"What is colloidal silver," you ask, "and why have you been snorting it up your nose??"
If I had a nickle for every time someone came to me with that question...
But I and my nickle are going to satisfy the burning curiosity of an inquisitive public today, right here and now. Then, after I finish this post, I will finally get myself ready for the day. Sometimes, the urge to write something overwhelms my urge to perform all the necessary daily tasks of physical hygiene, dress, and cosmetics application, and the only way to get on with it is to scratch the itch. I might as well combine the need to write something--anything--with my skills in cranking out informative articles for a heart-stopping showcase of what it is I do in front of my computer all day. Read on!
What is Colloidal Silver?
A simple definition of a colloid is a mixture that is made of particles of one substance evenly distributed and suspended in another substance. When I make colloidal silver, I am causing particles of silver to be suspended in distilled or reverse-osmosis water. The particles of silver are very, very small and cannot be removed from the water once the colloid is formed. Depending on how you make your colloidal silver, it will range anywhere from 1 to over 1000 ppm (parts per million). The higher the ppm, the stronger the colloidal silver. Different strengths can be used for different sorts of things and in different ways.
How do You Use Colloidal Silver?
Legal disclaimer: Now I run into potential problems with the FDA, but since I'm not offering to sell any colloidal silver products, I think I'm fairly safe. Remember, however, that I am not a doctor and am making no medical claims.
Silver has excellent antimicrobial properties and has been used for millenia in healing. The only real reason it lost favor was at the advent of antibiotic treatments in the early 20th century, but newly emerging superbugs have forced doctors and medical researchers to once again take a look at how silver can help. According to this article on the Bullion Street blog, silver seems to harm bacteria by sticking to the sulfur in each bacterium, which then interrupts the bacterium's ability to use iron effectively. Additionally, silver forces bacteria to produce extremely toxic substances that disrupt each cell's DNA enough to render it harmless to you. The idea, then, is to get silver to the site of a bacterial infection within the body, but it only works if the silver is in a colloidal mixture. Otherwise, the silver particles are too large to do good and could possibly harm you instead.
Colloidal silver can be taken internally or externally. People use it as a spray or gargle for a sore throat or sometimes drink it to resolve digestive problems. I'm not sure if colloidal silver is effective once it's passed through the stomach, so trying to resolve disorders lower in the intestines might be tricky. Externally, you can mix colloidal silver with a cream or gel and apply it to a wound, but you must bandage the wound because the silver will react with light and may cause your skin to turn a bit blue. There are many possible uses for colloidal silver which I am not going to list here. A little research will unearth plenty of ways that people use colloidal silver.
Is Colloidal Silver Safe to Use?
That's a great question, because if you do an internet search on colloidal silver, you'll probably turn up some pretty scary stuff. Many sites will warn you about potential risks such as kidney issues, possible seizures, and even death. Also mentioned a lot is argyria or argyrosis, along with references to a man whose skin turned blue after using colloidal silver. First of all, take a close look at what websites trumpet the most profound warnings and consider their funding sources. Websites that support allopathic medicine tend to poo-poo silver's efficacy while making you very nervous to try it at all. Why? Probably because easy, inexpensive natural remedies are always suspect from an allopathic point of view, which tends to rely almost solely on pharmaceuticals for healing (and for the very cynical among us, follow the money: where would Big Pharma be if they didn't have people slavering to buy their expensive pills and potions?).
I have absolutely nothing against doctors, having been very pleased with the help I and my family have received from intelligent, competent doctors, but I also believe that when used with solid knowledge and education, natural remedies like colloidal silver pose little risk. That blue guy, Paul Karason, used silver as a skin remedy on his face and hands as well as taking a LOT of silver internally for over a decade. When silver on the skin reacts with light, it turns your skin blue. A few doses of colloidal silver for a sore throat or sinus infection are not going to turn you blue and is highly, highly unlikely to do any damage whatsoever. In fact, you'll find many, many people who are so excited about how colloidal silver has helped them heal more quickly or overcome seemingly impossible infections that antibiotics couldn't touch that they can't help but crow loudly.
On the other hand, people who sell colloidal silver definitely want you to buy their product, so they'll be very enthusiastic about the benefits of colloidal silver. I don't know that it's a cure-all for absolutely every ailment known to man. I also wouldn't recommend taking it as daily maintenance unless you find that daily doses really do relieve your symptoms. Personally, I use it for specific things and for limited amounts of time.
How do You Make Your Own Colloidal Silver?
It's surprisingly easy to make your own colloidal silver and save yourself lots of money. Plus, by making it yourself, you can control the concentration of the parts per million. Weak colloidal silver looks like water, and the strong stuff gets darker and darker yellow, amber, and gray. You could, conceivably, make it so strong that it is pretty much a black goo.
What you'll need:
* a power source (easiest power source is four or five 9-volt batteries)
* two alligator clips, one red and one black
* a very clean glass jar
* two lengths of .999 pure silver wire or pure silver discs, ingots, or bars
* distilled water or water that has been through a reverse-osmosis filter
* dark brown glass bottle for storage, or find a dark cupboard where the colloidal silver will not be exposed to light
First, you'll need to make the power source. We had a neighbor make us a power source for this purpose years ago, so all we need to do is plug it into the wall socket and flip the switch. It has a pretty high voltage and makes a lot of colloidal silver very quickly, but 9-volt batteries will do just fine. Hook together four or five of the batteries by clicking the nubbins on top together, negative to positive.
Next, attach the wires of the red alligator clip to a positive nubbin on a battery and the black alligator clip to a negative nubbin, just like you would if your car battery died and you needed a jump.
Rinse your clean jar with distilled or reverse-osmosis water. You do not want any minerals from the tap water to interfere with the process.
Put 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the distilled or reverse-osmosis water in the jar. Clip the silver wires, discs, ingots, or bars to the side of the jar so that each piece of silver is about one inch away from the other but not touching. Both pieces of silver need to be immersed in the water at least 1/2 to 2 inches. Make sure that the alligator clips do not touch the water at all. People have rigged up all kinds of contraptions to do this, but using large alligator clips instead of tiny ones is probably the easiest fix for this step. I have silver bars, and the large alligator clips on my power source make clipping the bars to the side of the jar very simple and easy.
Once the process has begun, you'll notice bubbles coming off the anode bar or wire. Over time, the anode will also become very dark and look tarnished. Don't worry, that's normal. Once you are done making the colloidal silver, just scrub the bar or wire with a non-metallic scrubby to remove the black stuff. You don't have to return it to pristine color condition to make it safe to use again.
I like my colloidal silver dark because I use it only rarely. Remember, the darker it is, the stronger it is. If you want to take maintenance doses or use it for long periods of time, stop the process when the water looks very slightly yellow. It's entirely up to you if you want to let it go longer and allow the water to get more amber-colored. The kind I make is nearly black, but I don't have my kids drink it--not that they will, anyway. It does taste a little metallic.
Finally, store your colloidal silver in a brown or amber glass bottle if at all possible. Otherwise, keep it stored away in a very dark place so it will not react to light.
Why Did You Snort Colloidal Silver up Your Nose?
What a great question! Where's my nickle?
But seriously, I had to admit to myself that I probably have a sinus infection. I hardly ever get sick, so that was difficult to admit, but symptoms suggested it strongly. Plus, my children have almost all suffered from sinus infections recently. So, willing to experiment on myself, I decided to combine the neti pot with the colloidal silver.
I heated up two doses of colloidal silver in a pan on the stove until it was just body temperature (I knew the dosage amount because I filled the neti pot twice with colloidal silver to the "fill" line and then poured the colloidal silver into the pan to heat). Once the colloidal silver was the right temperature, I poured the first dose back into the neti pot and stirred in the little sachet of baking soda and salt that keeps the water from stinging your sinuses. Then, standing over the sink, I poured colloidal silver up my nose. It went up one nostril and came out the other.
And you thought Disneyland was fun!
I did that twice, once into each nostril, blowing my nose gently after each application. I'm happy to say that my symptoms almost immediately abated. I haven't had the headache or overall yucky sick feeling since I used the colloidal silver. I'll probably use the neti pot and colloidal silver once today and once tomorrow and then stop using the colloidal silver and switch to just filtered water to keep my sinuses cleaned out.
If you want a link to a good video about making your own colloidal silver, click here. There are plenty of YouTube videos and articles on the subject, so you can start getting your education quickly.
Now I'm finally going to put myself together and get back to my real work, which, today, is editing a manuscript. I'm glad you stopped by. I'll update this post later with a photo of my colloidal silver maker in action.
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