I am shortly coming off watch and wait and will start treatment with obinutuzumab and Venetoclax.
I understand I will have to increase drinking water to flush out drugs and waste products.
I was going to purchase a distiller to purify water as I am a little concerned what is in tap water ie added chemicals, chlorine, fluoride, metals etc.
Just wondering do many people use distilled water or filtered water? Do you think it is worth investing in a distiller to help me increase my consumption of water?
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Abbey222
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Thank you very much for your reply. I suppose what I meant was living in London the tap water is hard to begin with high levels of calcium and unwanted chemicals such as chlorine, fluoride , metals.
Can I ask what filtration system you use? Do you mean a Britax filtering jug or similar?
Most plastics used for drinking water contain plasticizers to make them flexible, which leaches out causing the plastic to become brittle and deteriorate.
Hello, I am a Toxicity Program Mgr for GE, and it is true when saying that plasticizers, especially BPA, can leach into liquids in certain plastic containers. It is also true that heat dramatically increases this process. Unfortunately the issue here is that regulations don't always keep up with the science, due to gridlock and other bureaucracy, etc. The EPA for instance has had its budget decimated since the previous administration was in office. This has not yet been fully remedied either. That being said, there are laws prohibiting certain levels of know harmful chemicals being present in potable water. These vary between the US (some states vary), EU, and China. With the EU being the most updated with the science, due to less interference from industry. China is starting to catch up to the US, but is mainly just copying US regulations, but their enforcement is seriously lacking. To avoid a dissertation most don't want to read, I will simply say the old adage, "better safe than sorry", definitely apply here. I personally only drink from plastic bottles when no other options are available, and only BPA free composites (always avoid PVC), and make sure to keep it out of heat sources (direct sunlight, etc.). There are "safe" alternative plastics available, but only until an ongoing test funds some other issue potentially. Stabilizers can be another concern...Solid metals are your best bet, unless drinking other liquids as some can react, like Al with OJ, etc. Unless otherwise due to a specific medical condition, DO NOT DRINK distilled water, as it can leach minerals and beneficial heavy metals from your bloodstream. Purified water is always best 😁
Hi, thank you for that info. Considering they don't sell mineral water in glass bottles and the municipal water lines are made of plastic tubes, what is one to do? I dumped the plastic kettle years ago and use a porcelain one.
Thank you so much for your detailed information and I am interested in what you say about distilled water being bad for you and leeching minerals and heavy metals from your bloodstream. This has definitely given me food for thought. Thanks for your time.
Soacoli77 is correct. Plasticizers is a broad term which covers a number of different compounds. In regard to BPA which is banned in USA for baby bottles and etc. It is still commonly used in PVC production and food containers. I have participated on a number of USA technical project committees and ISO technical advisory groups for 20 years which write the standards ANSI uses. I was on potable water systems committee of which is an example of many I served on. The number of research studies on polymer plasticizers is way more than I would attempt to convey here.
Thanks! Looks like I need to have the groundwater which I have unlimited supply of through a hand pump in the garden is good enough for drinking. It used to be the best quality in the whole of mid Eastern Europe years ago. Perhaps I need to start drinking it. Not only wash the car and water the grass with it.
It's legal because governments generally are concerned about/regulate, acute toxins. Showing long term health effects takes longer, by definition. It started with noticing effects on children, I think. And similar to other long term toxins like tobacco and "junk food", there will be pushback from the various industries. Here's a article discussing how to more easily test for things leaching into water:
Research IS being done on the pervasiveness and calls for action are occurring, but it is a complex problem and with things like Covid and war and climate crisis events, it is one of a number of public health problems facing governments
Also remember, temperatures are not regulated in plastic water bottles during shipping & in warehouses. Even if there isn't significant leaching at room temperature, plastic water bottles are exposed to temperature extremes, So plastic bottled water is a last choice IMO. I keep water in my car in glass bottles, never plastic. And it's why I have a whole house water filtration system, and for extended travel drag around a portable RO unit.
And takeout food containers can also leach chemicals into the food
I'm surprised to hear that London water has a reputation for being hard. There are places in Australia where the water is hard to very, particularly where it's sourced from underground (bore) water. A common solution is to use a water softener, where a zeolite bed is regularly charged with sodium ions from common salt, which then replaces the hard calcium and magnesium ions until the zeolite again needs recharging. Water softeners are powered from the water pressure.
I live within the London area (Thames Water region.) Our water is "hard" - mainly calcium sulphate so we use a water softener. We keep the softener in our conservatory - hot in summer and cold in winter. Some chlorine goes through the system, but I am concerned that bacterial growth within the softener may occur from time to time - as judged by the taste. My solution is to put more softened water than required, into the kettle when it is boiled, and the excess water is then cooled and stored in aliquots of 500ml, in the fridge at 6C for up to 4 days - and it has no taste at all. I am making the assumption that most calcium, and possible magnesium, salts have been removed by this process.
If you don't get "fur" in your kettle, then the hard salts have been removed. Great idea boiling a bit more water then using it later for drinking water. I've done that too when unsure of the water quality.
About 70 % of London's water derives from runoff/ storage in theThames valley to the west of the city, the rest from the chalk aquifer beneath. Water hardness comes from the latter and from suface water containing dissolved calcium in feeder streams that have flowed over chalk outcrops and deposits. Most of southeast England has hard water, with a higher percentage overall coming from the chalk aquifer.
At home in West Sussex, SE England, we have an in-line water filter that takes out most of the calcium, delivering water that is also free of the faint chlorine taste and nicer to drink than tap water.
I have a water purifier in the house here. I take in extra nutrition and use fluoride mouthwash and toothpaste to make up for the removal of minerals. Since our municipal supply is stored in a mountain foothill area where the local streams are known to have problems with giardia and other wildlife infectious agents, I decided removing all possible contaminents was worth the loss of minerals. While there has not yet been a local case of tap water being compromised, I have lived in places where it DID happen, and prefer not to take any chance.
The well at another place is so full of minerals and space limited, to where attempting a filter is cost prohibitive. That place really needs a filter, there is so much calcium in the water that a large part of the population takes antacids or are proton pump inhibitors if they drink the local stuff. We get large bottles of drinking water delivered there.
I have a small reverse osmosis (RO) unit I got when renting an apartment, also. I had a pitcher sized device that put minerals back in to the RO water. If we once again start traveling for long vacations, I will once again drag these around with me unless I know the local water doesn't upset my stomach. I drank RO water for years in the place that had constant problems with the local drinking water, I don't think it adversely affected me. Better than drinking possibly contaminated water IMO.
I do the same. I had giardia once and I don’t want to go through that again. I also won’t consume fluoridated water. I made the mistake of drinking RO water without replacing the minerals for a year and developed severe magnesium deficiency. I suspect this may have played a role in my developing CLL since magnesium is a key factor in the maintenance of genomic integrity.
I live on the East coast of Yorkshire and our water is very chalky. Limescale builds up very quickly in kettles, washing machines etc. I use a Brita filter jug for the kettle but usually drink water straight from the tap. When we first moved here from a very soft water area, we bought bottles of water but now are used to it. Here in the UK we are incredibly lucky to have clean drinking water with no health reasons to buy water.
No. Drinking distilled water can throw off your osmotic balance and even kill you if you drink too much of it all at once. You need to replace minerals you are flushing out through drinking water. Buy good quality mineral water if you are afraid of tap water.
I have always been sceptical about filtering London's water so only drink bottled mineral water. There is so much difference from one mineral water to another so I have ended up with glass Evian bottles. Only available through Ocado and pricey but well worth it for me. It is incredible how little choice there is for glass bottled water.
I am just about to start my 5th cycle of O and V and have used bottle water all through from my first infusion and still try to drink about 2 litres a day . I use glass bottled water and recycle them .
I live in New Orleans. Our city water comes from the Mississippi river. The waterworks runs it through sand filters, aerates it, adds chlorine and fluoride, and then pumps to homes. Water quality testing has shown low heavy metals and bacterial products.
Even so, for drinking we use a Brita pitcher that uses activated carbon filter.
I use an undersink reverse osmosis system. Most of the cheap filters only remove chlorine. They do not remove toxic fluoride. The only supplements I take are some trace minerals to replenish what I am stripping from the water. I also have Carbon filters on my shower heads so I do not absorb it through my skin.
After my diagnosis, the first health investment that I made in my house was to have installed a reverse osmosis water purification system in my kitchen sink. This way I didn't have to deal with purchasing gallons of water in plastic containers. I do add a small amount of minerals in the form of Himalayan salt before I drink it. I also use the purified water for my teas and cooking. The filters need to be replaced yearly. There are many good systems in the market. For me, it was a well worth investment...
"Provides refreshing crisp taste superior to bottled water High flow 90 GPD production system with super capacity filters Certified with WQA Gold Seal, highest contaminant rejection guaranteed System built with US MADE top tier certified premium quality parts Comes with designer faucet and 4 gallon tank"
I have a water cooler with the mega bottles (my hubby likes that), and I also invested in a Reverse osmosis counter top purifier that I love. Brand is aqua Tru. it makes me feel good to use purified water to wash my veggies and even to boil for tea - who knows! It's a mental thing that makes me feel better so it's worth it.
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