Justin Bieber Uses Hyperbaric Chambers and Infusions to Stay Sober From Weed, Lean, and Pills: Does It Really Work?
Justin Bieber has been one for tabloid headlines and controversies over the past few years. A young talent with a great voice, the teen being thrust into fame at such a young age took its toll. Bieber dealt with addiction as a young adult, abusing substances like weed and opioids. In the new YouTube series Seasons, Bieber takes fans behind the scenes on his life. One recent episode showed the 25-year old getting NAD+ infusions and sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber to help with his anxiety and other long-term effects of addiction. What are these treatments, and does this stuff actually work, medically speaking?
From a young age, Justin Bieber struggled with addiction
Bieber is sober now, thankfully. But the singer has dealt with some serious consequences of his past use of marijuana, lean, and pills. He’s “been diagnosed with anxiety, chronic mono, and Lyme disease,” writes Insider. The symptoms? “Lethargy, anxiety, and heart palpitations.”
In Seasons, which consists of fifteen-minute episode about Justin Biber and his wife Hailey Bieber (formerly Baldwin).
Hailey Bieber talks sympathetically about her husband’s past experience.
“I think when you take somebody very young and they start to get horrible, crazy, crippling anxiety … and you don’t know what it is that you’re feeling, you start to self-medicate because it makes you feel better,” she said.
Bieber goes on to demonstrate in Seasons what he does to deal with the fact that he no longer self-medicates.
“He … swears by sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber and getting NAD+ infusions administered through an IV.” reported Insider. The publication said this treatment is “a common, though unproven, treatment for people battling substance abuse.”
Bieber revealed in ‘Seasons’ that he uses chambers and infusions for his health
Bieber is sparing no expense for his mental and physical health. He has one hyperbaric chamber at his studio and one in his home. (Each chamber is priced in the thousands of dollars).
Insider writes that hyperbaric chambers are “rooms or pods in which patients sit while the air pressure is increased to three times more than normal ground-level air pressure. “
The most common use is for “deep-sea scuba divers who experience huge changes in air pressure.” Mayo Clinic also says hyperbaric chambers are used as treatments for “burns, brain abscesses, gangrene, and other forms of infections in the body.”
People are going to think this is some rich people sh*t,” Hailey Bieber jokes in Seasons. But she thinks they’re helping the “What Do You Mean?” singer.
Justin Bieber and his wife believe in the treatments
Mental health is so important to get on top of,” Justin Bieber says in the YouTube series. “If you have ADHD if you have… something and you don’t want to take medicine, I strongly believe in it,” he says of hyperbaric chambers.
While some recent and limited studies show chamber treatment to be useful for things like “depression, anxiety, and PTSD,” there’s not enough for solid proof.
American Addiction Centers’ Dr. Mark Calarco told Insider, “there are no clinical studies that prove hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help with anxiety.”
“If it’s done properly and in a safe environment, the risks are low, so maybe there’s some benefit there on an individual level,” Calarco offered. “But we don’t know.”
Bieber also admitted to getting “weekly NAD+ infusions via an IV drip.” What now?
“NAD+, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, is a molecule that helps enzymes in the body function properly to give people energy,” Insider explained. The molecule tends to diminish in amount as we age, causing symptoms of depression in some.
NAD+ is also not commonly used for addiction treatment. (Doctors tend to use the infusions to treat Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.)
But Justin Bieber’s wife argues that they “help to rejuvenate and rebalance the pleasure center in the brains of former addicts” in Seasons.
Some medical professionals disagree with Bieber’s claims
But medical experts don’t necessarily agree.
Insider reported is no research that proves “NAD+ helps with … the impacts of addiction on pleasure centers of the brain.”
One medical professional explained it this way:
If people feel better after they have an infusion … and their behavior is more aligned with recovery and they feel healthy and they’re able to perform at a higher level, I think that’s a good thing. But I don’t think we can go so far as to say it’s a direct treatment for recovery.
So, maybe it’s not real. But, Justin Bieber has enough money and influence that maybe he will just go make it real. Whatever works to stay healthy!
How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
