Despite the recent popularity of using colloidal silver (CS) for water purification and to treat infection, there exists no reliable data with respect to silver elimination rate from the body including its distribution in feces and urine. Thus, I decided to measure my own colloidal silver intake and elimination rate as well as to investigate silver accumulation in specific areas of the body, such as hair, fingernails and perspiration. I also made a single measurement to survey the effect “excess” water intake has on the amount of silver eliminated in urine. This report represents the first attempt to answer these questions. Hopefully, these initial results may serve as a first step in establishing safe and effective dosages for using CS therapeutically, or even prophylactically.
One of the historic stumbling blocks that has made it difficult to accurately estimate silver elimination and distribution in the body has been due to the haphazard substitution of silver salts for CS, or the poor quality of CS produced for experimentation. For decades, grinding and precipitation were the only methods available. While some of these crude techniques did produce some CS, the product itself, nor its concentration, could be relied upon to be consistent from batch to batch, or to contain enough small particles to have much biological activity (while minimizing the dangers of heavy metal poisoning). Recently, the electrolytic method has gained popularity, but even this method can produce a broad range of results due to wide variations of colloid particle size and concentration.
For a number of years, the most common electrolytic method has relied on wiring batteries in series so that two (99.9% pure) silver electrodes could generate a potential of about 27-36 volts between them. To help promote the reaction, some vendors have recommended adding a small amount of salt to the distilled water electrolyte, while others believe that bonding the CS to a soluble protein would help stabilize the colloid, and thus allow it to better maintain its potency. Whatever the proposed “fix”, these low voltage electrolytic generators yield CS that is unsuitable for research purposes because its potency is inconsistent from batch to batch, in addition to the fact that the CS is generally of poor quality based on impractically low silver concentrations, and/or an unacceptably large particle size. All of these variables contribute to forming a product, which has an unpredictable, and generally low biological activity. However, these problems can be overcome to a great extent by using a power supply with a 180 volt DC output and 120 AC input
Set-Up
The present study is based on using a 180-volt DC current between a stainless steel container (cathode) and a silver strip (anode) suspended in about a half gallon of distilled water (less than 2 ppm total dissolved solids). The water distiller, as well as the electrolytic set-up and power supply, were commercial units purchased through the Internet. A milliammeter was added to the circuit to measure current to both monitor and help achieve process reproducibility.
