Some of you may be asking yourself a very reasonable question: Would HBOT prevent COVID-19 or be a treatment for mild to moderate infection? Right now, we just don’t know. There is some conjecture that at very deep pressures it might actually kill the virus but this has not been substantiated as yet. For now, I’m personally using it for all the physiological benefits
--along with my personalized HOMe protocol and around 20 additional biohacking strategies daily--
but hopefully we’ll know soon if this a viable strategy for the masses!
