Thanks for your concern
@sharks, but that wasn't the question. I'm well aware of the overblown controversy surrounding CS, which was used for decades before standard antibiotics were developed in the 1940's. There are also studies showing it's effectiveness btw. My concern is whether it kills or inhibits all bacteria/fungi/etc.
@JaimeS ?
Long answer, and I hesitate to give it because reports are so contradictory. All I can offer is my own personal experience and some background info.
A weak silver nitrate solution used to be employed to
wipe the gunk off of newborns' eyes, so yes, up until recently silver solutions were used in allopathic medicine as a matter of course.
Silver nitrate =/= colloidal silver; silver nitrate is an ionic compound, so it separates into Ag+ and NO3- swiftly and easily in solution. Colloidal silver is just Ag: no charge. That makes it less reactive and therefore less instantly antimicrobial. The idea of using nanoparticles rather than larger chunks is to increase the surface area: mass ratio in order to expose more of the silver to oxygen and cause it to slowly ionize. It's still a lot less reactive than Ag+ in solution, which will kill bacteria more swiftly.
Colloidal silver is often considered an antiviral, but it certainly can kill bacteria as well since its mechanism of action is so general. This wiki has a good synopsis of mechanism of action:
https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Silver_as_an_Antimicrobial_Agent
However, I place it in a different category from 'herbal antibiotics' like GSE. GSE overuse has caused serious alterations in the microbiome of myself and others I know personally. However, I've never observed microbiome disturbances in people who've used colloidal silver, including myself; and I used quite a bit at one point. It did, however, clear up some skin stuff that I thought was possibly infectious and that I had been trying to get rid of pretty much since onset through topical and internal use. It also (finally,
finally) got rid of the tongue gunk I'd had off and on since I started anti-fungals. So in my books, it's active but stops short of being harmful.
Because colloidal silver is 'alternative', there are a number of studies scoffing that it has no benefit, others saying it's too toxic to use (or, bafflingly, both -- implying it's toxic to human cells but simultaneously that it has no ability to affect other types of cells; improbable) and yet others giving a more reasoned opinion. I was worried about taking it because of all these contradictory reports.
To find out if these concerns were meaningful, I calculated how much colloidal silver it would take before my body gathered up enough silver to be toxic. The answer was (at the current concentration) multiple bottles a day every day for 30 years. Additionally, I found out that argyria, the condition caused by silver toxicity, is considered a rare condition in the US, meaning a percent prevalence less than 0.05%. Since colloidal silver is on the shelf of every natural foods store in the US, I'm left to assume people aren't poisoning themselves left and right. I also spoke to someone who took it by the cupful in acute situations and had for years without turning their skin blue!
I was pretty desperate given my co-infections, and willing to give it a try; my mathematics coupled with the testimony of someone who had taken large amounts without signs of silver toxicity, and multiple friends who took it occasionally when they got the flu with no ill effects convinced me it wasn't immediately harmful, and therefore worth a try.
As always,
caveat emptor, and do the math yourself! Satisfy yourself that there's no chance of reaching toxicity with the brand you're taking and the dose you're using. Consider the potential toxicity cumulative; it's hard to clear heavy metals. The wiki I linked you to claims that the 'lifetime max' of silver ingestion without effects
is considered to be 10-g. Keep in mind, also, that in the US you will get silver exposure through your water, since it is sometimes woven in carbon fibers of filters and sink hardware due to its antimicrobial properties... so your colloidal silver dose isn't your only source of silver.
Whew! Probably more than you wanted to hear. Remember: I'm not a doctor, this is not medical advice; and just because it helped me unfortunately doesn't mean it will improve everyone's situation.
-J
