This January I had the pleasure of attending the 4th annual Doc Talks conference in Kona, Hawaii! While the beaches were a big draw, the panel for Doc Talks this year was fantastic and irresistible. A wide range of topics was discussed from gastroenterology (my personal passion), managing mold exposure, low dose immunotherapy, oncology, herbal medicine for chronic pain and overcoming bias in medicine. The passion from the presenters was palpable in the room. These naturopathic doctors are helping people improve their patients’ lives and they are so excited about it!
The talk of particular interest to my practice included Dr. Ilana Gurevich ND, LAc on Rectal Ozone for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Dr. Gurvich practices in Portland, OR and most of her patient base has inflammatory bowel disease, so she has extensive knowledge on the topic. She shared her experience with managing acute ulcerative colitis flares without the use of steroids in many cases. This is exciting because although steroids can be helpful they come with many unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects. She has found that use of rectal ozone as part of her treatment plan for acute flares greatly reduces the need for steroids. Rectal ozone is the topical application of the O3 (triplet oxygen molecule) to the walls of the colon. This is a very unstable, and potentially toxic, gas. In humans it is toxic to the lung tissues so we do not allow inhalation of large amounts of the gas. Topically to other tissues and used intravenously it has promising therapeutic effects. The current theory about using ozone rectally is that the extra oxygen helps the tissues clear damaged cells quickly with a quick return to a healthy intestinal barrier. The additional oxygen is also antimicrobial and supportive to your immune function.
We already offer this therapy at Revolutions Naturopathic! Its uses extend beyond inflammatory bowel disease. We have used it to successfully treat Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH) and adjunctively for cancer treatment and infections (fungal, viral, and bacterial). There are also some amazing case reports for use with non-healing skin ulcers. Contact our office for more information.
