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Colloidal Silver --- a natural antibiotic (updated on 04 February 2010)

Colloidal Silver is a well-known natural antibiotic that can be inexpensively homemade. It is formed by electrolytically pulling microscopic silver particles from a silver electrode into a liquid, such as distilled water. The sizes of these microscopic silver particles are normally less than 100 nanometers so that they remain suspended in the liquid without forming silver ions, or dissolved solution. Because of their ultra-small dimensions, these nano-particles of silver can easily penetrate and travel throughout a human body.

General Track Record of Colloidal Silver

It has been reported that colloidal silver is effective against more than 679 different disease-causing pathogens. Diseases which Colloidal Silver has been used successfully against include (but not limited to): acne, allergies, appendicitis, blood parasites, bubonic plague, burns (colloidal silver is one of the few treatments that can keep severe burn patients alive), cancer, candidasis, cholera, conjunctivitis, diabetes, gonorrhea, hay fever, herpes, leprosy, leukemia, lupus, lymphangitis, Lyme disease, malaria, meningitis, parasitic infections both viral and fungal, pneumonia, rheumatism, ringworm, scarlet fever, septic conditions of the eyes, ears, mouth and throat, shingles, skin cancer, staph infections, strep infections, syphilis, toxemia, trenchfoot, all forms of viruses, warts and stomach ulcer.

University of North Texas has carried out a study that tests a colloidal silver product against a wide range of illness-causing pathogens. Although the study is specific to one colloidal silver product only, its implication convincingly suggests that colloidal silver at 15 ppm or above is chemically effective as an anti-biotic against Staph, Candidas, Salmonella and Psuedomonas [7 ].

The benefits of silver in medicine, and as a purifier have been well acknowledged for centuries. In ancient times, silver containers had been used in Greece, Rome and Vietnam to keep liquids fresh. Around 400 B.C. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, listed as a singular treatment for ulcers “the flowers of silver alone, in the finest powder.” Herodotus describes how the King of Persia carried with him boiled water in silver flagons to prevent sickness. In 69 B.C., silver nitrate was described in the contemporary pharmacopoeia. In 1869, Ravelin reported that silver exerted its germicidal effect at very low concentrations. In 1881, Crede advocated silver to prevent eye infections in newborns, and silver drops were used to prevent gonorrhea of the eye in newborns. In 1920, the microbiological action of silver was determined to be due to the Ag+ ions formed by tarnishing, surface-oxidation, or ionization.

How It Works

Colloidal Silver may be ingested by drinking it in a diluted form. When ingested, it takes one to two days for colloidal silver particles to go to the body cells in an amount sufficient for benefits to begin.

After the silver particles entered the body cells, they reacts with thiol (sulphydryl, SH) groups in the bacterial cell, producing structural change in the cell membranes. Silver particles further penetrate into the bacterial cell, interacting with nucleic acids. These process, in essence, disable the oxygen metabolism enzyme that all one celled bacteria, fungi and viruses use for their oxygen metabolism. Within a few minutes, the pathogen suffocates and dies, and is cleared out of the body by the immune, lymphatic and elimination systems.

Colloidal silver will not remain in the body forever. After three months, it will be eliminated by the kidneys, lymph system and bowel. In general, increasing water intake tends to increase silver elimination through the urine.

Simplest Method of Making Your Own Colloidal Silver

First, prepare the following materials:

three 9-volt batteries,

a glass of distilled water,

two pieces of pure silver wire (.999 fine).

(Note: in the UK, you can buy distilled water from Boots, or Superdrugs, or some other chemists.)

Now, follow the following steps:

1/ Heat up the glass of distilled water to just below the boiling point. The purpose of this step is to improve the conductivity of the distilled water. (This step is optional.)

2/ Clean the silver wires (or silver electrodes) with alcohol.

3/ Insert the silver wires into the distilled water. Placement of wires is not critical, but they must not be touching each other.

4/ Connect a circuit in the following manner:

5/ Wait for about 30 minutes, or until the distilled water becomes slightly yellowish. The yellowish solution is called Colloidal Silver.

Caution: When the final solution turns milky white rather than yellow, the water you use may be mineral water rather than pure distilled water. This situation is very common in the UK, as bottled distilled water is not always available. Do not use mineral water to make colloidal silver. If one has to make colloidal silver out of mineral water, reduce the time duration in step 5, say from 30 minutes to 1 minute.

Caution: If you end up with brown stuff in your colloidal silver solution, this means that you have left the process for too long. The brown stuff is silver oxide.

Caution: Some people end up with a greyish solution at the end of the process. The greyish particles in the solution comes from the unwanted impurities in the silver electrodes. This means that the silver electrodes they use are not 0.999 pure. Do not use impure siliver electrodes because they may contains lead and other impurities which may harm your bodies. Use only the pure 99.99 fine silver electrodes provided.

Caution: Under normal circumstances, the smallest nanoparticles are a clear yellow color. Increases in size lead to amber, brown, and finally a cloudy brownish/green color, which are increasingly less effective as antimicrobial agents.

Storage

According to the author's experience, colloidal silver can be stored for more than a year. Since colloidal silver is photo reactive, the solution will become less clear after a prolonged exposure to light. Therefore, it should be placed in dark or brown glass containers or empty hydrogen peroxide bottles that exclude light and do not affect ion charge.

Colloidal Silver will NOT Reach the Large Intestine

However, although many studies have demonstrated the fact that colloidal silver can chemically inactivate almost all kinds of viruses or bacteria, the large intestine is the place where colloidal silver will not penetrate when taken in normal dosage. The majority of the colloidal silver that is taken orally is normally absorbed before reaching the large intestine, with very little ending up in the large intestine or colon. On the positive side, the friendly bacteria in the large intestine are mostly unaffected by the germicidal effects of colloidal silver. Unfortunately, a number of diseases such as cholera, canine parvovirus or other diseases where the problematic pathogen is active in the large intestine not only have negative impacts on our health, but are also life-threatening, mostly due to the dehydration caused by severe and prolonged diarrhoea and vomiting.

How to use Colloidal Silver

1/ As a liquid antibiotic for animals:

Colloidal silver can be used as an antibiotic for almost all kinds of infections caused by single-celled viruses or bacteria.

Colloidal silver can be mixed with colloidal gold.

For nonchronic conditions, the maximum daily dosage for humans is [10 ]:

12 x Your body weight (in Pounds) / concentration (in PPM) = Number of Drops per day.

According to a report published by WHO, United Nation, toxic intake of silver for humans is 60 mg/day, while lethal intake is 1.3 to 6.2 mg/day.

2/ As a water purification agent:

Water can be purified by adding 1/2 to one teaspoon of 30 ppm colloidal silver and a few drops of iodine to one gallon of water. Legionella pnuemophilia (Legionnaire's disease) is lethal in water with a temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It has been reported that water with a colloidal silver concentration of only 20 ppb (parts per billion) kills Legionella pnuemophilia.

3/ As an antibiotic for plants:

A colloidal silver solution can also be sprayed directly onto plants and shrubs in the garden or the water-reservoir of a self-watering planter. The action of the colloidal silver positive ions work on the outside of the plants to destroy bacteria, virus, fungus, etc. Garden food plants that have been sprayed with colloidal silver leave no residue, as do poison sprays, and are safe for human consumption.

Tests in a hydroponics greenhouse have shown that Colloidal Silver is absorbed and used by the living plant as are any other minerals. Hydroponics is an ideal gardening method having only one problem: Viruses, funguses and bacteria tend to thrive in the plant nutrient fluid. The presence of silver in the hydropnic solution will not only kill the viruses, fungues and bacteria present in the solution, but also prevent mosquitoes from hatching.

4/ Keeping algae, mosquito larvae and parasites out of still water:

Tests have shown that algae, larva of mosquitoes and eggs of some parasites are effectively killed by colloidal silver. Colloidal silver may not kill mosquitoes and parasities. However, since the eggs of mosquitos or parasites are mostly single-celled, their reproduction process will end in the presence of colloidal silver. It should be remembered that to remove mosquitoes or parasites by killing their eggs or larvae means that one must continue the course of treatment until all of the adults die.

5/ As a wound healing spray for burns:

As a trained first aider, I have been taught to spray pure water or Coca Cola onto burned flesh immediately following an accident. But according to an example shown in Young's famous book, entitled "Sick and Tired: Reclaim Your Inner Terrain ", colloidal silver solution is apparently much better and more reliable than pure water or Coca Cola. Colloidal silver is not only an effective cooling agent which can be absorbed into skin and flesh instantly, but also assists in regrowth of new tissues. However, pure water and Coca Cola are devoid of the tissue regrowth benefit.

6/ As a nasally administered medicine for treatment of sinus infection, nasal conjection, runny nose, sore throat, cough, flu, or the like:

Since most disease-causing organisms enter your body through the mucous membranes of the nose, the mouth, and/or the pulmonary system, it is possible to treat the disease by killing the disease-causing organisms through the same channel ---- i.e. the mucous membranes of the nose, the mouth, and/or the pulmonary system. Inhalation of colloidal silver can be a better alternative to oral ingestion of the same by virtue of the fact that the colloidal silver itself can directly irrigate and disinfect the loose foreign bodies and particulate debris from the nasal cavity and posterior nasopharynx.

An ultrasonic fogger is a device that uses ultrasonic energy to simulate low clouds and fog in the terrarium. It is mainly used for increasing humidity levels to create a naturally misty and damp environment. The mist from any ultrasonic fogger can be made with a colloidal silver solution, instead of just pure tap water. According to a message posted in curezone [8 ] , the colloidal silver mist can form an extremely effective yet easy lung/bronchial/nasal treatment that clears up sinus infections, nasal conjection and many related allergies.

Even without an ultrasonic fogger, one can nasally take coloidal silver solution by pouring, pumping or spraying colloidal silver solution directly through the nose in a way to achieve the similar effects. According to the author's experience, it is not difficult to use this method to treat a cold or other similar infections in less than one afternoon.

How to test if a Silver Solution is Actually Ionic Silver?

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding whether a solution is ionic silver. According to [11 ], you can easily test the presence of silver ions in a solution by mixing it with table salt (i.e. sodium chloride). If silver ions are present, then the chloride ions will combine with the silver ions and create a white, cloudy appearance.

Possible Tricks to Minimize the Chance of Getting Argyria

Argyria is the only known side-effect associated with excessive exposure to silver products. Whether or not an individual exposed to silver products contracts argyria depends on many factors, including the dose of exposure, the duration of exposure, the form of exposure (ie: ingested, inhaled, skin contact) and the chemistry of the silver products.

Although argyria is believed to be an irreversible condition that cannot be cured, some online literatures have uncovered successful cases of argyria cured (CLICK HERE FOR THE SOURCE ).

According to a document  released by European Comission, antioxidant deficiencies (e.g. vitamin E and selenium) appear to enhance silver toxicity. Some researchers believe that silver can reduce the intracellular content of selenium, with eventual inhibition of glutathione peroxidase synthesis, which is selenium-dependent. On the other hand, supplemental vitamin E and selenium in diets of rats and chickens have been shown to increase the animals' tolerance of high dose of silver.

A document from Environmental Protection Agency in the USA echoes the same finding. According to Environmental Protection Agency (CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS ), individuals with low vitamin E and selenium levels are more susceptible to argyria.

A formula for curing argyria has been published on a website (CLICK HERE FOR THE SOURCE ), which surprisingly contains very high doses of vitamin E and selenium. The formula is as follows:

3 Vitamin E 1000 mg 100% Natural d-alpha Tocopheryl

1 Selenium 100mcg yeast free

2 vegetarian Vitamin C 1000 mg

1 teaspoon MSM organic

1 super potency Vitamin B 100,

1 teaspoon of Kelp powder.

(Taken every morning with 2 16oz glasses of water, with close to 3/4 of a gallon distilled water a day. This procedure may take from several weeks to several months to be totally effective, depending upon the severity of the Argyria.)

Although the cure for argyria has not been very much mentioned on the Internet, the role of selenium in detoxifying silver has been documented in medical and scientific literatures ( example ). According to an article from eMedicine (CLICK HERE FOR THE SOURCE ), for example, selenium has been shown to have favorable modifying effects on the metabolism and toxicity of silver by forming complexes with silver. Silver can react with selenium to form silver selenide in human bodies. Since silver selenide is inert and highly insoluble in vivo, monovalent silver becomes less available to interfere with normal enzymatic activities in tissues.

In human bodies, selenium is an essential constituent of a number of enzymes, most of which have antioxidant functions. For example, selenium protein complex (Biomin S-P-C) has been shown to neutralize free radicals on the skin, which is thought to minimize the aging effects of the sun. According to research as well as my experience, selenium can be taken in conjunction with Vitamin E to help prevent severe damage from sunburn.

Selenium also acts in conjunction with glutathione peroxidase by binding with toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium through a process called chelation and flushing them out of the body through urine (SOURCE ).

The link between argyria and deficiencies of selenium and/or Vitamin E is apparently stronger than many wish to believe. Perhaps, when taking colloidal silver, it is not a bad idea to consider a body cleansing protocol involving high doses of vitamin E and selenium. Wheat germ oil is the major source of Vitamin E (SOURCE ). Brazil nuts are probably the better choice, because brazil nuts are not only a very good source of Vitamin E, but also contain an unusually high amount of selenium (SOURCE ).

The Institute of Medicine in the US has set the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for selenium at 55 micrograms per day for adults. One single Brazil nut far exceeds the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of selenium (see below). Perhaps, one or two brazil nuts a day is more than enough.

Brazil Nut Nutrition Facts ( serving size, 1 oz, 6 nuts)

calories: 185

fat: 19 g

saturated fat: 4 g

fiber: 2 g

carbonhydrates: 3 g

protein: 4 g

Thiamin: 12% RDA

Iron: 4% RDA

Magnesium: 27% RDA

Phosphorus: 20% RDA

Potassium: 5% RDA

Zinc: 8% RDA

Copper: 25% RDA

Manganese: 17% RDA

Selenium: 774% RDA

Other Sources of Silver

Silver is present in food additive E174. E174 (Silver) is commonly used to decorate cakes, candies, and other sweets. In addition, silver can be found in a number of other foodstuffs. Refined wheat, for instance, contains approximately 0.3 microgram/gram, wheat bran 0.9 microgram/gram, and mushroom hundreds of microgram/gram (SOURCE ).

Current Uses of Colloidal Silver

1/ The American space agency NASA has chosen silver as the water-purification agent for its space shuttles; so do the Russians.

2/ Water-filters based on Colloidal Silver are approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency and also by the Swiss government for use in homes and offices.

3/ Silver-based water filters have been used by many airline companies, including Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Canadian Pacific, Japan Air Lines, KLM, Lufthansa, Olympic, Pan Am, SAS and Swissair, to curtail water borne diseases.

4/ Silver is often used in place of chlorine for disinfection in swimming pools, because, unlike silver, chlorine reacts with organic compounds and nitrogen compounds present in chlorinated swimming pools and forms objectionable by-products such as trihalomethanes (THMs) and chloramines. These by-products are blamed for irritation of eyes, nasal passages, and skin, as well as with objectionable odors in the pool environment.

5/ A few Japanese companies have very good success in silver-based technologies for air purification. For instance, one Japanese firm managed to convert 50 ppm carbon monoxide into harmless carbon dioxide by passing the carbon monoxide gas through a stack of filters coated with silver compounds. Another company successfully uses a similar technology to eliminate 200 ppm nitric oxide. One firm uses silver compounds to remove vinyl cyanide, methyl cyanide and hydrocyanic acid from its discharges.

Other Less-mentioned Concerns of Colloidal Silver

Whilst colloidal silver can kill almost all kinds of single-celled viruses, there is no evidence suggesting that colloidal silver can eliminate free-radicals. In fact, since silver is a reactive metal in human bodies, there is a likelihood that the opposite is true if the silver particles become too small [5 , 6 ].

Our grassroot wisdom has evolved to a level where we can fight Swine flu without even consulting a doctor. However, colloidal silver is not designed to fight free-radicals which are either naturally produced in our bodies in response of a virial attack, or multiplied when colliding with metal particles in our bodies. The outbreak of swine flu is due to our hunger for meat. Due to the presence of nano-silver particles in our bodies, swine flu or other animal bonre viiruses may not be able kill us immediately, but the excessive build-up of free-radicals because of the silver crystalioids in human bodies will eventually manifest themselves as one or more age-related diseases, which may or may not be life-threathening. Perhaps, this is the price we need to pay if we choose to consume meat, alcohol, cigaratte smoke and/or other additive drugs.

The oxidative stress due to excessive build-up of free-radicals is believed to be the main cause of many degenerative diseases, including heart disease, boss loss, aging, DNA damages, cancers and arthritis. Free-radicals, in general, come from pollution, over-cooked oil, smoking, alcohol drinking, meat-eating, excessive exercises, panicking, or drug abuse. The only way to combat unwanted free-radicals is to follow the following steps:

1) minimize exposure to pollution and ionizing radiations,

2) cut down consumption of meat, seafoods, cigarette smoke, alcohol and problematic drugs,

3) increase the intake of anti-oxidants from plants or from minerals, and optionally.

Disclaimer

This article is provided as a research tool for the purpose of education only. Most of the information in this article is pieced together from a variety of Internet and non-internet sources (including my own experimental results). Not all the sources are unbiased, accurate, reliable, current and complete. It is also important to understand that the Internet environment is variable and dynamic. This means that websites which I considered relevant in the first place may change from day to day.

This article will be actively updated when correction is warranted and/or new information on colloidal silver becomes available. If there are any errors found in this article, please let me know and I will be happy to correct them. Meanwhile, I recommend that my readers exercise good judgement when reading this article.

Recommended Literatures

1/ Dog's cataract healed with colloidal silver  

2/ Colloidal silver beats the swine flu!  

3/ This War Against Germs Has a Silver Lining - Wall Street Journal 

4/ Biotoxicity of Nano-silver 

5/ Scientists Study Health Implications Of Products Using Nanosilver 

6/ Nanosilver disinfects — but at what price?  

7/ University of North Texas: Time-Kill Study on SilverKare Colloidal Silver 

9/ Colloidal silver using ultrasonic humidifier for sinu infection, etc. 

10/ THE SILVER SAFETY AUTO-CALCULATOR 

11/ New Guidelines for Safe Usage of Colloidal Silver  

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