When the pain was gone, I could hardly believe it at first. I no longer knew the feeling,” Isabell Hardke remembers. The 41-year-old from Cologne had been suffering from pain in the lower abdomen for years. The diagnoses ranged from chronic cystitis to intestinal infection – she had a true medical odyssey behind her. Organic causes were not found. But neither is it a remedy for pulling and stinging.
Until Isabell Hardke became aware of hyperthermia – and what special heat processes can do, for example using microwaves, radio waves or infrared rays. “Until now, hyperthermia was only known to me from cancer therapy. I knew that deep heat is used alongside radiation and chemotherapy and can incapacitate mutated cells,” says the librarian.
mimic nature
Indeed, this is the traditional scope of hyperthermia. Less known: Moderate, artificially generated fever has a pain-relieving and healing effect on many chronic complaints. The spectrum ranges from asthma to migraines to neurodermatitis or rheumatism. “The principle behind it is simple and just mimics nature. Because fever is a helpful reaction of the body, which should not be suppressed unless the temperature is life-threateningly high,” says Bochum doctor Dr. Hüseyin Sahinbas, Vice President of the German Society for Hyperthermia in Wilhelmshaven.
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strengthen defenses
strengthen defenses
Natural fever, but also an artificially slightly increased body temperature promote the defense reaction of the organism and train the immune system . It is now known from numerous studies that something is often wrong, especially in the case of chronically ill people. Because patients with long-standing symptoms often have not had a fever for years.
Like Isabel Hardke. “When I was a child, there was always a suppository against fever. Later, I immediately treated infections, which were often associated with an elevated temperature, with medication,” she recalls. A lasting mistake, because if it is always contained immediately, the body will eventually forget the important self-regulation of fever. He is no longer able to “boil up” internally, to detoxify and to get rid of pathogens and metabolic residues properly.
Healthy in the heat tent
The immune cells work most effectively at a temperature between 38 and 39 degrees. The blood vessels become more permeable and immune cells can get into diseased body tissue more easily. The oxygen and blood supply to organs and tissues is improved, muscles and vessels relax. “Hyperthermic treatments support these processes and, in the long term, stimulate the body’s ability to fever and thus to self-healing,” says Dr. Sahinbas. It is important to note that the core body temperature is increased in both natural and provoked heat, which is why it cannot be compared to the superficial heat of a sauna or hot-water bottle.
Local hyperthermia can be used for some complaints, such as painful joints, and sometimes also for urinary tract infections. Using radio or microwaves, the relevant area is heated up to 39 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Fit with gentle medicine
Fit with gentle medicine
However, doctors use whole-body hyperthermia most frequently. The patient lies in a kind of heat-storing tent on a couch, which is irradiated from below with infrared heat lamps. They heat the body up to a maximum of 39 degrees, which is constantly monitored. Pulse and blood pressure are also checked during the approximately 90-minute treatment, and the heat-related fluid loss is compensated for by an electrolyte infusion.
“Patients often feel so stable after just a few treatments that they can often reduce painkillers, cortisone creams and many drug therapies to a large extent,” says Dr. Sahinbas. Outpatient heat treatment costs between 200 and 500 euros, so far only private health insurance companies have paid. In principle, moderate hyperthermia is suitable for everyone. Only pregnant women and people with recent thrombosis and advanced cardiovascular diseases should avoid it. The side effects are minor: Slight circulatory disorders can occur, sometimes the patient continues to sweat for a few hours after the treatment. Isabell Hardke was rid of her complaints after eight sessions. For them, an infinite gain in quality of life. Even if she had to bear the costs of almost 2000 euros herself:
Soothes and helps heal
Stimulates, soothes and helps to heal
Hyperthermia also has a preventive effect in order to reduce the general susceptibility to infections. Three to five treatments spread over the year can help the organism to stay fit and ready to defend itself.
In the case of constant stress or burn-out syndrome, the body’s performance decreases. Artificial fever mobilizes new forces.
In the case of sports injuries , contusions or fractures, overheating also helps tissue to regenerate more quickly and reduces pain.
Addresses & Tips
Therapists: The German Society for Hyperthermia eV offers a directory of doctors and clinics sorted by post code provides a good overview of the topic
The costs are only borne by health insurers for inpatient cancer therapy. Other indications have to be financed by those with statutory health insurance themselves. Nevertheless, it is worth asking the health insurance company, as some services are paid beyond the usual framework.
