Saturday, February 6, 2010

Forced Indoor Air Ionization to Treat Cystic Fibrosis

I ran across this article the other day and I found it interesting so I thought I would share:


FORCED INDOOR AIR IONIZATION BY SALT SUBLIMATION MAY IMPROVE RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS IN CYSTIC FIBROSIS


Forced ionization of indoor air by salt sublimation may improve respiratory symptoms in cystic fibrosis (CF), said a researcher in a presentation at the 24th European Cystic Fibrosis conference in Vienna, Austria.

The use of speleotherapy in many Central and Eastern European countries is well spread and well-known and in these countries doctors recommend this therapy to their patients.

The term speleotherapy comes from the Greek ‘speleo’ that means ‘cave’ – the therapy in a salt mine. Many, many people with all kinds of respiratory diseases use this therapy as a complementary or alternative therapy to the classical drug therapy and find great relief.

Being very effective but in the same time costly by having fixed location and the treatment implying multiple sessions, this physical therapy has been practiced in Balkans for over 150 years.

In an effort to find a way to use this therapy at home, a Romanian chemist engineer have researched and developed a device that is able to simulate the salt mine micro-environment in the comfort of your home. He have analyzed the air composition in a salt mine and found the way to grow salt micro particles as those found in a salt mine, using only natural mineral halite salt crystals formed in the Middle Miocene era from the salt mine.

All the research work was followed by clinical studies at different clinics in Romania. Now, the device uses forced indoor air ionization by salt sublimation and give so much relief in many respiratory conditions.

One of the clinical studies that have been done is regarding the effect of Salin device in patients with cystic fibrosis. Doctor Ioan Popa and his colleagues from a paediatric clinic in Buzau, Romania, investigated 18 patients with their age between 3 and 17 years old, with mild to severe cystic fibrosis.

This study has been realized within a 6 months interval on the two lots that were created. Seventy percent were diagnosed as having mild cystic fibrosis and thirty percent were severe. The two lots were created based on the stage of the diseases, their FEV1, colonisation with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and/or Staphylococcus aureus and other respiratory conditions.

The first lot used the Salin device approximately 8-10 hours/day. The control lot used the Salin for the same period of time but the device worked without the salt plates, so without forced ionization of the indoor air by salt sublimation.

In the lot I was noted a significant improvement of the clinical state and a subjective estimation “for better” have been seen by the patients, respectively by their parents especially in those that have been more seriously affected.

Objective symptoms of the disease, as sputum analysis, respiratory function, crackles at auscultation and FEV1, showed improvements from pre-treatment. In the control lot there were no changes similar to those from lot I.

On clinical examination, the patients receiving the active treatment were noted to have an increase of the sputum elimination at first stage followed by a significant reducing of its quantity, improvement of the respiratory functional syndrome, less crackles at auscultation and an improvement of FEV1. No patients receiving the active treatment have showed acute episodes of respiratory disease that should require another hospitalization for the duration of the treatment.

The authors concluded that forced ionization of the indoor air represents a natural and efficient treatment for respiratory diseases in patients with cystic fibrosis. This treatment could be used alongside with the classical therapy, doesn’t have any side effects and has a quite modest cost.

For more information, clinical studies and testimonials please click on salt therapy.

NB: The author grants reprint permission to opt-in publications and websites so long as the copyright and by-line are included intact and the article is not used in spam.

By: Livia Tiba


You can find the full original article at http://whatiscysticfibrosis.org/cystic-fibrosis/forced-indoor-air-ionization-by-salt-sublimation-may-improve-respiratory-symptoms-in-cystic-fibrosis

Comments (6)

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Ronnie, what is your opinion on this? I was just wondering. It sounds really neat.
1 reply · active 790 weeks ago
I think the theory behind it is solid and I'd love to be involved in a trial. To be honest, I can't see it NOT helping at least a little bit :)
There is a place here in Naples called The Salt Cave (www.saltcave.us) that I have thought about trying. When I talked to my doctor about it he only told me to be careful because of how my lungs react to 7% saline treatments...I get REALLY bad broncho-spasms and he said that could happen with the cave too. I still think I might try it just to see what its like but its definitley not cheap!
Well I hunted down the company that makes the machine. It is really affordable at like 80 or 90 bucks can't remember. I am going to bring it up to my doctor at my next visit. My insurance doesn't cover hyper tonic saline at home. I know, it sounds crazy! So it would be over $200 out of my pocket every month to get it. I am considering biting the bullet and doing it at least a month on and month off or something. However this article has really sparked my interest. You do have to purchase the salt refills for the machine and I am not sure how long they last. So that will def be something I would need to add in. As always I am going to be doing my homework on this one. I will let you guys know of anything new I find out about it. =)
That looks so interesting! I looked at the machine too. Mike is going to ask his doctor about it. If it really does work, that is such a simple addition!
Ohhh love the sound of this. I am always up for anything natural as a preventative therapy for my little guy. There is a salt pipe on the market that I looked into once which is supposed to be a similar thing if you google saltpipe you can easily find the info there. Apparently you just breathe it in for a few minutes a day & is greatly beneficial. I haven't jumped on it yet as I don't know anyone who has used one and would like to be sure I am really doing the right thing for him. So question now is has anyone used one?? We are fortunate enough to live near the beach so get him down there as much as possible. Would be interested in more comments about this. :)

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