Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
For thousands of years health care practitioners and health minded people have been using the health benefits of silver to treat a myriad of human ailments. The ancient Phoenicians understood that keeping water, wine and vinegar in silver lined vessels maintained the freshness of each. Silver is a germicide and a disinfectant. It is a natural antibiotic, anti-viral and anti-fungal agent. The only problem is that our wonderful government agency, the FDA, does not agree. They decided in 1999 that all colloidal silver products sold over the counter are unsafe and mislabeled. They state they are unaware of any evidence to support its use for any serious disease. [www.FDA.gov/ohrms/dockets/98f/081799a.txt]
Recent research out of Boston University shows silver may be
even more powerful than ever thought. They did studies which added silver to
current antibiotics for the recent onset of resistant super bugs. What they
found was that silver boosted the effectiveness of these antibiotics against
super bugs by up to 1000 percent! This study was published in the “Science
Translational Medicine Journal” in June 2013. Silver laced antibiotics proved
particularly effective against those bugs that caused urinary tract and stomach
conditions. Wow, this is great news, right? It would seem so, but when I think
about it, I have just one more question. If silver is the reason these
antibiotics work again, why not just use silver in the first place? Why do we
need to add silver to some manmade chemical as a conduit, just so big Pharma can patent it and make
billions?
There are numerous studies that show colloidal silver alone
can cure MRSA infections and candida infestations. It has been proven effective
on fungus infections, viruses and much more.
Here are some of the many uses of silver in treating and
curing ailments we all could be exposed to:
The one we have all heard of is treating burns with zinc
oxide or spray on silver to promote faster healing and less scarring.
You can put it on ringworm, boils, herpes sores and warts for
faster healing. Bronchial problems and walking pneumonia can be treated through
a nebulizer treatment.
Silver drops can be used for ear infections, eye infections
and sinus infections.
It can be applied topically for vaginal yeast infections,
mouth thrush, and chronic jock itch.
It can be taken at the outset of colds or flu like symptoms
to aid in faster recovery.
As you can see, colloidal silver only kills bad bacteria and
viruses, not the good bacteria which you need to aid in healing. Antibiotics
kill both good and bad bacteria, thereby lowering immune responses.
There are three types of “colloidal silver” being marketed
these days. There are major differences in benefits and risks of reaction. They
are silver protein, ionic silver and true colloidal silver.
The most prevalent type sold is ionic silver. These
solutions are clear to yellow in color. People that sell this tell you
colloidal silver should be clear like water, but this is not true. The term
colloidal means particles, not ions. To test if you have silver ions, add a
pinch of table salt to a few milliliters of the solution, and if silver ions
are present, they combine and leave a cloudy white appearance. This form isn’t
totally worthless, but the amount of true silver colloids is very small and it
takes a lot to do any good. Most home ‘colloidal silver’ generators produce
this type; it is not true colloidal silver. Don’t be scammed with this type of
solution.
The next most common type sold is silver proteins. The
products with this so called colloidal silver are a combination of silver
particles and a protein binder to keep them in suspension. This type is the
least absorbable by your body, and the most likely to cause Argyria, where your
skin turns a blue-gray color. There are three characteristics which can tell
you if you have this type of ‘colloidal silver’. Number one is that when you
shake it, the solution foams for minutes after you stop, a key indicator of
proteins present. Secondly, if it is touted as a huge ppm solution in the range
of 30 to 20,000, it is likely a silver protein solution. Thirdly, the color
ranges from light yellow to almost black with the higher concentrations.
True colloidal silver solutions are the least available in
the market today due to the higher cost of production. True colloidal silver
has real silver content in the form of silver particles. They will be 50 to 80
percent particles and the rest will be silver ions. True colloidal silver is
never clear like water, because silver particles block light from passing through,
making it appear darker. There is very little danger in true silver solutions
because it has very low levels of silver ions and the particle sizes are very
small. It will not make your skin bluish gray.
I hope this information helps you decide to use true
colloidal silver when appropriate, and also keeps you from buying shoddy
products from the salesman.