Part 6. A simple test to measure body oxygenation and cancer dynamic

It is possible to predict the behaviour of tumours based on the oxygenation index or the CP (control pause or stress-free breath holding time). The test is intensively used for the Buteyko self-oxygenation medical therapy.

About the oxygenation test

Sit down and rest for 5-7 minutes. Completely relax all your muscles, including the breathing muscles. This relaxation produces natural spontaneous exhalation (breathing out). Pinch your nose closed at the end of this exhalation and count your BHT (breath holding time) in seconds. Keep nose pinched until you experience the first desire to breathe. Practice shows that this first desire appears together with an involuntary push of the diaphragm or swallowing movement in the throat. (Your body warns you, “Enough!”) If you release the nose and start breathing at this time, you can resume your usual breathing pattern (in the same way as you were breathing prior to the test).
Do not extend breath holding too long. You should not gasp for air or open your mouth when you release your nose. The test should be easy and not cause you any stress. The BHT test does not interfere with your breathing.

[Warning. Some, not all, people with heart disease, migraine headaches, and panic attacks may experience negative symptoms minutes later after this light version of the test. If this happens, they should avoid this test.]
         
Some western doctors call such a test “a period of no respiratory sensations” because when the time is voluntarily extended there is a stress that increases with each further second of breath holding.

About the Buteyko self-oxygenation therapy

Dr. Buteyko, MD developed a system of breathing retraining leading to normalization of cellular respiration and oxygenation. He trained some 200 medical professionals in the USSR and Russia to apply this method. These doctors treated over 200,000 patients, mostly with asthma and heart disease. Consequently, they accumulated a vast amount of clinical experience. The Buteyko breathing therapy was approved by Soviet Ministry of Health in the 1990s.

The Buteyko method was tested by various western and Soviet trials on patients with asthma, heart disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep apnea, radiation disease (after Chernobyl disaster), liver cirrhosis, and HIV/AIDS. During the large western trials on asthmatics, the disappearance of malignant tumours was the side effect of the therapy. Many Soviet patients who learned the Buteyko breathing method also had cancer. What were the observations of Russian and Soviet doctors in relation to cancer?

Large CPs (over 60 s 24/7) are incompatible with malignant and benign tumours. Normal breathing parameters indicate good perfusion (blood supply) of all vital organs and tissues and the enhanced Bohr effect. Vital tissues get sufficient O2 supply and this eradicates the foundation for cancer (tissue hypoxia). Hence, normal breathing of the person creates conditions for normal breathing of all cells.

Normal breathing parameters were accepted about a century ago. However, very few people have them now. We, in health, breathe about 50% more air every minute (about 9 instead of 6 l/min). Thus, relatively healthy modern day people have about 25-30 s of oxygen during day time and about 15-20 s of oxygen or less in the early morning hours. Sick people (asthma, heart disease, diabetes, cancer) chronically breathe about 2-3 times more air than the medical norm. They have shorter CPs (e.g., 12-15 s for people with mild asthma and heart disease; and less than 10 s for the severely sick and terminally ill).

Cancer and breath holding time test

When the CP is less than 20 s, the Krebb cycle (also called citric acid cycle) is reversed. The chemical reactions of this cycle provide mitochondria with oxygen and ability to generate energy aerobically. Abnormalities in the Krebb cycle intensify the anaerobic metabolism, production of lactic acid, generation of free radicals, fatigue, and tissue hypoxia. The practice of Russian doctors, as well as western breathing teachers, show that most people have their shortest breath holding times during the early morning hours (usually 4-7 a.m.). Hence, if a person's CP drops below 20 s, cancer progresses, and the tumour grows.

Moreover, in severely sick cancer patients, the CP can be below 10 s. Such critically low levels of oxygen indicate severe hypoxia, a very weak immune system, and the ability of malignant cells travel via blood, attach themselves in new organs and initiate formation of new tumours (metastasis).

Clinical observations revealed that there are 3 crucial CP numbers involved in understanding the general development and progress of disease, cancer included. They are as follows.
◊ When the CP is below 10 s, we are fighting with death.
◊ When the CP is between 10 and 20 s, we are in the grip of disease. Negative symptoms, pains, and aches take most of our energy and attention.
◊ When the CP is between 20 and 40 s, we are struggling with disease, but changes in either direction are quite small.
◊ When the CP is above 40 s all the time, numerous chronic degenerative conditions get reversed and quickly disappear. We are full of energy, sleep soundly (but without sounds!), have good digestion, a good mental outlook, and perform well.

However, our breathing and the CP are not the same throughout the day. Meals, stress, exercise, emotions, and hundreds of other factors influence tissue oxygenation and breathing. The dynamic of these changes in cellular oxygenation is the decisive factor that controls the life of malignant tumours or development of other forms of cancer.

Conclusions: The dynamic nature of cancer can be expressed by the index of oxygenation, or stress-free breath holding time after usual exhalation: 1-10 s – metastasis; 10-20 s – growth of tumours and advance of cancer; 20-40 s – the intermediate state (deadlock); over 40 s – reversal of hypoxia and disappearance of cancer.

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© 2008 Artour Rakhimov (If you copy the content of these pages for educational purposes, please, indicate the site address and author's name).