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A Home-Health
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Informative
Articles on Natural Therapies of Healing
ACTIVATED
CHARCOAL:
What's It Good For?
An Article
by HHR's Charles L. Church Published in Countryside Magazine
If
you’ve ever been poisoned, you know what charcoal powder is, because
that is normally what Emergency Rooms administer for an antidote in most
such cases. Like many healing substances that cannot be patented , the
vast resource of credible data about the healing virtues of activated
charcoal remains inaccessible to most. We hope to “scratch the surface”.
Charcoal, like similar useful substances provided for in creation, has
not just one healing application, but is believed to produce beneficent
results in several instances of family health, and is therefore a product
that no house should be without. Let us attempt to discuss just a few.
Charcoal is a “clinical absorbent”. That means that it absorbs
inorganic matter. That is why they use it in water filtration. But it
does the same thing anywhere. On a bee sting; on a snake bite; in your
stomach when you have the flu. Don’t take it with any pharmaceutical
medication, however...... it will absorb it! (On second thought......)
Activated charcoal is obtained by blasting the burning charcoal with oxygen,
which increases its surface area, and hence its ability to absorb inorganic
matter and toxins, enormously. When I speak of charcoal in this article,
I am speaking of this activated variety. It will be perhaps necessary
to point out that just because something has charcoal in it does
not mean that it will therefore be safe to ingest.. Charcoal briquettes,
for instance will make you sick if you ingest them..
Activated charcoal is an extremely effective remedy for nearly all poisonings
......Tylenol, Aspirin, barbiturates, chemicals, etc.. Since Charcoal
binds nutrients very poorly, an iron tablet overdose will be little helped
by it. Strong acid or alkali substances are also best treated by neutralizing
the substance with something of the opposite ph. Common household substances
would be Vinegar, which is acid, for an alkali poisoning such as lye;
or Baking Soda, which is alkali, for an acid poisoning such as a hydrochloric
acid poisoning. Though such poisonings are rare, when they occur, it is
a great comfort to have the cure at once on hand, and the knowledge of
how to administer it, without dependence on a derelict and self-serving
medical community.
But Charcoal has a much greater value in the treatment of very common
ailments. It works wonderfully, where the allopathic medical community
has no remedy to offer whatever, such as in the case of the brown recluse
spider bite. This bite can cause a large area of the flesh to die and
fall off, and cause gangrene, and other complications. If the bite is
on a finger or some area where there is not much flesh, it can necessitate
an amputation, for obvious reasons. Timing is everything here. If the
bite is recognized quickly, the effects can be greatly mitigated, often
leaving only a scar. But if the person waits a couple of days, then the
results will be less impressive, but still better nothing ......the standard
allopathic “treatment”. This works best if used in conjunction
with Melaluca oil, for some reason, alternating between the two. As we
would suspect, then, Charcoal will work very well for bee stings, or ant
stings. In all of these conditions the method of treatment is the Charcoal
Compress, which will be described shortly.
Charcoal is also of great benefit in Snake Bites. The clinical experience
for using this treatment in this case is not worth mentioning; but empirical
evidence strongly suggests is effectiveness in treating such cases. An
Arkansas couple reported the following experience: Their 1 ½ year old
child was bitten by a Copperhead on the chest. There was swelling in the
area, and the child was in extreme pain. They called their doctor, who
advised them to get to the E.R. ASAP! But they were 60 miles of winding
roads away from the nearest hospital. The doctor told them to use charcoal
compresses, changed every ten minutes and get to the hospital. By the
time they arrived the swelling was totally gone, and the child was sleeping.
As a precautionary measure the antivenin was administered anyway. It
should be noted here that the compress should cover the whole extremity,
and charcoal should be taken internally as well.
Departing for just a moment from our subject, it will be of interest
to the reader to learn that electric shock can also cure snake bites.
I know..... it sounds weird. It sounded weird too to a medical missionary,
(an invention of this ending age), until he ran out of antivenin, and
had people coming to his South American clinic with lethal snake bites.
He had heard of this remedy, and had counted it a fable, but he had people
in his clinic who were going to die anyway, and so he tried it. Much to
his chagrin it worked. To this day they don’t have a clue why it
works, but it absolutely must be DC power. NOT AC. That means that you
take the spark plug wire from your car or boat motor, and touch it to
the bitten area, and crank the engine, or pull the cord, or whatever,
and it will shock the area with DC power. I read this man’s article
in some sort of Christian magazine, and it all seemed quite reputable.
Charcoal also works satisfactorily for Poison Ivy & Poison Oak, because
it absorbs the toxic oils which cause the infection. Combining some French
Green Clay with some Charcoal and Water and applied to the infected area
works well. Fresh Plantain mashed up and applied to the infected area
also works well. What works best, though, is to wash the area with isopropyl
aclohol every time it gets itchy, so as to wash off the oils before they
spread.
Charcoal is also a phenomenal treatment for Diarrhea & Vomiting, either
from food poisoning, or from infecting agents such as the flu. Finding
a satisfactory treatment for nausea and vomiting is a great trial for
most. When the flu bug comes into a house it usually means a great deal
of suffering. I don’t need to consult the books here, but can speak
from experience, that charcoal can utterly relieve these symptoms. I am
not a doctor, and I don’t mean to act like one, but Charcoal has
relieved great suffering in our house! Again, TIMING here is everything.
When you FIRST start feeling nauseous, AT ONCE get up and take some charcoal,
(2 tbs. In 8-12 oz. of water, and drink it), and that will simply be it.
It will all be over. You will get the flu, you will feel weak, you will
feel like going to bed; but you won’t be vomiting, and having diarrhea,
which are by far the worst symptoms of this malady, and the next day you
should be fine. As you would expect, it doesn't taste like chocolate milk.
It is basically flavorless, but the texture is less than appealing.
But most people seem to wait until they are good and sick, and then try
to get better. Charcoal still works here. You WILL spend some time before
the toilet, however. You stir in two tablespoons of charcoal into 8-12
oz. of water, and drink it down. If you are already sick you will usually
throw it right back up within seconds, or atleast within 10 minutes. But
just repeat the treatment, and wait to see what happens. You will usually
throw up two times, and hold down the third. The only time that we have
gone over three doses is when the intestines have been stopped up and
could not receive the treatment, and when these are cleared, (by whatever
means, enema, etc.), the cure should be effective.
Charcoal has also been used in Uterine infection. A “pencil”
is made by boiling water, starch, and charcoal together until thick,
and this is formed into strips on a pan and let cool. These are then inserted
through the cervix into the uterus. This is said to have cured Endometritis,
but required more than one “pencil”. Just how this procedure
is performed is unknown to me. Perhaps it could be beneficial when used
as a douche in some cases.
Charcoal is also the best possible agent for whitening the teeth. Just
brush with it, and that's it! I should note that we have had our teeth
look grey for a short time afterwards, but not to worry..... it goes away.
Repeat treatments as necessary.
Charcoal has many other uses. I am getting much of my information from
a book entitled, “Rx Charcoal” by Drs. Calvin & Agatha
Thrash, which we sell in our home business. It explains many other uses,
and the ones I have mentioned it explains in much greater and authoritative
detail. These would include, Eye & Ear conditions; Infections; Inflammation;
Chronic Relapsing Pancreatitis; Kidney & Liver Failure, Cholesterol
regulation, Diabetes, and others.
How
Do I take Charcoal?
There are several ways. Ranging from most to least common, it would probably
look like this: Charcoal in water, taken orally; Charcoal compresses,
taken topically; Charcoal bath; Charcoal Enemas; Charcoal pencils; Intravenous
Colloidal Charcoal. As nearly all treatments employ the former three methods,
we will speak only of those.
Before describing these methods, allow me to make the admission that charcoal
is unavoidably messy. No matter how careful you are it will always make
a disaster. But when you witness its healing effects and the weal to your
household to break free from the monetary drain of the not so great physicians,
this problem will seem infinitesimal. To get around this people often
buy charcoal in capsules, but they pay dearly for it, and buy it thus
in an amount that would be grossly insufficient for a compress, but only
for oral administration. Buy it bulk.
The Compress. The first thing that should be said is that any charcoal
compress MUST remain wet in order to work. If it dries out it will effect
absolutely nothing. The idea of a compress, then, is that you make a mixture
of charcoal and water, (sometimes of charcoal, water, and starch to thicken
it), and then spread it over the area requiring treatment. The Thrash’s
recommend spreading ¼ in. of the mixture on a paper towel, and then placing
another paper towel on top of this, (presumably the paper towels are wet),
placing this on the treatment area, and then wrapping with plastic wrap
to hold in the moisture. This method is a very clean way to apply charcoal,
but our (non-professional) opinion is that better results should be attained
by placing the charcoal mixture directly on the skin, and then covering
with the wet paper towel, the plastic wrap, etc.. This is much messier,
and doesn’t seem to keep the moisture in as well, but it does keep
the mixture in more direct contact with the skin. For poison Oak, try
adding some French Green Clay to the mixture. Warning: If you use charcoal
to draw out toxins from a festering wound, be advised that it CAN permanently
tattoo the patient.
Charcoal bath. In some cases where there is a general poisoning, such
as in a bee attack, or in a bee alergy case, charcoal can be of great
use by taking a cup or two and putting it in the bath tub, and soaking
the patient in it. One lady who got into some bees, and who was greatly
allergic to bee stings used this treatment, and felt so great that she
got out. Within minutes she could hardly breath. This method also underlines
the necessity of having more than 100 capsules on hand! I should also
here again mention the fact that I have never found a remedy that worked
faster or better for the common bee sting, (one sting, no allergies),
than simply mixing a little charcoal and water and putting it right on
the sting. Within about 10 seconds there is major relief, and within about
30 seconds there is almost total relief. you have to keep in on, though,
for about five or ten minutes.
The
best remedies are those provided immediately by God to man, and charcoal
is definitely once such remedy. While activated charcoal is obtained by
employing some rather modern methods, (blasting it with oxygen while burning),
and is about four times as effective as non-activated charcoal, it remains
that it is but a wood based charcoal, and such as you can get from chewing
on any stick put in the fire! Cool it first!
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