Back in September I purchased two Ionisers to use as Air Fresheners. After a couple of weeks I realised that my pain had been much better and I wasn’t taking as many pain killers. I didn’t think a huge amount of it as Emily has just gone back to school so my routine had settled down a bit, but the improvement remained, so I had a look online to see if I could find any evidence. I am not one for wacky treatments or claims, but I found some documented information, best summarised at http://www.losethebackpain.com/negative-ion-therapy/
“In 1959, Dr. Kornbleuh and his medical colleagues at Northeastern General Hospital treated a group of 138 burn victims with negative ionized air.
To their surprise, more than half of them suffered significantly less pain and discomfort. They also healed more quickly and thoroughly than those who were treated by conventional methods.
On the other hand, less than a quarter of the control burn victims experienced similar improvements in the same time frame. Later on, the hospital equipped all of its postoperative wards with negative ion generators.”
and
“Migraines happen when an overload of the chemical brain transmitter serotonin we spoke of earlier causes blood vessels in the brain to dilate. Blood flow increases and pain receptors in the blood vessels get stretched. This is what causes the excruciating pain in a migraine.
In numerous tests and studies, negative ion treatment prevented overproduction of serotonin and effectively cured migraines. And, of course, it has no negative side effects or risks found with migraine medications.”
There are other benefits mentioned in the information such as treatment for SAD, depression, infection, asthma, stress and fatigue.
Not really believing that it could be the Ioniser effect we decided to try a week without them on, after 2 days I put them back on as I couldn’t stand the pain I was in any longer and they have been on ever since. I have tried so many expensive treatments and to think that an outlay of on £23 was having such a noticeable effect is amazing. I am still in pain, but it’s not so bad and I don’t feel the need to take painkillers as much as I was before which has to be a good thing. I wish I could say it has had an effect on my other symptoms, but sadly not and I fear it may be making my Tinnitus worse, even though it is cited that Tinnitus can be improved too. In the grand scheme of ME it’s only a small thing, but easing of one symptom is better than nothing. I still needs daily painkillers, heatpads and monthly physio, but to have a bit of relief goes a long way, the downside is that I often try to do more as my pain is not preventing me as much and therefore overdo it and make my other symptoms worse.
Some of the information says that you don’t need them on all the time to have the effect, so maybe I need to switch them off some of the time and see what happens.
When we first got the Ionisers we were sensitive to the smell they generate, can only describe it as really fresh air, which makes sense from this description;
“Negative ions generally appear in natural settings in greater numbers than positive ions. For instance, negative ions are generated by moving water – rivers, waterfalls, crashing waves, even showers and fountains – and the presence of negative ions is actually used to identify potential sources of water on other planetary bodies, like Enceladus and Titan. Waterfalls are probably the greatest producers of negative ions, thanks to the violence with which falling water breaks apart on both hard and aqueous surfaces. Plants also produce negative ions, especially when exposed to intense light during photosynthesis.” (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/negative-ions-health/)
We are no longer aware of the smell.
I hope that this is off some interest to people and that some may feel it worth a try. Like all things I am sure that it won’t work for everyone, I have tried so many things and was surprised that something I was not trying as a treatment had an effect.