Pain of dehydration

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Jan, 2005 by Jule Klotter

Water: for Health, for Healing, for Life

by F. Batmanghelidj, MD

Warner Books, Inc., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 USA; www.twbookmark.com

Softbound, ISBN 0-446-69074-0, c. 2003, 275 pp., $14.95 (US)/$22.95 (CAN)

Water Cures: Drugs Kill

by F. Batmanghelidj, MD

Global Health Solutions, Inc., 8472-A Tyco Road, Vienna, Virginia 22182 USA; 703-848-2333; fax 703-848-0028; www.watercure.com

Softbound, ISBN 0-9702458-1-5, c. 2003, 226 pp., $15.00

Since 1979, Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj has been treating pain with water and a little salt. While imprisoned as a political prisoner during the Iranian Revolution, he successfully treated over 3,000 cases of stress-induced peptic ulcer disease and abdominal pain with water--the only substance he had to offer. In the years after his release, his research has led him to understand that water has a greater biological effect on the body than conventional medicine has imagined. His first book Your Body's Many Cries for Water (1992, first edition) explained the water-regulating effects of histamine and the link between dehydration and many ailments, including asthma and joint pain.

Although he has tried to get the medical establishment to investigate water's healing properties, Dr. Batmanghelidj has been largely ignored by policy makers. Frustrated with the establishment's adherence to pharmaceuticals, he has turned to educating the public directly through publications and interviews. Dr. Batmanghelidj has produced several books on water and its healing benefits. These books, along with audio- and videotapes of lectures that he has given, are available through Global Health Solutions, Inc. (www.watercure.com). Recently, Dr. Batmanghelidj has produced two more books, Water: for Health, for Healing, for Life and Water Cures: Drugs Kill. How much can a person say about the importance of drinking a minimum of 8-10 glasses of water each day? Not enough!

Water: for Health, for Healing, for Life explains the physiological and metabolic consequences of not drinking enough water and not consuming enough salt, potassium, magnesium, and calcium to maintain water volume inside and outside the cells. Water has long been viewed as "a simple substance" whose only purpose is to act as a solvent for nutrients. Water, however, is also a major source of energy for the cells. Dr. Batmanghelidj explains that water rushes through cation pumps on the cell membrane, carrying nutrients into the cell and waste products out. In the process, energy that the cell can use for other tasks is created. If we don't replace the water we lose each day, the body draws water from the cells' interior to keep other water-dependent systems working. Gradually, the once-plump cells begin to shrivel, resembling prunes. The osmotic balance between extracellular fluid volume and the cell's interior shifts. It becomes more difficult for the cells to absorb and hold water, and cation pumps cannot function with their normal efficiency. In addition, acidity, in the form of hydrogen molecules, builds up in the cells' interior. A cell's normal pH is 7.4. When the pH declines, enzymes function less efficiently. The viscosity of the body's fluids also affect enzymes. Ephriam Katchalski-Katzir of the Weizmann Institute of Science found that the "proteins and enzymes of the body function more efficiently in solutions of lower viscosity." (When water volume decreases, viscosity--resistance to flow--increases.) As chronic dehydration progresses, metabolic waste builds up in the tissues themselves; and the acidic environment causes nerve irritation that the brain interprets as pain.

In Water: for Health, for Healing, for Life, Dr. Batmanghelidj explains the connection between the body's drought- and resource-management programs, initiated by the neurotransmitter histamine, and common health problems that include asthma, allergies, hypertension, constipation, and even Type II diabetes. These conditions signify dehydration and can be easily corrected by routinely drinking enough water and including a little sea salt in the diet, says Dr. Batmanghelidj. If the body's cry for water is ignored, more serious illnesses develop, including autoimmune disease and cancer. Thirst can also be signaled by feelings of fatigue, irritability, anxiety, depression, and/or dejection. A heavy-headed feeling, feeling flushed, irresistible cravings, and fear of crowds and leaving the house may be other signs. Water: for Health, for Healing, for Life explains how dehydration can lead to each condition.

Dr. Batmanghelidj also delineates a program for gradually rehydrating the body by drinking a minimum of eight to ten glasses of water, taken in eight- or sixteen-ounce portions, throughout the day. Because drinking more water will increase urine production and the amount of minerals and water-soluble vitamins being excreted, he recommends about a quarter teaspoon of sea salt per quart of water and plenty of potassium-rich fruits and vegetables.

Water: for Health, for Healing, for Life also includes information about other important minerals, fatty acids, and the value of regular exercise. This book contains the most thorough explanation of the 'water cure' that I've seen.