Ozone Therapy for Interstitial Cystitis

What Is Interstitial Cystitis And Bladder Pain Syndrome?

Interstitial Cystitis and Bladder Pain Syndrome (IC/BPS) is an inflammatory condition of the bladder that occurs primarily in women. IC/BPS is characterized by urinary frequency, urgency, painful urination and pelvic pain of more than 6 months in duration.  IC has been given different names, so often you may hear it referred to as Painful Bladder Syndrome (PBS) or Bladder Pain Syndrome (BPS).  The cause is still considered “idiopathic” or of unknown cause, although many factors such as infection, autoimmunity, and genetic susceptibility could be response for the triggering inflammatory response.  

Chronic Inflammation and IC/BPS Link

Cystitis, or inflammation of the bladder, has a direct effect on bladder function (Grover et al., 2011). The origin can be infectious or non-infectious.
Infectious origins include many gram positive and gram-negative bacteria such as (Grover et al., 2011):

• Proteus
• Klebsiella
• Citrobacter
• Enterobacter
• Pseudomonas
• Enterococcus faecalis
• Staphylococcus saprophyticus
• Group B strep

Recent studies indicate it is not the infections that directly cause IC/BPS, as it was once thought.  But that the inflammation that the bacteria are promoting is indirectly leading to the pathology.
Other possible associations with IC include:

• Autoimmunity 
• Oxalates
• Fungal overgrowth/mold toxicity
• Lyme, Bartonella and other coinfections
• Leaky gut
• Autonomic dysfunction
• Exposure to environmental toxins such as mold
• Associations with other conditions such as IBS and SIBO (Turnbell, n.d.)
• Genetics and epigenetics 
• Physical or emotional trauma 
• Genetic predisposition

A central role of inflammation has been confirmed in both human and animal studies.  The conclusion is that regardless of the exact cause, if a noxious stimulus persists for long enough, it can lead to chronic inflammation.  And as a result, we have a perfect storm: a self-reinforcing cycle of persistent inflammation and recurrent injury to the bladder tissue (epithelium) (Sant et al, 2007). 

Ozone to Rescue: 

Ozone is the strongest naturally occurring oxidant, produced in nature by lighting and UV irradiation.  German doctors used ozone in disinfect wounds during World War I. They later treated blood, a procedure we know today as autohemotherapy. Ozone is directly germicidal, or pathogen killing, and kills 99% of bacteria in a few seconds and is 100X more effective than bleach at killing bacteria (Rowen, 2018).
Ozone gas alone can also be very for the biofilm infections associated with IC/BPS.  Ozone is known to quickly cut through and destroy biofilms. The activity by ozone against resilient biofilm can be particularly beneficial in circumstances where antibiotics generally fail (Rowen, 2018).

How can Ozone help Interstitial Cystitis? 
So, let’s cut to the chase, how does ozone work in the body?
We offer rectal, vaginal ozone and MAH in our office.  I will often recommend patient start with rectal and vaginal insufflations o.  We offer ozonized water to drink during the procedure .

Ozone increases the amount of oxygen in the body, which may help the body to heal:

• reducing the clogging of blood cells
• detoxifying the liver
• improving circulation and oxygen supply
• killing viruses, bacteria and fungus
• improving the activity of the white blood cells
• improving the metabolism of cells
• slowing down the aging process
• upregulating innate antioxidant pathways such as Nrf2
• rebooting the cells that are often stuck in the cell danger response (CDR)

Ozone gas alone can also be very helpful for the biofilm infections associated with IC/BPS.  Ozone is known to quickly cut through and destroy biofilms. This is great news for people who have been dealing with stubborn UTI’s and biofilms.

Ozone to Heal Tissue Damage 

• Ozone therapy has been proposed in the literature because it is able to influence the oxy-reduction homeostasis. It is considered an alternative treatment for many acute and chronic diseases (Neri et al., 2017).   
• Ozone can promote an intriguing healing process that begins immediately after injury (Neri et al., 2017). 
• All stages of repair are coordinated by growth factors and specific cytokines. Oxygen is considered as a fundamental agent in tissue repair.  Many processes in the body are sensitive to redox balance. These include hemostasis, inflammation, re-epithelialization, vascularization, and nitric oxide activity (Neri, 2017).
• As a result, ozone therapy in the correct concentration can act in the redox balance to positively support the treatment of wounds. When in contact with organic fluids (at the right concentration) such as saliva, plasma, urine and lymph, ozone powerfully interacts with all tissue components. Ozone can interact with polyunsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants, cysteine, glutathione, and albumin, even with carbohydrates, enzymes, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) (Neri et al., 2017)

Redox Balance

• The therapeutic use of ozone can promote a non-toxic oxidative stress, which consequently induces modifications at the cellular level capable of reversing another preexisting oxidative stress.
• ozone is capable of promoting the increase and preservation of endogenous antioxidant systems, thus promoting an oxidative precondition. Similar results were found in the study by Gracer et al in 2005, which described that the application of ozone in inflamed tissue may favor the synthesis of extracellular matrix, as well as cell proliferation and metabolic normalization.

If you suffer bladder pain, please contact us at 3128081200 .

References

• Loprete, F., & Vaiano, F. (2017). The use of ozonated water and rectal insufflation in patients with intestinal dysbiosis. Ozone Therapy, 2. doi:10.4081/ozone.2017.7304
• Martínez-Sánchez, G., Al-Dalain, S. M., Menéndez, S., Re, L., Giuliani, A., Candelario-Jalil, E., . . . León, O. S. (2005). Therapeutic efficacy of ozone in patients with diabetic foot. Eur J Pharmacol, 523(1-3), 151-161. doi:10.1016/j.ejphar.2005.08.020
• Neri, J., Lomba, E., Karam, A., Reis, S., Marchionni, A., & Medrado, A. (2017). Ozone therapy influence in the tissue repair process: A literature review. JORDI – Journal of Oral Diagnosis, 2, 1-6. doi:10.5935/2525-5711.20170032
• Rowen, R. J. (2018). Ozone therapy as a primary and sole treatment for acute bacterial infection: case report. Med Gas Res, 8(3), 121-124. doi:10.4103/2045-9912.241078