Water: For Health, For Healing, For Life (19 page)

This process of bleeding in the lungs and kidneys, on a microscopic scale, is identified as a distinct condition called pulmonary-renal syndrome. The same process is also seen in lupus, one of the autoimmune diseases. If such bleedings takes place in the intestinal tract on a larger scale and more frequently, the diagnosis of gastritis, duodenitis, or ulcerative colitis is given to the condition. When the process takes place under the skin, particularly in children, it is called a purpura.

In bleeding ulcers, a great deal of blood is dumped into the intestinal tract. Its water is then reabsorbed to avert overconcentration of the blood and the subsequent catastrophic complication of widespread clotting in the brain and elsewhere. I recognized this phenomenon of bleeding in the intestinal tract when I treated more than three thousand cases of peptic ulcer disease with only water. Some of these patients had bleeding ulcers.

I researched the process of bleeding in the intestinal tract some time later and identified the mechanism that I have described. At the time, I treated patients with strongly sweetened water, eight ounces hourly until the bleeding stopped. My reasons for the use of sugar in these cases was the initial assumption that the brain needed a much higher concentration of energy to cope; the secondary reasoning was to switch the mechanism of tissue breakdown to the physiology of tissue formation under the influence of insulin that gets secreted because of sugar. It worked! The bleeding stopped very quickly. Simple water was then used after the bleeding had stopped. This is a treatment process that I recommend in bleeding without a distinct reason. The process of microscopic bleeding into tissues is called
vasculitis.

NEUROTRANSMITTERS AND DEHYDRATION

Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals that are manufactured and secreted in one or another of the many networks of nerves as a means of passing coded information. The nerve systems in the body are like cables that wire and interconnect the various parts of a country. In the same way that differing codes and wavelengths distinguish one cable television station from another, different chemicals used in the nervous system distinguish the action of one brain center from another. It is interesting to note that up to fifty years ago, scientists had no clear idea as to the mechanism and role of chemical messengers that cause the transfer of information between one nerve and another, or even between the nerve and the muscle fibers it controls and commands.

It is now understood that a number of amino acids—components of the proteins we eat—are broken down in the cells by specific enzymes, and their by-products become the chemical messengers. The following information is important. Please pay particular attention to the next few paragraphs. I am about to explain why you are a product of what you drink and eat.

We all know that, because of their network of cables to people's homes, telephone companies and cable TV distributors are able to provide other services through their wires, such as Internet and other systems of information and communication that can be connected to computer systems in the house. Their claim to fame is the fact that they have been successful in spreading their wires far and wide. The same wire can be used to pass different coded information all at the same time. All they have to do is to package the information in a particular range of wavelengths of electromagnetic energy. Since we have developed the ability to package information in varying ranges and combination of electrical impulses—wavelengths—that can be transmitted through a cable, we are at a particularly advanced stage in our ability to communicate. Efficient communication and transfer of information between a generating source and users determine the rate of progress and development of any future society. It will make fore-casting of events and adoption of an appropriate response possible. The advancement in technology that permits different bundles of information to be transmitted through the same wire at the same time provides a solid foundation for the future progress of society.

The human body has utilized the same technology for the transfer of information in its nerve systems. It has miniaturized the process, and uses chemicals as well as electrical impulses. Nerve cells manufacture one or another brand of chemicals—neurotransmitters—and store them at their nerve endings. Electrical impulses are then passed along the walls of the nerve to where the chemicals are stored and are awaiting release by the electrical trigger system. The electrical impulses travel along the wall of the nerve itself without being shared with the other nerves that are packed in the same bundle. To keep the information private and exclusive to its destination, each nerve has a distinct cylindrical outer layer of insulation that is manufactured mainly from cholesterol—one of cholesterol's many vital and indispensable roles in the body. In most neurological disorders, loss of nerve insulation is a primary contributing factor. It is damage to this insulation layer that causes a variety of symptoms, which are grouped and, in certain circumstances, labeled as “multiple sclerosis.”

Another sophistication in the nerve system of the body is the fact that outgoing information is passed in separate nerves to the incoming information that is generated in the rest of the body. The sensations of pain, heat, cold, smell, wetness, sound, light, and sub-light ranges of radiation are incoming information. Different chemicals used in the nerve endings identify the central station's main line of function. There are a number of major and minor chemically manipulated nerve systems. However, there are five major groups of nerves that are distinguished by their brand of activity.

They are:

1.
Serotonergic system:
This system uses the serotonin family of chemicals as messengers.

2.
Histaminergic system:
This system uses histamine as a chemical messenger.

3.
Adrenergic system:
This system uses adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine as
their
distinguishing chemical messengers.

4.
Cholinergic system:
This system uses acetylcholine as the chemical messenger.

5.
Opiate system:
This system uses endorphins and enkephalins as the chemical messengers and it is engaged in pain reduction in the body.

These are the biggest and most highly specialized communications corporations in the human body. There seem to be many smaller communications systems that are active, but these function as secondary servers to the main systems.

I would like to mention two of these secondary servers. They employ aspartate and glutamate as their messengers in the brain. I mention these for a purpose. Whereas the other neurotransmitters have to be intricately manufactured and distributed to the nerve endings for their use, aspartate and glutamate do not need to undergo change to register their presence. They act directly on the brain cells that regulate some aspects of the reproductive systems—possibly also growth. Aspar
tate
is a direct by-product of aspar
tame
—the popular artificial sweetener that is used in about five thousand different food products.

Many people who regularly take artificial sweeteners develop a false hunger, and up to ninety minutes after their intake seek food and eat more than they would normally. As a result, they often gain weight. Aspartame may also cause a major disruption in the communications systems of the body with detrimental effects. In certain people with diabetes—a dehydration problem—aspartame has caused diarrhea and intestinal bleeding.

Before it is absorbed, aspartame also produces formaldehyde and methyl alcohol in the intestines. The quantity depends on the amount of sweetener taken in sodas or in cooked food. Formaldehyde and methyl alcohol have been cited as producing eye-nerve damage—to the point of even causing blindness.

Another secondary complication of the use of this sweetener is tumor formation in the brain. Dr. H. J. Roberts of West Palm Beach, Florida, is a dedicated medical doctor who has done much research on the adverse effects of aspartame. He has identified a number of what he calls “aspartame diseases.” In his June 2002 article in the
Journal of Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,
Dr. Roberts lists a number of neurological problems produced by aspartame. Of twelve hundred patients, 43 percent had headaches; 31 percent had dizziness and unsteadiness; 31 percent had confusion and memory loss; 13 percent had drowsiness and sleepiness; 11 percent had major epileptic convulsions; 3 percent had minor epileptic attacks and “absences of the mind”; 10 percent had severe slurring of speech; 8 percent had tremors; 6 percent had severe “hyperactivity” and “restless legs”; 6 percent had atypical facial pains. He reports that after cutting out the sweetener from the diet of these people, they improved; some were freed of their symptoms. As you might know, methyl alcohol and formaldehyde damage to the brain cells and the optic nerve is irreversible.

SEROTONIN: THE FOREMAN OF ALL NEUROTRANSMITTERS

When tryptophan gets across the blood-brain barrier and reaches the brain side of the divide, it is quickly picked up and converted to a number of neurotransmitters. The best-researched transmitter produced from tryptophan is serotonin, conductor of the orchestra in all brain activity performed by the resident neurotransmitters and master controller of body functions.

A tryptophan by-product that is the rage of the town and the media, because it is available without prescription and is used as a sleeping pill, is melatonin. In the past, tryptophan itself was used in this capacity, before it was taken off the market and the deck was cleared for the introduction of an antidepressant drug called Prozac.

While tryptophan makes more serotonin at a much cheaper cost, Prozac is touted to stop the rapid neutralization of serotonin once it is secreted at the nerve clefts. Why? Because people with depression have low brain-serotonin levels.

Many of the problems in human physiology, and the establishment of stress in the body, are the consequence of the disproportionate transfer of some materials into the brain. In certain circumstances, some amino acids that have to reach the brain cells to be used for making chemical messengers do not reach their destination in sufficient amounts or quickly enough to cope with the demand. The two main causes of shortfall in the delivery of the primary materials are dehydration and the overuse of the respective amino acids in other capacities. Dehydration causes problems with the transport process across the blood-brain barrier.

Tryptophan is vitally important to the human body. It is an essential amino acid. From tryptophan, serotonin, tryptamine, indolamine, and melatonin are manufactured. Tryptophan cannot be manufactured by the body and has to be imported from the foods we eat. This is the reason it is called an essential amino acid. From tyrosine, adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine are manufactured. Six neurotransmitters and one hormone/transmitter—melatonin—become affected when there is dehydration, to the level of producing symptoms such as pain or asthma. The reasons for the loss of these vital elements are simple.

When there is not enough water to detoxify the body through adequate drainage of the tissues and eventually urine production, the liver uses these two amino acids as antioxidants. What are antioxidants? The nearest simple explanation can be seen in the way field lavatories are used without plumbing or drainage. The septic tank of the john contains a chemical that deodorizes, sterilizes, and sanitizes the refuse that gets into the tank when the toilet is used over and over again, until the tank becomes full and has to be emptied by septic pumps. There is a similarity of function between the chemical in the tank and the way the liver uses tryptophan and tyrosine as antioxidants to detoxify the by-products of chemical reactions in the absence of adequate water for washing toxic things out of the body. This is the crudest way of showing how dehydration can cause severe damage to the human brain. It can cause even the brain to malfunction because the raw materials the brain needs become unavailable. From the breakdown of tryptophan, the liver also releases local “oxygen” that is needed for the function of its cells, when the liver is insufficiently supplied!

HISTAMINE: THE FIRST NEUROTRANSMITTER IN OUR BODY

When the sperm fertilizes the female egg and a new living person begins to form, it has the ability to invoke the action of histamine. It must do so because of histamine's many “nursing” responsibilities—it is a wet nurse to growing cells. Histamine will bring the new cells water and nutrients from its direct influence in expanding the blood and serum circulation. Histamine will rhythmically “pump-feed” the new cells with potassium. It is this feeding program that matures the new cell until it divides and divides yet again, and again, until a new life in the form of a fetus comes into being. Histamine is a most noble element in our body.

Histamine also has responsibilities in antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-foreign-agent (chemicals and proteins) defense systems in the body. At a normal level of body-water content, these actions are held at an imperceptive or unexaggerated level. In a dehydrated state of the body, when much histamine is produced, an immune system activation will release an exaggerated amount of the transmitter from histamine-producing cells.

The excess histamine is held in storage for its drought-management program, yet its immune system stimulation will cause a greater-than-required release of the agent. Histamine-producing cells release their histamine reserves, and they immediately begin to divide and create new histamine-producing cells. Now more cells are formed and more histamine is manufactured for its immediate release. This mechanism is designed to cope with emergency water needs or immune system activity. When water comes to an area, it brings with it all the other substances that are also needed. Water is the common factor on which all the regulatory systems are standardized.