By now you’ve probably heard of Tony Robbins new book “Life Force.” What you may not know is that Dr. Harch was invited to write a piece about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to be included. Presented here is the final version written by Dr. Paul Harch M.D. in its’ unedited form. If you own the book you can find this section starting on page 533.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), misunderstood and maligned for 359 years, has now become understood as the most pervasive epigenetic therapy known to man.1 Applied to over 130 medical diagnoses2 HBOT has confused and confounded the medical profession since its debut in 1662.3 Dramatic healing effects have been documented along with what have been considered wildly exaggerated claims.3,4 Physicians, determined to know the mechanism of action of a therapy before referring patients for any treatment, have been unable to elucidate the mechanisms of action of HBOT until now.
Known as a treatment for diver’s disease,5 inflammation,6 and wound conditions7 HBOT heals wounds by growing new tissue. To grow new tissue the nucleus of every cell must be stimulated to divide and multiply. In 2008 Dr. Godman took the most reactive cells in the human body, the cells that line all of the tiniest blood vessels, subjected them to a single HBOT, and measured the activity of all 19,000 protein–coding genes in the 46 chromosomes of these human cells.8 At the end of 24 hours 8,101 (40%) of our 19,000 genes were turned on or off by a single HBOT. The largest groups of genes turned on: the growth and repair hormone genes and the anti-inflammatory genes. The largest groups of genes temporarily turned off: the pro–inflammatory genes and genes that code for cell death. For 359 years every time a patient went in a hyperbaric chamber they were inhibiting inflammation, stimulating tissue growth, and stopping cell death, and did so not by changing the DNA code, but by affecting the proteins that are the gatekeepers for the genes. Essentially, HBOT was an epigenetic therapy and the net result was healing.1
In addition to its epigenetic effects HBOT heals wounds through wide–ranging effects on stem cells. HBOT has been shown to stimulate proliferation of stem cells in our bone marrow,9 release of bone marrow stem cells into our circulation,9 maturation of released stem cells,9,10 homing to, implantation, and maturation of stem cells at sites of injury,10,11 and proliferation, migration, and maturation of stem cells within the brain to sites of brain injury.12,13 Realizing the combination of stem cell and HBOT’s gene modulatory effects on wounds and inflammation, HBOT can now be appreciated as a treatment for wounds in any location in the body and of any duration.7 Traditionally applied to long–standing diabetic foot wounds,7 radiation wounds in cancer patients,7 and other extremity wounds,7 as well as acute wounds like crush injuries7 and plastic surgery wounds7 where skin grafts and flaps fail7 it is obvious that there is no difference between a wound in the arm, face, or leg, and a wound in the liver, bone, or brain. In the past 50 years HBOT has been shown to be the most effective therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI).14–21 A few HBOTs within the first few days after severe TBI has reduced death from TBI by 50%,17,18 a salvage rate rivaled in the history of mankind only by penicillin. In chronic mild TBI HBOT has been shown since 2012 to be the most effective therapy for patients suffering from persistent concussion symptoms.22–28
Realizing that wounds in the body, especially to the brain, can be caused by such a vast array of insults such as chemicals, trauma, lack of blood flow, lack of oxygen, food additives, pesticides, herbicides (Agent Orange, for example), bubbles in the blood stream, general anesthesia, toxic gases, stress of all types (physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, combat), birth complications, infection, etc. it is now easy to appreciate the rapidly increasing scientific evidence showing that HBOT can treat dementia,1,29,30,31 mild cognitive decline,32 and vascular dementia.33 Given that our genes are one of the largest targets of HBOT activity, that HBOT is an epigenetic therapy, that aging is rooted in our genes, and HBOT is showing effectiveness in aging of the brain, claims that HBOT may have regenerative anti–aging effects and effects on longevity is understandable.
For HBOT it is a whole new world and it has been so in my practice for the past 35 years. Initially attempting to identify HBOT–responsive diagnoses in 1989 I have now treated nearly 100 conditions, the majority of which are neurological. In the past 18 years I have found that the success of this therapy is dependent on the dose of oxygen and pressure used, i.e., precision dosing, since different gene clusters are activated by different levels of oxygen and pressure.8,34–36 While all living organisms are sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure37 and oxygen,38 each patient and their disease are idiosyncratic, and respond to a dose of hyperbaric oxygen and pressure that is right for them. With custom dosing to a patient’s condition this 359 year–old therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, has become a foundation biological treatment of the future.
Which brings me to the reason I was invited by Tony to write this short segment on hyperbaric oxygen therapy. In 2017 Tony contacted me about a two–year history of memory problems, fatigue, and losing his train of thought. His closest aides and associates were concerned about his health and cognitive abilities to the point of tears. Tony had been diagnosed with mercury poisoning due to a high fish diet, had undergone detox, but problems remained. During these years he had received limited hyperbaric oxygen therapy at eight different facilities in the U.S. and internationally without noticeable benefit. In April of 2017 I evaluated Tony in New Orleans and custom–dosed him with SPECT brain imaging before and after a single HBOT. The imaging showed a significant increase in brain blood flow at the chosen dose of HBOT. Unable to stay in New Orleans for the typical eight weeks of treatment and dosing my staff flew around the world with Tony treating him at performance sites in Los Angeles, Figi, Australia, Panama, New York, and the Netherlands.. By the 26th treatment he was feeling remarkably better and received a stem cell treatment. After 9 more HBOTs that likely stimulated implantation of the stem cells (see above) Tony was on top of the world again.
Since 2017 my staff and I have continued to treat Tony on a regular basis. Along with the many other therapies he receives, HBOT has rejuvenated Tony and helped facilitate his record–breaking superhuman performance.
Paul G Harch, M.D.
Clinical Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine, Section of Emergency Medicine and Hyperbaric Medicine
Former Director, LSU Hyperbaric Medicine Fellowship,
Former Director, Department of Hyperbaric Medicine,
University Medical Center, New Orleans.
Founder and Past President, The International Hyperbaric Medical Association and
The International Hyperbaric Medical Foundation
Harch Hyperbarics, Inc.
References:
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- Yang Y, Wei H, Zhou X, Zhang F, Wang C. Hyperbaric oxygen promotes neural stem cell proliferation by activating vascular endothelial growth factor/extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling after traumatic brain injury. NeuroReport. 2017;28:1232-1238.
- Zhang T, Yang QW, Wang SN, Wang JZ, Wang Q, Wang Y, Luo YJ. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves neurogenesis and brain blood supply in piriform cortex in rats with vascular dementia. Brain Inj. 2010;24(11):1350-7.
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- Holbach KH, Wassmann H, Kolberg T. Verbesserte Reversibilität des Traumatischen Mittelhirnsyndromes bei Anwendung der Hyperbaren Oxygenierung. (Improved reversibility of the traumatic midbrain syndrome following the use of hyperbaric oxygenation.) Acta Neurochir. 1974;30:247-256.
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- Qiang Y, Lan L, Su-Qin X, Yu-Fen Y, Dan L, Na-Na Y, Hong-Ping C, You-Ping L. Keta-Analysis on the Efficacy and Safety of Hyperbaric Oxygen as Adjunctive Therapy for Vascular Dementia. Front Aging Neurosci. 2019;11:86. Doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2019.00086. eCollection 2019.
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- Godman CA, Chheda KP, Hightower LE, Perdrizet G, Shin D-G, Giardina C. Hyperbaric oxygen induces a cytoprotective and angiogenic response in human microvascular endothelial cells. Cell Stress & Chaperones. 2010;15:431-42.
- Kendall AC, Whatmore JL, Harries LW, Winyard PG, Eggleton P, Smerdon GR. Different oxygen treatment pressures alter inflammatory gene expression in human endothelial cells. Undersea Hyperb. Med. 2013;40:115–23.
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