Colloidal silver for scleroderma??

[BonnieG]

I’ve been reading and hearing a great deal about how successful colloidal silver is as an antibiotic. Just last night a doctor friend of mine told me how she used it to cure her respiratory problems. She used her daughters nebulizer so she could inhale it in order to reach her lungs quickly. Her chronic hacking cough was gone overnight and she felt wonderful. Has anyone ever used it to treat scleroderma?? If so, wondering if you achieved good results and which type of silver you used and how you used it. Thanks. (I am currently on the AP protocol and just wondering if there is a safe way to speed things along!!)

[richie]

Hi–Patience is a virtue in dealing with scleroderma –you will know if you are on the right track just by how you feel and if any of your symptoms have alleviated –I have seen more people have set backs by searching for the magic bullet –IT doesnt exist !!1
richie

[cavalier]

Anything like this I would consider a adjunct to your main program as a secondary support. I take Aloe too a specific type that is freeze dried to keep potency & it helps my stomach & possibly some of my SD in turn but I consider this as supportive.
My doc like Argentyn 23 brand for C.S. Again this is not my primary method.
Jill SD Lyme CPn Candida & poss. bart.

[PhilC]

Hi Bonnie,

Colloidal silver might be useful when used on a short-term basis to treat some acute infections, but I’d be very reluctant to use it on a long-term basis. Silver can accumulate in the body, which could eventually lead to permanently gray skin.

Please read this message that Davit wrote back in 2010:
https://www.roadback.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34388#p34388

Here are some more links:
Argyria
What’s the harm in colloidal silver?

I recommend that you post a new message, titled “What else can I do?” (or something similar), and let us know what you are currently doing in terms of treatment and adjunctive support (e.g., “alternative” therapies, vitamins, minerals, and other supplements, etc.). That way, we’ll be in a much better position to be able to help you.

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[laurawm]

Silver does have effective antibiotic properties and for that reason seems that it could be a useful adjunct therapy. Here is an article today talking about using it in conjunction with standard antibiotics making them more effective and helping resistant bacteria once again be susceptible. Silver has a long history of medicinal antibiotic use, though I do not know of studies showing how it might perform long term in the body or the complete scope of it’s effectiveness.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/19/bacterial-bling-adding-silver-to-antibiotics-boosts-effectiveness/?test=latestnews

[BonnieG]

Thanks for the information everyone. On the sclero.org forum someone posted that they take 5mil of Cristal penicillin (have had SS for 25 months) and their symptoms were gone in 2 days. Their point was high dosage antibiotic suppressed the immune system so much the collagen production ceased. Opposing theories…..but I sure like the sound of really killing the bugs.

I have seen symptom improvement in the last four months, but my hands have a long way to go. I often kick around the idea of taking some of the cipro I have lying around from a mission trip to Africa…..that killed everything.

Have you tried other antibiotics as supplemental and if so, which ones, and if not, why not?

[richie]

Hi Bonnie –I find that very questionable that someone’s symptoms were gone in two days –and they had systemic scleroderma –Impossible –skin will not loosen that fast –contractures will not go away that fast- Raynauds can not go away that fast {it takes years for blood vessels to heal ] and o0n and on —theres no magic bullets –it took me about four years for remission from systemic scleroderma –I dont follow sclero.org for good reason —
richie

[richie]

Hi If you have contractures -that takes awhile and constant work to get your hands better –but they do get better –excercises for fingers and hands as well as therapy help –my hands were severly contracted –today they are totally normal with full strength —
richie

[PhilC]

Hi Bonnie,
@BonnieG wrote:

I have seen symptom improvement in the last four months, but my hands have a long way to go.

In what way do your hands “have a long way to go”? Are you taking minocyline? If so, what kind (Minocin or a generic) and how much?

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[cavalier]

Richie & I agree on this one – it’s impossible to be in remission, see symptoms leave, or skin changes in 2 days! Be wary of big promises with super fast results. It doesn’t work this way. It takes time is the general rule of thumb IF something is going to work symptoms didn’t come on overnite it just may have been milder & then built up worse & they don’t leave over just a couple of days either.

I will give you this – as it may help you to know – I did Penicillin. I have Lyme disease & I have systemic Scleroderma – positive for both tests. My Lyme doc put me on IM Bicillin 2.5 ML the strongest I am told made for IM injection like toothpaste literally. Bicillin is the most effective form of Penicillin. Big syringes & a good sized tube – I injected this twice a week for 5 wk’s to try to reduce my Lyme – I was told by Dr S. this would do NOTHING to slow or stop my Scleroderma & I can tell you based on my experience Dr S. is correct – it did nothing for my Scleroderma while it may have helped my Lyme it didn’t put me into remission for my Lyme either. It was expensive 1,500 dollars for the 5 wk supply & EXTREMELY painful I had swollen hips & could not be touched on either hip or lay on either side of me for even a couple of months after I stopped doing this. I completed that 5 wk’s & stopped it was too hard to continue to do this. The needle is a horse needle – one my family couldn’t believe the torture I was doing to myself. I also could not absorb my food during the use of this ABX was rough on my stomach, but this to be fair was also in combo due to a food intolerances I then got uncovered with my doc’s help.
I also could not see us paying 1,500 a month on a ongoing basis for very long, especially as it was not making much difference in my quality of life in way of improvements for that I expect to see real improvements.

Due to having Lyme I have had the pleasure of using other ABX too in combo to try to combat my Lyme – they are not effective for SD largely with some exceptions like Doxy or Mino.
Some doc’s feel Zithromax is helpful for SD. Zithromax was not effective for me, in slowing down symptoms of SD, but again everyone can be different in my case my SD is largely due to my having Lyme that made my immune system be in disarray.

What is the basis for one having Scleroderma can vary as to what is involved but I am sharing with you not all AP is effective for SD.

Best – Jill SD Lyme CPn Candida & poss. Bart.

[Maz]

Interestingly, here is a report of a 61 year old woman in Europe with Lyme and symptoms of systemic scleroderma who was given two weeks of IV ceftriaxone and her skin was no longer “stiff and indurated” and had returned to its normal “pre-disease state” by the end of that 14 day period.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/jdv/2005/00000019/00000001/art00015?crawler=true

I think it’s probably a good thing to “never say never” in any person’s case. Some incredible things happen in medicine, sometimes quite inexplicably. For those fortunate enough to get properly diagnosed and treated in good time with appropriate abx (and perhaps uncomplicated by other infections or conditions), recoveries can sometimes be swift. This isn’t the case in every case, but wouldn’t rule anything out. 😉

[cavalier]

Maz 2 wk’s is very swift – but it’s not 2 days – that just seemed to be awfully fast for reversal as it was stated as 2 days. Unless this woman was heading into reversal already & sometimes people with SD go into remission & we don’t always know why.

Granted other ABX can be effective I just relayed that Penicillin was not effective for my SD granted 5 wk’s is not a long time, but there was no indications either – unlike clindamycin that I quickly responded too in positive ways within the 1st IV or 2 within the 1st day or 2 I didn’t see reversal of skin symptoms in that amount of time but I did get some resolution even if it didn’t hold once I stopped doing the I.V.’s had I been able to get a nurse to administer back here at home I would have continued to make inroads I feel.

Of course depending on what that person has going on that could be possibly behind their SD…

Best – Jill

[Maz]

@cavalier wrote:

Maz 2 wk’s is very swift – but it’s not 2 days – that just seemed to be awfully fast for reversal as it was stated as 2 days. Unless this woman was heading into reversal already & sometimes people with SD go into remission & we don’t always know why.

Yes, two days is pretty miraculous and could be coincidental. We don’t know what happened to the 61 year old lady in Europe either when her 2 week course of IV ceftriaxone was ended. Chronic Lymies often need IVs for months, if not years. Did her symptoms return later? I think it’s just hard to know in any case why some folks respond so well and others don’t. Would be nice to have definitive answers on all this. Perhaps borrelia strain variation? Some of these Lyme bugs are a heck of a lot more virulent than others. Probably you and I can both attest to this and folks who are coinfected with other bugs seem to have a harder time of turning things around, too.

[BonnieG]

Hi Phil. By long ways to go regarding my hands I mean they are still far from normal after 4 months of AP. They are still stiff, burn, swollen, skin is tight up to my elbows, and several fingers are slightly curved. They are ‘better’ some days and I think better than they were two months ago but man…..it sure would be nice to get my ring off again. Is this ‘normal’ after four months?
I’m taking MINOCIN (100mg) twice a day M,W,F and clindamycin (300mg) 4 times a day on Thursday. I also take one Aleve a day and probiotics.

[Maz]

Bonnie, this article just got posted on a different forum and it caught my eye in light of your thread. Interestingly, in combination with abx, researchers are finding that silver nitrate salt is causing bugs that were previously resistant to abx to become very susceptible and discuss that abx may one day be coated in this substance to increase their effectiveness.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-antibiotics-silver-20130620,0,6215677.story

The one concern I think I may have and would want to sort out is whether silver, in combination with a tetracycline, may actually cause the confluent gray skin hyperpigmentation. Tetras are highly chelative and bind to minerals in the body – iron being the one that is thought to cause the blue-gray skin hyperpigmentation that some folks experience.

Just wondering, but is there a reason you’re not taking the full Harvard Protocol dose for your scleroderma (i.e. minocycline 100mg BID) or are you working up to that dose? Four months in on AP is really early days and, in most cases, it can take a year or longer before any notable changes in SD are experienced (depending on severity, duration of disease, age, etc). Have you had a chance to read the Scammell books yet? “The New Arthritis Breakthough” really helped to keep me going in my first year, but for SDers, there is also the other book, “Scleroderma: The Proven Therapy That Can Save Your Life.”

Hang in there, Bonnie! We’ll be rooting for you here! 🙂

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