Combining Ozonated Autohemotherapy with Pharmacological Therapy for Comorbid Insomnia and Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Study

Abstract

Objective. To examine the efficacy and safety of ozonated autohemotherapy (O3-AHT) combined with pharmacological therapy for comorbid insomnia and myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). Materials and Methods. One hundred and eighteen patients were randomly divided into two groups: the control group (N = 50) and the O3-AHT group (N = 53). Patients in both groups were given the same pharmacological management for three weeks. Patients in the O3-AHT group were treated with ozonated autohemotherapy (the concentration of ozone was 20 µg/ml in the first week, 30 µg/ml in the second week, and 40 µg/ml in the third week) combined with pharmacological therapy. Primary (the insomnia severity index (ISI) and visual analogue scale (VAS)) and secondary outcomes (the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), polysomnography data, the anxiety and preoccupation about sleep questionnaire (APSQ), the beck depression index (BDI), and the multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI)) were examined at pretreatment, posttreatment, 1 month, and 6 months. Results. Fifty patients in the control group and fifty-three patients in the O3-AHT group completed the study. In both groups, insomnia and pain symptoms were relieved significantly compared with pretreatment. Compared with the control group, the O3-AHT group had significantly improved sleep quality, pain, and negative mood at different time points. No adverse complications were observed in either group. Conclusion. Compared with pharmacological therapy alone, ozonated autohemotherapy combined with pharmacological therapy can ameliorate insomnia, reduce pain intensity, improve negative mood, and alleviate fatigue more effectively without serious adverse complications.

Modifications of Blood Molecular Components after Treatment with Low Ozone Concentrations

“…However, as a result of these reactions, O 3 causes a small and transient depletion of antioxidants and a plasmatic increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and LOPs [10], which after blood reinfusion act as messengers in the whole organism, activating biochemical and immunological pathways and initiating cascades of biological events (e.g., production of growth factors and cytokines, upregulation of many antioxidant enzymes) in various tissues and organs (exhaustive reviews in [3,4,6,11]). Therefore, the therapeutic potential of blood ozonation observed in multiple diseases (recent publications in [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]) relies on biological events triggered by O 3 ex vivo in the drawn blood and then accomplished in the organism by the O 3 derivatives generated as a physiological response to the mild oxidative stress [3][4][5]18].…”