I couldn't walk across
the floor for a hundred dollars a step when I first got up in the morning.
My left ankle that I injured hurt so bad that I would nearly pass out if
I put weight on it. Then after hopping around on one foot for awhile I was
able to hobble through the day. The thing that made my injury even more distressing
is that I am a pain specialist who had stopped the pain in more than 9000
patients and I couldn't help myself.
My regular morning runs that I had
been doing faithfully for 26 years came to an end. The goal of running like
my acquaintance Larry Lewis (who at 103 years of age ran six miles every
morning before going to work) was now impossible.
I had my foot X-rayed. There were no
fractures or broken bones. I tried my own treatments, Bioelectric and Auricular
Therapy. It did nothing for the pain. I had orthodics made, had my ankle
taped, did all of the exercises given to me by a podiatrist, injected my
foot with vitamin B-6 and B-12, injected all of the trigger points with procaine.
I took vitamins and minerals of all kinds, tried glucosamine sulfate, glucosamine
hydrochloride, phenylalanine, blue-green algae, cod-liver oil, flaxseed oil
and non-fat yogurt, pygnoginal, etc.
When all of the natural stuff failed,
I tried aspirin, Tylenol and a number of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs. Some of these made the pain a little more bearable but when I stopped
taking them the pain came back with a vengeance. I was obviously just masking
the pain and making myself vulnerable for further injury. For nine months
I tried everything ever heard of for pain short of narcotics. By now I was
getting desperate. My goal and dream of running till I was 100 years old
was now just that, only a dream. People were coming to me from all over the
World to stop their pain and I couldn't help myself.
I read the book Your Bodies Many
Cries for Water by F. Batmanghelidj, M.D. that I highly recommend. (Available
from Amazon.com. Click on the link and type in book title to learn about
purchase) I started drinking more water, or at least thought I was, but I
wasn't consistent enough to help and my pain continued.
A patient of mine who was an engineer
developed a water softener/ purification system that used potassium chloride
instead of sodium chloride. They came to our house to test the water and
do a demonstration. The demonstration included filling a bowl full of water
and showing how much chlorine was in it. I then was instructed to immerse
my hand in the water and stir it for five minutes. After stirring the water,
it was again tested and the chlorine was all gone. I was told that the chlorine
was absorbed by my hand and this is the reason I needed a whole house water
conditioning system, not just the drinking water - because the chlorine which
is a toxic poison would be absorbed into the body while taking a shower or
a bath.
I told Dr. Remington with whom I work
about the demonstration and he said, "Some of the chlorine may have been
absorbed but most of it evaporated. That is why," he said, "you have to keep
putting chlorine in a swimming pool, because it evaporates." He then added,
"If you want to solve that problem, let your drinking water sit overnight
without a lid on it and all of the chlorine will evaporate."
I started doing this and at the end
of the day I could see how much water I did not drink. This routine reminded
me to consistently drink more water. Lo and behold the painful foot that
stopped me from running and crippled me for nine months got better.
Now each morning I can again go running
like I did before the injury. Through the experience, I learned as much about
stopping pain as I did in a lifetime of study. Dr. Batmanghelidj is right,
when we are in pain our bodies are "crying for water." Besides having the
pain in my foot go away, another interesting change came into my life, several
times a day I have to run for the bathroom like a little child, something
I haven't done for more than fifty years. One of these days I'm not going
to make it, but it will be worth it.
I knew better. One of my father's favorite
sayings was, "The extra water you drink when you take a pill does
you more good than the pill."
Darrell J. Stoddard, Founder - Pain
Research Institute
266 East 3200 North, Provo, UT 84604 U.S.A.
Phone 801-377-6900
E-mail: stoddard@healpain.net
http://www.healpain.net
During nearly 19 years of clinical
practice I have had the opportunity to observe the health effects of drinking
different types of water. Most of you would agree that drinking unfiltered
tap water could be hazardous to your health because of things like parasites,
chlorine, fluoride and dioxins.
Many health fanatics, however, are often surprised to hear me say that drinking
distilled water on a regular, daily basis is potentially dangerous.
Paavo Airola wrote about the dangers of distilled water in the 1970's when
it first became a fad with the health food crowd.
Distillation is the process in which water is boiled, evaporated and the
vapour condensed. Distilled water is free of dissolved minerals and, because
of this, has the special property of being able to actively absorb toxic
substances from the body and eliminate them.
Studies validate the benefits of drinking distilled water when one is seeking
to cleanse or detoxify the system for short periods of time (a few weeks
at a time). ("I would say no more than
3-4 days at the most"--Darrell Stoddard)
Fasting using distilled water can be dangerous because of the rapid loss
of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) and trace minerals like magnesium,
deficiencies of which can cause heart beat irregularities and high blood
pressure. Cooking foods in distilled water pulls the minerals out of them
and lowers their nutrient value.
Distilled water is an active absorber and when it comes into contact with
air, it absorbs carbon dioxide, making it acidic. The more distilled water
a person drinks, the higher the body acidity becomes.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Distilled water,
being essentially mineral-free, is very aggressive, in that it tends to dissolve
substances with which it is in contact.
Notably, carbon dioxide from the air is rapidly absorbed, making the water
acidic and even more aggressive. Many metals are dissolved by distilled water."
The most toxic commercial beverages that people consume (i.e. cola beverages
and other soft drinks) are made from distilled water. Studies have consistently
shown that heavy consumers of soft drinks (with or without sugar) spill huge
amounts of calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals into the urine.
The more mineral loss, the greater the risk for osteoporosis, osteoarthritis,
hypothyroidism, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and a long list
of degenerative diseases generally associated with premature aging.
A growing number of health care practitioners and scientists from around
the world have been advocating the theory that aging and disease is the direct
result of the accumulation of acid waste products in the body.
There is a great deal of scientific documentation that supports such a theory.
A poor diet may be partially to blame for the waste accumulation. Meats,
sugar, white flour products, fried foods, soft drinks, processed foods, alcohol,
dairy products and other junk foods cause the body to become more acidic.
Stress, whether mental or physical can lead to acid deposits in the body.
There is a correlation between the consumption of soft water (distilled water
is extremely soft) and the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Cells, tissues
and organs do not like to be dipped in acid and will do anything to buffer
this acidity including the removal of minerals from the skeleton and the
manufacture of bicarbonate in the blood.
The longer one drinks distilled water, the more likely the development of
mineral deficiencies and an acid state. I have done well over 3000 mineral
evaluations using a combination of blood, urine and hair tests in my practice.
Almost without exception, people who consume distilled water exclusively,
eventually develop multiple mineral deficiencies.
Those who supplement their distilled water intake with trace minerals are
not as deficient but still not as adequately nourished in minerals as their
non-distilled water drinking counterparts even after several years of mineral
supplementation.
The ideal water for the human body should be slightly alkaline and this requires
the presence of minerals like calcium and magnesium.
Distilled water tends to be acidic and can only be recommended as a way of
drawing poisons out of the body. Once this is accomplished, the continued
drinking of distilled water is a bad idea.
Water filtered through reverse osmosis tends to be neutral and is acceptable
for regular use provided minerals are supplemented.
Water filtered through a solid charcoal filter is slightly alkaline. Ozonation
of this charcoal filtered water is ideal for daily drinking. Longevity is
associated with the regular consumption of hard water (high in minerals).
Disease and early death is more likely to be seen with the long term drinking
of distilled water. Avoid it except in special circumstances.
Zoltan P. Rona MD MSc
REFERENCES:
Airola, P. 1974. How To Get Well. Phoenix, AZ: Health Plus Publishers.Baroody,
Dr. Theodore A. Jr. Alkalinize or Die. California:Portal Books, 1995.
Haas, Elson M. Staying Healthy with Nutrition. The Complete Guide to Diet
& Nutritional Medicine. Berkeley, California:Celestial Arts, 1992; p.
22.
Rona, Zoltan P. and Martin, Jeanne Marie. Return to the Joy of Health, Vancouver:
Alive Books, 1995.
Rona, Zoltan P. Childhood Illness and The Allergy Connection. Rocklin, California:Prima
Books, 1996.
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