A 100 percent safe treatment that does not create adverse reactions in the body. This is ozone therapy carried out on patients who need pain therapy especially osteoarthritis or in some cases of a neurogenic nature such as on people with herniated discs, pathologies affecting the peripheral nervous system.
But not only. Ozone is also used in the presence of gastrointestinal pathologies and for ulcerative colitis. Men and women of all ages can benefit from treatment under the guidance of a specialist. Only in some specific cases ozone therapy cannot be applied: in pregnancy, with heart failure, with overt hyperthyroidism.
Depending on the case, the administration of ozone can take place in different ways: by injection, orally, intravenously, rectally, or cutaneously by contact absorption. Ozone can also be injected if there are spills of inflammatory fluid. In case of herniated discs, injections are given where they are present. The patient is lying down or sitting depending on the situation. In addition to removing local inflammation, ozone favors the dehydration of the hernia and consequently the pressure on the nerve fiber involved. Among its properties there are also the analgesic and disinfectant properties.
As far as oral administration is concerned, patients suffering for example from intestinal dysbiosis or gastrointestinal alterations can drink ozone. The water is hyper-ozonized and ingested gives its benefits. It can then be administered intravenously. The blood is taken and ozonized, placed in the bags with the ozone and then reinjected. In the presence of ulcerative colitis (inflammation of the rectum with the formation of ulcers) ozone is inoculated through a rectal probe of a few millimetres. Locally injected it creates a benefit both locally and systemically. Once reabsorbed, the beneficial outcome is total. If the patient suffers from skin ulcers that cannot be treated with the classic method, it is possible to use ozone. A benefit in the anti-inflammatory process that arrives after half an hour in contact with body temperature. By becoming oxygen it gives hyper-oxygenation to the skin by disinfecting it. Bags are inflated with the gas and placed in contact with the skin.
Salvatore Sinatra, anesthetist medical director in charge of home care and pain therapy of the Lanusei Local Health Authority, has been dealing with ozone therapy in the Ogliastra polyclinics of Lanusei, Tortolì and Jerzu for ten years. «After a few months of treatment there is a return to normality of the skin, a restitutio ad integrum – explains the specialist – the wound closes».
The only way ozone cannot be administered is the inhalation one. “You can’t breathe because it can create irritation problems – says Sinatra – and consequently bronchospasms”. The duration of treatment varies according to the pathology. It ranges from eight to twelve infiltrations. The sessions then last for eight to twelve weeks. Before carrying out the treatments, the doctor may request an MRI scan. It starts with an attack dose, then the treatment follows. After two or three months we proceed with a check-up. Also based on what the patient reports and how he reacts, another MRI can be requested. “The number of treatments is not the same for everyone and for all pathologies – explains Sinatra – the necessary ones are evaluated based on the situation”.
Ozone therapy is performed in the three polyclinics of Ogliastra by reservation at the CUP and by paying the ticket. To assist Dr. Sinatra, the medical director and resuscitator anesthesiologist Mimmo Lerede. Among the simple rules that the patient could follow so that the benefit of the therapy arrives earlier and recovers faster is that of not driving.
Francesca Lai
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