Useful and medicinal properties of copper
Copper( Cuprum, Si) is a soft metal of red color, in the fracture pink, in thin layers of greenish-blue. In the presence of moisture, a green film forms on the copper surface.
Properties of copper .Copper is known since ancient times and played a huge role in the development of the material culture of mankind. Copper, and after him the bronze age, dating back to the 7th and I millennium BC.e., is the time when mankind actively used tools of copper and copper alloys with other metals. Copper is widely used in industry, art and medicine.
Application of copper in medicine. In the ancient world, copper was perhaps the most popular metal in medical practice, since it was accessible even to the poor. The ancient Aesculapius were convinced of the various beneficial properties of this trace element. Ancient Greek doctor, poet and philosopher Empedocles used to wear copper sandals for improvement of health, great Aristotle called this metal an excellent remedy for puffiness, bruises, bruises and even during sleep tried to keep a copper ball in his hand. Appealed to the medetherapy Galen, and the famous Avicenna after prompt removal of purulent tonsils advised to rinse the mouth with cold water, which added vinegar, and then apply to the wound copper sulfate.
In the old days, Russian doctors noted: workers associated with the extraction or production of copper, in the years of cholera epidemics, did not suffer from this terrible disease. Burlaks, who wore copper crosses or piled copper heels under their heels, were infected with cholera and other infectious diseases during epidemics less often. For prevention of rickets and epilepsy, doctors were advised to wear bracelets for children. Medeotherapy is widely used today. Very often copper is applied to the corresponding disease to biologically active points. However, before using copper, it is necessary to clarify the diagnosis of the disease, since the imposition must accurately correspond to the diseased area. According to the views of eastern medicine, the pain points have a reduced electrical potential and pass the direction of the current of the same sign. Therefore, the copper current itself selects the desired unhealthy point.
Use for treatment can be copper plates or coins. If they attach to the body, they are fixed with a plaster and worn around the clock, even if a patch of greenish color appears under them on the skin. Traditional healers believe that if a coin with a leather does not adhere, then it is not recommended to fix it with a band-aid, but copper can be applied to a sick site and pribintovat, and even if it is not chosen exactly, the metal itself will move to the desired place. Treatment can last for a week and a month, but the average course of therapy lasts 3-5 days. After removing the plates, the skin should be washed with warm water and soap.
When used for medicinal purposes, it is not necessary to take massive, thick pieces of metal - it is better to use thin, well-ground plates or discs made of red copper. The best option is to use for the treatment of the coins of Peter's times, made of pure copper, but it is almost impossible to get this antiques. But you can find coins output until 1961 g, for the manufacture of which was used a copper-aluminum alloy( MAG-1) with a predominant copper content.
Copper has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system. When there is pain in the heart, it is recommended to put a copper coin or a plate in the subclavian fossa.
With the help of a belt of copper wire, radiculitis and bruises are still being treated.
In case of sore throat, the coins are applied behind the ear, and also to the site of the projection of the tonsils on the lateral sections of the neck. When sinusitis should apply copper coins to the eyes.
With noise in the ears, coins are applied to the back of the neck. To improve the hearing, one coin should be attached to the convex bone behind the ear, and the other - to the ear from the face.
With fibroid of the uterus, copper coins or plates are applied to the bottom of the abdomen.
With varicose veins, the places of appearance of blood sprouts and blisters are attached with copper under the stocking or sock, maintaining until the plate slips from the sore spot. If a blood clot forms on the leg as a result of a bruise, the coin should also be attached to the site of the injury( but not to the place of formation of the thrombus).
Medetherapy promotes water and mineral metabolism, improves sleep, soothes nerves. Folk healers believe that appliqués from copper plates reduce temperature, remove inflammatory processes in the body, including inflammation of the joints, accelerate the maturation of abscesses, relieve pain. With their help they treat gynecological diseases, they activate the action of insulin in the blood, resolve benign tumors, act as a hemostatic, improve the post-infarction state, help to eliminate the hernia, and reduce the harmful effect of radiation upon irradiation. Copper, like gold and silver, has bactericidal properties, and therefore it is used as an antiseptic and for sterilizing water, which is useful for treating inflammatory processes in the mucous membrane of the mouth and eyes.
Official medicine also uses copper in the preparation of medicines. A solution of copper sulfate is useful for use with skin burns with phosphorus. Sometimes sulphate is used as an emetic. With conjunctivitis and for the treatment of trachoma, copper sulfate is used as an antiseptic and astringent in the form of eye drops and eye pencils. With these diseases, copper nitrate helps, which is used in the form of ophthalmic ointment.
The role of copper in the human body is great: it is part of some enzymes and participates in many physiological processes, affecting the metabolism and growth processes. Copper participates in oxidation processes and provides us with energy, antioxidant protection, which prolongs our life, participates in the formation of connective tissue - elastin, collagen and skin pigment melanin.
Every day we should receive about 2 mg with food, and at high loads - up to 3 mg of copper. In high doses of the mineral, those suffering ischemic heart disease and those suffering a myocardial infarction need it. In conjunction with vitamin C, copper increases the body's resistance to infections, and itself actively destroys "bad" bacteria.
In our body, copper is almost "related" to iron, and it also helps hemopoiesis as actively.
Copper is found in animal products - lamb, veal, beef and pork liver. Mineral rich seafood: octopus, oysters, shrimp, lobsters, squid, crab, liver of halibut and cod. Our body "extracts" copper from beans, peas, nuts, cocoa, fresh podberezovikov, chanterelles, white mushrooms, champignons, as well as from lemon, buckwheat and oat porridge, black and wheat bread. There is a trace element in some herbs, such as wormwood, yarrow, St. John's wort, oregano.
In an adult human body contains from 100 to 200 mg of copper, unlike gold and silver, which are found only in the form of traces of these elements.
When cooking products, copper, as a rule, does not collapse. It is not absorbed by the body if in the diet the foods rich in it will "co-exist" with milk: its protein casein prevents the absorption of this mineral.
Copper deficiency threatens lovers of refined food and supporters of a dairy diet. Its lack is evidenced by an unreasonable headache, fatigue, constant irritability and a bad mood. A lack of it can lead to gout. If anemia is not helped by preparations containing iron, then for better assimilation it is necessary to combine it with copper preparations or products with a large content of it.
Contraindications. It should be understood that treatment with copper does not help everyone and not always, therefore, in case of illness, it is important to establish its root cause and eliminate it, since if to affect the secondary focus, it can provoke deterioration. So, in some, under the influence of copper therapy, heart pain can stop, sleep and mood improve, while in others the condition becomes aggravated, irritability and anxiety increase.
Traditional medicine offers a simple method of determining whether treatment with copper will help. If the copper disk is easily kept on the skin, and the color of the skin under it changes gradually, then medetherapy will help. If there is no clutch, then medetherapy will cause unpleasant complications. It also happens that on one part of the body the grip is good, but on the other there is not. So, there is no need to apply copper to this place.
In case of internal use without observing the dosage, copper salts can be poisoned, which can lead to anemia, liver damage, development of Wilson's disease. Overdosing causes vomiting, when copper is absorbed, general poisoning can occur( typical diarrhea, vomiting, convulsions, choking, weakening of breathing and cardiac activity, even coma).True, poisoning occurs rarely due to the delicate mechanisms of absorption and excretion of copper.