By Ben Taylor
For those of you who are looking for an article packed with scientific jargon and molecular theory, “this ain’t it. This small body of information is intended to be nothing more or less than my own experience and my observations of the experience of others in the effective and ineffective use of colloidal silver. Silver producers claim their products are “silver bullets” and the opposing view claims that it is nothing but quackery and in essence nothing more than “silver busts”.
The effective use of colloidal silver and other silver products such as ionic silver and silver protein cannot be uniformly defined as to ‘what is an effective amount to use’ to fit every person, every situation, every ailment or even what is an adequate maintenance amount. The amounts that can boost and enhance the body’s immune system over time, such as the oft recommended one to three teaspoons per day, are generally not enough for therapeutic use if one needs a ‘silver bullet’ for a specific issue such as Hep-C, Crohn’s or even food poisoning or a cold. I have found that regular ‘maintenance’ amounts tend to boost the immune system against catching everything that may be going around, but certainly does not preclude one from catching anything at all.
The truth is, an occasional manageable cold or virus is not necessarily a bad thing, because these also serve to boost the body’s immune system. Having said that, with the regular use of silver a degree of immunity can be developed from frequent and dehabilitating infections or at the very least, they become much milder and of shorter duration. So how much silver is necessary to do what we want it to do, which is either ‘to boost our immune system to keep us from getting sick (or not as sick) or to rid us of some condition we already have? For the past three to four months, there has been everything going around from viruses to flu-like symptoms to bronchial and respiratory infections and I have been exposed to them all. Although, I have had very mild early stage symptoms of some of these several times this year, I have yet to catch a full-blown case of any one of them.
Here in the South Texas Hill Country, we have a yearly battle with allergies from cedar/juniper pollen and it has been especially bad this year. There are people who have had allergies all their lives and at certain times of the year experience even cold and flu-like symptoms from these allergies and expect silver to eliminate their allergies. That is generally not going to happen. Although silver will alleviate the symptoms of infections caused by allergies, silver cannot cure allergies to plant pollens, pet dander, dust, or other non-microbial causes that may be chemical in nature. There is one extenuating circumstance that does exist; many of these things, such as pollen and dust may be prone to carry bacteria attached to them and this may well be the area in which silver serves to reduce allergy infections. Allergy agents tend to inflame and hyper-sensitize the sinus, bronchial, and lung tissues which in turn may then be more susceptible to bacterial and viral infections. This is where silver may be of significant benefit with allergies, but silver simply shouldn’t be expected to prevent the under-lying cause of any allergy.
Continued in Part II