Hyperthermia and hydrotherapy treatments are available to outpatients and in-house retreat patients.
What is Hyperthermia?
Hyperthermia is deliberate heating of the whole body or parts of the body for therapeutic purposes. A fever is induced on purpose in the patient for therapeutic purposes. Hyperthermia can be local or regional which treat and focus only on a specific tissue, limb or body region, or it can be systemic or whole body hyperthermia that heats the entire body.
Systemic hyperthermia is carried out for systemic diseases like cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes mellitus, ulcerative colitis, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, lupus, etc.
What are the Benefits of Hyperthermia?
The goal of systemic hyperthermia is to reproduce the beneficial effects of fever. Fever is related to stimulation of the body’s immune response. Research has shown that systemic hyperthermia has the potential to be an effective, non-toxic adjuvant to immunotherapy as well as standard cancer therapies.
At Hawaii Naturopathic Retreat Center we induce an artificial fever in patients by warm water immersion during bath treatments (Schlenz-bath). The patient is placed in a very hot bath. The patient is totally covered with water, only the head is above the water. When the patient is totally covered by the water there is no heat escaping from the body and its temperature will invariably rise to match the temperature of the water. It takes about 30 minutes to raise the body temperature to fever temperatures. This induced fever may cause certain immune cells to become more active in the next few hours.
The hot hydrogen peroxide bath combines high body temperature, no higher than 103°F, with oxygen therapy. The bath contains filtered water and 1½ cups of 35% hydrogen peroxide. A bath session last about 30 minutes until the patient reaches the maximum temperature then he or she is maintained at this optimal temperature as long as possible.
Hyperthermia and Cancer Treatment
We bring the body to a temperature of 103°F and maintain this elevated temperature for as long as possible. Research has shown that hyperthermia (an elevated body temperature) can damage and kill cancer cells. Hyperthermia destroys cancer cells while normal cells resist the damage of high heat. Hyperthermia is also used in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments to make conventional treatments more effective. The cancer society says that hyperthermia can shrink tumors when used with other treatments and decrease the cancer toxic load.
What the American cancer society says about whole body hyperthermia:
Whole-body hyperthermia
“Whole-body heating is being studied as a way to make chemotherapy work better in treating cancer that has spread (metastatic cancer). Body temperature can be raised by using warm-water blankets, warm-water immersion (putting the patient in warm water), inductive coils (like those in electric blankets), or thermal chambers (much like large incubators). The body temperature may be raised to about the level a person would have if they had a fever, which is sometimes called fever-range hyperthermia. A few studies take the body temperature higher, around 107° F, for short periods of time. At least one human study suggests that this may cause certain immune cells to become more active for the next few hours. Other studies are testing hyperthermia and chemotherapy along with other treatments that are designed to boost the activity of the person’s immune system.”
In biological clinics in Europe artificially induced fever therapies are used effectively in treating acute infectious disease, arthritis and rheumatic diseases, skin disorders, insomnia, muscular pain and cancer.
Some of our other bath treatments are also combined with hyperthermia immersion baths to stimulate and act synergistically on the physiological functions of the body including the central nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, the musculoskeletal system, pulmonary and kidney hemodynamics, the endocrine system and the immune system. The outcome of the combined effects of hyperthermia with the different treatment procedures combined in our programs in conjunction with detoxification, healthy diet and lifestyle changes, bring about the self-healing potential of the body.
Hyperthermia sessions take place either in our outdoor spa area at Kapoho Sanctuary …
… or our dedicated hydrotherapy room in Hilo.