water filter

[lalarainbow]

Hi
We are considering having a water filter put in to eliminate an iron problem.. It is the one that involves salt.. I take a medication for High blood pressure so they advised that the salt we would use would have potassium in it..It is about $4 dollars more a bag. I am wondering would the postassium be a problem with the IC? Is anybody else using this type of filter???
Thanks
~~Pam~~

[ellienor]

you mean you are softening the water?

[lalarainbow]

Hi
Yes it is called a water softener although our water is not hard...We just had it tested!! It will be used to filter the iron which can stain our clothes in washes sometimes.. Right now we use 2 Britas for drinking water..
~~Pam~~

[Julie B]

The water from water softeners is generally not a worry for people who have blood pressure problems unless you are very salt sensitive. If you use the potassium based salts I imagine you are consuming very little of that as well. Potassium based foods don't usually bother IC patients, but you never know..........does the Brita take all of that out anyway? Another suggestion is to just buy distilled water by the gallon.......it is very cheap...........and pure.............good luck!

[ellienor]

Distilled water - not treated - tests acidic.
When i replaced my distilled h20 with spring h20, my flairs were not as bad.

I bought an alkalizing kit for my distilled water yesterday, but it adds minerals too.. so i am hesitant to use it at the moment. I will decide later.

[Pac168r]

I am a newbie so please forgive my questions. I feel stupid. What is distilled water vs spring water? If I ask my local water dept. about our town water what am I looking for?

When it comes to bread can we buy the packaged at the store? Most of it has additives.

Thanks,
Paula

[windwalker]

Hi Paula, some ppl have problems w/additives, look over the handbook at www.ic-network.com/handbook . Check out the foods list, it may help ya. I am lucky and MOST additives don't bother me. (too much msg does) May want to go w/an organic type bread. :) Welcome to our little group!

[littlebear]

Paula,

You're questions are great. Unfortunately, the answers aren't the same for everyone.

For me, packaged bread was something I had to test out and see if it
bothered me. From what I can tell, the B vitamins (especially the niacin and folic acid) really bother me--so does all enriched flour. So, I've just bought a bread machine and have started making all my bread and baked goods from unenriched flour. Of course, this may not be an issue for you at all. But, additives like B-vitamins in bread and flour can and do bother some folks.

Also, I don't know what the difference is between distilled and other waters (I think I read on the label that it has something to do with steam). But, this is something I've looked into also. I've :welcome: been drinking only distilled water for a while and in a few weeks I'll try other waters here and there to see what happens.

Everyone has different issues with different things and there are so many things to sort through that asking questions like yours is really important.

Best wishes, little bear

[Annie2]

Distilled water is water which has had dissolved minerals, etc removed. To distill water, the water is heated to boiling. The water then turns into water vapor (steam). The steam is then passed over a cool surface which causes the steam to condense (turn back into liquid water drops). Any dissolved minerals are left behind when the water turns to steam and, therefore, the condensed water (distilled water) has been purified.

Spring water is water which comes from a natural spring in the earth. Because the water has passed through layers of rocks, it has picked up some minerals from the rocks. The minerals found in spring water will vary depending upon the location of the spring and the types of rock (and minerals in those rocks) in that location.

City water will vary in it's source. Some cities get their water from resevoirs, others from deep wells, etc. The problem many ICers have with city tap water is that, in order to remove bacteria from the water, cities treat that water with chlorine and chlorine can be irritating to an IC bladder. The pH of city water will also vary depending on the source of the water and how it is treated. One question to ask your water department is what the pH of your city water is. The closer to neutral (neither acidic nor alkaline), the better.

Hope this explanation helps.

Annie

[lalarainbow]

Hi
Thanks for the replies.. We have our own well so what is in the water is natural stuff. The main reason we want something done is because it can ruin white things in the wash.. toilet always looks dirty and leaves a ring around the tub.. it does come off but I am sick of it..We used to have perfect water.. but that well collapsed.. We had to get another one drilled and they went 40 feet deeper...that cost $5000. and this is what we get... grrrrrrrr... !!!!!
The guy tested the bottled water I had and that had a lot of stuff in it...
~~Pam~~

[windwalker]

I used to have that problem w/my water when I lived north of where I do now, all my whites and lights had this wonderful yellow tinge to it, same thing w/the toilet, that yellow ring. We had a water softener after a year of going through that. It did help, but we had to regenerate this thing a lot due to the amount of iron in the water.

[lalarainbow]

Thanks.
It is being put in on Wed..It will be nice to see clearer water.
It will take time to settle in I guess..and he says the hot water tank will be loosing some of the build up inside.. so for the first few months will need to drain a few gallons off the bottom of it to remove it..Anything will be an improvement.
~~Pam~~

[windwalker]

I forgot to say drain your hot water heater too! Just to get as much of the ick out of there as possible.