WHAT IS CHRONIC DEHYDRATION?

Imagine a juicy plum picked from the tree and left exposed to the sun or wind - it becomes a prune. The dehydration of the plum produces the shriveled interior and wrinkled skin that are typical of a drying fruit. Loss of water causes the internal and external structures of living things to change, be that dehydration in a fruit or in a person.

There are up to one hundred trillion cells in the body of a human being. Depending on the area where the dehydration has settled most, the cells in that region begin to wrinkle, and their inner functions are affected. A shortage of water in any region is reflected by different signals that denote dehydration and are the body's indicators of its local general thirst. At present, these indicators of dehydration of the body are not understood and are treated as indicators of disease conditions of unknown origin.

IDENTIFYING DEHYDRATION

• What are the common indicators of dehydration?
• What happens to our bodies when we don't drink enough water?
• What is "enough" water?

We now need to find the answer to these three important questions. A must-do before we begin: You need to turn on your brain's logic powers and put aside any preconceived ideas you might have. Whatever you have read about health matters in the past probably did not reflect the true importance of water to health and well-being.

From my perspective, there are three different sets of sensations that signal local or general thirst. At most of these stages, the presenting symptoms are reversible without much damage.

THE GENERAL PERCEPTIVE "FEELINGS"

This include feeling tired, feeling flushed, feeling irritable, feeling anxious, feel dejected, feeling depressed, not sleeping well, feeling heavy headed, having irresistible cravings, and having a fear of crowds and leaving the house. Some of these will be discussed in the next chapter.

THE DROUGHT-MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

The second group of conditions that represent indicators of dehydration are the body's drought and resource management programs. There are five distinct conditions that denote states of dehydration and operative rationing processes that can be corrected easily. The sixth in this group consists of a number of conditions that have been classified as autoimmune diseases, but should be looked at as a sort of cannibalistic process of resource management at the expense of the body's own tissues brought about by persistent dehydration. The conditions are:

1. Asthma
2. Allergies
3. Hypertension
4. Constipation
5. Type II diabetes
6. Autoimmune disease

THE MORE DRASTIC EMERGENCY INDICATORS OF LOCAL DEHYDRATION

After much clinical and scientific research, my understanding is this: Depending on the location of acid buildup inside the cells, the following forms of pain are early indicators of potential genetic damage produced by chronic dehydration in the human body:

1. Heartburn
2. Dyspeptic pain
3. Anginal pain
4. Lower back pain
5. Rheumatoid joint pains, including ankylosing spondylitis
6. Migraine headaches
7. Colitis pain
8. Fibromyalgic pains
9. Bulimia
10. Morning sickness during pregnancy

There is a further set of conditions that represent complications, tissue transformation and organ damage caused by persistent dehydration in the fourth dimension, time. Each of these conditions will be explained thoroughly.

NEWLY RECOGNIZED THIRST PERCEPTIONS

The following are perceptive feelings (some of which are labeled "psychological disorders") that I believe signal dehydration:

1. Feeling tired without a plausible reason. Waster is the main source of energy formation in the body. Even the food that is supposed to be a good source of energy has no value to the body until it is hydrolyzed by water and energized in the process. Furthermore, the energy source for neurotransmission and for the operational directives that get things done is hydroelectricity, which is formed in the nerve pathways and their connection to the muscles and joints in the body.
2. Feeling flushed. When the body is dehydrated, and the brain cannot draw sufficient water from the circulation to satisfy its needs, it commands a proportionate dilation of the blood vessels that reach it. Furthermore, the face is not a simple organ that supports two eyes, a mouth, a nose and two ears. It is a receptor dish with an abundant supply of nerve endings that constantly monitor the environment and report their information to the brain. In other words, the face is an extension of the brain with highly sensitive functions. Its nerve endings need to be hydrated too; hence the increased circulation to the face at the same time as the brain gets its increased blood supply. If you see someone with a red nose and flushed face - often seen in alcoholics, because alcohol truly dehydrates the brain, leading to hangover headaches - that person is dehydrated and in need of water.
3. Feeling irritable and unreasonably short-tempered. Irritability is a copout process so as not to engage in a brain-energy-consuming involvement beyond that particular moment. Give irritable people a couple of glasses of water and you will see them calm down and become fairly amiable.
4. Feeling anxious. This is a perceptive way in which the frontal party of the brain can reflect its concern over water shortage in its domain of activity. I cannot imagine a more eloquent way for the thinking brain to reflect its anxiety about dehydration in the body to its delinquent owner. Obviously, when the body wanted water, it must have been given other beverages that did not satisfy its real needs.
5. Feeling dejected and inadequate. The capital assets of anybody are its essential amino acid reserved. These types of amino acids are used in so many different functions, including neurotransmission that their shortage in the body means loss of assets that the brain assesses as insufficient and inadequate for its undertakings. Dehydration depletes some of these amino acids incessantly, and this shortage triggers a feeling of dejection.
6. Feeling depressed. This heralds a more serious phase of dehydration, in which the body, in the absence of water, has to use up some of its vital assets as antioxidants to cope with the toxic waste of metabolism that has not been cleared by sufficient production of urine. These assets include the amino acids trytophan (pronounced trip-toh-fan) and tyrosine, which are sacrificed in the liver as antioxidants to neutralize toxic waste. For the manufacture if serotonin, melatonin, tryptamine and indolamine, the brain uses tryptophan; all of these elements are vital neurotransmitters that are used to balance and integrate body functions. If they are inadequate in the body, depression sets in. tyrosine ius another amino acid that the brain uses to manufacture adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine, which are the "go-getter" neurotransmitters. There insufficient activity will ground a person into inactivity and a sorrowful state of mind.

An article on depression in the Washington Post of Tuesday May 7, 2002, revealed a deep-rooted deception by the pharmaceutical industry. Headlined AGAINST DEPRESSION, A SUGAR PILL IS HARD TO BEAT,  the article exposes how the drug industry has bent the truth in clinical trials to show an edge in favor of Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, whereas a simple sugar pill - placebo - produced more positive results in relieving depression. This article sumise4s that the splendid results of the sugar pill against much-touted drugs could be because, in the clinical trials, the subjects received much more attention and care than a depressed person who visits the doctor for a few minutes a month. It seems there is an infinitely greater healing power within a person who is cared for. In medicine there used to be a dictum, now forgotten - "the duty of a doctor is to amuse the patient while nature heals". Doctors have to show empathy to their patients.

            Now that I am addressing the role of water in emotional problems, let me quote from a reader review of my book Your Body's Many Cries for Water, posted on the Barnes & Noble Web site, http://www.bn.com/, M.S. writes: " ‘Water' has made a difference in my life". It seems that M.S. had been diagnosed with mild manic depression and had been given lithium for four to five years. He says he started on water and salt and some vitamins, according to the instructions in the book, and within two months he was able to stop taking his lithium. He has been visiting his doctors for nine years without significant improvement, and no writes, "My LIFE has been truly ENHANCED from reading this book"

7. Feeling heavy-headed. This is the sign that the brain is commanding more circulation for its needs. It could be the heralding sensation for a migraine headache that may ensue if the increased blood flow to the brain down not result in adequate hydration of the brain cells. Do not forget that the brain cells, in their constant activity, produce toxic waste of metabolism, which must be cleared at all times. The brain cells cannot endure a buildup of acidic materials in their interior environment. The initial heaviness felt in the head could reflect this phase of brain physiology.
8. Disturbed sleep, particularly in the elderly. The body will not have a restful night's sleep if its short of water. A full eight hours' sleep will further dehydrate the body because much water is lost in respiration and possible perspiration under heavy bedcovers. If the body receives water and a little salt, sleep rhythm will be reestablished immediately.
9. Anger and quick temper. These more expressive ways of showing dehydration were explained in section 3 under the heading Feeling Irritable.
10. Unreasonable impatience. Maintaining your patience to stay on course or an assignment is an energy-consuming undertaking for the brain. If it doesn't have a sufficient stored reserve of energy, it has to put an end to the undertaking as quickly as possible. This process of quick disengagement is labeled "impatience". Don't forget, water manufactures hydroelectric energy at a rate that can replenish the used-up amount. Energy from food had to go through many steps of molecular conversion until it is stored in the energy pools in the cells. Even this process needs water for hydrolysis to make the components of food usable as sources of energy.
11. very short attention span. This is another disengagement process for the brain that needs energy to focus on a topic or a learning process. The more hydrated the brain, the more energy it can manufacture to imprint new information in its memory banks. Attention deficit disorder in children is similarly produced by dehydration when children choose sodas as their preferred drinks.
12. Shortness of breath in an otherwise healthy person without lung disease or infection. People who want to exercise without feeling short of breath should drink water before they exert themselves in any form of physical activity.
13. Cravings for manufactured beverages such as coffee, tea, sodas and alcoholic drinks. This is the way your brain tells you that you need to be hydrated. These cravings are based on a condition reflex that associates hydration with the intake of these beverages, which actually dehydrate the body further. The process of continuous dehydration is stressful and causes the brain to secrete stress hormones, which include endorphins - the natural opiates of the body that help it get through its environmental crisis. One of the reasons why people continue drinking these beverages is their increasing addiction. This is why caffeine and alcohol are addictive substances and cause withdrawal symptoms. The next stage to this kind of addiction could be the use of harder drugs that put a constant drive on endorphin secretion by the body. Thus, if children are to be directed toward a drug-free form of life, it should start with eliminating caffeine from their diets.
14. Dreaming of oceans, rivers or other bodies of water is a form of subconsciously generated association to reach a source of water to quench thirst. The brain has a tendency to stimulate an experience in order to give instructions to the person to perform a function, even in deep sleep.

THE PRIMARY DROUGHT - AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

From the vantage point of the new medical science, the following conditions should be considered labels placed on the physiological processes in the body that denote a form of rationing and resource management where there is a limited supply of free water and other primary elements:

1. Asthma
2. Allergies
3. Hypertension, or high blood pressure
4. Type II diabetes
5. Constipation
6. Autoimmune diseases

If you don't drink water regularly every day of your life, and don't understand the significance of pain, shortness of breath, and allergies as signs of dehydration, you will force your body into a disease state. Any of the above conditions will herald the beginnings of body decay produced by local or general water shortage and the associated chemical environmental changes.

Reversal of autoimmune conditions is not easy and not always possible. To reverse them requires an in depth understanding of the importance of the acid-alkaline balance and the metabolic aspects associated with dehydration, such as the loss of a range of amino acids, insufficient absorption or loss of vital minerals like zinc and magnesium, and the absolute need for essential vitamins and fatty acids.