Water: For Health, For Healing, For Life (13 page)
Diabetes is a good example of next-generation damage that is caused by dehydration. Whereas the onset of dehydration-induced diabetes is normally seen in the elderly and is often reversible, the more structurally serious and irreversible variety of the disease is seen in younger people. The juvenile variety of diabetes needs to be treated carefully before it becomes a totally irreversible type of diabetes and permanent structural damage takes place. Basically the cause is the same in children as in adults, except that in adults there is more “reserve in the system.” In children, the process of physical growth strains the system much more quickly. Children are constantly dehydrated, and their amino acid pool is in a state of constant fluctuation.
At the moment, there seems to be total reliance on the belief that genetic dictation is what promotes the occurrence of diabetes, particularly in the young. One important fact to remember is that the DNA structure is held together by proteins that also obey the many dictates of water as their ultimate regulator. Water is the common factor for all protein functions in the body, including the DNA-manufacturing system. Accordingly, the associated genetic marker in diabetes may not be a dictating factor for disease production; rather, it may be the indicator of a deep-rooted, dehydration-caused damage that has also affected the DNA recording system—a passive outcome.
Pancreas: The Failed Organ in Diabetes
The pancreas, where insulin is made, is an organ that is directly involved in the regulation of the balance between the water compartments of the body. The water volume held inside each cell is regulated and held by the amount of potassium that is forced into the cell. Insulin is a very effective agent for forcing potassium (and amino acids) inside the cells. If potassium stays outside the cells and in circulation, at a certain threshold it can produce irregular heartbeats and, often, a sudden heart seizure and stopping of the heart's rhythmic contractions. In effect, therefore, insulin regulates water volume inside the cell. It manages this responsibility by pushing potassium and sugar into the cell that has insulin-sensitive gates of entry on its outer membrane.
The pancreas has another equally important responsibility. It has to collect water from some of its cells, mix it with manufactured bicarbonate and pancreatic enzymes, and secrete the mixture into the intestine to neutralize the acid that is poured into the intestine from the stomach and begin the next phase of digestion of food. The mixture is known as
watery bicarbonate solution.
The Role of the Pancreas in Water Rationing
If water is in short supply, the watery bicarbonate solution that is secreted into the intestine cells may not be enough to neutralize all the acid that enters the intestine to begin the cycle of food digestion. Consequently, one or the other process has to be halted. Either the acid has to stop coming into the intestine, or water has to be delivered to the pancreas in a sufficient amount for the pancreas to perform at least one of its functions. A commensurate reduction of insulin secretion stops the entry of water and nutrients into the peripheral cells in the rest of the body that depend on the presence of insulin for their feeding process. By this process, more water will be available in the circulating blood to be delivered to the pancreas to make its watery bicarbonate solution. When the insulin-stimulated gates are not efficient in delivering water and raw materials into the cells, they begin to wither and die. This is the mechanism behind the degenerative process associated with diabetes.
In dyspeptic cases, acid will continue to build up in the stomach. The ring muscle between the stomach and the intestine will close the gap, and nothing will enter the intestine. The more the stomach contracts to push its load into the intestine, the tighter the ring will contract. Only a fraction of the load is let out. Over time, ulcerations in the ring area are produced. In this situation, the full acid load does not enter into the intestine, and less demand is placed on the pancreas for secretion of its watery bicarbonate solution.
In diabetes, the action of insulin in pushing water into the cells is stopped. This is done simply by a two-step process: The first step, a reversible one, is to prevent insulin secretion from the cells that manufacture it. This type of diabetes is called insulin-independent diabetes. The pancreas has the ability to secrete insulin. A second, and much more drastic, ruthless, and irreversible way, is to destroy the insulin-making cells. The process involves the destruction of their nuclei. Enough of their DNA/RNA system is dismembered to make them ineffective as insulin producers. This kind of diabetes is known as insulin-dependent or type I diabetes.
Insulin-Independent Diabetes
This form of diabetes is often reversible. When the insulin-secreting cells are temporarily inhibited by prostaglandin E, certain outside agents can override this and get insulin released. The knowledge of this process of insulin release has been used in devising a simpler treatment procedure than insulin injections. The agents that release insulin are given in tablet form, usually one tablet once a day.
These tablets are normally given to elderly diabetics and not to young ones. There are side effects to these tablets, including abnormalities in blood cell count and blood cell composition, jaundice, gastro-intestinal symptoms, liver-function problems, and skin rashes. Hypoglycemic coma is also a complication of overdose of these tablets, often the result of forgetful repeat of medication. The use of these drugs is dangerous in liver disease and kidney-function irregularities or deficiency.
In insulin-independent diabetes, a regular daily adjustment of water intake to no less than two quarts, and some increased salt intake, is the best treatment. In this form of diabetes, when the body makes some insulin but does not release it because of the effect of prostaglandin E, water intake and adjustment of diet and minerals often will reverse the situation, and the need for higher blood sugar will subside.
Insulin-Dependent Diabetes
Diabetes can become permanently established when there is DNA/RNA damage. In this type of diabetes, the ability to manufacture insulin is lost. If prostaglandin E remains in general circulation long enough, it activates the hormone interleukin-6. This chemical works its way into the nucleus of insulin-producing cells and gradually dismembers the DNA/RNA scaffolding of the nucleus, decreasing its size and reducing its ability to function. Thus water deficiency, if uncorrected for a long time, can in many people cause damage—sometimes permanent—to their insulin-producing cells.
Subsequently, even more damage to the diabetic body can occur. Some organs begin to suffer and become useless. A leg can shrink and become gangrenous, if not amputated; cysts can form in the brain; eyes can become blind.
Diabetes in Children
In children, the process is the same, except it begins at a much earlier age until it becomes an “autoimmune” disease. That is to say, the insulin-producing cells are destroyed to avoid the need for constant control of their activity (see figure 7.4). The body of a child has much less water reserve than that of a grown person. It seems logical to assume that the gap between the inhibition of insulin release and the threshold of insulin cell destruction must also be less wide. Adding to this problem is the fact that a growing body is always dehydrated. Every cell in the soft tissues needs about 75 percent of its volume to be water to function within the norms of the human body.
When the body is growing under the influence of growth hormone, as well as other hormones, and the effect of histamine with its food-and water-supply regulation, a form of stress is constantly experienced. This stimulates the thirst sensation, and the body will demand water. Plain water should be given, although some parents force their own habits of drinking sodas, tea, or juices on their children.
Nothing—but nothing—can substitute for water to satisfy the water needs of the body. It is true that other drinks contain some water, but they do not affect the body in the same way as water itself. The vitamins contained in fresh fruit juices are essential for the body. Still, too much of any juice—particularly orange and grapefruit juice—can be harmful. Juices can increase the acidity of the intestine and then the body. Their high potassium content can drastically increase the activation and presence of histamine. This will signal undue stress to the body, and a crisis water-rationing state will develop.
The physical growth of the body of a child is an adaptive response to the stresses and demands placed on it. It grows as a result of this stress, and histamine's activities are an essential part of the process.
CONSTIPATION AND ITS COMPLICATIONS
The intestinal tract uses much water to break down solid foods. It has to liquefy the dissolvable components of solid foods to extract their essential elements. Whatever can be dissolved is then absorbed into the blood circulation and transferred to the liver for processing. The refuse that cannot be further broken down is then passed on through the various segments of the gut and gradually compacted for elimination.
Depending on the adequate availability of free water in the body, the refuse will carry with it some of the water that was used to liquefy the food. What water it can carry with it will act as a lubricant to help the refuse move through the large intestine. The last segments of the small intestine and most of the large intestine are under the direction of the water regulators to reabsorb as much of the water in the refuse as might be needed by the other parts of the body. The more the body is in need of water, the more there is a determined effort to reabsorb the water that is available in the intestine. This process puts a drastic squeeze on the refuse to separate its water content and make it available for reabsorption by the mucosa or lining membranes of the large intestine.
The more the body is dehydrated, the slower the motility of the lower intestines in order to allow time for reabsorption of the water content of the refuse. This process of preventing water loss is another of the body's water-preservation mechanisms. One part of the body where water loss is prevented in times of drought management is in the large intestine, through adjustment of the consistency and the rate of flow of the excrements. When the passage of refuse from the large intestine is slowed down, the mucosa absorb the water, and the feces become hard and not fluid enough to flow. The act of expulsion of solid feces becomes difficult. To prevent this process from taking place, added intake of water and some fibers that hold the water better seems to be the only natural solution to constipation. Remember that hemorrhoids, diverticulitis, and polyp formation are common occurrences with chronic constipation. Chronic dehydration and its consequential constipation are primers for cancer formation in the large intestine and the rectum.
Reabsorption of water in the digestive tract also involves the regulating valve between the last part of the small intestine and the first part of the large intestine, known as the ileocecal valve. The valve shuts down and allows the small intestine time to get as much water as possible out of the as-yet-unformed refuse. At certain levels of dehydration, the closing of the valve may become too forceful and may cause spasm. This spasm will translate into pain in the lower right side of the abdomen. This pain can be mistaken for a possible inflammation of the appendix, which is served by the same sensory nerves. In women, this same pain could be misdiagnosed as either ovarian pain or uterine pain, which can cause anxiety and result in expensive, complicated investigations. Let me give you an example.
Joy is one of my assistants at Global Health Solutions. For the past few months, she was suffering from an uncomfortable pain in the area of her appendix— the lower right side of her abdomen. She was advised by her doctor to have a laparoscopy to see what was causing her pain. A laparoscopy is a visual examination inside the abdomen and involves inserting a small viewing instrument into the abdominal cavity through a small incision in the wall of the abdomen. The examination produced minimal findings—nothing that would explain her pain. She was given some painkillers, but the problem did not disappear and continued to bother her more and more. Joy had become more concerned and had further scanning tests. While waiting for the results, she came to me for consultation about some office work. I notice that she was in pain and asked her about it.
I had seen this type of pain before and had relieved it with water. I had used water as a diagnostic test to differentiate between genuine appendicitis pain and dehydration pain that mimics appendicitis. I had written about it in my editorial article, reporting my new method of treating peptic ulcer disease in the June 1983 issue of the
Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.
I asked Joy to drink a glass of water. Her pain diminished within minutes. The pain disappeared completely when she drank the second glass of water. It had not come back in days. She increased her daily water intake to successfully avoid the pain. Women with pain in their lower abdomen, who have been diagnosed with pain-producing ovarian cysts, inflammation of the fallopian tubes, or even fibroids, should test the authenticity of their diagnosis with one or two glasses of water. It may well be that they are only thirsty and their bodies are only crying for water in that particular region.
AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES
Many degenerative conditions that we do not under-stand are labeled “autoimmune diseases.” It literally means the body is attacking itself without a good cause—at least a cause that should be clear to us in medicine. And since we have never understood dehydration to be as a disease-producing state of body physiology, we have never come across a simple and natural solution to this category of conditions—at least until now. I studied one of these conditions, which has received the label of “lupus,” and published my findings in the book
ABC of Asthma, Allergies and Lupus.
I explained why I believe autoimmune diseases should be viewed as conditions produced by persistent unintentional dehydration and its metabolic complications.
