You should know that we follow the CDC safety guidelines and that all IV therapies are administered in a sanitized room by an appropriately attired staff member. You’ll be alone in the room during your 30- to 45-minute IV session, so bring something to read.
It’s definitely worthwhile to have a basic understanding of ozone therapy. If you’re perfectly healthy, you may not need the information now. But life being what it is, one day you might have a medical problem and it’s always helpful to know your options. Actually, a long while back I edited a book by that name for the express reason that patients confronting any medical challenge should at least be aware of all treatments, including those their doctor may not have told them about.
Ozone therapy might save you a lot of prescription pill-swallowing or, worse yet, going down the rabbit hole of a health care system where you’re shunted from one specialist to another as your energy and your bank balance trickle away.
If you Google “ozone therapy,” you might feel a bit overwhelmed by the apparently conflicting information. What you’ll discover, though, is that ozone therapy is a treatment administered worldwide. Germany has been using it since the 1950s and right now clinical trials in Japan, Italy, and Romania are investigating ozone as a treatment for Covid-19. In fact, you can type in virtually any country on the globe + ozone and you’ll see what I mean.
IV ozone therapy, the facts
Rather than tackle the often contradictory information sources, let me summarize this in a few bullet points.
- Like virtually all forms of alternative medicine, ozone therapy enhances your body’s self-healing mechanisms. It does so by providing your cells with more oxygen, enhancing immunity, and clearing both toxins and free radicals. This idea of enhancing self-healing is an important distinction from conventional medicine, whose language seems always to use war metaphors. We want to conquer cancer and take antibiotics, beta blockers, and immune suppressants. We even zap our poor little thyroid glands with high-dose radiation. From that perspective, your body is a battleground and your doctor a soldier in full riot gear, firing weapons and sharpening knives.
- With this self-healing approach, ozone therapy is useful as an adjunctive treatment for a wide variety of seemingly unrelated conditions. These include heart disease, diabetes, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, chronic infections like Lyme and viruses, candida, autoimmune disease, cancer, Parkinson’s and ALS, Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, and liver and kidney disease. It’s also a favorite among physicians who practice anti-aging medicine
- Here’s what happens. Ozone gas is a form of oxygen consisting of three oxygen atoms linked to one another (to form O3) rather than the oxygen we breathe to sustain life (O2). It’s a highly charged molecule with oxygenating properties that spread throughout your body.
- Most commonly, ozone is mixed with a small amount of your own blood and then re-administered into your body (this is called autotransfusion). This procedure delivers high levels of oxygen to your tissues, much higher than could be attained by breathing room air or even breathing oxygen from an oxygen generator. With higher levels of oxygen, your body functions more efficiently at all levels.
- Note that I used the word “adjunctive” in regard to ozone therapy. This means ozone is not a replacement for good care. Use ozone while still taking your heart meds, cancer chemo, or antibiotics. The only time you would use ozone by itself would be as part of an anti-aging program. Can ozone therapy slow aging? In theory, it should. In practice, it’s never been tested. Would I personally replace a high-nutrient diet and exercise with regular ozone therapy? Nope. We’ve proven beyond doubt that good nutrition and exercise promote healthy longevity. As much as I like ozone therapy, I’d use it as an add-on, not a replacement.
If you’re contemplating a course of ozone therapy for yourself or a loved one, do some homework and read a little about it first. If you have questions, leave them at the bottom of this Health Tip and we’ll do our best to answer them.
Your research on ozone therapy will reveal both yea- and naysayers. Don’t get swept up in unrealistic hype, but also don’t slam the door on a potentially useful therapy.
There are several centers in Chicago offering ozone therapy, including WholeHealth Chicago.
Since you’ll need at least ten treatments, consider both pricing and geographical convenience. I happen to know our prices are the lowest, but you’ll feel better if you verify this yourself. If you sense a hard-sell at any ozone center, exit pronto. Be an informed health care consumer.
And be well,
David Edelberg, MD
We have a friend that did UV and Ozone treatments for Lyme disease, and it seemed to work well for her. My 31 year old son has been battling Lyme disease for the past 2 years, with extreme fatigue, brain fog and severe joint pain. He has had IV antibiotics and treatments for Rheumatoid arthritis, neither of which helped. We have been reading about IV NAD+ , or Ozone Treatments. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this for Lyme.
Robin Glaus
Hi Robin,
First, we are sorry to hear about your son. Second, we do offer complementary consultations with our providers regarding which infusions would work best for each individual patient. Please feel free to give the office a call at 773-296-6700.
WholeHealth Chicago
Unfortunately, I cannot reach you as your office does not respond to my calls. It is so difficult to get service from you.
Kerim Balaban
Hi Kerim,
We are sorry you have had trouble contacting the office. If you are unable to reach us at 773-296-6700, please leave a voicemail or email us at frontdesk@wholehealthchicago.com. We will return any call or email the same day.
Thank you.
WholeHealth Chicago
Hi,
I am very interested in the ozone therapy.
1-) Could you please tell something about the materials that you use when you inject the ozonated blood into veins? Do you use convalescent plasma or glass bottle when injecting the ozone into body? As far as I heard from medical doctors, plastic material can cause some side effects.
2-) What dose do you inject? 200 cc?
3-) Do you use bacterial filter in order to prevent any infection?
4-) Is a doctor or nure who leads the treatment?
Thanks
Kerim Balaban
Hi Kerim,
We are happy to explain the entire process of ozone therapy and evaluate if it is a proper treatment for you. Please call the office at 773-296-6700 to set up a consultation with a provider. Thank you!
WholeHealth Chicago
Please send me place and I’m interested in Oxone please.
Ginny Rivera
Hi Ginny,
Our practice is located at 2265 N. Clybourn in Chicago, IL. If you give us a call at 773-296-6700, we can schedule you for Ozone.
Thank you.
WholeHealth Chicago
Hi do you do combo procaine/ozone injections on scars? Do you use imaging to locate nerve ganglia for deep injections? Thank you.
Susan
Hi Susan,
Thank you for your inquiry. We do not offer procaine/ozone injections at this time. If you have any further questions regarding ozone therapies. please feel free to give us a call at 773-296-6700.
WholeHealth Chicago
I’ve recently had the onset of menstrual migraines, with no previous history of headaches. Prescriptions do not relieve the headaches 100%, so I’m looking for alternatives – has this shown to be helpful for migraines? Thank you
Tina Hostert
Hi Tina,
We often use an IV called a Meyers Cocktail to help treat migraines. You can read about them here: https://wholehealthchicago.com/2007/10/29/myers-cocktail/
If you’re interested in trying this and exploring other options for treating your headaches, you can make an appointment with any of our doctors or nurse practitioners; all of us see this type of thing frequently and would be happy to help. Please call 773-296-6700 and set up an appointment. We’re all set up to do telemedicine as well.
My best,
Dr. M
cliffmaurer
Hi, I have osteoarthritis in my knee and shoulder. Do you do prolozone? Heard a podcast about this treatment. Thought this might be perfect for my issue. What do you think? I am a very active person.
Thank you for your response.
Laura Anderson
Hi Laura –
Yes we do prolozone. I recommend setting up a visit with me on a Tuesday when our nurse practitioner Katie is in. We can go through an evaluation and Katie can do the injection on the same day. Please call in and ask for a team appointment with me and Katie McManigal. These shots tend to work quite well, especially when coupled with the appropriate exercises.
Looking forward to seeing you!
-Dr. Maurer
cliffmaurer
Please let me know the cost of an ozone treatment. Are the 10 treatments taken once per week? Thank you.
Gina
Hi Gina,
Our Patient Service team can give you pricing information; they can be reached at 773-296-6700. As far as frequency, this very much depends on the condition being treated and other patient-specific factors. This question is best answered by whomever prescribes the IVs.
-Dr. M
cliffmaurer
Fantastic perspective on openness and exploring health approaches that are potentially more synergistic with the body while keeping balance. Wisdom and education. Thank you for your insights.
Dan Cooper