Ozone Therapy
OK - so this is a fairly long article but I found it absolutely fascinating! I have heard about ozone therapy many times before, but this article makes me definitely want to tell everyone I know with cancer (and there's a lot of them!) to look into it! It makes sense to me, but see what you think...
Ozone Therapy: A Powerful Cancer Treatment & Healing Protocol
by: Jane G. Goldberg in Cancer 101, Cancer Causes, The Basics, Treatments/Healing February 3, 2016
As a practitioner who has specialized in working with cancer patients for over 40 years, I’m often stunned when some cancer patients talk to me about their health. They say something to the effect of, “I am perfectly healthy except for the cancer.” Of course, this is a nonsensical statement.
Cancer is caused by many divergent factors; it is a complex process that operates on many levels of the body/mind constellation. There may be some systems in the body that are still functioning properly in a cancer patient. A woman with breast cancer may have a perfectly functioning heart, for instance. But the one thing that cannot be said accurately is that the person is perfectly healthy “except” for the cancer. There is no “except” in cancer.
Did you know that the lack of health that exists in every single cancer condition, without exception (no matter the location or stage of the cancer), has to do with impaired, oxygen-less respiration of the body’s cells? We’ve known about this causative factor in all cancers for almost 100 years. In fact, this discovery was awarded a Nobel Prize.
The treatment for this cancer-causing condition – Ozone Therapy – has been available for many decades. Yet, there are very few practitioners who offer it in the Unites States, and most people (including those suffering from cancer and their families) have not even heard of it.
We’ve All Experienced Ozone
Have you ever noticed that after a thunderstorm the air has a poignant, fresh smell? You may recognize the fragrance in the air as familiar, but one that you’ve never been able to place. It’s the same fragrance when there are ocean waves and waterfalls, as well as when sunlight falls on fields of snow. This smell is ozone, a gas that is produced during all these natural circumstances.
However, we don’t have to wait for nature to make this substance. Modern technology has enabled us to be able to produce ozone at will. This machine-made artificial ozone is exactly the same ozone as nature’s own.
Ozone has the feel of being cleansing… and indeed, that is precisely what it does. It cleanses the atmosphere when nature produces it. And when we are exposed to it, it similarly cleanses our bodies.
Why then does the weatherman pronounce the “ozone count” in such a dire, dismal tone? Why does he warn those of us who are healthy to not jog and those of us who are sick or old to not even go outside? And why does he blame car emissions for the high ozone count?
That’s because not only is ozone produced by natural phenomena, it’s also produced by pollution. When sunlight, moisture and temperature meet the chemical molecules that we call pollution (mostly hydrocarbons formed by incomplete burning of fuel in engines of cars and other vehicles, but also carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide), atmospheric oxygen (O2) is chemically transformed into ozone (O3).
In other words, the more pollution there is, the more ozone is generated. So, on polluted days there is likely to be a high ozone count. But what the weatherman is not saying is that without ozone, the pollution levels would be so great that our cities would be uninhabitable.
In spite of its bad reputation, ozone has recently received serious attention in alternative medical and research circles because of the remarkable healing potential of ozone therapy.
Ozone therapy is one of the most versatile forms of therapy available today – because it can be applied both through medical treatments as well as via home applications. It can be administered through the skin, into different body organs including the intestines and lungs, through the ears, in the blood, on teeth and gums, as well as in painful or damaged body parts.
As a 2004 review of ozone therapy states: “During the past decade, contrary to all expectations, it has been demonstrated that the judicious application of ozone in chronic infectious diseases, vasculopathies, orthopedics and even dentistry has yielded such striking results that it is deplorable that the medical establishment continues to ignore ozone therapy.”1
Since the time when ozone was first used medically, it has consistently proven itself to be a hearty fighter in a myriad of disease conditions and afflictions. These include cancer, liver disease, auto-immune disease, heart disease, allergies, diabetes, Lyme disease, macular degeneration, viral diseases, rheumatism/arthritis, geriatric conditions, SARS and AIDS.
Ozone and Oxygen
Ozone, like its progenitor, oxygen, is a gas. Oxygen (known chemically as O2), likes to travel in pairs.
When a third atom of oxygen binds, O2 becomes O3. Because O3 is inherently unstable, it always wants to give away that extra atom. At the same time, any cell that comes into contact with O3 will take this third atom. When this happens, oxygen’s traditional properties become more powerful and more energized.
Ozone’s most amazing property is that it is an extremely powerful oxidant. It will break down any chemical into that chemical’s basic component parts. Vehicle fuel pollution generally consists of water, carbon dioxide, sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen, all of which combine together to form what we call smog. When naturally occurring ozone comes into contact with this soup of smog, these chemicals are released in their basic or elemental form – and none of us could survive without them.
Expelling Parasites Using Ozone Therapy – One Woman’s Experience
Lena, a 30-year old woman was diagnosed with cervical cancer. A holistic nutritionist, she is well-versed in the relationship between cancer and diet/nutrition. She believes her cancer is unrelated to her near-perfect nutritional program – and that, rather, it is mold-induced after discovering her apartment was replete with mold.
Lena chose ozone therapy as a healing protocol, which includes sitting inside an ozone steam cabinet. With only her head popped out of the top, all of the pores in her body (except those in her head) absorb the molecules of oxygen along with their friendly molecular companion, the additional atom of oxygen that converts O2 into O3.
Following rectal insufflation of ozone, Lena expelled a dead 12-inch worm. It is unknown how long the worm had been living in her intestinal tract and how long it had been dead. It’s probable the worm was only recently deceased, killed by the ozone therapy. Worms, parasites, viruses, bacteria – all early evolutionary forms of life – thrive in low oxygen environments. By suffusion of ozone into the rectum and colon, in all likelihood the worm died from the duel saturation of oxygen and ozone.
The problem with parasites is that they can indirectly cause cancer because they drain their host body of nourishment and produce carcinogenic waste products. Aflatoxin is one of them. The most common parasite in the human body is yeast. Although yeast is not necessarily problematic, when it reaches a point of excess, it can cause serious health issues: candida, fungal infections, pathogenic microbes, amoebas, tapeworms, and fluke. It has been estimated that at least 20% of cancer patients have a parasite. The true statistic is probably much higher.
A Brief History of Ozone
The history of ozone use for health purposes is old. The Native Americans consumed fish as a major component of their diet. They recognized that, after a storm, the fish would emit a strange but pleasant odor, and they began to prefer fishing right after the end of a storm.
Across the ocean, the Greeks noticed the same odor (and called it “ozein”), and like the indigenous peoples, preferred fishing after a storm. Today, the positive influence of ozone on the digestive system of different species of fish has been scientifically documented.
Ozone has been used medically to disinfect and treat disease since its discovery. In 1896, Nikola Tesla patented the first ozone generator in the United States. Ozone has been used as a safe and effective water purifier for more than a century. Ozone deactivates pathogenic microbes in the human body in much the same way it does in water, unsurprising since our bodies are made up of 70% water.
During WWI, physicians applied ozone topically to infected wounds because of its antibacterial properties. Later they discovered it had broader therapeutic applications, thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties. In the late 1980s, German physicians began successfully treating HIV patients with ozone. Although there are some practitioners within the U.S. who administer ozone, it remains a relatively uncommon treatment even today.
Where Is Ozone Therapy Used?
Ozone is a well-respected therapy in many parts of the world. In Germany, it is the standard of care and is used by 70-80% of practicing physicians. One of the leading anti-cancer ozone therapy practitioners from Germany, Dr. Horst Kief, first came to the U.S. over 30 years ago when he was invited to speak at a conference organized by the Foundation for Advancement of Cancer Therapies. He has since reported reversal of AIDS with ozone, as have other physicians in Germany.
There are over 3,000 references in the German medical literature referring to the use of medical ozone therapy. In fact, it is considered medical malpractice to not use ozone pre and post-surgery instead of antibiotics!
Cuba and India have whole facilities devoted to ozone treatment and research. Russia, too, is a fan of ozone. Altogether, there is no therapy studied as much as ozone worldwide, with only cortisone and prednisone coming in close seconds.
Why Isn’t Ozone Therapy Available in the U.S.?
Why is ozone used in other countries and not routinely in the U.S.? In the United States, ozone therapy operates as a poor cousin to the more traditionally accepted mainstream (and more toxic) treatments.
It all boils down to profit margins. Russia and Cuba have socialized medicine, which is not about making a profit. Germany, after the war, was poor, and India is still considered a developing nation today.
Oxygen is cheap. In fact, oxygen is free. To make ozone from oxygen one only needs a small generator, and an oxygen concentrator. Neither is expensive – and neither offers the possibility of massive profit margins.
The Healing Power of Ozone
Ozone is the most powerful and rapidly-acting oxidizing agent on earth. One molecule of ozone is equal in its activity to between 3,000 to 10,000 molecules of chlorine. It is the best killer of harmful, pathogenic organisms.
Did you know that ozone only takes 10 seconds to kill 99 percent of bacteria, fungi, yeast, mold, and viruses – 3,500 times faster than chlorine?
Last but not least, it has been shown to kill cancer cells upon contact.
Ozone therapy’s many healing mechanisms of action are believed to include:
Inactivation of bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeast and protozoa
Stimulation of oxygen metabolism
Activation of the immune system
Ozone is very effective at fighting so many afflictions because it operates at the foundational level of the body: the body’s cells.
The Biochemistry of Oxygen and Cancer
Otto Warburg’s Nobel Prize winning discovery in 1925 changed forever what we know about cancer, its causes, and cures. He understood that when the body’s cells are deprived of 40% of their normal supply of oxygen, pathogenic changes begin to happen inside them.
In Warburg’s own words: “Cancer has only one prime cause. The prime cause of cancer is the replacement of normal oxygen respiration of body cells by an anaerobic (oxygen-less) cell respiration.”2
Similarly, Albert Wahl said, “Disease is due to a deficiency in the oxidation process of the body, leading to an accumulation of toxins. These toxins are ordinarily burned in normal oxidation.3
Glucose is the standard food for all healthy cells in the body, which burn glucose through oxidation. Warburg understood that when the cell is deprived of its normal supply of oxygen, it has no alternative but to change to an inferior method of energy processing and production known as fermentation.
Because the respiratory ability of the cell is damaged, it begins to ferment sugar anaerobically – in other words, “without oxygen.” Instead of giving off carbon dioxide (CO2), which is normal for a healthy cell, the damaged cell now consumes sugar and gives off lactic acid. The reduction of CO2 is a critical stage in this pathogenic process because hemoglobin, the carrier of oxygen in the bloodstream, cannot release oxygen without first receiving CO2.
Thus, the damaged cell is no longer able to get oxygen from its usual source and is now in the unfortunate position of being deprived of its oxygen nourishment, while simultaneously being poisoned by the proliferation of toxic pathogens. As a result, the acute, short-term damage of the cell becomes permanent damage.
Research since Warburg has shown us that a healthy cell, receiving its necessary supply of oxygen, manufactures an enzymatic coating around the cell. This protective layer prevents pathogenic agents such as bacteria and viruses from invading the cell. The enzymes in this protective layer include catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and reductase.
However, when the cell is oxygen-starved, it can’t produce enough enzymes to maintain a strong cellular wall. As a result, invaders enter (like a Trojan horse) ready to wreak havoc, destruction, and eventual death.
This lack of protection becomes a real problem when viruses come into the vicinity of a cell wall. Viruses are not actual cells, but are made up of either RNA or DNA, both of which are types of genetic material. By themselves, viruses lack the ability to reproduce.
When healthy cells become stressed and their cell walls become permeable, viruses rush in and attach themselves to the genetic machinery of the host cells. They take over this machinery and start replicating their own genetic material. The metabolic wastes of the viruses – which are now in a state of constant replication – overwhelm the body’s ability to eliminate these waste products.
The reasons for oxygen deficiency in the body’s cells are many. For instance, the cell may be poisoned by a toxic chemical (there are so many in our environment today) that prevents oxygen uptake. Ducts or glands may become blocked. Lymphatic fluid may not be carried efficiently to the lymph glands that run throughout the body. Waste material generated by the body’s natural functioning may collect in the body’s tissues, causing auto-intoxication or self-poisoning.
When we come to the understanding – as Warburg documented – that the fundamental cause of cancer is oxygen depletion, how to reverse it becomes obvious: to rid the body of cancer, we must flood the body with oxygen. And just as there are many ways that the body can become starved for oxygen, there are also many ways that they body can be flooded with oxygen.
The Biology of Freud’s Death Instinct: Apoptosis
The Austrian neurologist and the so-called “father of psychoanalysis” Sigmund Freud postulated an unpopular theory – the ‘death drive,’ or the notion that we are all driven to return to our origins. As well as being a sophisticated student of the psyche, Freud also was a true “biologist of the mind.”
Although the biological sciences had not yet discovered the biological equivalent of Freud’s death instinct, eventually science caught up to Freud’s deep prescience. Contemporary science now understands that on a cellular level we are all programmed to be able to do ourselves in.
All of our body’s cells have a built-in suicide pact. Scientists call this suicide agreement “apoptosis.” Apoptosis serves the purpose of protecting all other cells in the body from the damaged and dying cells. When there is merely brief exposure to pathogens or stressing agents, cellular suicide is often the choice made by the cell: quite literally, an act of sacrifice for the greater good of the entire organism.
When for some reason the cell doesn’t self-destruct, it begins the process of reproducing itself – because that’s what cells do. They are in a constant state of reproducing themselves. The damaged cell lives on, reproducing, in its damaged and damage-creating state. These cellular copies don’t have the same self-correction mechanism of apoptosis. They remain as damaged as the progenitor cells from which they are born.
One of the damage-creating consequences is that the cell (that should have died already) loses its ability to govern its own growth. Unlike normal reproduction, which has a natural shelf-life that ends the cell’s tendency to keep copying itself, this abnormal process of reproduction now becomes wild and out of control.
This pathogenic process of growth is infinite; it will go on forever, as long as the host organism lives and provides the abnormal cell an oxygen-deficient environment in which it can continue to thrive. We have a name for this cellular situation. The name applies to all cases of cellular overgrowth arising from inadequate cellular respiration: the name is cancer.
The two choices for a damaged cell are, then: immediate suicidal death through apoptosis; or, alternatively, a slow death through the fatal damage inflicted upon its host, and dying only when the host itself dies.
Ozone and Cancer
Dr. Robert Jay Rowen1 is a graduate of Johns Hopkins and has been involved in integrative medicine since 1983. Dr. Rowen calls ozone a “miracle healer.”
Another leading proponent of ozone, Dr. Frank Shallenberger, speaking at the 40th Annual meeting of the Cancer Control Society, explained the difference between ozone and oxygen therapies (as performed, for instance, in hyperbaric chambers), and why ozone is specifically preferable as a treatment for cancer.
According to Dr. Shallenberger, the problem with cancer is not that the cells are not actually “getting” enough oxygen. Rather, he thinks it is that the mitochondria – the cell’s energy factories – aren’t able to use the available oxygen efficiently.
Back in 1925, Otto Warburg wouldn’t have suspected the special role of mitochondria in cancer. They had been discovered during his lifetime, but the importance of their role had yet to be documented. Ozone, as a treatment, doesn’t simply send more oxygen to the cell; it stimulates the mitochondria in the cell to use the oxygen that’s already available more efficiently.
Ozone’s effect on damaged cells is quite specific. It attacks the pathogenic materials that don’t have a protective coating; it assaults diseased cells that proliferate but exist without adequate cell wall enzymes. Pure oxygen does not do this in quite the same way. Unlike oxygen, ozone selectively kills cancer cells.
Herein lies the major difference between ozone, as a natural treatment for cancer, and traditional medical therapies. Ozone ONLY kills the pathogenic cells. Chemotherapy and radiation are just as efficient at killing cancer cells, but they kill healthy cells too.
Because ozone possesses an extra atom of oxygen, it is “electrophilic.” In other words, it is unbalanced electrically and it wants to balance itself by finding another unbalanced charge.
All diseased cells, including cancer cells – as well as viruses, harmful bacteria, and other pathogens – are also similarly electrically imbalanced. Because of the imbalance that ozone shares with all diseased cells, they find each other. Quite beautifully, it is a mutual attraction dance between the disease (the pathogenic cells) and the remedy for the disease (ozone).
Ozone is particularly important for helping to control viruses, which are about the most unkillable entities on earth. Only a few viruses have been linked to cancers, including human papilloma virus, Epstein-Barr virus, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C viruses, human immunodeficiency virus, human herpes virus 8, and human T-lymphotrophic virus-1.4
We don’t yet know if they cause cancer directly or help to create the right circumstances for cancer to develop – but as stated previously, when viruses populate the human body in excess their waste is always a problem. Viruses mutate constantly, so any vaccine developed for them is typically useless by the time it comes to market.
Viruses last forever, it seems, with no natural lifespan. Bacteria, on the other hand, live for a while, get old and die. Viruses can go to sleep (often next to your spinal cord) for decades – but under the right circumstances, they wake up again and can cause painful inflammations.
Both oxygen and ozone are enemies to viruses. Because viruses are anaerobic, blasts of high concentration of oxygen and ozone are very effective in killing them.
Shallenberger describes the specific methods by which ozone helps to fight cancer:
It treats the cause of cancer.
It maximizes the patient’s vitality and immunity.
It controls cancer cell growth.
When ozone is directed to the diseased area, cancer cells are forced to go into apoptosis, and so they die off.
Ozone Therapy Safety Issues
In terms of safety, the first thing to understand is that ozone cannot react with healthy cells. Healthy cells possess both a balanced electric charge and a strong enzymatic protection wall. Ozone doesn’t “see” healthy cells. In this regard, ozone is equivalent to other so-called “targeted therapies”. It only notices, then communicates with, and finally destroys diseased cells.
The only known side effect of ozone is that it can bring about a healing crisis, referred to as the “Herxheimer effect.” This is when there is a detoxification reaction in the body. Although symptoms may be flu-like joint pain, body aches, sweating, or nausea, this reaction is indicative of the pathogenic entities being killed.
Endotoxins are being released from the cell walls of the dying pathogens and one should feel assured that the treatment is working. This reaction lasts between a few hours to a few weeks. Once the pathogens have been released from the body, the symptoms disappear – and the body is left healthier than before because detoxification and cleansing has occurred.
Methods of Administering Ozone Therapy
There are various ways of utilizing ozone therapy, including:
1. Autohemotherapy
Medical grade ozone gas is mixed with a patient’s drawn blood and then infused back into the person, or
Ozone is injected directly into the vein. This must be done by an experienced intravenous (IV) practitioner.
2. Ozonated saline therapy
Infuses saline solution that has been mixed with ozone gas.
This must be done by experienced IV practitioner.
3. Transdermal ozone sauna
Ozone gas is administered through sauna spray, which is less invasive than IV but equally effective.
This approach has the additional advantage of augmenting the ozone treatment with the healing effects of heat.
The fan should be turned toward the sauna to eliminate any direct breathing of the ozone that might escape from the hole in where head pops out. Available at healing centers.
4. Insufflation
Essentially an ozone enema or douche in which the patient gets ozone through a catheter inserted in either the rectum or the vagina.
Can be self-administered.
If rectal insufflation is done, it is important to have the colon thoroughly cleansed first. A series of colonics with a qualified colon therapist is recommended. If the bowel is impacted with fecal material trapped within the folds of the intestines, the ozone can also get trapped. As a result the belly can becomes bloated, making the patient feel uncomfortable and possibly nauseous.
Ear insufflation may be a potential preventative remedy for Alzheimer’s. (While there is anecdotal evidence to support this, there is no scientific proof that this approach works.) It also may be helpful in brain cancer.
5. Dental application
Dentists have regularly been utilizing ozone for periodontal therapy, root canal treatment, tooth sensitivity, and bone infections.
Some practitioners believe that applying ozone into a decaying tooth can halt or even reverse the decay process altogether.
6. Sauna bag
The patient gets into a sauna bag or suit (with the head out) after taking a shower.
Next, the suit or bag is filled with ozone gas for absorption through the skin for a duration of 45 minutes. A fan is used to blow away any escaping ozone.
7. Topical ozonated oils
Oils that have been successfully ozonated include olive, jojoba, sesame, coconut, and many more.
These ozonated oils are desirable for their antibacterial properties as well as their healing properties.
They can also be used as skin moisturizers.
When used as massage oils, these help to clear lactic acid from tissues. Topical ozonated oils are readily available online.
8. Breathing ozonated oil
Breathing ozone filtered through olive oil is not only not irritating to the lungs, but also helps to clear sinus infections and lung distress.
If your lungs contain microbes that don’t belong there, breathing medical grade ozone may cause minor and temporary irritation to the lungs as the microbes are oxidized and cleaning up occurs.
Ozone is only dangerous to breathe when mixed with nitrogen, but medical grade ozone is perfectly safe and even desirable to breathe through oil.
9. Direct injection into the cancerous tumor
For breast cancer, direct injection of ozone into the tumor is possible.
For liver cancer, injection into the portal vein can be done.
10. Drinking ozonated water
Drinking ozonated water begins the process of killing digestive pathogenic microbes.
How to Prepare for an Ozone Treatment
Before engaging in ozone therapy, it is useful to take a mix of antioxidants. The suggested adult dose is as follows:
Vitamin C – 3,000 mg three times a day.
Vitamin A – 25,000 i.u. daily.
Vitamin E – 400 i.u.
Beta-carotene – 50 mg twice a day.
Pycnogenol or grape seed extract – 60 mg twice daily.
Once ozone therapy is started, vitamin C should be reduced to 1,000 mg daily. All antioxidants and other dietary supplements should be given two hours or more before or after the ozone treatment.
Benefits of an Oxygen/Ozone Sauna
Inactivates bacteria, viruses, yeast, protozoa, mold & fungi
Enhances circulation
Increases production of collagen and cartilage
Purifies blood & lymphatic system
Stimulates oxygen metabolism
Disrupts malignant tumor metabolism
Reduces inflammation & pain
Excretes heavy metals
Normalizes hormone & enzyme production
Improves brain function
Excellent free radical scavenger
Relaxes muscles by reducing buildup of lactic acid & increasing muscle flexibility
Oxidizes toxins so they can be eliminated through skin, lungs, kidneys and colon
Stimulates vasodilatation of peripheral blood vessels, thereby accelerating healing
Speeds up metabolic processes of inner organs and endocrine glands, resulting in a loss of 200-450 calories in a 20-minute session
Reduces clumping of red blood cells, thus reducing viscosity of blood that leads to buildup of arterial plaque
Changes carbon monoxide (CO) – the worse free radical in the body – into essential carbon dioxide (CO2).
In summary, ozone has the impressive talent of being toxic to unhealthy, damaged and dying cells while being non-toxic to healthy cells. For cancer, it is an important adjunctive therapy to a good nutritional program combined with aggressive detoxification procedures.
Ozone can selectively kill cancer cells amongst all the other sick cells in the body. It is important to understand that repeated exposures to ozone, whatever the mechanism of delivery utilized, is necessary to reverse any disease. In addition, it is useful to expose oneself to various methods of application of ozone. Small, infrequent exposures will be ineffective.
Other Advantages of Ozone Therapy
Regular use of ozone has many benefits beyond suppressing cancer activity. Because it enhances circulation, it provides an oxygen-rich environment for cellular rejuvenation. It can clear plaque from arteries, restore acid/alkaline balance, improve nutrient assimilation, and remove toxic deposits from the intestines and colon. All these actions of ozone make it a profoundly powerful tool for life extension and anti-aging.
The Official NCI and FDA Position on Oxygen/Ozone and Cancer
It took the National Cancer Institute (NCI) a couple of decades – but in 1952, they finally endorsed Otto Warburg’s findings and understanding of cancer.
In spite of much of the rest of the world using ozone safely and efficaciously, the official position of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding ozone therapy still stands today. In the Federal Register dated February 1976 and amended in September 1989, the FDA proclaimed: “Ozone is a toxic gas with no known medical uses.” This position remains unchanged.