Collodial silver?

[BRANDY LPN]

Not sure of the spelling. Does anyone know anything about this? The way it was explained to me (by a lay person) is that you use a machine that looks like a car battery and stick two poles and a piece of silver into some water and it breaks off pieces of the silver into the water and then you drink it, it is supposed to cure everything in humans and dogs from the common cold to parvo.

Now this does not seem like a good idea to me, I mean can't the silver build up to a toxic level? and if it did what would it do? I would have liked to tell this person this but since I have no idea what she is talking about, and just a gut feeling that this is a very bad idea I just kept my mouth shut.

I have looked in every book I own, talked to a nurse I work with and even talked to my old instructor but no one has heard of it. Any one have any knowledge about this?

[MyReign1]

I wouldn't recommend taking it everyday but it does have healing properties. I initially heard about in about 8 yrs ago. I was a sophomore in college, I had contracted pink eye and I couldn't afford to go to the doctor. A guy in my micro class made some in the lab. It cured my pink eye within 3 days.

[ravan70]

I was in Bali as a volunteer after the first bombing there, and a company that manufactures colloidal silver, donated vats of it to clean the floors of the morgue. The heat in Bali was intense and every 2-3 hours a truck would come and a bucket chain of people would begin dispersing ice over the bodies (in body bags). This went on for as long as it took for the bodies to be identified as belonging to a particular country and then they were sent to refridgerated storage for collection by independant countries. Whilst the ice melted and there was a pretty much continual flow of water, the smell of infection or decay was putrid. I couldnt scrub my self hard enough to get rid of the smell. I was definately out of my comfort zone, but every one was pulling together and doing what had to be done. I went back the next day, and the colloidal silver had been sprayed thouroughly in the area, and the reduction of odour was incredible.

As a wound nurse, I relate odour in a wound to infection. As a topical agent, silver has excellent properties, and a recent symposium was held in my state about is beneficial antimicrobial properties.

I would on the other hand be very hesitant to take it internally, I also do silversmithing as a hobby and are continually warned in all the silversmith literature about the importance of not eating or drinking in the workshop due to the possiblity of ingesting metal dust or other chemichals. Advised to was hands (more universal precautions - and change clothes before entering the home too). Definately advised against using the kitchen table as a workspace for this reason also.

I guess to sum up silver: love it externally - wound care, cleansing wounds with colloidal siver etc, hey even big lumps of it as jewellery - but as an internal ingestant - Give it a big miss.

And ask where is the research that shows that it is a good idea to ingest it?? If the only research is from those with something to gain, examine how legitimate the research actually is.

I hope this is helpful to latter reades as it is probably a bit late for the original posting.....

[Loribabble]

We have a patient that comes in quite frequently who started taking collodial silver for UTIs years agao. He is literally battle ship grey - you could stand him next to the ship and he would blend right in. When he is asleep he looks like he has been dead for several years (he's really thin too). He is paranoid schiz and won't listen to any kind of reasoning so won't stop taking the stuff.... he puts the "textbook" case pictures to shame.

[loriannlpn]

I had a family friend that was in his late 70's, dx with renal cancer. The ca mets to bone, he refused all tx perscribed by doc. He turned to herbs, Peroxide and coral calcium. His cancer went into remission several times over 5 years, but he lost his life in June. He followed the studies outlined from Dr. Royal Raymond Rife.

[melpn]

As an antimicrobial in silver impregnated foleys and wound dressings, absolutely. Taken internally,you're playing with fire. Get a real doc who won't kill you w/ toxic levels of metal.

[TrudyRN]

I think we have to strive for balance and moderation and good common sense in everything, including using silver.

I have used it to treat URI's, as stated above, but not as the colloid, rather as a weaker solution. Have forgotten my chemistry but had to dilute the colloid, as it tasted too bad. I think perhaps the silver helped, along with the huge amounts of H20 in which it was contained. I had good results but only used it for a few days at a time. I did not turn gray. And as someone points out above, there is silver nitrate, there are silver tip Foleys, and silver bandages.

Again, moderation, balance, common sense.

[ERnewbieRN, BSN, RN]

weird story, i had a patient in my psych clinicals when i was in school who "overdosed" on colloidal silver and her skin was grey, head to toe! she literally looked like the walking dead! not sure if this was the condition called "agyria" mentioned by another poster.... it was quite odd!

[Agnus]

Read. The Five People You Meet in Heaven It relates to this.

My goodness this is an old thread. Has been a really long time since I placed my post. I don't even think I had read this book at that time and yet it seems like a reallly long time since I read it. At least a few years.

[nyapa, RN]

I've never heard of this. Scary stuff!

[Agnus]

I've never heard of this. Scary stuff!

Not really. The Toxicity of silver manifest only in a permanent blue gray skin discoloration.

This is a very old practice. It does indeed have very real anti-microbial properties.

We use it in Foleys, dressings and wounds because it can prevent and overcome infection.