As you might have realzied, I am travelling in Southeast Asia, primarily Thailand.  Now just at the beginning of my trip, I decided to take a 10-day excursion to Bali, Indonesia. Although not all that common with the abundance of great organic fruits and vegetables here, I very quickly came down with a bacteria infection (likely due to food or water contaminants) that knocked me out for several days. Although I try to avoid antibiotics at all costs and am a big advocate of natural remedies, being in foreign land I felt that I had little choice but to go with the conventional treatment protocol if I were to make the most of my short time here.

Even so, it really got me thinking that it’s not easy to take the natural route when you feel so terrible and are desperate to get well, regardless of whether you are in familiar surroundings or not. This is especially true when you decide to take action once the infection has progressed, making natural remedies less effective. For me, the key to limiting or avoiding antibiotic use, it is essential to be prepared and have those alternative methods on hand, available at the first sign of illness. Once I started feeling better and talking to people in Bali, I realized that there were some natural “antibiotic” like solutions here, which inspired me to do some research and share my findings here.

For those that may not know my view on the topic, in general I choose not to take antibiotics. The reason being is that although antibiotics are good for killing the bad bacteria associated with infections, they are also quite good at killing the good bacteria as well. As you’ve learned in several of my other posts, a healthy digestive tract with a good flora balance is essential for overall health. This is not only true for digestive health, but also the entire body system, including the brain. Having overused antibiotics in my early years due to chronic sinusitus, I subsequently had to work through a lot of yeast related conditions that took many years to repair with anti-fungal and probiotic supplements, along with a fairly sugar-free diet. Although antibiotics have their place in modern medicine and are necessary in many treatment plans, I don’t advocate overusing them without consideration, especially when it’s questionable whether an infection is bacterial or viral, the ladder being unresponsive to antibiotic treatments.

With that said, here I am in Bali, taking antibiotics! But, let me share what I discovered late in the game that may be an option for those who are looking for a natural way to treat infections. There is a product available in natural health stores and from alternative practitioners (and also here in Bali, produced locally) called colloidal silver.  

Although not backed by the FDA, as is the case with many natural therapies, colloidal silver was used in medical treatments up until the 1940’s when modern antibiotics became popular. Usage of silver has been found in ancient Babylon, Greek, and Roman civilizations and Ayurvedic doctors in India are still using it in medical treatments.