Borax: Unlocking the Health Benefits of a Natural Compound

Stop being afraid of borax. It is wonderful stuff. As has been said before, it is about as toxic as salt. Regarding purity, borax is mined just like table salt. You can't refine either one any further. Hey, try to wash them and they dissolve, fer pitty sake.

One of the neatest benefits of boron is it basically doubles your absorption rate of calcium. It is required for strong bones.

The easy way to take borax is to get some gelatin capsules from yout pharmacy or health food store and make your own borax pills. Remember to take them with a cup of water.

If you found scented borax you goofed and bought boric acid instead. Some boric acid brands are perfumed. Boric acid is not dangerous, other than the fact it is acidic. Diluted it has been used for sprains, pains, bug bites and rashes for ages.

Boric acid is the one you want to use for insect control. Ants, termites, cockroaches and the like have a waxy coating on their bodies. Even a speck of boric acid will kill them by burning a hole in the coating so they dehydrate. I suspect a dusting would do the same for bedbugs.

Any form of borax is deadly to fungus. I sprayed the inside hull of my antique wooden boat to stop dry rot. Drill a hole near the base of a fence post, pour in some borax, and plug it. The borax diffuses through the wood to stop rot.

Homeopathy is an energy medicine. It changes the water itself. That is why the more diluted it is, the more power it has. The medicine is in the water/alcohol. Not really in the substance although the substance helps change the water.

What is the rationale for diluting borax in so much water - a litre of water? Do you really need that much water?

I have made a previous post regarding this situation, and will repeat since it seems to deserve the attention.

First, it is not likely that the people reporting a "fragrance smell" are actually having olfactory hallucinations, and the manufacturers are not lying. So, the only realistic explanation is the shipping and storage of the 20 mule team. Guess what other items are housed along side the borax, heavily chemically scented laundry products. The scent is so strong the containers need not be opened. You can go blindfolded and stumbling about the market and easily find the laundry detergent aisle by the strong scent.

20 Mule Team would need to first "bag" the contents, in addition to "boxing" so as to keep the foreign scent from entering.

To dispel misinformation given by a contributor. There is nothing (no smells, fragrances etc) added to 20 mule team borax. The website of twenty mule team borax http://www.20muleteamlaundry.com/about/what-is-borax/ tells us:

"Absolutely nothing is added. No phosphates, per-oxside, chlorine, or other additive chemicals."

It also adds

"20 Mule Team? Borax is 100% natural, and 99.5% pure (there is about a half of 1% of naturally occurring trace minerals). " So any impurities are just other "minerals" and not added "scents" or chemicals etc.

Just stay away from big industry "Borax Alternatives" which are NOT borax. Also stay away from items "containing borax" you want the real borax not some big soap companies "alternatives or concoctions contains it. you want Pure" borax, like 20 mule team or other "pure" ones.

Hello! I ingested 1/8 teaspoon of borax daily in tap water for 3 months and my health has improved by at least 300%! No more body aches, my cognition is much clearer and I haven't been sick at all with the exception of a cold that lasted only 2 days! Sorry to have to disagree with you but kinda think you must work for the FDA.

Hi,I read somewhere that TX has the highest level of fluoride in their tap water so you might want to consider using distilled water for your shampoo... I filter my water in the shower to remove most metals and fluoride, but I will try your shampoo advice, borax does make my hair soft and silky, also I color my hair with rainbow henna, stopped using commercial dyes 2 years ago and has dramatically changed my hair texture.

Hey you're so right, as a mechanic I was hurt by the same fungus-tinia manus, got it from fungus that grows in oil or diesel, borax rids the problem and also a mold antibiotic-griseofulvin or fulvicin also will eat the fungus for 90 days, that took care of my problem, so was wondering what other common ailments are easily cured that you know of, thanks, dave s

YEA, you are mentioning "borax" and "boric acid" in your post. Isn't there a difference?

Another thing that I don't quite understand: Borax is alkaline, right? But the pH of the vagina is supposed to be acid. E.G. Many woman get yeast infections because the sperm is alkaline, which messes up their vaginal environment. How can an alkaline substance cure an infection caused by a disturbed environment?

But if you say it worked I'm gonna give it a shot anyways. But how do I know if the borax/boric acid that I buy is the one you used for your treatment? Do you have a chemical formular or any other specific information or something?

I have no idea where to buy this stuff in Austria... Does anybody have experiences with the borax from ebay?

Thanks.

Sandy, suicide does not seem like the answer nor does vodka to clear up your skin issues. Personally I have been at wits end many times with my psoriasis. My take is before you do anything irrational, try doing a veggie juice cleanse for awhile or even better a water fast under the care of a licensed Naturopath. My guess is you have Candida. Best of luck. Hope this helps.

Hi TrudyG and all others suffering from insomnia,

I also have opposite reactions to pharmacy drugs, OTC & Rx. Three things have helped me ENORMOUSLY, and all of them don't seem to be mentioned in this thread: https://www.earthclinic.com/cures/insomnia6.html#MR_100360

First, taking a nightly capsule of organic borage oil, regular dose, an hour before bed got me deeply asleep, deeply dreaming, and very calm/confident-feeling the next day. It does take about 3 weeks for most people to have results, although I seem to recall it was more like 10 days for me. After a while I ran out and forgot to take it, only remembered while reading here.

Next, I got an inversion table. You can set it so that you start with a relatively low angle of inversion, by tying the strap underneath--say, 20-30 degrees for at least 10 minutes. That feels like plenty to me. If your heart is lower than your feet by 17 degrees, apparently the lymph glands release and clear. Other benefits I've noticed: practically no asthma, NO INSOMNIA, back pain decreased and overall well-being increased. Not to mention, better circulation.

However I am forgetful so the latest thing I take is borax. This is actually covered in depth at http://educate-yourself.org/cn/boraxconspiracy03jul12.shtml.

In my case, I was looking for help with my out-of-control restless legs syndrome, which, on the first day, diminished almost to nothing (now my Requip prescription of. 25 mg is more than sufficient, where before even 1mg spaced throughout the day barely controlled it. ).

Now I take the borax right before sleep, and I sleep deeply and w/o interruption for 8plus hrs. And I wake up feeling crisp! Also my asthma, which had me audibly wheezing prior to the borax, is slowly disappearing. It's also a fabulous detoxer, and is anti-microbial and perhaps also alkalining too.

At first I took the Borax in the morning, but after 3 weeks, it started to make me very sleepy so I switched to bedtime. It's very fast-acting--one minute I'm lying in bed wide awake, wondering when it's going to start knocking me out, and the next minute, I'm so deeply asleep I haven't even noticed I was getting sleepy, it's so immediate a response.

My friends who are also taking borax find that they have more energy. I MAY be feeling more energetic, but the stuff still knocks me out, so experiment on a laid-back, no-driving-etc-day to see how it affects you.

The other reason I was taking borax is that it balances the whole body's hormone, endocrine, and glandular system over time. I've been taking it now for at least 3 months. I've increased my dose to a tablespoon (from a teaspoon). Just last week it seemed to me that my post-menopausal dryness was no longer an issue. I intend to continue taking this forever.

Oh yes, another borax good result: my neighbor, 70 yrs old, fell off a horse and broke 2 ribs. Since he won't go to doctors, I gave him some borax. He says his ribs healed fast, and with much less pain than the other times they have broken.

Dosing excerpts from midway through the link at beginning of this post:

Firstly, dissolve a lightly rounded teaspoonful (5-6 grams) of borax in 1 litre of good quality water* free of chlorine and fluoride. This is your concentrated solution. Keep the bottle out of reach of small children. (* I''m using distilled water)

Standard dose = 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of concentrate. This has 25 to 30 mg of borax and provides about 3 mg of boron. Take 1 dose per day mixed with drink or food. If that feels right then take a second dose with another meal. If there is no specific health problem or as a maintenance dose you may continue indefinitely with 1 or 2 doses daily. "

(elsewhere in my reading people taking the borax-in-water cure seem to take it for 5 days, stop for 2, then start again for 5 days, off for 2 days, and so on. )

"If you do have a problem, such as arthritis, osteoporosis and related conditions, menopause, stiffness due to advancing years, and also to improve low sex hormone production, increase intake to 3 or more spaced-out standard doses for several months or longer until you feel that your problem has sufficiently improved. Then drop back to 1 or 2 doses per day. "

http://g2cforum.org/index.php/list/other-alternatives/20552-the-borax-conspiracy-how-a-mineral-vital-to-health-was-suppressed

http://g2cforum.org/index.php/list/other-alternatives/2910-big-island-dairy-farmers-fight-radiation-with-boron

BTW... Trazodone HCL does work for my insomnia. At first I had to double-dose but now I can take 1/4 pill and that will also knock me out.... But why bother when borax is much safer and helps with so many cures.
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Last I would like to thank Joy and Everyone about mentioning the water cure. I think adding the right salt will help w my frequent urination, thirst, and allergies. Had forgotten that histamine is a dehydration response. Beginning to wonder if I was developing diabetes. Would diabetes show up in a hair sample?

Many Blessings!

Ted, I get confused easily. I keep reading about the borax, peroxide remedy and have read different mixtures at different messages.

I have mixed a liter of spring water with 1/4 teaspoon of borax, and a capful of peroxide, I drank on this all day yesterday and then today added 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. I did this to drink on all day. I don't know if this is correct since I later saw this was after meals.

I have lots of black places that look like freckles that have came up and I know age brings some of this but I see black specks in the tub. Lots of burning skin so bad I have tried to commit sucide three times and was put in the mental hospital. I can't take this skin burning and also my eyes are full of thick stuff. If I use anything on my face like even water I get a lather like it has soap on it this has gone on for over three years.

I have lost almost all hope. I did use all the things I have on hand in the house like the lavender and mixed it with too much vodka at first, it did help with the pain. I saw the mixture for skin and used it all day but got to dried out and had to stop the second day. It has been hard to even wear clothes that touched my skin. I need to keep it simple so help with cleaning is something I need to know.

This is urgent for me since I don't feel there is anything left. I have xylitol and wondered about using it with the chocolate to make something tasty. Or can I mix a vodka drink to make it a little stronger for pain?

Please help!

There are lots of posts on using Borax as Shampoo. I had to try it but I had some problems no one seemed to mention. My final review is I LOVE IT and will never go back to regular shampoo.

I have very oily hair and shampoo daily or I look like I dumped grease on my head. I mixed up a few spoons of Mule Borax in a 4 cup bowl and poured it on my head then rinsed. I looked like I had dreadlocks!!! My hair all clumped together and looked horrible. The Borax couldn't clean my hair. I had too much buildup. So I used a bit of dish soap for my next shampoo to strip my hair and also a higher concentration of Borax.

I kept trying it and figured out that with our water (TX gets its water from lakes so its got lots of stuff in it) and my oily condition I had to do the following : at least 1/4 -1/2 cup or more of Borax in 8 cups of hot water. Stir and wait for crystals to settle to the bottom. Wet hair with water and pour, scrub, pour scrub, etc at least 4 times with no rinsing between. Then rinse hair in fairly hot water. That's it. My best guess is that it takes a very strong concentration to loosen the dirt / oil and repeating the scrubbing / washing helps loosen it all from the hair shaft. Then the hot water helps to remove it all.

The whole process is actually faster than when I would shampoo. I will admit about once a week or two I do use regular shampoo to strip any excess oil that seems to build up. I also do a heavy conditioning treatment at that time. Otherwise I don't need any conditioner on a daily bases which is amazing because my hair is long and tangles easily.

To anyone trying Borax I suggest really stripping your hair first of all the buildup. Use dish soap to wash first, then do the Borax wash. Then just use Borax every time you wash thereafter. Then you won't have the dreadlock look the first time. You need to make the Borax water as strong as needed for your hair and your water.

Benefits: less oily hair, no reaction or sensitivity, hair fallout has decreased dramatically, hair dye sticks to hair much better and stays much longer with less fading!!

Additional benefit: it runs over face and my redness has decreased along with decrease in pore size and overall face coloring has evened out. Wonderful side benefit. I wrote another post about how well this works for your face!!

Maria said "I wanted to know if borax at the 1/8 teaspoon in 1 lt of water taken 3 to 4 days a week over three weeks is too much for an elderly person?"

Maria, I think that sounds fine. You'll be starting your mum on a very low dose so you can see how she goes. At such a low dosage you are extremely unlikely to get adverse symptoms (as might happen from a too fast heavy-metal chelation or a too fast die-off of candida or other pathogens). Then, as her body acclimatizes you can slowly up the dose. You can comfortably take it up to as much as 1 teaspoon per litre - just don't give her more than a teaspoon of the mixture per day. See how this goes. You can keep her at that level for years with no problems but you can also drop it back down to a lower maintenance dose later.

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Dude said "only 30 miligrams per day. Way less than 1/4 or 1/8 teaspoon."

Dude, the recommended dosage is perhaps a 1 teaspoon of borax in a litre of water of which only 1 teaspoon is taken per day. This will deliver about 7mg effective dosage per day which is good for healing most boron-deficiency diseases. Once health is regained then one can go down to about 1/4 teaspoon for a maintenance dose.

Sandra said "If it is inorganic the body cannot utilise it."

I'm sorry Sandra but that is incorrect. The word "organic" is oft misunderstood and misused. In this context it basically refers to mollecules containing carbon. So table salt (NaCl), for example, is inorganic. You wouldn't wish to have me believe that the body cannot utilise salt, would you? Our bodies would die without a whole host of micronutirents which are all inorganic.

The other definition of "organic" is a descriptor of farming practices (not using artificial pesticides and fertilizers). Though this too is a vastly misuderstood topic it does not apply here.

In brief then: borax is an inorganic compound of sodium, boron and oxygen. When it is ingested the body uses particularly the boron as a vital micronutient as we get enough sodium from other sources.

Hey Chris, Regarding dosages. Borax is pretty safe at low dosages. Its toxicity is lower than table salt. You'd have to be taking a lot before things would dtart to go wrong for you health-wise. As a guide: if you dissolve a level teaspoon (5ml) of borax in a litre of water and then consume 5ml of that per day then you are taking in somewhere in the region of 7mg of borax per day. That's okay for a maintenance dose. Your 1/4 teaspoon is low but perfectly fine too.

My best advice is to start low and then really learn to listen to your body. Listen to how it feels. Pick up the dosage a little and then see. Trust yourself and your body. You'll do fine.

Good health to you!
Badabing

I want to comment on the borax as a face wash. I have been using borax now for a couple of weeks. After reading some of the comments, I wanted to start slow. I have to say, it works for me. My skin loves this stuff! My face is softer, smoother and brighter. I'm not at the ingesting stage yet because I can't wrap my head around drinking something that I wash my clothes with. Next, I'll try it in the bath. Thanks Earth Clinic. I get a lot of great natural remedies from this site.

Linda, It sounds like you might be helped by drinking 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a large glass of water once or twice per day. Go to the Apple Cider Vinegar Cures page https://www.earthclinic.com/remedies/acvinegar.html and see if that gives you any ideas.

Hi Mary - I just checked my container of borax and there is no smell BUT I've had the box for awhile so perhaps the new stock carries a fragrance. Also, I'm in Canada so maybe there are different formulas for export to various countries.

Does borax absorb odours like baking soda does? The smell in the detergent aisle of the supermarket is so overpowering, I'm wondering if it's absorbing odours from the other products. It's too bad so many people feel the need for toxic fragrance in just about everything.

Have you tried the health food store in the laundry section? If they don't have it in stock, they may be able to order it for you (as long as it isn't a "repackaged" 20 Mule Team product). Good luck! Bess

Mary: The most likely explanation is that the 20 Mule Teem is shipped in the same container as other detergent products that do contain chemical scents (and many have very high levels). The 20 Mule Teem manufacturer would need alerted that the scent is leaking into the cardboard box containers. The boxed Borax is certainly permeable.

I have noticed this same type incidence with other products that are located near scented laundry products on the store shelves.

Try pouring the Borax in a wide container and let set out in a mild sun and not too damp weather.

Has anyone else here had problems with 20 Mule Team Borax lately? The recent boxes I purchased seemed to have a noticeable fragrance added. Was very irritating as I'm highly chemical and scent sensitive. I called the manufacturer and they told me that nothing's been changed or added; I'm unconvinced. I've used Borax for years and never experienced this until just recently. Am hopeful my experience was a fluke but am looking at other sources for Borax.

Some previous posters here had noted a scent so was wondering if anyone else here might have noticed it as well. Many at Earth Clinic use it for medicinal reasons and they'd notice a change.

I've waited to write a post on this for a long time as I have been adjusting our treatments to see if they really are effective. At this point I'm pretty confident about borax's ability to stem fungal hair loss and other ailments that my boyfriend has, although this is still very much a work in progress. We are also trying to heal and remedy other ailments that might or might not be connected. This is going to be long, sorry!

It all started a few years ago when I noticed that my boyfriend's beard was getting patchy and also very itchy. He's very laissez faire about everything health-wise, so I just waited until he felt ready to address the problem. He's almost 40 and has hair loss typical of a male his age on top of his head, which he also scratches. Soon, the beard patchiness was getting very obvious; to the point he was not growing hair on his mustache in certain places, and it was even showing when he did shave. I started to tease him that he looked like Hitler, because it wasn't growing past the width of his nose on one side. That's when he started to notice. He had large patches on his cheeks where hair wasn't growing, either.

A month later we moved from sunny Colorado to rainy Seattle and he developed a small patch of ringworm on his back. That's when I put my foot down and decided that we were going to treat his fungal infections instead of waiting for them to spread further. As soon as I saw the ringworm I made him jump in a bath with a 1/4 cup of borax and scrubbed his back (and head, neck, and chest) with the borax in a paste with water. I had him leave it on for about 5 minutes. He said that his skin felt like it was burning, but mildly, like a rash. After the bath he said his skin felt good and wasn't itchy. As a health experimenter, I felt that this was a good sign that his hair loss was a fungal problem.

Within a week of daily baths his ringworm disappeared. Within a month of scrubbing his face with borax he no longer had patchy beard growth. I had him shave more frequently and "borax" his face, along with applying tea tree oil and coconut oil, as well. He shaves intermittently, sometimes twice a week, sometimes twice a month and isn't very consistent with doing anything but borax. Even then, he forgets why until his face becomes itchier. We continue to put a few tablespoons of borax in his bath water (he likes baths) to counteract the chlorine, fluoride, and any continuing fungal issues he may still have.

I was still concerned, however, that we were just chasing after the fungus and not treating it. If he didn't take a bath every day or didn't scrub his face with borax when he did, his beard would get itchy and slightly patchy. It would go away the next time he scrubbed, but it was still disconcerting to me. The problem is, I am not him, and therefore it is not my life to dictate. If it were me, I would immediately assume that I might have a case of mild systemic candida and treat it as such, probably by following Bill's protocols. He is his own person and does not want to give up his Dr. Pepper habit, hates vegetables, won't take anything that tastes bad (like alkalizing remedies): pretty much the opposite of treating candida. Ok, c'est la vie. So I work with what I can do for him, and offer solutions when I can.

After giving him some information on borax and boron several months ago, he decided that he wanted to explore the possibility of boron supplementation. He started taking a boron and mineral supplement and found relief for a few niggling concerns. For one thing, his knees stopped hurting, which he hadn't even realized were hurting! Also, he found that his hormones started to perk up and found he had a libido again, after seeming to lose it without realizing either! (Maybe he needs to work on his biofeedback response?) So far the pills seemed to be an effective remedy, but still weren't addressing the fungal issues like I had hoped.

Somewhere along the line, probably realizing the cost of expensive boron pills, he felt ready to take Ted's borax in water remedy. We already use borax for baths, cleaning, laundry and killing mold in our damp apartment, so I have plenty on hand. I decided, for ease of use to use the "concentrated" dosing recommended in the Walter Last article on Borax, here: http://www.health-science-spirit.com/borax.htm. I use warm distilled water and dissolve the borax in it and use this concentrate, a teaspoon at a time. He takes this twice a day for five days and then takes a break for two days. We have found this to work very well for us.

This hasn't been a completely side-effect free, experiment, however. I believe that he has die-off effects from the candida, as well as halide poisoning symptoms. We seem to be able to mitigate these effects with Bill's liver protocol, as well as avoiding sources of chlorine, fluoride and bromine, especially. He also feels big mood swings, probably from his hormones trying to rebalance, and goes from being very grumpy one day to cheery, almost manic, the next day. I'm still trying to work on his hormone balancing and haven't found a solution to that yet.

As for a list of benefits, he's found great relief from his facial fungal problems. He no longer needs to be as vigilante about scrubbing his face with the borax paste. He has a renewed libido and no longer has painful knees. And the biggest, so far unmentioned, have been the cessation of symptoms of his allergies. He used to have very bad allergies, which I've been trying forever to remedy with everything I can on EC, including honey, apple cider vinegar (which is a staple in our house), probiotics, and countless other things that I can't even remember because they didn't work. At this time last year (and every year previous) he was a big, soggy ball of running nose, eyes, itchy throat, and sneezing, with sinus headaches on top. Today he can stop his allergies from turning on full bore with a sip of water with borax in it. It's a very big difference, although it is not perfect. He still has lingering issues, but so far so good.

I have been a faithful reader of EC now for over 6 years and read the Real-Time Posts page nearly every day. It's exciting for me to read all of the posts of people being helped by the information shared on this lovely site. I like to look at the wealth of info provided here and put together the connections between folks and their symptoms or remedies. I hope that somebody can gain some useful information from this post. Borax is a Yay! For us.

Cayenne pepper burns my stomach as well. You might cut back on this or try coating the stomach first with an oil such as coconut oil. If you are taking a lot of capsules, cayenne will burn horribly. To me, it is like letting cayenne sit on your tongue for a minute. Painful! I like it hot but if you have ever had an ulcer, cayenne pepper (at least for me) can be too irritating to the stomach unless mixed with food in small amounts..

http://www.health-science-spirit.com/borax.htm: The article details the arthritis dosages, it's only 30 miligrams per day. Way less than 1/4 or 1/8 teaspoon.

I have yet to find any discussion on how long of a period of time it is safe to take 1/4 teaspoon of Borax per liter of water. I have been doing 4 days on and 3 days off to help raise my PH while taking many other natural remedies to kill my H. Pylori. I like the idea of raising my PH that I would like to know a recommended maintenence plan for the rest of my life using Borax. For example is it safe to have a little every day or continue to do 4 days on and 3 days off? Also, is it too hard on the body to do the sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate while using the Borax for the rest of my life?

For your reference, book titled 'Integrative Womens Health',

Best fastest easiest most informative book I ever read on Womens womens healthiness including vaginal was - Integrative Women's Health, 2010, by Victoria Maizes Executive Director & Associate Professor of Medici Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, Tieraona Low Dog Director of the Fellowship Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. It still costs usd40 or so. But its online free too (probably like a post said at googlebooks.

I saw the Warnings about boric acid for vaginal issues, so I'm suggesting all the women read this and teach the book to their girls too. At page 192 it says:

''In a double blinded RCT of 108 women with yeast, the boric acid cure rate was 92% at 7 to 10 days post-treatment and 72% at 30 days and that was significantly more effective than nystatin (Van Slyke 1981).... Specific diabetic women have higher cure rate in 14 days than 1 dose fluconazole, but at 3 months cure rates are same... Usual dose boric acid is 600mg in gelcap inserted in vag daily for 2 weeks with maintenance dose 2/weekly to prevent recurrence. There is LITTLE SYSTEMIC ABSORPTION with vag administration, but large amounts of oral ingestion are shown TOXIC. Also, it is inexpensive. DO NOT use during pregnancy.... Pap smear doesn't necessarily indicate Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)... "

Do ALL your research very well. Some professionals are interested in money or are limited by their bosses (their hospital or insurance group limits, or pharma's that fund them).

These warnings are unfounded. In other earthclinic pages where Boric Acid is discussed, extremist warnings post too. But also listed are links to informed books/sites. I give this: borax and boric acid are in all my antique and vintage Early Amer and German cookbooks as health remedies, food preservatives, other non-bug kill home uses. For fastest research: go to googlebooks, search 'household __', 'health and __', 'agricultural __', 'veteranary __', and 'medical __'. For 'boric acid and health' the quick hilites and 3 minutes told me volumes. I include 2010 in searches as govt info often takes 5-10 years to publish anyway. See pg 390 of Nat'l Institute of Health Issue 53-57 about boric acid facts for example. DO NOT listen to random shouts by warning bloggers. FIRST do your OWN research, just like earthclinic also advises top of each page. Boric acid is used heavily in mfg/food/agri to cover/fix tainted foods. But in tiny, sparse amounts, yes, many govt/med reports report doctors teaching patients how to make their own very small amounts med capsules. Borax and boric acid are potent, but can and do heal.

I found a reference to using borax for arthritis quite by accident. Having had more than one bad experience with "possible side effects" from both prescription and otc drugs, my interest is arroused by any and all 'natural' remedies.

Like most people, I want to do plenty of research prior to taking the big step into the unknow. Along the way I happened to google "20 mule team borax" to see what the company itself had to say about their product. I was quite surprised to see this actual quote from their site.

"In earlier times, borax was proclaimed to be a magical crystal that was used to aid digestion, keep milk sweet and even cure epilepsy. Common sense and modern technology have brought us better solutions to these and other problems, but 20 Mule Team Borax still has a place in your home."

I'm not a rocket scientist, but it seems to me that if it can be used to sweeten milk, aid digestion and cure (not help, but cure) epilepsy, in the words of the company that sells it, it would seemingly be safe to mix small amounts with water and consume.

I just picked up a box and will be giving it a try post haste. I also plan to give my aging dog a taste of it for his arthritis.

Glad I found this site, again an accident, and plan to do a lot of reading and perhaps a little contributing.

Maria, I don't think I would be giving my 87 year old mother borax. I would keep to foods.

Apple Cider vinegar (1-2 tablespoons in a big glass of water) and lemon juice every morning in warm water are both good for arthritis. They both dissolve the calcium deposits around the arthritic joints. If you have ever had a kettle that calcified and cleaned it with vinegar you can see how it dissolves calcified things.

I don't know whether borax is organic or inorganic. If it is inorganic the body cannot utilise it. Apple cider vinegar and lemon juice are organic and have many health benefits apart from being good for arthritis.

Thank you Tim. I will research that. Since this feeling I have not taken the morning sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate drink to give my body a break but have now figured out that I may have been experiencing die off symptoms from the H. Pylori. I figured this out because I starting taking Cayenne pepper capsules and I feel nauseous which leads me to believe they are die off symptoms. Does anybody know if the burning of the stomach after taking the cayenne pepper capsules is also a die off symptom of H. Pylori, or would anybody experience that?

Massimo: Seems like you might could prosper from some H2O2 drops.

I found an amazing product called S___ Z-lite which has a small amount of fulvic acid that started to bring my libido back and then I started on the protocol of 1/4 teaspoon of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate in water. Been doing this for a little over a week with four days of 1/4 teaspoon of borax in water and three days off. I believe that I got the H. Pylori 15 years ago in Africa. Ever since I started this protocol I wake up feeling worse every morning. My stomach is very uncomfortable in the mornings. Each morning it feels worse than the morning before. This morning I feel like I am going to pass out. Should I stop this protocol. Or are these just die off symptoms?

Hi Maria, I personally would be careful with that amount of borax for someone your mother's age. If she starts to detox from heavy metals too rapidly, it might cause her to weaken considerably. How about considering the homeopathic dosage of borax instead of the powder?

Hi Ted, and anyone else out there, thanks again for sharing all your wonderful experiences and knowledge!

I wanted to know if borax at the 1/8 teaspoon in 1 lt of water taken 3 to 4 days a week over three weeks is too much for an elderly person?

My mum is 87 yrs suffering from chronic arthritis and pneumonia, last year we thought we would lose her at the hands of the hospital due to the excessive amounts of drugs. I would like to try it with her before winter returns.

The reason I ask is I know it's highly alkaline and Dr Sircus mentions in his book for Bicarb therapies not to take more than 3 x 1/2 teaspoon bicarb per day if over 60. ( I assumed it was due to the alkalinity) and wondered if it's the same with Borax.

Many thanks.

Hi Ted, and anyone else out there, firstly I'd like to thank you for this wonderful website and the help it's providing to so many!

I wanted to know if borax at the 1/8 teaspoon in 1 lt of water taken 3 days and/or for 4 is too much for an elderly person?

My mum is 87 yrs suffering from chronic arthritis and pneumonia, last year we thought we would lose her at the hands of the hospital due to the excessive amounts of drugs. I would like to try it with her before winter returns.

The reason I ask is I know it's highly alkaline and Dr Sircus mentions in his book for Bicarb therapies not to take more than 3 x 1/2 teaspoon bicarb per day if over 60. ( I assumed it was due to the alkalinity) and wondered if it's the same with Borax.

Many thanks.

As for me, I've suffered for over 15 years now from Ricketzzia, micoplasma pneumonia, and an explosion of candida (which doctors couldn't be bothered to diagnose). I found that with so many antifungals like olive leaf extract, colloidal silver, and even the bicarbonate didn't complete the job. The problem was chronic.

After 3 day of taking borax as prescribed: 1/8 teaspoon in 1 lt of water in 1 day for 3 days, I already feel brand new. I will repeat next week and possibly for a third if needed, then I'll go onto the maintence dose.

God Bless you guys, I wish I had found you sooner!

Maria

Hello, I see the many warnings to use Borax and NOT Boric Acid - but I can't find any rational for this warning.

From another website on this topic it says, "Boric acid, if available, may be used at about 2/3 the dose of borax" http://www.health-science-spirit.com/borax.htm

I have Boric Acid, and am very eager to get this cleared up... Thanks in advance!

Dr. Rex Newnham who first investigated the relation between Boron and Arthritus was using 60 mg Borax per day in his studies.

The Royal australian Hospital in Melbourne was also using 60 mg Borax per day in their 1980's studies which showed a 70% success rate for a group of people aged 55-74. From Wikipedia:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boron
..."Elemental boron, boron oxide, boric acid, borates, and many organoboron compounds are non-toxic to humans and animals (approximately similar to table salt). The LD50 (dose at which there is 50% mortality) for animals is about 6 g per kg of body weight. Substances with LD50 above 2 g are considered non-toxic. The minimum lethal dose for humans has not been established. An intake of 4 g/day of boric acid was reported without incidents, but more than this is considered toxic for more than a few doses. Intakes of more than 0. 5 grams per day for 50 days cause minor digestive and other problems suggestive of toxicity. [120]Nielsen, Forrest H. (1997). Plant and Soil 193"

So I would suggest that it is not neccessary to use ten times what the above researchers were using. Instead, results should be seen using only 1/16 teaspoon and it will be considerably safer.

The chemical difference is that the Borax Pentahydrate molecule has 5 water molecules attached, and the Borax Decahydrate molecule has 10 water molecules attached.

The practical difference is that the Borax Pentahydrate is around 15% Boron, whereas the Borax Decahydrate molecule is 'bigger' because of the extra water molecules and as a result the ratio of Boron content is less, at about 10% of the total weight.

They are identical substances except for the molecular water content and the resulting different proportions of the element Boron. Since the Pentahydrate is 'stronger' at 15% Boron, you should reduce the doses by around 1/3rd to get to the equivalent Decahydrate doses. That's all.

If any medical research centre decided to, it could publish a study saying "table salt toxicity in mice" - and so people would start getting scared of table salt thinking it was now a 'toxic' substance!

The heading is designed to get attention only. Read the article and you would discover that the salt levels used in the 'research' were high (for mice). That's what these researchers do. They keep increasing the dose until there is a reaction, then publish the results to show they have discovered something.

Simple 'toxicity' is not the issue.

Many natural chemical substances are toxic at high doses. Salt and borax are no different to hundreds of other substances. Abusing/exceeding the accepted or therapeutic dose can do harm but at the normal dose great benefits can be obtained.

No, not an intentional conspiracy but rather, only formulated substances that can be patented tend to receive funding for clinical trials. The conspiracy is not against Boron but only to maximize profitability for a drug producing and manufacturing company with patentable substances.

And yes, there are published journals for the use of Boron. Most if not all of the medical journals documenting the use of Boron and other natural substances like olive leaf extract, lavender oil are studied by scientists, research physicians and universities but then never make it to mass clinical trials, never officially written into pharmacopeia as effective standard treatments.

Don't let medical Journals dictate 100% of your beliefs. Many doctors I have spoke with even know to be cautious with citing these journals.

With that said, they are useful as published data can show that the substance studied has shown safe and effective in small scale testing or may be supported by other journals also published giving confidence in the substance.

Perhaps such a conspiracy you mention exists, but if it were as pervasive as you suggest, then no articles would be listed on PubMed in support of using borax. In addition, all of the articles I cited originated either from Turkey, Rome, or Thailand, in which case the FDA does not apply.

The research I cited is both supportive and critical of the use of borax/boron. In fact, the articles from Thailand were the only ones I could find to support the notion of "genotoxity. " In addition, the genetic and apoptotic effects observed in Thailand are inferred by its authors to be potentially pathological, whereas such genetic alterations might have a neutral or even positive effect on the individual's immune system. That said, the authors in Thailand provide microscopic images of these effects, and therefore it is difficult to dispute. I take these findings with a grain of salt until such studies can be replicated in a different lab. I also question the toxicity of this substance, since various studies have shown no documented ill effects in borate miners who are constantly exposed to these substances. There do appear to be cases where boron exposure causes spontaneous hair loss and skin eruptions, but this could be due to allergies or various systemic physiological imbalances, such as vitamin/mineral deficiences.

Here are two more articles in support of using borax medicinally:

Borax counteracts genotoxicity of aluminum in rat liver.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22491726

Preparation and characterization of antimicrobial wound dressings based on silver, gellan, PVA and borax.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22939352

Borax used to be prescribed medicinally in the United States, and in fact I found this image of a medicine bottle from 1920:

http://archive.org/details/Borax

Not many articles are listed on Pubmed on this topic prior to 1950, however there was one article from 1902 that described (in great detail) the results of the administration of borax and boric acid in children:

ON THE INFLUENCE OF BORIC ACID AND BORAX
UPON THE GENERAL METABOLISM OF CHILDREN.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235950/pdf/jhyg00321-0017.pdf

I will follow this post with an exhaustive review of the literature on borax for anyone who is interested.

You have cited published medical research strictly controlled and approved by AMA and FDA guidelines and acceptance. Let not this define your perception regarding the efficacy and safety of Boron.

In many cases the funding for such provided studies should be a considering factor regarding the integrity of these journals. Also, most importantly a detailed history regarding the medical and medicinal use of boran should be researched over a longer period of time, for example, past 100 years before the strong hold of the current cartel of medicine.

This website is evidence that modern medicine is not working and many paradigms are not as they seem.

Hello Ted, I read your posts on borax with great interest, and have found many interesting articles on the benefits of borax substance in the human body, as well as the following articles that appear to debunk the myth that exposure can lead to infertility:

Reproductive toxicity in boron exposed workers in Bandirma, Turkey.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22575543

Low frequency of infertility among workers in a borate processing facility.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12835486

I did come across two articles from Thammasat University that I wanted to get your feedback on:

Effect of borax on immune cell proliferation and sister chromatid exchange in human chromosomes
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2776007/

Genotoxic effects of borax on cultured lymphocytes.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19323026

On the flip side, other studies have shown that borax guards against genetic damage in human lymphocytes:

In vitro studies on chemoprotective effect of borax against aflatoxin B1-induced genetic damage in human lymphocytes.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22526492

Boron compounds reduce vanadium tetraoxide genotoxicity in human lymphocytes.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21791386

I would imagine that if boron leads to genotoxic effects, then birth defects or negative health consequences would have been noted in the studies listed above on occupational exposure and fertility.

I am curious on what you might have to say about the fact that genetic alterations and apoptosis have been observed in the very same cells that borax has been shown to exert protective effects.

Agree, you should look for yourself on the internet and not just in wikipedia, wich is a not trusted source of information for alternatives healing. I'm using CDS for 2 weeks now (after 3 days with MMS) and so far so good. Too early to say anything but I believe there is already some healthy changes on my skin. I have a very severe dermatitis that i'm trying to heal.

Re the MMS - it is not bleach. People trolling Wikipedia change it every time it is corrected. (anyone can change WP) It is a well known sucessful remedy. Please look into it and make your own judgment without the erroneous statments on WP. I use it, it tastes disgusting, but they have created CDS now which takes out the taste. It is in the food chain, used to preserve meat and erradicate bugs. A surgeon has tried to patent it as a topical cleanser post surgery.

I bought a box of Borax this week after reading all the "Yeas" about its effectiveness with itchy scalp. I was a bit nervous about using it and so kept reading things on this site and on the web. After coming across this website, I decided not to risk it: http://www.enviroblog.org/2011/02/borax-not-the-green-alternative-its-cracked-up-to-be.html