HyperBaric Oxygen Therapy for radiation burn

Twinpeg

Hello,

I completed 6 weeks of radiation treatment along with 6 weeks chemotherapy (2 infusions day 1 & 28 then daily doses of Xeloda) which ended December 2017. The radiation burn started quickly around week 2 or 3. I am still experiencing constant burning when peeing and having BMs. My specialists have been recommended HyperBaric Oxygen Therapy for healing. Wondering if anyone has received this therapy and what the success rate was. I am totally claustrophobic which presents a major problem. 

Thank you. 

ACinNC

Hyperbaric

Twinpeg,

I am waiting on insurance approval to start HBOT.  I am also extremely claustrophic and considered how I would be able to tolerate being enclosed.  I am going to use Ativan which has helped me in the past get through MRI tests.  But also, I am working on mentally preparing myself by giving myself pep talks about the possibility of improvement by going through with it.  My radiation onc doesn't believe it will help but he is not the one living in constant pain, as I told him.

I spoke with a tech at the HBOT center I would be going to and she said it is covered under soft tissue radionecrosis but didn't give me success rates.  I will be talking with them again and ask that question.

The CSN site has multiple posts about hyperbaric therapy but they come from people with different cancers that HBOT is used for.  Head and neck cancers seem to use it a lot.  You won't find much in old posts specifically from anal cancer patients about it.  I hope someone who has had it will chime in.

Let us know if you go through with it and how you respond.  As I understand it 30 or more sessions are required to know if it is working.

Twinpeg

ACinNC said:

Hyperbaric

Twinpeg,

I am waiting on insurance approval to start HBOT.  I am also extremely claustrophic and considered how I would be able to tolerate being enclosed.  I am going to use Ativan which has helped me in the past get through MRI tests.  But also, I am working on mentally preparing myself by giving myself pep talks about the possibility of improvement by going through with it.  My radiation onc doesn't believe it will help but he is not the one living in constant pain, as I told him.

I spoke with a tech at the HBOT center I would be going to and she said it is covered under soft tissue radionecrosis but didn't give me success rates.  I will be talking with them again and ask that question.

The CSN site has multiple posts about hyperbaric therapy but they come from people with different cancers that HBOT is used for.  Head and neck cancers seem to use it a lot.  You won't find much in old posts specifically from anal cancer patients about it.  I hope someone who has had it will chime in.

Let us know if you go through with it and how you respond.  As I understand it 30 or more sessions are required to know if it is working.

Hyper Baric Oxygen Therapy

ACinNC, 

Thank you for replying. My onco radiologist is questioning HBOT and challenged my urologist and gastro doc as the cause for my burning. My thought, which I think is most obvious,  is .... it was not happening prior to radiation.  HBOT is same as cancer treatment - 6 weeks Monday through Friday for 1 hour 50 minutes. I take Antivan prior to an MRI and fall asleep.  Someone drives me since it takes effect prior to arriving. This would mean I need transportation everyday.  I have friends and family willing to help a bit but are not able to commit to several weeks.  

feckcancer

did this in Thailand...

..last year. not claustrophobic at all. the chambers are big (could fit 2 people sitting up facing each other and have room to spare ), + 'port holes' to look out of + light inside. you start off sitting up anyway. got a bit bored. if i did it again would take a book in with me. dunno if it was any help because i only did 1 session of x1.5 hour but would try it anyway if i had access to one here .

ACinNC

feckcancer said:

did this in Thailand...

..last year. not claustrophobic at all. the chambers are big (could fit 2 people sitting up facing each other and have room to spare ), + 'port holes' to look out of + light inside. you start off sitting up anyway. got a bit bored. if i did it again would take a book in with me. dunno if it was any help because i only did 1 session of x1.5 hour but would try it anyway if i had access to one here .

Size of chambers

Facilities that offer hyperbaric differ in the size of chambers.  The one I will go to fits only one person in a reclining position.  You start out on a stretcher and the operator slides you into the chamber which is a glass tube more or less.  No books allowed.  They have a TV outside of the chamber where you can watch a movie to pass the time.  Because of the high oxygen concentration there is concern for fire so what they allow you to wear and have on your body is very restrictive.

Ouch_Ouch_Ouch

I would have tried it.

With the amount of pain and damage I had from radiation, I thought that hyperbaric therapy would help me, too, but no chamber was available in my local area.

As it turned out, during my last hospital stay, when my white count was 0 and platelets were 15,000, the doc gave me 2 units of platelets and 2 units of blood. The following morning, I felt like an engorged tick about to pop, but within just a few days, my skin began healing rapidly. Everything is connected within the body.