The Medicinal Uses of Activated Charcoal

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment, especially anything related to poisoning or overdose.

Activated charcoal, also known as activated carbon, is not barbecue charcoal.  If someone's wanting to make that substitution, give that person something else to do.  Perhaps chopping onions.

Aside from its most common usage in water filters, activated charcoal is used in emergency rooms the world over for treating some kinds of poisoning and drug overdoses.  It has application for both internal and external use.

Internally, physicians use activated charcoal to cleanse toxins such as bacteria and most organic poisons from the gastrointestinal tract.  Research shows that it will bind enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli strains O157:H7 while not affecting the beneficial E. coli normally found in the body.  (And researchers still don't know why that is.)  It is specifically used in emergency rooms for treating overdoses of aspirin, acetaminophen, opium, and morphine.  Activated charcoal is used in doses of 1 gram per kilogram of body weight, so 50-100 grams for adults, and 10-25 grams for children.  It must be administered within 1-2 hours of the time the toxin was ingested to be effective.  Plenty of water must be consumed at the same time.  To use it internally, mix the powder with clean water and drink it, or use capsules (you're going to need a lot).  Activated charcoal may cause constipation and definitely will turn the stool black.  It does not enter the bloodstream and so is of no efficacy in dealing with toxins ingested more than 2-3 hours before treatment is sought.  And it cannot be used internally to treat snakebites.

Activated charcoal is effective only for some poisons.  It does not work against petroleum, alcohol, acid, lye, or corrosive poisons.

Externally, activated charcoal is used to clean out wounds by binding dead tissue, bacteria, and toxins.  For more superficial wounds, mix activated charcoal with clean water into a paste and apply to the affected area.  For deeper, penetrating wounds, like with a snakebite, mix activated charcoal with more water into a thick juice/thin smoothie consistency and soak the affected area in this.  The activated charcoal has to get into direct contact with the tissue and toxin to be effective.  Leave the plaster on, or let the affected area soak for an hour or two, then wash off the skin and check the wound (it's gonna be black, so this may be a little difficult).  Then repeat the above procedure to draw out more toxin.  After about four hours, clean off, and start working with herbs to promote further healing.  Charcoal only cleans; it does not help tissue grow and heal.

To treat poison ivy, poison oak, insect bites and stings:  1/4 teaspoon or one capsule activated charcoal with 1/2 tablespoon water, apply to affected area, bandage.  Repeat every thirty minutes.

To treat poisonous spiders:  same as above, but use 1/2 teaspoon activated charcoal, and apply to a wider area surrounding the bite.  Cover with a bandage to prevent staining, and change every two hours.  Rinse well between bandage changes.

Other uses:  to alleviate gas and bloating associated with foods that normally cause flatulence, take an activated charcoal capsule one hour prior to a meal with one to two full glasses of water.

Links to related posts:
Managing Snake Bites Post-Collapse
Managing Spider Bites Post-Collapse
DIY Packaging of Activated Charcoal 

For further reading:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11307928
https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hn-5203004#hn-5203004-how-it-works
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1676641/pdf/bmj00002-0006.pdf
Sam Coffman, The Herbal Medic, p 323-325.
  7 january 2019

13 october 2019