Oxygen Therapy

Without oxygen, we cannot live for more than a few minutes. We breathe it in from the air, and our red blood cells carry it through the bloodstream to nourish organs and tissues. But can oxygen, as produced by ozone and hydrogen peroxide, cure serious diseases such as cancer and AIDS? Advocates of a group of therapies known variously as hyperoxygenation, oxidative therapy, and ozone therapy, claim that it can.

Oxygen therapies involve administering ozone or hydrogen peroxide into the body for the purpose of treating disease. Most oxygen molecules in the atmosphere are composed of two atoms. When this oxygen, known as O2 collides with single atoms of oxygen under the right conditions, a three-atom molecule of oxygen, known as ozone, or O3, is created.

The ozone layer is in the upper atmosphere, approximately thirty miles above the earth's surface. Because of its chemical structure, ozone is capable of absorbing certain forms of radiation from the sun. If this radiation were not absorbed but instead passed through to the earth's surface, plant and animal life as we know it could not exist on earth. In the lower atmosphere, however, ozone can be a health hazard. Here it is a product of chemical reactions between sunlight and nitric oxide from car and factory emissions. If the ozone concentration in the air gets too high, it can irritate eyes and lungs and aggravate the problems of people who suffers breathing difficulties.

Ozone is not an accepted or proven medical therapy. However, advocates promote it for use in several ways. It is administered intravenously, through injection into muscle or skin, or by infusion into the rectum or vagina. Some practitioners draw small amounts of blood from the body, place the blood in a machine that infuses ozone into it, and then pump the ozone-rich blood back into the patient.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is composed of two atoms of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen. It is formed when water reacts with a single atom of oxygen. Hydrogen peroxide, commonly used for wound cleansing and disinfection, is applied to the skin only. But advocates of oxygen therapy promote regimens involving internal delivery of hydrogen peroxide.

Most ozone or hydrogen peroxide treatments involve injection of diluted solutions of ozone and hydrogen peroxide. Advocates of oxygen therapies claim that it treats and can cure many diseases and conditions such as asthma, emphysema, AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, Alzheimer's, and certain cancers.

Ozone and hydrogen peroxide produce oxygen atoms with facility. Ozone is unstable and splits easily into two atoms: one stable oxygen molecule and one atom of oxygen. Hydrogen peroxide also will split into a molecule of water (which consists of two hydrogen atoms plus an oxygen atom) and one atom of oxygen. According to oxygen therapy advocates, these single oxygen atoms provide oxygen that the body uses both to prevent diseases from starting and to fight diseases that already present in the body.

Advocates of oxygen therapy believe that disease is caused by microorganisms that thrive in low-oxygen environments. The microorganisms are said to thrive because they are less complex in terms of evolutionary development than normal body cells are, and therefore they require less oxygen. Lacking adequate oxygen, microorganisms in body tissues are thought to be able to spread and cause disease and illness such as heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. According to oxymedicine advocates, our bodies can become depleted of oxygen by pollutants, poor diet, stress, and other causes. When ozone therapy is administered, oxygen levels are raised. Elevated oxygen levels are believed to destroy the disease-causing toxins and microorganisms.

Potential medical uses of both ozone and hydrogen peroxide have been explored for over a century. In the 1920s, hydrogen peroxide was used to treat the flu. In the 1940s it was studied in animal tests for possible use against carbon monoxide poisoning. For these uses, hydrogen peroxide was shown to be ineffective or much less effective than other available therapies. Hydrogen peroxide currently is applied in medicine only to cleanse and disinfect wounds and in dentistry as an irrigating agent in treating root canal problems and gum disease.

Similarly, ozone has been studied for its potential medical benefits since the 19th century. In recent times it has been investigated for possible use against AIDS. Ozone showed an ability to inactivate the HIV virus in blood and serum in laboratory experiments. However, follow-up studies in people with AIDS have been disappointing, failing to show that ozone had an effect against the disease. Treatments that appear promising in the laboratory are not always effective in humans.

Warning! Hydrogen peroxide can be harmful, causing toxic reactions if taken internally in excessive amounts or as an undiluted preparation. Some individuals, acting on their own and under no care or supervision, have become seriously ill and others have died from drinking hydrogen peroxide.