What is Ozone Therapy?

When most people hear the word Ozone, they think automatically of the atmosphere, and not of a medical treatment. So what is Ozone Therapy & how is it used medically?  Ozone gas (O3) was discovered in the mid-nineteenth century and is a molecule consisting of three atoms of oxygen. Due to it having a disinfection mechanism, its uses have been studied for well over a century both commercially and medically.  The use of Ozone specifically as a medical treatment to disinfect and treat disease, has been around for over 150 years.  It has long been proven that Oxygen deficit is key to the development and progression of all disease processes, knowing how and when to utilize an extra molecule of Oxygen is a powerful tool that can maximize the killing of bacterial, fungal or viral infections to name a few, and stimulate your immune system itself.

What are its benefits?

The effects of Ozone are proven, consistent, safe, and with minimal and preventable side effects. What are some of the effects you can expect from choosing to get Ozone Therapy?  Here are four areas of health and wellness improvement that our patients have seen here at the Integrated Wellness Clinic when they have had IV ozone therapy.

Immune Modulation:

A study in 2005 found that regular ozone therapy was effective at reducing markers of inflammation, regulating oxidative stress and as an immunomodulator (ozone therapy can modify the immune system to cope better with inflammation).

Antibacterial, Antifungal and Antiviral Properties:

Used against bacteria, it is shown to disrupt the integrity of the bacterial cell rendering it inactive.  This is great news for the Lyme Disease and other tick associated illness sufferers around the world who do not respond to or who are sensitive to the use of heavy antibiotic treatment.

In fungi, O3 inhibits cell growth at certain stages.

With viruses, the O3 damages the viral capsid and upsets the reproductive cycle.  This is great news for anyone who suffers from chronic viral reactivation, or even for those who simply find themselves susceptible to winter bugs.

Anti-inflammatory Properties

Chronic inflammation can cause oxidative damage to cells and DNA. Ozone is a powerful antioxidant that helps reduce this oxidative damage and the subsequent risk of disease. Ozone has also been found to increase the activity of enzymes in the body that act as antioxidants.

Pain Relief:

The origin of pain can be attributed to be a combination of injury, degeneration, or non-infectious or subclinical infectious inflammation, and reduced oxygen availability, all of which will impair energy production for tissue repair and healing. The source of pain can be local or distant. Ozone therapy addresses both inflammation and oxygen availability, and infection as well, therefore addressing the cause of the pain to lower or eliminate the pain itself.

 How IV Ozone works

The type of Intravenous IV Ozone therapy we utilize is Major Auto-Hemotherapy (MAH). The procedure involves having an IV started and letting your blood flow back into the IV bag by the natural pull of gravity. Once the desired amount of blood for your personal Ozone dose is in the bag, the prescribed amount of medical grade Ozone gas is then mixed into the bag with your blood by the nurse. At this point the IV bag is hung up to allow a rapid infusion of the Ozone that is bound to your blood cells.  At no time is your blood disconnected from your body completely or removed from your person and taken to another area.  The time that these treatments take depends on the dose of the Ozone you are getting, vein size, vein access, and how well your blood flows naturally. The smaller amount of Ozone can be done on average in 30 minutes, and the highest dose can take up to 2 hours to infuse completely.

At the Integrated Wellness Clinic, we have performed thousands of successful Ozone IVs over many years and have seen amazing results for our patients. We look forward to speaking with you about how it may benefit you as a therapy.