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Hello all – I have been perusing this forum for some time to get a handle on gout and how I can lessen or eliminate the frequency and/or intensity of the attacks. I searched all over the net and found this place to be the most reasonable and less hype- or agenda-driven than everything else out there. I’m a rational skeptic and I prefer that approach.
I am 43 and had my first attack in my 20’s, no idea what it was. Lasted one day. Never had another incident until one in my 30’s, which lasted a couple days but wasn’t as intense. Now I’m having one that again is not so intense but it has been going on for FIVE DAYS! Erg… at this rate I might only have one a decade, but in my 60’s it will probably last half the year.
Anyway, what I wanted to enquire about here is distilled water. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information on the Net about drinking distilled water, whether it’s good or bad, and whether it’s acid-forming or not. There seem to be nutjobs on both ends of the spectrum, i.e. it’s a “holy grail” or it’s “concentrated evil”.
Personally, I like distilled water. I like the way it tastes. I like the fact that it’s pretty much 100% pure H2O. I like the fact that it doesn’t leave deposits in my espresso machine.
However, when it comes to gout I want to do the right thing. So, let’s hear from this board regarding the pros and cons of distilled water, especially concerning gout. Good? Bad? Indifferent?
— Fritz, from Florida’s Space Coast
I don't think that it makes much difference one way or another. It IS important to avoid dehydration and concentration of blood serum but any kind of water should do the trick. I think extremely hard water with a high mineral content will be mor alkaline but not enough to matter much.
My youth was spent with EXTREMELY hard water that had to be chipped out of plumbing regularly but the last 40 years has been with extremely soft water…nearly distilled water out of the tap. Never a deposit on anything.
How do you treat your attacks? Have you had your uric acid monitored regularly?
I agree with zip2play – unless there is something particularly unhealthy with tap water, it is far more important to keep hydrated when you have gout than it is to worry about the quality. If you prefer distilled, then that is the way to go.
I also agree that controlling uric acid is the most important thing that you should focus on.
Also, this item about gout diagnosis is relevant. How was your gout diagnosed?
Not wishing to play devils' advocate- but over the years I've come across stories of Distilled water drinkers and though there's nothing wrong in taking it, over a period of time minerals can be leached from the body on some reports.
If you have NO mineral deficiency related problems &/or take supplements this would probably reduce the tendency for this.
I personally wouldn't stay with distilled only, otherwise due to cost. I filter tap and use mineral water otherwise, as table top filters don't get the Fluoride out. (Nor do most other filters- only > % of Fl.).
On the acidity ? I have read that all water is acidifying in the diet, though I don't know why. and I was a bit surprised.
No reason why it shouldn't , on the other hand- if that 's how the bodies' chemistry works.
Over to you Zip !
I wouldn't drink ANYTHING that came in plastic unless it was at least 80 Proof.
There is a problem with styrene leakage…a carcinogen.
And if I see one more Poland Spring bottle tossed out of a car Im going to LOSE it.
Tap water in Jersey City is crystalline and delicious and a planned move to Manhattan would give me much of the same. (Consumer Union rated New York City water as better tasting and freer of contaminants than ANY bottled water.)
I think distilled water tastes too dull…it's for irons and contact lenses.
GoutPal said:
I agree with zip2play ? unless there is something particularly unhealthy with tap water, it is far more important to keep hydrated when you have gout than it is to worry about the quality. If you prefer distilled, then that is the way to go.
I’m aware of that, and I’m staying very hydrated, using bottled spring water right now. Still no luck after going on six days now, although the first few days I was using those little packets of flavorings before I read in several places that the artificial sweeteners definitely were bad as far as acidifying – plain water since then (or with a squirt of lemon juice). I had been having 2-4 of those powder-mix drinks a day for a couple months, btw!
I’m a scuba diver and hydration is also very important to us when we dive – the rule is your flow should be “clear and copious” before the dive, and that’s the rule I’m also following here.
trev said:
Not wishing to play devils’ advocate- but over the years I’ve come across stories of Distilled water drinkers and though there’s nothing wrong in taking it, over a period of time minerals can be leached from the body on some reports.
If you have NO mineral deficiency related problems &/or take supplements this would probably reduce the tendency for this.
That is also what I have heard and read on the net, which is why I brought it up here. I haven’t seen any serious studies about this, just anecdotal information, and some of that from docs who are obviously hawking something, so not sure what to believe.
zip2play said:
Tap water in Jersey City is crystalline and delicious and a planned move to Manhattan would give me much of the same. (Consumer Union rated New York City water as better tasting and freer of contaminants than ANY bottled water.)
I think distilled water tastes too dull?it’s for irons and contact lenses.
LOL! Well, the water in almost all of Florida has a real sour smell and taste to it. Not that sulfur-egg smell like in some parts of Louisiana, just a sour taste, like it’s already stale when it comes out of the tap. I use one of those pitcher filters for most water (cooking, making tea, etc.), but when I want just a clean glass of plain water, I reach for the Distilled. The only way I can drink tap water is to add lemon/lime juice or some other flavoring first.
GoutPal said:
I also agree that controlling uric acid is the most important thing that you should focus on.
Also, this item about gout diagnosis is relevant. How was your gout diagnosed?
Well, the original gout diagnosis was in my 20’s, and like I said I have only had a few attacks since then, so most likely “secondary” gout. Consistently it only happens when I get quite overweight, which I am now (+50 lbs.), so if I can lose the weight and keep it down I should be able to get free of this, but since I’m ageing that’s more difficult, and I should probably start paying more attention to this anyway and consider gout when planning my diet.
My most recent UA level was 8.7 ug/dL about a month ago. I don’t recall testing for it anytime prior to that – this just hasn’t been much of an issue before.
Thanks all!
— Fritz
Fritz,
With a UA of 8.7 that is duplicable even ONCE, you should be on allopurinol post haste. If you want to cover all bases, have the pee test to see if you are an overproducer or an underexcreter. Underexcreters offten prefer probenecid.
But allopurinol will work for both.
Remember, as life goes on, untreated gout only gets worse, FAST.
Don't try to lose weight until you get on allopurinol. Weight LOSS is a VERY frequent trigger for gout becasue you liberate a lot of nucleic acids from lean tissue breakdown…and you cannot lose fat without losing lean tissue (except in “magical” diet books from the land behind Alice's looking glass.)
Wow, if I couldn't bear the taste of my tap water, I'd probably have to move. I really sympathize with anyone with sour or suphury, petroleumy or RADIOACTIVE water. I guess I'd have to resort to building a STILL (I'm a Chem Engr.)
Distilled water with a pinch of MgO might help. Ice cold and shaken to aerate with some O2 cannot hurt.
I am very fond of those CrystalLight, Wyler's packets. I add a GALLON of water (instead of a half gallon) and then toss in an additional 2 ounces of “RealLemon” generic for $.99/quart and 1 or 2 sachets of Equal. This cuts down on the cloying sweetness of the 1/2 gallon recipe. I Like the Wyler's raspberry best. I'm permanently fighting weight gain and this gives me a cheap tasty everyday drink with close to ZERO calories.
I haven't a clues on what the effect this concoction has on my urinary acidity.
zip2play said:
With a UA of 8.7 that is duplicable even ONCE, you should be on allopurinol post haste?
Advice heeded. I will now be seeing my doc next Monday to talk about the high UA score and the possibility of Allopurinol.
I am very fond of those CrystalLight, Wyler?s packets? I?m permanently fighting weight gain and this gives me a cheap tasty everyday drink with close to ZERO calories.
I haven?t a clues on what the effect this concoction has on my urinary acidity.
Check on that ? I had switched to the individual packets of CrystalLight (with a 20oz. bottle of water) and had been drinking four or five of them per day for the last two months or so for precisely the same reasons: great taste, no calories. But after reading several places about the acidifying effects of aspartame, I am wondering now whether or not these are what precipitated my gout. Because my weight and diet haven?t changed for years with no gout symptoms in 8 years or so, these drinks were the only recent change ? which makes them a likely candidate, if it?s diet-related at all.
Even the Beverages PRAL table on the GoutPal website shows the aspartame drinks as having the highest metabolic acidity of all of them.
I haven?t read anything definitive, however, and would like to know for sure. Also, I cannot find anything about the acidifying effects of other artificial sweeteners besides aspartame, like sucralose.
My goal is to stay hydrated, but I can’t do that if the water is nasty. Spring or bottled water would be nice, but it’s expensive. I like Distilled, and keep that around anyway because of my espresso machine, but ideally just tap or filtered tap with something in it that’s gout-safe to make it palatable would be preferred.
FritzCat66 said:
Even the Beverages PRAL table on the GoutPal website shows the aspartame drinks as having the highest metabolic acidity of all of them.
I haven’t read anything definitive, however, and would like to know for sure. Also, I cannot find anything about the acidifying effects of other artificial sweeteners besides aspartame, like sucralose.
I've just had a quick look at all the drinks with aspartame in the PRAL beverages table, and it looks pretty inconclusive to me, with some acid producing and others alkaline producing. Irrespective of this, the strategy for an alkalizing diet is to mix acid producing and alkalizing foods with acid producing foods representing about 30% of total calories and a total PRAL in the negative, alkaline range.
Aspartame (Nutrasweet), saccharine(yech), and sucralose (Splenda,) and acesulfame are used in such small quantities that I think the effects on urine acidity must be close to nil. Proabaly far less than any effect from sugar…or from the citrates that give most of these drinks their taste or the carbonation that gives them bubbles.
Anyone interested in good health would do well to avoid artificial sweeteners (and MSG type products, btw) completely.
Further to the above discussion on water quality- have you people with water quality issues considered a sink top filter for at least drinking supplies?
We have them in the UK for around £120. There seems so much on the water filter front in the US, too.
I plan to get one , mainly as I don't like what fluoride is reported as doing, though my supply is at least of the 'natural' kind, and high level.
Murky area- if any care to investigate.
I've been drinking distilled for 30 years and JUST NOW found out the pH is 6.2-6.4!
As GoutPal states in the diet section, what reall matters is what it does after assimilation….. Anyone know? Seems to me over 7.0 would be better.
dlbarnha said:
I've been drinking distilled for 30 years and JUST NOW found out the pH is 6.2-6.4!
As GoutPal states in the diet section, what reall matters is what it does after assimilation….. Anyone know? Seems to me over 7.0 would be better.
This confuses 2 natural gout remedies.
Water primarily affects hydration. Hydration is important to help flush uric acid from the kidneys. For allopurinol takers, it also helps flush allopurinol by-products. It is also important to stop dehydration, as this can conentrate uric acid above saturation point – encouraging uric acid crystals to form. Any variation in pH from the standard value of 7 for plain water is almost entirely due to dissolved carbon dioxide.
Alkalizing diets are not related to the pH of what goes in the mouth. We are only concerned with the acid load on the kidneys, and this is a product of protein balanced by other minerals, as described on the PRAL page. Your diet would need to be completely weird for water intake to have any significant effect.
I've ordered an under the sink water filter as promised and checked the Fluoride elemination capability of it -and it is virtually all removed.
This is excellent, and I have no worries about getting rid of Chlorine and Fluoride as they are both a toxic load on the system, especially at the higher levels some areas have to put up with.
I'll report the effects here later.
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