In this newsletter, I'm going to veer away from the topic of prostate cancer and discuss a therapy called Extracorporeal Blood Oxygenation and Ozonation (EBOO) therapy.
History of ozone therapy
According to a published review of ozone therapy, its effects are proven, consistent, and have minimal side effects. In 1896, Nikola Tesla patented the first ozone generator, later forming the "Tesla Ozone Company." During the First World War (1914-18), doctors applied it topically to disinfect wounds and discovered it not only remedied infection but also had hemodynamic and anti-inflammatory properties.
Ozone's mechanism of action
Ozone therapy disrupts the integrity of bacterial cell envelopes by oxidizing their phospholipids and lipoproteins and inhibits fungal cell growth at certain stages. It also damages viruses' protein shells and inhibits their reproductive cycles by disrupting the virus-to-cell contact with peroxidation.
Once in the body, ozone transforms into hydrogen peroxide, which facilitates the release of oxygen by red blood cells and stimulates white blood cells to produce interleukins, interferons, and tumor necrosis factor.
Hydrogen peroxide produced by ozone acts as a pro-oxidant in the body, stimulating macrophage activation and cytokine secretion. This ultimately results in the long-term efficiency of antioxidant systems.
Ozone also stimulates oxygen and energy metabolism by stimulating the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy-carrying molecule in all our cells.
Why I chose ozone therapy with EBOO
I chose to do three rounds of EBOO therapy to tackle any residual bacterial, viral, and fungal organisms that may be distracting my immune system from attacking cancer cells. Since treating the suspected Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation, fungal overgrowth, and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), I've felt better but not back to my baseline.
I still have some fatigue, an intermittent sore throat, low-grade headaches, and mild intermittent abdominal bloating. Overall, I'm feeling much better, but some days, I feel exhausted and want to sleep half the day.
EBOO
"Extracorporeal" means "outside the body." In this case, EBOO involves removing blood, oxygenating and ozonating it, and returning it to the body. It increases the amount of oxygen in the blood, kills harmful microorganisms, and reduces inflammation.
A 2013 review article about EBOO reports that
"Ozone is erroneously regarded as exclusively toxic for the body. Although it can cause severe damage if inhaled, it can have a range of therapeutic uses. Exposure of human blood to a mixture of oxygen and ozone is not toxic, providing exposure times and concentrations are appropriate."
Before the development of EBOO, only small amounts (250 ml) of autologous blood could be treated with ozone and readministered to the patient. Researchers in Italy felt this small amount constrained ozone's therapeutic potential, leading them to develop today's EBOO apparatus.
Researchers in Italy found that initial studies have shown therapeutic potential in patients with severe peripheral arterial disease, coronary disease, cholesterol embolism, and severe dyslipidemia. They also found that improvements continued up to two months after treatment.
Researchers feel that the interferon-g (INF-g)- producing effect of blood ozonation has excellent therapeutic potential in immunodeficiency states and chronic, degenerative conditions such as chronic liver disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
The modern EBOO apparatus allows the treatment of up to 4800 ml of heparinized blood with a mixture of oxygen and ozone in one hour of extracorporeal circulation without clinical problems. Intravenous tubing inserted into the cubital vein of one arm draws out the blood and into the EBOO apparatus. The blood is oxygenated and ozonated and then returned to the patient via intravenous tubing in the other arm.
The experience
See the picture of me getting therapy to understand how this works. You can't tell in the picture, but the venous blood leaving my left arm is dark red, whereas the oxygenated and ozonated blood returning to my right arm is bright red, like the color of arterial blood.
You receive 5000 IU of heparin through the intravenous line at the beginning of the treatment to prevent blood clotting during the one-hour therapy.
I have undergone two sessions of EBOO twelve days apart and have one more session to go. The clinic I receive EBOO from has a protocol of three sessions at least a week apart.
I was a little nervous during the first session, but the nurse practitioner who administered the treatment was very smart and professional. She quickly put me at ease, and the sessions went well.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but I felt fantastic the day after the first session. I wondered if it was due to a placebo effect, but the literature reports that some people feel energized and pain-free shortly after EBOO. And that's precisely how I felt.
The amount of ozone you receive increases each session, and I felt very different after the second session. I drove home and immediately fell into a deep sleep, even feeling groggy the next day. But the fatigue dissipated, and two days after the second session, I was energized and pain-free again.
I'll return for my final EBOO session in a week at a higher dose of ozone and then plan on checking a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) a couple of weeks later. I hope my PSA drops, and I anticipate that my immune system will improve.
Conclusion
Would I recommend EBOO therapy? It depends on someone's goals and financial resources. Several integrative oncology centers offer it, though I haven't found any studies to suggest it is a proven anti-cancer agent. Theoretically, it might stimulate anticancer activity since it increases tumor necrosis factor levels.
Insurance doesn't cover it, and the three-session protocol costs $3000.00. That is about equal to my copays for two positron emission tomography (PET) scans, which have absolutely no therapeutic potential.
In my case, I cannot tolerate the standard-of-care androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer. I have struggled with immune system problems related to low immunoglobulin A (IgA), suspected reactivation of EBV, SIBO, and fungal overgrowth. So, I figured EBOO was worth a shot.
The proof will be in the pudding, as they say.
Until the next newsletter, stay well.
And much love,
Keith