Lupus

*Lupus is a chronic disease with a variety of symptoms caused by inflammation in one or more parts of the body. Lupus can cause pain in the body, particularly in joints and/or organs. The cause of lupus is not known, but it is thought to be an “overactive immune system,” prompting the immune system to attack vital organs and tissues in the body. For this reason, it causes inflammation, and the usual treatment protocol is immunosuppressant drugs. The challenge with only using immunosuppressant drugs to treat lupus is it suppresses the immune system, it does not treat the cause of lupus, it does not regulate the immune system, and when the immune system is suppressed, it lowers the body’s ability to fight off other sicknesses and diseases.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is one of the biggest anti-inflammatory procedures known in medicine. It reduces inflammation, swelling and edema in the body, which often helps ease joint pain. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy also, when done properly, triggers angiogenesis in the body, forming hundreds of miles of new blood vessels which helps with circulation and nutrition, and oxidizes cells in the body. It forces oxygen into every liquid in the body, promoting healing faster and better. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy also mobilizes CD34+ pluripotent stem cells in the body, which are known to regulate the immune system naturally.

Lupus is not contagious and is not related to AIDS or cancer. It belongs in the family of diseases that includes rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes, and scleroderma. 

*Description above provided by American Hyperbaric Center

Studies and Reviews

• Occasional Review: Use of hyperbaric oxygen in rheumatic diseases: case report and critical analysis
• Refractory vasculitic ulcer of the toe in an adolescent suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus treated successfully with hyperbaric oxygen therapy
• A case of refractory vasculitic ulcers in a systemic lupus erythematosus patient responding to rituximab and hyperbaric oxygen therapy
• Reactive oxygen species at the crossroads of inflammasome and inflammation
• Inflammasomes: far beyond inflammation