Water: For Health, For Healing, For Life (16 page)

When the body becomes gradually dehydrated as a result of the loss of its thirst sensation, to the extent that it develops dyspeptic pain as a thirst signal, many of the functions of the body are already affected. The most affected is the brain itself. Although the brain cells themselves are fully developed, the nerve system—the “wire works”—can become damaged in dehydration. The most affected part will be the connection points in the wire system. There is much regeneration going on at these interconnections, which are constantly used. In Alzheimer's disease, these interconnections are tangled, and a great deal of aluminum seems to be deposited at these points.

Another problem in most neurological disorders— such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease, and Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)—seen on MRI brain scans is widespread plaques over the brain tissue. This phenomenon will be explained later in the book.

In Guam, where many aluminum deposits are to be found in the soil, the drinking water at one time had high levels of aluminum contamination. During this time, an Alzheimer's-type disease was prevalent on the island, with even the younger population being affected. When the aluminum contamination was removed from the source of drinking water, the rate of Alzheimer's-type disease among the population decreased. Thus, there seems to be a correlation between Alzheimer's-type disease and aluminum poisoning.

The Disadvantages of Antihistamine Medications

It has been learned that histamine production is involved in allergies and pain. The opportunity to immediately commercialize this significant finding has resulted in the production of a number of different antihistamine medications. Histamine, however, is an agent that has many useful functions. It operates the main brain sensory system for water intake, distribution, and rationing. It is also a strong regulator of energy expenditure in the body. When the body is well supplied with water, the activity of histamine is confined to its local actions of shunting the circulation to bring water to the more active parts of the body, especially the central nervous system.

If the brain has to be very active and needs more circulation, histamine kicks into action. This can have the effect of producing acid in the stomach, causing heartburn, a primary thirst signal. Antihistamines, which temporarily suppress the pain-producing action of histamine in the intestinal tract, will over time cause damage because they do not correct for the basic problem of dehydration. At the same time, antihistamines can suppress brain activity. They also reduce libido and can cause some male hormonal imbalance and enlargement of the breasts in men. In the elderly, they may cause confusion and disorientation.

Pain, at first, is a peripheral marker of thirst. Ultimately, and if allowed to continue, pain becomes the main brain marker for the same thirst. At the early phase of pain, some substances may blunt the peripheral marker and silence the thirst signal, such as antacids, food, or even histamine-blocking agents. But at a certain threshold of dehydration, the brain-initiated pain is not fooled by the action of locally acting medication, food, or indeed anything other than water that must be delivered into the stomach.Let me tell you the story of a young man. This case stands out as an example of the brain marker for dehydration of the body. I reported this case in my editorial article in the
Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology
in June 1983. I have seen a number of similar cases.

I had the occasion to visit late one evening a young man in his twenties. He had a long history of peptic ulcer disease. Ten hours earlier, he had developed classic upper abdominal pain. His symptoms became more severe as time passed. He had taken almost a full bottle of antacid and three Tagamet tablets with no effect. The pain persisted. When I saw him, he was in such severe pain that he lay on the floor of the room curled up, groaning, eyes shut, and not alert to his environment. He seemed to be semiconscious. When I spoke to him, he did not seem to hear. I had to shake him to get a response. When I asked him what was the matter, he told me: “My ulcer is killing me.” I examined him for a perforated ulcer, which fortunately he did not have. I made him drink two large glasses of water. It took him about ten minutes to feel some relief. A third glass of water was given to him fifteen minutes after the first two drinks. By now he was obviously in much less pain. Twenty minutes after the initial intake of water he had recovered completely, to the point that he sat up and began talking to the people around him.

This patient and his friends had observed the pain-relieving miracles hidden in a glassful of water. The clinical evaluation of this case indicates that the human body has a central nervous system pain signal for water deficiency. In the past, many such cases must have ended up on the operating tables of overzealous surgeons (I am sure some still do). It was also my experience and observation that some of these centrally produced pains for thirst occur in the area of the appendix, on the lower right side of the abdomen. I have had occasion to demonstrate the diagnostic value of a glass of water in doubtful and atypical cases of pain in the lower parts of the abdomen, such as in the case of Joy on page 119.

Eventually a dehydration-induced dyspeptic pain signal may graduate to a more advanced stage of complication, involving tryptophan. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid of the body (discussed under essential amino acids in chapter 14). In prolonged dehydration, it seems to become depleted from the body reserves. This amino acid is a prominent player in the repair systems of the body, as well as being the primary material for formation of a number of neurotransmitters that also suppress pain. If water by itself does not alleviate dyspeptic pain, an alteration in diet to increase the intake of natural foods that contain sufficient tryptophan for the needs of the body becomes essential. For more detail, read the section on tryptophan.

COLITIS PAIN

The origin of this pain was discussed in the section on constipation in chapter 7. There is no harm in saying a few words here, now that we are discussing the major pains of the body. Pain in the left lower region of the abdomen, often identified as colitis pain, seems to respond to an increase in daily water intake. Water plays an integral role in the digestion process. For the final products of food digestion to pass through the intestine, the lubricating property of water is essential. At the same time, the lower region of the large intestine in particular is responsible for final absorption of water from the excrement. This process becomes more operative at the time of dehydration. There is a central control for the peristaltic contractions of the intestine at the time of food digestion and its passage through the intestine. When there is dehydration, the normal peristalsis is reduced and a tighter contraction to squeeze the water from the solid matter seems to become necessary. This process causes pain. If two or three glasses of water are taken, particularly first thing in the morning, the pain should disappear, if the original cause of pain is dehydration and not other, more serious, conditions. At the same time, the associated constipation should subside and movement of the bowels will become regular and normal.

HEADACHES AND MIGRAINE

As mentioned, the brain is very sensitive to the dehydration and heat regulation of the body. The brain cannot endure overheating. Its enzyme systems are very sensitive to temperature fluctuations. When there is water shortage in the body and there is potential for getting dehydrated or getting overheated because of too many bedcovers at night, the brain establishes a priority for itself, at the expense of the other tissues of the body. It allows more blood to flow through its vascular system. The blood vessels to the brain—the carotid arteries—take root from the main artery of the heart, the aorta. The carotid arteries supply blood to the scalp, face, and tongue before they pass into the skull to supply the brain. When the command for increased supply of blood to the brain forces these arteries to dilate, the circulation to the face and the scalp also increases. This is the reason why some headaches begin with strongly pulsating arteries around the temples.

The brain capillary system is under the direct influence of histamine on its receptors. Histamine, apart from its direct water-regulatory responsibilities to the brain, is also involved in temperature regulation of the body. It has two cooling functions. It lowers the core temperature of the body and is also involved in facilitating perspiration and sweating to help cool the body.

Histamine that is released because of the brain's concern for its dehydration or overheating activates certain systems to promote more circulation to correct the problem. When there is dehydration in the brain area—whether it is caused by insufficient intake of water, stress, alcohol, or overheating of the body—the action of histamine causes the pain we know as a headache or migraine. To alleviate this type of pain, two, three, even four glasses of water may have to be taken. The water should be cool in order to allow a better circulation of the diluted blood to the brain area. It is interesting to note that all normal painkillers cut the connection between histamine and one of its major subordinate systems. It is my understanding that migraine is a centrally produced signal for dehydration and overheating of the brain. This is the reason most painkillers do not work for migraine headaches.

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS PAIN

The separation of lower back pain from rheumatoid joint pains elsewhere in the body is inaccurate. The mechanism of pain production in these joint conditions seems to be the same. They denote the same physiological phenomenon in the body. The separation of these two problems in the medical industry seems to be a matter of convenience for the involvement of different subspecialties. For the one, you go to a rheumatologist; for the other, to an orthopedic surgeon or chiropractor. The outcome is the same—pain management rather than a cure. Basically, both conditions have the same pathology, except they are in different locations.

About fifty million Americans—two hundred thousand of them children—are said to suffer some sort of arthritis pain, and some thirty million suffer back pain. Each year a few million are said to be functionally disabled from back pain. In the United States, it is estimated that sixteen billion dollars is spent annually on back pain treatment, and a further eighty billion dollars is lost in productivity and wages as a result of back pain. These commonly quoted statistics, even if partially accurate, indicate a devastating problem for the American people.

New Insight into the Phenomenon of Joint Pains

In chronically painful joint conditions of the lower spine or joints of the hands and legs, the actual recurring pain is a signal of water deficiency in the area where pain is felt. The pain occurs because there is not enough water circulation to wash out local acidity and toxic substances. These regional joint pains are part of a series of newly understood crisis thirst signals of the body. Where the pain is felt depends on where the localized drought has settled in.

Lower back pain has two components: one, muscle spasm (this is the cause of 80 percent of back pains); two, disc degeneration that puts added strain on the tendons and ligaments in the spinal column. Both of these back-pain-causing conditions are initiated by the same chronic dehydration. With the new information about the emergency calls of the body for water, there is no reason why back and joint pains should continue to devastate our bodies. We now have the insight and knowledge about why these pains occur, and how to
prevent
them. More detailed information on these two topics is available in my book
How to Deal with Back Pain and Rheumatoid Joint Pain
and my videotape
How to Deal with Back Pain.

All joint surfaces possess cartilage padding, which covers and separates the bone structures in the joint. This firm layer of cartilage contains a vast quantity of water, which provides it with the ability to glide over the opposing cartilage surface and aids the necessary lubrication for the joint movements. Thus, prolonged dehydration that leaves the cartilage short of water will produce a greater friction and shearing stress at the cartilage contact points in the joint.

Intelligence Behind the Design of the Body

When cartilage is dehydrated, its gliding ability is decreased. The cartilage cells sense their dehydration and give out alarm signals of pain, because they would soon die and peel off from their contact surfaces of the bones if used in their dehydrated state. The normal environment of cartilage is alkaline. In dehydration, it becomes acidic. This acidity sensitizes the nerve endings that register pain. This type of pain has to be treated with a regular increase in water intake until the cartilage is fully hydrated and washed of its acidity and toxins. Often the pain travels from joint to joint; sometimes it appears in the corresponding joints in the other limb at the same time. Chronic pains have two components: peripheral and brain-generated pains. Locally initiated pain is relieved by analgesics, such as aspirin or Tylenol, but brain-level pain is not. Both pains are relieved by the intake of adequate water.

Cartilage is a gelatinous living tissue; its cells like to live in an alkaline environment. The alkalinity of the medium depends on the amount of water that flows through the cartilage to wash the acid away. Salt helps extract the acidity from inside the cartilage cells and pass it into the water, which carries the acid away. This is a constant process. For this process to be effective, two elements are vital: water and salt. Adequate salt supply is essential for the prevention of arthritis pain, be it in the joints of the limbs or the spine. It is the salt level in the serum that increases the fluid volume for its more abundant flow through the cartilage.