Safety:
Cost:
Ways to Administer: IV, injection, or a pressurized chamber
Bottom Line: Ozone has potential as a Lyme disease treatment, but the results are often short-lived and require further interventions.
Overview
Ozone therapy is IV ozone administered in a single injection or by the circulation of blood through a machine. It raises the oxygen levels in your blood to help combat borrelia, an anaerobic bacteria that can’t exist in oxygen-rich situations. However, note that this isn’t true for many Lyme coinfections, which need oxygen to survive. Ozone may enhance immune function and reduce inflammation.
Efficacy
Ozone has some positive benefits associated with it, so it’s reasonable to consider. But in my experience, the results are often transient, and many people need additional therapies to see long-term improvements in their health.
Safety
Ozone may have the potential to increase oxidative stress on tissues in the body and may have some tissue toxicity associated with it. I wouldn’t recommend that people use ozone as a primary therapy, but it might have a complementary place in a treatment protocol to pack a little extra punch.
Cost
Patients often require several treatments to see benefits, which can be expensive. Because of cost and long-term safety issues, ozone therapy isn’t my therapy of choice.
Dr. Bill Rawls’ Treatment Guide
Want to see more Lyme disease treatment ratings? See What Dr. Rawls has to say about popular treatments and therapies in his Lyme Disease Treatment Guide.
Dr. Rawls is a physician who overcame Lyme disease through natural herbal therapy. You can learn more about Lyme disease in Dr. Rawls’ new best selling book, Unlocking Lyme.
You can also learn about Dr. Rawls’ personal journey in overcoming Lyme disease and fibromyalgia in his popular blog post, My Chronic Lyme Journey.
1. Altinel O, Demirbas S, Cakir E, Yaman H, Ozerhan IH, Duran E, Cayci T, Akgul EO, Ersoz N, Uysal B, Kurt B, Yasar M, Oter S, Peker Y. Comparison of hyperbaric oxygen and medical ozone therapies in a rat model of experimental distal colitis. Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 2011 May;71(3):185-92. doi: 10.3109/00365513.2010