Ozone is a gas, an activated form of oxygen effective in many medical conditions.  We have used it by injection for joint and muscle pain, intravenously and topically for viral, fungal and bacterial infections, with good results.  Ozone is also effective in treating various kinds of inflammation, including autoimmune conditions.

Ozone can also be given rectally, by instillation through a thin tube inserted in the rectum.  The patient lies on her side, and the ozone is given slowly and painlessly with a glass syringe.  After lying still for 15 minutes, the patient can leave.   There are virtually no side effects.

Three months ago a young woman came to our office with a one-year history of severe and worsening ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune intestinal disease of unknown cause.  Because of her disease she was thin, weak, malnourished, and pale. She was unable to tolerate usual medical therapy for her condition.  Studies revealed anemia as well as protein, iron, and vitamin D deficiency.

She was given nutritional therapies, an elimination diet, and had four treatments with ozone.  When she returned to see me, I could hardly recognize her.  She had gained ten pounds, her face had filled out, and she had regained her color. Laboratory studies became normal. Abdominal symptoms were gone.

I now recommend that all patients with bowel inflammation, including ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and diverticulitis, receive a trial of ozone therapy.  

Read her letter below.

  Allan Sosin MD

 ______________________________

Patient Success from Ozone Treatment

"My husband is a hairdresser and one day at work a client in the salon handed him a business card for the Institute of Progressive Medicine.  The client had overheard him mentioning that his wife had a frustrating illness and was only getting worse over the previous 11 months.  She sympathized that she had been there once herself and gave him hope.

After years of painful symptoms and a few stumped doctors, a second colonoscopy finally revealed I had severe ulcerative colitis.  The year leading up to the diagnosis was particularly difficult, as the symptoms had progressed quite a bit.  I first appeared to Dr. Sosin in December and I hadn't been taking any prescription medication, I was trying Traditional Chinese Medicine in combination with controlling my diet and lifestyle.  I had tried the prescription drugs for a few weeks after the initial diagnosis and had very strong side effects, which were to me as bad as the disease.  I decided I needed a more natural healing path, which was unsupported by the previous doctors I had met with.

Four months had passed since my diagnosis and at my first appointment, I was weak and down to 108 lbs with no muscle as I had been in bed for a month, usually I am 125 lbs.  I sat in his office and was exhausted after climbing a few stairs.  He completed his exam and knew just what my body needed, recommending some vitamins, supplements, further diet adjustments, and ozone therapy.  I was also seeing someone for Traditional Chinese Medicine for herbs and acupuncture, which Dr. Sosin advised I continue.  He also ordered blood work, an allergy test, and I received an immune drip.  I left hopeful and already felt more cared for after one meeting with Dr. Sosin, he was so thorough.    

At my next appointment, my blood work confirmed his recommendations, and I even discovered that I had a few food allergies.  I was already feeling some improvement after the above and at this point had my first ozone treatment.  

Over the next two months, I continued with Traditional Chinese Medicine, followed all of Dr. Sosin's orders and received four ozone treatments total.  I am humbled to report that since my diagnosis, my symptoms went from severe to moderate, moderate to mild, and mild to completely non-existent.  

I have been UC free for two months now, when I first saw Dr. Sosin, it would be a matter of hours in between debilitating attacks and I couldn't imagine having even a day without symptoms.  When I first presented, I no longer was able to exercise, go out to dinner, have meals at friend's houses, do anything in the mornings, enjoy spontaneous plans, make plans, or even work and my blood work had "high" and "low" flags on almost every line.  Now, I have gained my weight and strength back, I am regularly attending Yoga, Pilates and going on hikes with friends, which I desperately missed and my blood work is back to normal.  My body feels better than I ever remember and I have been able to resume my life again which had been put on hold.  My quality of life is without a doubt incomparable to before.  Dr. Sosin and the staff at the Institute for Progressive Medicine were instrumental in returning me to true health." -K.W.

As the recipient of three kidney stones in my life, each about 15 years after the last, I maintain a strong interest in measures to avoid them.  The pain is often unbearable.  Sometimes stones do not pass by themselves (although mine did) and require intervention with cystoscopy (a tube inserted through the bladder into the ureter) or lithotripsy (a high intensity sound wave that breaks up the stone.)  Without question the best way to handle a stone is not to get one.

The lifetime risk of a kidney stone is 13% for men and 7% for women. Without treatment the 5-year recurrence rate is 35%-50% (Annals of Internal Medicine 2 April 2013)   About 80% of stones are comprised mainly of calcium.  The risk of stones increases with obesity, diabetes, gout, hyperparathyroidism (overactivity of the glands that control calcium metabolism), and inflammatory bowel disease.

The easiest and most important factor in stone prevention is to increase fluid intake.  This means water.  Water intake should be at least 60 ounces (one half gallon) daily.  High intake of vegetables and fruits will further increase water volume, because they are composed of nearly 90% water. Soft drinks appear to INCREASE kidney stones because they are mainly acidified by phosphoric acid, a stone-promoting  agent.

Citrate taken as a supplement reduces kidney stones, usually as magnesium or potassium citrate.  I recommend 2-4 capsules daily.

In the past we have advised keeping calcium intake down, also reducing salt and protein intake, although evidence for these measures is weak.  Medications that reduce stone risk are thiazide diuretics, which reduce urinary calcium excretion, and allopurinol, which prevents the formation of uric acid, a frequent component of kidney stones.

There is no need to remove stones that are just sitting in the kidney unless they are causing infection or obstruction of urine flow.  Stones do not tend to cause pain until they start moving down the ureter.

A specialized 24-hour urine analysis can detect abnormal urine constituents, such as high calcium, low citrate, or high uric acid, so that appropriate dietary changes can be made.  If the urine is too concentrated, the patient needs to drink more fluids.  

An ultrasound study is the easiest way to detect kidney stones.  Most often a passing stone creates unmistakable symptoms: intermittent, severe, one-sided squeezing or cramping pain that makes you want to move rather than stay still.  

I keep a glass of water on my desk all the time, and refill it throughout the day, taking a swallow whenever I go into my office.  The memory of those stones reminds me every day.

Allan Sosin MD