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When we think of ozone, most of us immediately think of the rapidly increasing hole in the atmosphere allowing solar radiation in, increasing the risk of skin cancer and negatively impacting the planet. However, ozone can have some surprisingly beneficial applications, especially when it comes to our health.
So what exactly is ozone? Very simply, it’s oxygen which molecule structure contains three atoms instead of the usual two – O3 as opposed to O2.
What makes ozone so effective? Ozone molecules are extremely unstable. When there are three atoms present, the molecules try to get rid of the extra one. This process creates powerful compounds called lipoperoxides, which in turn stimulate your cells, activating multiple healing processes in the body. Just how powerful ozone is can be seen by the fact that it is estimated to be ±3500 times more effective than chlorine at killing germs!
The History and Multiple Applications of Ozone Therapy
As far back as the First World War, researchers in Germany discovered that ozone has some powerful medical applications. Firstly, it’s a powerful and safe disinfectant which was used to disinfect wounds and gangrene. It has also been used to treat drinking water; it’s approximately twice as effective as chlorine! Ozone therapy got more institutional recognition and support in the 30’s under the Neue Deutsche Heilkunde research program, alongside with other natural treatments like homeopathy. Ever since these natural modalities and remedies have been more commonly used in Germany, but even there the allopathy has gained an undeserved ruling position due to BigPharma’s influence and ozone therapy is not covered under the most common national health insurances. Some insurances may cover some of it, but there is conflicting information on it.
Since these humble beginnings, many more applications have been discovered. Today doctors use ozone to treat a variety of complaints, including diabetic wounds1, asthma2, heart disease3, chronic pain4,5 and cancer6.7,8. It is also used to treat antibiotic resistant superbugs like MRSA9, respiratory complaints like SARS10 and even AIDS11. In all these applications the results have been shown to be better than, or at least as good as, those obtained from conventional medical treatments.
For those with other chronic, but overlooked and less understood conditions like Fibromyalgia and CFS/ME there is promising data12 in PubMed as well. Like the conclusion says:
“At the dose and number of sessions used in this study, ozone therapy by rectal insufflation seems to be beneficial for physical symptoms and depression of Fibromyalgia.“
From a more light wellness or cosmetic and skin care point of view, ozone can be sprayed onto the skin via the use of facial steamers. The Ozone is only applied to the skin for roughly 15 minutes before it is turned off. The ozone moisturises, rejuvenates and revitalises the skin and makes the skin appear healthy and have a natural glow. This treatment is showing amazing results for smoker’s skin as it is reducing the appearance of the grey, asphyxiated skin. This is something women are surely interested of.
Ozone has the added benefit of no negative side effects when correctly administered. A mild allergic reaction is the one, and only one, of the extremely rare side effects ever recorded.
For those who are not brave enough to rely completely on natural remedies in treating cancer, ozone can be used in conjunction with Chemotherapy and Radiation as a form of supportive complementary medicine. Ozone therapy has been proven to lessen the time of intense chemical treatment as well as helping the body react better to the allopathic treatment.
Medical Politics – Where Ozone Treatments are Used and Where Suppressed?
As stated earlier since it’s discovery Germany leads the world in using ozone treatments which are referred to over 3000 times in German medical literature. In fact, it’s estimated that it is used by at least 11 000 medical practitioners there. China is next by numbers with < 5000. Russia is third with about < 3500 and Italy being fourth with approximately 3000 practitioners 13. It is also used in Cuba and India. Cuba and Russia have national health programmes, where profit is not the motivating factor. India has a more open approach to alternative treatments, having used Ayurvedic medicine for centuries.
Unfortunately, in much of the Western world, the pharmaceutical industry exerts a massive influence on the medical industry. Because there are not massive profits to be made using ozone treatments, they have not promoted ozone therapy. For the same reason, many medical insurances and national health schemes do not cover ozone treatments. One consequence of this is that there is an increasing number of people travelling to countries that do promote or at least allow ozone therapy. A whole new industry, medical tourism, which assists people in finding affordable treatments outside of their home countries, has come into being. People looking for ozone treatments can also benefit from this.
There is a comprehensive TV documentary by Canadian Filmmaker Geoffrey Rogers called “Ozone and The Politics of Medicine” that was later revised in 2004 and named as “Ozone, A Medical Breakthrough”, which was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as “One of the Outstanding Documentaries of 1994“, but was refused for broadcast. The document elaborates the medical politics affecting the suppression of this wonderful modality. It has been taken down from Youtube several times as well.
In the document many experts are interviewed such as German Dr. Horst Kief, who claims to be the first doctor in the world to treat AIDS patients with ozone. According to him some of his patients were able to return back to work and normal life. And Dr. Gerd Wasser tells how in several cases he could reduce patients drugs at least 50% and still achieve same results without the side effects. Also Renate Viebahn, PhD in biochemistry and a daughter of Dr. Joachim Hänsler, a developer one of the first popular and widely used ozone machine solely for medical purpose in 1959, is being interviewed. Many success stories and testimonials from patients are recorded too.
In Germany double blinded peer reviewed studies are not required for ozone to be used as the amount of anecdotal evidence in clinical practice is so overwhelming. At the time of recording that was already back in the late 80’s or early 90’s Dr.Kief says that over a four decades more than estimated 10 million people were successfully treated, so the double blind tests are not so much sought after. And after all giving a placebo to a seriously ill patient is considered unethical.
And you can hear comments from some American experts too like Dr. Frank Shallenberger who has been promoting ozone therapy in the USA for decades facing all the challenges from the medical establishment such as FDA and American Medical Association(AMA). The latter one was also behind the suppression of Royal Rife‘s discoveries in the field of frequency based energy medicine. Also the famous diet guru Robert Atkins has been using ozone successfully and explains his views on ozone therapy and it’s unfair suppression. While at the same time more than 100 000 US citizens die from the adverse reactions of conventional drugs. This number was documented already back in 1998 and the more recent analysis from 2013 estimates 128 000 Americans die every year as a result of taking medications as prescribed. This combined to the estimated 200 000 victims in Europe, according to European Commission, the the numbers of deaths attributed to adverse drug reactions make 328 000 in total.
As we can conclude such numbers are way beyond acceptable, while the health benefits of ozone are enormous and include:
- Increased energy production. Ozone stimulates the mitochondria, your primary energy producers.
- Improved brain function. This may explain why ozone therapy is so effective with stroke patients.
- Decreased inflammation. Chronic, low level inflammation is now known to be the root of all chronic disease.
- It kills cancer cells without affecting normal cells.
- It destroys funguses, bacteria and moulds that are dangerous to the body.
- It has powerful anti-parasitic properties and helps to rid the body of potentially harmful parasites.
- It speeds wound healing. Ozone is especially good at combating antibiotic resistant bacteria, the so-called superbugs that currently afflict so many people after operations.
- It helps keep teeth and gums healthy and strong.
Ozone treatment is administered in a number of ways:
1. Autohemotherapy. Ozone is added to a patient’s drawn blood, which is then returned to the patient via transfusion. It can also be injected directly into an artery or vein.
2. Saline therapy. Ozone is added to a saline solution, which in turn is added to the patient’s blood supply.
3. Direct Injection. Ozone is injected directly into tumors or vein.
4. EBOO. That stands for extracorporeal body oxygenation and ozonation. Several litres of blood is being withdrawn and run through ozonator and infused back in real time.
5. 10-Pass Hyperbaric MAH therapy. It is modified Major Autohemotherapy where the blood is withdrawn from the vein and ozonated up to ten times per each session to achieve the maximum exposure to ozone person can handle at one time.
N.B. These procedures need to be done by a qualified medical professional.
6. Insufflation. An enema or douche, whereby ozone is administered via a catheter through the rectum or vagina.
7. Ozonated Water. Water infused with ozone is drunk to rid the digestive system of bad bacteria.
8. Breathing Ozonated Oil. Ozone, filtered through olive oil, can be inhaled to assist healing the lungs.
9. Topical Ozonated Oils. Ozone can be added to oils like olive, coconut, jojoba, and sesame and applied directly to the skin.
These applications can be self administered but proper training is vital.
10. Transdermal Ozone Sauna. Ozone gas is applied, via a sauna spray, which has the added advantage of augmenting the ozone with the healing properties of heat treatment.
11. Sauna Bag. Patients are enclosed in a bag, or suit, which is filled with ozone.
These treatments are available from specialized wellness clinics.
12. Dental Applications. Ozone is used to treat periodontal disease, sensitive teeth and bone infections and is used in root canal treatments.
As referred earlier there are numerous scientific studies showing the benefits of ozone therapy and the research is accelerating all the time. If you are suffering from any of the conditions mentioned, or if no-one seems to know what is wrong with you, you might consider finding a health professional or clinic skilled in administering ozone therapy. On no account try administering it yourself without qualified medical supervision or proper training and studies. Here is more information about the home user modalities for those that are interested of that route.
References
1. Martínez-Sánchez, Gregorio, Saied M. Al-Dalain, Silvia Menéndez, Lamberto Re, Attilia Giuliani, Eduardo Candelario-Jalil, Hector Álvarez, José I. F. Montequín, and Olga Sonia León. “Therapeutic efficacy of ozone in patients with diabetic foot.” European journal of pharmacology 523, no. 1 (2005): 151-161.
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16099337.
3. Hernández, Frank, Silvia Menéndez, and Rolando Wong. “Decrease of blood cholesterol and stimulation of antioxidative response in cardiopathy patients treated with endovenous ozone therapy.” Free Radical Biology and Medicine 19, no. 1 (1995): 115-119.
4. Bocci, Vea, Rebecca Pogni, F. Corradeschi, Elena Busi, C. Cervelli, L. Bocchi, and Riccardo Basosi. “Oxygen-ozone in orthopaedics: EPR detection of hydroxyl free radicals in ozone-treated “nucleus pulposus” material.” Rivista di Neuroradiologia 14, no. 1 (2001): 55-59.
5. Andreula, Cosma F., Luigi Simonetti, Fabio De Santis, Raffaele Agati, Renata Ricci, and Marco Leonardi. “Minimally invasive oxygen-ozone therapy for lumbar disk herniation.” American Journal of Neuroradiology 24, no. 5 (2003): 996-1000.
6. Alternative Cancer Therapies, The Cancer Cure Foundation.
7. Sweet, Frederick, Ming-Shian Kao, S. C. Lee, Will L. Hagar, and Wileen E. Sweet. “Ozone selectively inhibits growth of human cancer cells.” Science 209, no. 4459 (1980): 931-933.
8. Kontorshchikova, Claudia N., Anna V. Alaysova, and Igor G. Terentiev. “Ozonetherapy in a Complex Treatment of Breast Cancer.” In: Proceedings of the 15th Ozone World Congress, vol. 11, p. 15th. 2001.
9. Smith, Aaron J., John Oertle, Dan Warren and Dino Prato. “Ozone Therapy: A Critical Psychological and Diverse Clinical Evaluation with Regard to Immune Modulation, Anti-Infectious Properties, Anti-Cancer Potential, and Impact on Anti-Oxidant Enzymes.” Open Journal of Molecular and Integrative Physiology 5, no. 03 (2015): 37.
10. M Gérard V, Sunnen MD. SARS and ozone therapy: Theoretical considerations. [cited in 2003] MERS, SARS, and emerging Coronaviruses: theoretical considerations and a proposal for critical care parenteral oxygen/ozone therapy. Revised 2014
11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22470237
12. Hidalgo-Tallón J, Menéndez-Cepero S, Vilchez JS, Rodríguez-López CM, Calandre EP. “Ozone therapy as add-on treatment in fibromyalgia management by rectal insufflation: an open-label pilot study.” Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain. Published online; Mar; 19 2013.
13. 1 International Scientific Committee of Ozone Therapy ISCO3, OZONE THERAPY AND LEGISLATION – ANALYSIS FOR ITS REGULARIZATION, 1st. Edition approved by ISCO3 on November 18, 2012 2nd updated and extended edition May 20, 2015.
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