Oxygen/Ozone Therapy

Overview :

Origins

The various forms of oxygen and ozone therapy have been in use since the late nineteenth century. The earliest recorded use of oxygen to treat a patient was by Dr. J. A. Fontaine in 1879. In the 1950s, hyperbaric oxygen treatment was used by cancer researchers. The term hyperbaric means that the oxygen is given under pressure higher than normal air pressure. Recently, oxygen therapy has also been touted as a quick purification treatment for mass-market consumers. Oxygen bars can be found in airports and large cities, and provide pure oxygen in 20-minute sessions for approximately $16. While proponents claim that breathing oxygen will purify the body, most medical doctors do not agree. What is more, oxygen can be harmful to people with severe lung diseases, and these people should never self-treat with oxygen.

Ozone has been used since 1856 to disinfect operating rooms in European hospitals, and since 1860 to purify the water supplies of several large German cities. Ozone was not, however, used to treat patients until 1915, when a German doctor named Albert Wolff began to use it to treat skin diseases. During World War I, the German Army used ozone to treat wounds and anaerobic infections. In the 1950s, several German physicians used ozone to treat cancer alongside mainstream therapeutic methods. It is estimated that as of the late 1990s, about 8,000 practitioners in Germany were using ozone in their practices. This figure includes medical doctors as well as naturopaths and homeopaths.

Hydrogen peroxide is familiar to most people as an over-the-counter preparation that is easily available at supermarkets as well as pharmacies, and is used as an antiseptic for cleansing minor cuts and scrapes. It was first used as an intravenous infusion in 1920 by a British physician in India, T. H. Oliver, to treat a group of 25 Indian patients who were critically ill with pneumonia. Oliver's patients had a mortality rate of 48%, compared to the standard mortality rate of 80% for the disease. In the 1920s, an American physician named William Koch experimented with hydrogen peroxide as a treatment for cancer. He left the United States after a legal battle with the FDA. In the early 1960s, researchers at Baylor University studied the effects of hydrogen peroxide in removing plaque from the arteries as well as its usefulness in treating cancer, but their findings were largely ignored.

Oxygen, ozone, and hydrogen peroxide are used therapeutically in a variety of different ways.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO)

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) involves putting the patient in a pressurized chamber in which he or she breathes pure oxygen for a period of 90 minutes to two hours. HBO may also be administered by using a tight-fitting mask, similar to the masks used for anesthesia. A nasal catheter may be used for small children.

Ozone therapy

Ozone therapy may be administered in a variety of ways.

• Intramuscular injection: A mixture of oxygen and ozone is injected into the muscles of the buttocks.
• Rectal insufflation: A mixture of oxygen and ozone is introduced into the rectum and absorbed through the intestines.
• Autohemotherapy: Between 10-15 mL of the patient's blood is removed, treated with a mixture of oxygen and ozone and reinjected into the patient.
• Intra-articular injection: Ozone-treated water is injected into the patient's joints to treat arthritis, rheumatism and other joint diseases.
• Ozonated water: Ozone is bubbled through water that is used to cleanse wounds, burns, and skin infections, or to treat the mouth after dental surgery.
• Ozonated oil: Ozone is bubbled through olive or safflower oil, forming a cream that is used to treat fungal infections, insect bites, acne, and skin problems.
• Ozone bagging: Ozone and oxygen are pumped into an airtight bag that surrounds the area to be treated, allowing the body tissues to absorb the mixture.

Hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide may be administered intravenously in a 0.03% solution. It is infused slowly into the patient's vein over a period of one to three hours. Treatments are given about once a week for chronic illness but may be given daily for such acute illnesses as pneumonia or influenza. A course of intravenous hydrogen peroxide therapy may range from one to 20 treatments, depending on the patient's condition and the type of illness being treated. Injections of 0.03% hydrogen peroxide have also been used to treat rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. The solution is injected directly into the inflamed joint.

Hydrogen peroxide is also used externally to treat stiff joints, psoriasis, and fungal infections. The patient soaks for a minimum of 20 minutes in a tub of warm water to which 1 pint of 35% food-grade hydrogen peroxide (a preparation used by the food industry as a disinfectant) has been added.