Are LiveO2 Systems Safe to Use?

Contents

Oxygen use is completely safe with LiveO2® and Oxygen Multistep Protocols. A more detailed discussion of each topic follows. There are three situations where oxygen is not safe to breathe:

Breathing air with 18x normal oxygen, like at 500 feet underwater, causes oxygen toxicity.
Long term use of air, more than 12 hours, with over 60% oxygen can damage your lungs by oxidative stress.
If your body’s breathing reflex, triggered by CO2 has failed, acute respiratory syndromes (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).

Otherwise oxygen is helpful according to original research included in this publication. Both Oxygen Multistep Therapy and LiveO2 are well within safe levels, and are even safer than commonly used hyperbaric chambers. We’ll explain more on this later with a short list of exceptions:

Manifest or pronounced hypertonia (stage III/IV WHO) [Extreme stiffness due to neuromuscular locking];
with signs of cardiac decompensation [By cardiac decompensation is meant a combination of symptoms and signs that indicate that the heart by reason of its abnormal condition no longer is able to maintain an efficient circulation. In cardiac decompensation is not included the circulatory failure of acute infectious diseases.]
with steno cardia syndrome at rest [severe constricting pain or sensation of pressure in the chest, often radiating from the precordium to a shoulder (usually left) and down the arm, resulting from ischemia of the heart muscle usually caused by coronary disease.]
and to some extent with febrile infections. [infections with a high fever]

Our searches showing no cases of negative or adverse effects from oxygen oxygen therapies in over 30 years of continuous use.

Oxidative Stress

The LiveO2 and LiveO2 Adaptive Contrast® equipment is not capable of delivering enough oxygen for long enough to damage lungs or cause oxygen toxicity. There are two documented situations where low pressure oxygen can cause harm:

Lorraine Smith Effect — Resulting from oxidative stress to lung tissues exceeding 95% for four hours
Paul Bert Effect — Oxygen Toxicity — with high pressure causes See: Oxygen Toxicity in Man

At normal pressure, the medically accepted threshold for oxidative stress to the lungs requires oxygen in excess of 95% exceeding 4 hours in the most sensitive individuals, with symptoms typically appearing after 14 hours. See: Bench to Bedside Review: Oxygen as a Drug LiveO2 is capable of high levels 50 liters per minute for about fifteen minutes. This use is far below both thresholds for oxidative stress:

The concentration of oxygen is at about 80%
The duration is oxygen use is for fifteen minutes maximum until consumption exhausts the reservoir, and use must stop.

All systems, including LiveO2, can only deliver oxygen well within known safe levels, of both time and duration.

Oxygen Toxicity

In 1947, the British military discovered that oxygen could be toxic (Oxygen Toxicity) as a result of underwater research. The same research discovered that nitrogen (78% of air) caused Nitrogen Narcosis. In simple terms, oxygen toxicity only occurs under very, very, elevated oxygen partial pressures.

This research determined that super-concentrated oxygen, 18x normal (impossible without military-grade equipment or deep diving), produces oxygen poisoning.

Ardenne’s protocols use oxygen at far less than these levels, and have never been reported to cause harm or produce oxygen toxicity symptoms, in any person.
Athletic protocols have over a 75% safety margin, and non-athletic protocols have a 95% safety margin. A detailed analysis follows.

According to the research documentation, oxygen toxicity effects cannot occur with Oxygen Multistep Therapy or LiveO2 systems because they cannot produce high enough levels of oxygen for a long enough period of time to produce these effects. The Summary If you want to skip the details, the results below come to 17.9 atmospheres, or breathing air under water at a depth of 538 feet. This is very extreme. For comparison, Ardenne’s pregnancy support protocol uses about 4 atmospheres of oxygen for 15 minutes during labor preceding childbirth. This is about 125 feet of water breathing regular air, for a short period of time. His quick protocols use about 60% oxygen for 15 minutes. The LiveO2 system supports Ardenne’s highest level protocols for athletic training and labor. The highest oxygen levels that any Oxygen MultiStep Therapy system is capable of, is less than 25% of the oxygen partial pressures known or ever reported to produce oxygen toxicity effects in any person. There are no reports, over the past 30 years, that any of Ardenne’s protocols have ever caused any indication of oxygen toxicity in any person. Calculations Oxygen at sea level is one atmosphere. The experiments documented in these publications showed oxygen toxicity at 17.9 atmospheres produced escalating symptoms, as indicated below

The pressure at 90 feet = (1 atm + * (.445 lb/ft * 90 ft) / 14.5)) = 3.76 atm
This was pure oxygen. Normal air is 21% oxygen, so 100% / 21% pure oxygen is 4.76 atmospheres of oxygen partial pressure 3.76 atm * 4.76 atm = 17.9 atmospheres of oxygen
So this data shows results for extremely high oxygen concentrations. Note that even at these extremely elevated levels, the early presentations, less than 15 minutes, have minor symptoms:
- Lip Twitching
- Tingling of Skin
- Vertigo
- Hiccup
- Nausea

Acute COPD

It is well known that oxygen should never be used, alone, by any person with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. See also Effect of Oxygen on obstructive pulmonary disease. No person with compromised respiration (COPD and related syndromes) should:

Use a Hyperbaric Chamber without medical supervision
Breathe a high concentration oxygen without exercise. Exertion causes the muscles to produce CO2 by aerobic metabolism stimulating normal respiration that maintains the O2/CO2 balance. Individuals with very low CO2 production have suppressed respiration due to low CO2 production which may lead to respiratory distress or failure.

The combination of oxygen with exertion tends to be helpful for individuals with compromised respiration, Ardenne — Oxygen Multistep Therapy, P 52 – 73. Ardenne developed several highly successful protocols that use supplemental oxygen, combined and exercise or pharmaceutically elevated heart and respiratory rates, to restore respiratory function in these same individuals.

Oxygen Poisoning at 90 ft (27 m) in the Dry in 36 Subjects in Order of Performance – K W Donald¹
Exposure (mins.)	Num. of Subjects	Symptoms
96	1	Prolonged dazzle; severe spasmodic vomiting
60 – 69	3	Severe lip-twitching; Euphoria; Nausea and vertigo; arm twitch
50 – 55	4	Severe lip-twitching; Dazzle; Blubbering of lips; fell asleep; Dazed
31 – 35	4	Nausea, vertigo, lip-twitching; Convulsed
21 – 30	6	Convulsed; Drowsiness; Severe lip-twitching; epigastric aura; twitch L arm; amnesia
16 – 20	8	Convulsed; Vertigo and severe lip twitching; epigastric aura; spasmodic respiration;
11 – 15	4	Inspiratory predominance; lip-twitching and syncope; Nausea and confusion
6 – 10	6	Dazed and lip-twitching; paraesthesiae; vertigo; “Diaphragmatic spasm”; Severe nausea

These protocols are listed here:

36 hour Cure (ambulatory individuals)
Respiratory Distress (Coma, bedfast) NO HIGH CONCENTRATION OXYGEN SYSTEM SHOULD BE USED without exercise because exercise produces Carbon Dioxide to balance the metabolism.

Individuals with extremely compromised respiratory systems should not use a hyperbaric chamber without medical supervision, as elevated oxygen pressure can inhibit respiration. These same individuals CAN use LiveO2 or Oxygen Multistep Therapy because these therapies include activity that preserves and enhances CO2/Oxygen balance, to support and restore respiratory reflexes.

Oxygen Partial Pressure Safety

Both the low and high oxygen levels are well within accepted safe ranges and have been in public use since 1949, 1965, and military use since World War 2.

Oxygen Rich Mixture

LiveO2 uses respiratory oxygen levels ranging from about 45% to 85% under ambient pressure. This level is within well-established safety limits established over 50 years of recreational diving. LiveO2 simulates breathing a NITROX mixture at a depth of 60 feet, or a football player breathing oxygen on the bench after an exhaustive play. The LiveO2 oxygen-rich mixture mirrors NFL best practice to provide players with an oxygen mixture at the bench when returning from play. This practice provides a margin of safety and enables players to expedite recovery from high-exertion plays and return to the game more quickly. Oxygen toxicity only occurs at an oxygen partial pressure of 140% which is impossible under normal atmospheric conditions.

Oxygen Reduced Mixture

The low oxygen mixture simulates the oxygen partial pressure about the same as during commercial air travel. This air mixture has a history dating back to about 1949.

Barotrauma

Barotrauma is an injury from a pressure change. It occurs when external pressure changes faster than the body can adapt. LiveO2 operates only under normobaric conditions. Barotrauma cannot occur.

Updated on February 15, 2023

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