Why does ozone therapy come up for Lyme disease?
Ozone is a strongly oxidizing form of oxygen. Under controlled conditions it can damage bacteria, which is why it is used to disinfect water.
That property led some clinicians to ask whether ozone could act on Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium behind most Lyme disease in the United States. A reaction in a dish, though, does not show the same thing happens inside a person.
What does the evidence show?
A 2015 review in Clinical Infectious Diseases looked at more than 30 alternative treatments marketed for Lyme disease, including oxygen and ozone therapies. The authors found that the medical literature did not support their efficacy, and that many were potentially harmful.
Ozone is not a treatment for the Lyme infection.
How is Lyme disease treated?
Most cases are treated with 10 days to 4 weeks of antibiotics, most often doxycycline, amoxicillin or cefuroxime axetil. Your treating doctor chooses the medicine and the length of the course.
Most people recover completely. Some have lasting fatigue, body aches or trouble thinking after treatment, called post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and its cause is not known.
The clinic's ozone-based blood therapy
Cellular Plasma Recharge is the clinic's ozone-based blood therapy, also known as EBOO (extracorporeal blood oxygenation and ozonation). Your blood is filtered through a medical membrane while medical-grade oxygen and ozone are added, then returned to your body.
Each session is performed under medical supervision and monitored throughout. The number of sessions depends on your plan. You can read what happens during Cellular Plasma Recharge in more detail.
What are the proposed mechanisms?
Researchers who study medical ozone propose that it works through a mild, controlled oxidative stress. In theory, that brief stress prompts cells to switch on their own antioxidant defenses and can calm some inflammatory signals.
Other proposed effects involve blood flow and how red blood cells deliver oxygen to tissues. These ideas come mostly from laboratory and small studies, and none of them shows that ozone treats Lyme disease.
What if symptoms linger after treatment?
If symptoms linger after antibiotics, the first step is finding out why. Fatigue, aches and trouble thinking have many causes other than Lyme disease, from sleep problems to thyroid or nutrient issues.
That process starts with a consultation and evaluation with Dr. Michael Meighen, MD. Whether Cellular Plasma Recharge has any place in your plan is decided with him. It would be one part of Restore-phase care that follows testing, alongside your treating doctor's care.
What should you ask before any ozone-based therapy?
Ask what the therapy is meant to do, and what it cannot do. Ask about risks and side effects, how the session is monitored, and how many sessions are planned.
Ask whether your Lyme treatment is complete and whether other causes of your symptoms have been checked. A clear answer to each comes before any session.
Common questions
Does ozone therapy treat Lyme disease?
There is no good evidence that it does. A 2015 review of alternative treatments marketed for Lyme disease, including ozone, found that the research did not support their efficacy. Antibiotics are the treatment for the infection.
Is Cellular Plasma Recharge a substitute for antibiotics?
No. Antibiotics treat the Lyme infection. Cellular Plasma Recharge is support care that may be considered after treatment and an evaluation, alongside the care your treating doctor provides.
Is ozone therapy safe?
Every treatment carries risks, and the 2015 review warned that many alternative therapies marketed for Lyme disease are potentially harmful. Cellular Plasma Recharge is performed under medical supervision and monitored throughout. Dr. Meighen reviews the risks and whether it suits you before anything is booked.
What should I do if symptoms continue after Lyme treatment?
Talk with the doctor who treated you. Lasting fatigue, aches and trouble thinking have many possible causes. An evaluation that checks sleep, medicines, thyroid function and nutrient levels is a sensible next step.
How many Cellular Plasma Recharge sessions would I need?
Your session count is set only after your evaluation, if the therapy is part of your plan at all. The count and spacing are explained before you agree to anything.
Should I stop antibiotics to try ozone therapy?
No. Finish the course your doctor prescribed, and never stop a medication without talking to the doctor who prescribed it. Ozone-based therapy is not a replacement for antibiotic treatment.
Can ozone reach bacteria hiding in the body?
Medical ozone dissolves in the blood and reacts within moments with its components, so it does not travel through the body as a gas. Its proposed effects come from the signals that reaction creates, not from ozone reaching bacteria.