xpost from i'm pregnant, question about colloidal silver

[melanyh]

my chiro has me on various supplements, all of which i'm comfortable with (probiotics, an immune boost, digestive enzymes, etc.) -- i have a bad sore throat that cold laser and honey/lime hasn't worked on and she recommended colloidal silver. assured me it was safe for pregnant women and safe for children. one capful/waking hour while i still feel bad.

i made the mistake of internet research and have found all kind of conflicting information and i know i can talk to her about it and i can just stop taking it (even though i bought it!!! silly me, maybe ... ) but i wondered if anyone else had either some objective facts or experience.

thanks.

[MindfulBirth]

I think yesterday's Yahoo headline about the guy who has blue skin from drinking colloidial silver is enough to scare me!

Sorry, I don't have any practical information for you. Hope you feel better soon, though.

[melanyh]

well i certainly didn't see that!

i feel better, so i'm just going to stop ... i can find just as much stuff countering the argyria as supporting it. it's just not worth the worrying.

[Jane]

I don't think it works, so I would be sceptical of taking it. I don't think it's terribly likely to harm you, though.

[mwherbs]

silver is anti-bacterial but I have no idea if the amount that you were recommended to take would be a theraputic amount, and there are no recent studies on pregnancy and safe dose in pregnancy-- now if it were say-- garlic which is also used as a food and is GRAS they I would think good alternative medicine-- but I am a bit wary of some of the stuff recommended as alternative -- colloidal silver and other silver compounds like silver nitrate are actually fairly old medical treatments-- used around the same time as lead and mercury which are also metals with some pretty decent antibacterial effects but are also toxic-- now I don't think that the amount of silver you would take is toxic and there is some food use of silver and gold as decorative food items- or as flatware but as someone else pointed out there is such a thing as argol coloration that permanently changes the skin color to grey/blue/silver... and what I don't know is what dose a baby would get from what you take and if it is toxic to a baby....

[mom2tillie]

I have been taking silver for 3 months now. I did some research and it seemed to turn up no negative effects at that time. My midwife also had no problem with me taking it. I was just about to order a new bottle but I think I will hold off...

Can you post links to some of this research?

Thanks,
Iris

[mwherbs]

well I said that there WAS NO research on safety in pregnancy-- the older info I have is from antique books,as well as laws requiring careproviders to administer/offer silver nitrate drops in infant's eyes to prevent gonorrhea blindness that started in the early 1900's as well as knowledge of what has been used for burns-- a silver ointment-- but I think I read a report prepared by some naturopaths in Washington maybe 5 years ago-- I will look on line and see if there is something you can read--the name for the skin color staining is argyria---

ok took a quick look here is an article

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/alerts/silver/

--------------------
here is another article

http://annhyg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi.../full/49/7/575

[Gunter]

it's a very popular remedy in bali, indonesia where i first learned about it this summer while working at a birth center there. the mw who runs the place has written a few books and is very well-respected. she gave me a half gallon of it made by her friend for my family to take while we lived there for two months. we use it now that we are back in the states, too. i have been preggo the whole time that i have been taking it.