This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Does CCSVI cause increased ICP? How?

The Solution Is The Problem

While water is in the ground, it picks up soluble bits of whatever it passes through. While this can mean contamination that makes the water unfit to drink, in many cases it simply means that the water contains minerals found in the earth. Of these, calcium and magnesium are of particular importance because they affect the water's ability to function in our homes. These minerals make our water hard.

One effect of hard water is that soaps and detergents lose some effectiveness. Instead of dissolving completely, soap combines with the minerals to form a coagulated soap curd. Because less soap is dissolved, more is required. And the sticky insoluble curd hangs around--it clings to the skin and may actually inhibit cleansing. Washed hair seems dull and lifeless.

In the laundry, things aren't much better. The soap curd can work its way into your clothes as they're being washed in your automatic washing machine. This can keep dirt trapped in the fibers, and it can stiffen and roughen the fabric.

In addition to affecting the actual washing process, insoluble soap deposits leave spots on everything you wash--from your dishes to the family car--and a soap film will build up in your bath and shower.

Another reason to be concerned about hard water is its effect on your plumbing system. Calcium and magnesium deposits can build up in pipes, reducing flow to taps and appliances. In water heaters, these minerals generate a scale buildup that reduces the efficiency and life of the heater.

The Fix

The solution to the problem is to get rid of the calcium and magnesium. While there are chemical treatments that do this, the most popular answer is a water softener.

The typical water softener is a mechanical appliance that's plumbed into your home's water supply system. All water softeners use the same operating principle: They trade the minerals for something else, in most cases sodium. The process is called ion exchange.

The heart of a water softener is a mineral tank. It's filled with small polystyrene beads, also known as resin or zeolite. The beads carry a negative charge.

Calcium and magnesium in water both carry positive charges. This means that these minerals will cling to the beads as the hard water passes through the mineral tank. Sodium ions also have positive charges, albeit not as strong as the charge on the calcium and magnesium. When a very strong brine solution is flushed through a tank that has beads already saturated with calcium and magnesium, the sheer volume of the sodium ions is enough to drive the calcium and magnesium ions off the beads. Water softeners have a separate brine tank that uses common salt to create this brine solution.

In normal operation, hard water moves into the mineral tank and the calcium and magnesium ions move to the beads, replacing sodium ions. The sodium ions go into the water. Once the beads are saturated with calcium and magnesium, the unit enters a 3-phase regenerating cycle. First, the backwash phase reverses water flow to flush dirt out of the tank. In the recharge phase, the concentrated sodium-rich salt solution is carried from the brine tank through the mineral tank. The sodium collects on the beads, replacing the calcium and magnesium, which go down the drain. Once this phase is over, the mineral tank is flushed of excess brine and the brine tank is refilled.

The Brains

Most popular water softeners have an automatic regenerating system. The most basic type has an electric timer that flushes and recharges the system on a regular schedule. During recharging, soft water is not available.

A second type of control uses a computer that watches how much water is used. When enough water has passed through the mineral tank to have depleted the beads of sodium, the computer triggers regeneration. These softeners often have reserve resin capacity, so that some soft water will be available during recharging.

A third type of control uses a mechanical water meter to measure water usage and initiate recharging. The advantage of this system is that no electrical components are required and the mineral tank is only recharged when necessary. When it is equipped with two mineral tanks, softened water is always available, even when the unit is recharging.

Judging Water Hardness

Companies that sell water softening equipment generally offer test kits that help you determine the hardness of your water. For commercial testing sources, check your Yellow Pages under "water analysis."

Water hardness is measured in grains per gallon (GPG) or milligrams per liter (mg/l, equivalent to parts per million, or ppm). Water up to 1 GPG (or 17.1 mg/l) is considered soft, and water from 60 to 120 GPG is considered moderately hard. A water softener's effectiveness depends on how hard the incoming water is. Water over 100 GPG may not be completely softened.

Health Concerns

Hard water poses no health hazard. On the other hand, the sodium that remains in softened water may be a problem for those on sodium-restricted diets. Other people simply may wish to avoid the slightly salty taste of treated water. In either case you can install a separate water dispenser that bypasses the softener. You also can use potassium chloride instead of salt, although this costs about three to four times more.

Drugs that interfere with the secretion or action of aldosterone are in use as antihypertensives. One example is spironolactone, which lowers blood pressure by blocking the aldosterone receptor; its net effect is to reduce sodium and water retention, but increase retention of potassium. Aldosterone is part of the renin-angiotensin system.

understand why our well water at our little country play house tasted like iron and why we had such terrible water pressure

By applying pressure to water with high amount of dissolved solutes, it is possible to reverse the osmosis process. The tainted water will be forced through a semi permeable membrane to remove any dissolved salts or contaminants that may exist in the water. a fairly high amount of pressure and a membrane with extremely small pores is in general a common feature of all reverse osmosis filtration units for water filtration.

Capable of working at such microscopic levels, this technology is one of the most cost effective methods of desalinating salty water. the quality of the semi permeable membrane determines to some degree the effectiveness of reverse osmosis water filtration. All filtration units based on this technology use a membrane to filter the water. particles larger than 0.0005 microns is the typical rating of the membrane filter. 0.005 microns and above is the typical rating for other filtration units in comparison, that remove larger particles. In principle, the filtration systems work by forcing contaminated water through these membranes under high pressure into the other side of the membrane which is under lower pressure. All pollutants that are larger than the rated size of the membrane become trapped on the intake side of the filtration unit leaving clean water to pass through to the outlet side of the filtration system.

There may be times however when unwanted compounds are smaller than the ratings of the membrane. For example, hydrogen sulfide which causes the bad smell found in water, is not always easy to remove through reverse osmosis for this reason. This is because the principle compound that causes this problem has a molecular diameter that is smaller than the filters pore size. Consequently, the foul smell in the water may remain though several other impurities have been effectively removed. Reverse osmosis water filtration is capable of removing very many other compounds hence its continued popularity.

magnesium, calcium, Sodium, lead, cyanide and many other elements are just a few examples of the compounds that are easily filtered out. viruses, protozoan bacteria and parasites that can be dangerous to your health are also exampled of impurities that these filtration systems are capable of removing. The high pressure areas in reverse osmosis water filtration units can become clogged with high concentration of contaminants unable to pass through the membrane after a while. Leaving the units with contaminated water can spoil filtered water. Known as brine, it is important to release this filtrate from the filtration unit early to prevent clogging. To do this, most units incorporate a release valve to safely remove the water out of the filtration unit.

during a filtration task, the reverse osmosis water filtration membrane can easily be damaged if caution is not observed. sometimes a pre-filter is used with the reverse osmosis unit in order to protect them from early failure. After the contaminated water goes through the pre filter it passes the reverse osmosis membrane for the last filtration step. The pre filter will remove larger particles and molecules thus protecting the more sensitive membrane of the RO unit from damage

Potassium works intricately with sodium (also an electrolyte). The balance of sodium and potassium is particularly important to the function of muscle and nerve impulses. When your muscles contract, potassium exits the cell and sodium enters, creating a change in the electrical charge in the cell. This is called the "sodium-potassium pump."

A peace offering...
This is an interesting read. Speaks of intracranial pressure and increased risk of BBB breach. Could this somehow support the blood flow irregularity induced BBB breach? I looked up MS and increased ICP and there was no absolute connection between the two. That doesn't mean that it can't play a part in those folks with CCSVI. Does CCSVI cause increased ICP? How?
http://neuroanesthesia.ucsf.edu/residen ... oncept.pdf

I think excess aldosterone causes increased immune activity and endothelial dysfunction which creates BBB breach, allowing the immune system and fibrinogen do it's work where it's not meant to do so. Aldosterone levels can be influenced by not only stress but also the performance of cortisol's negative feedback loop, sodium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin D, and drug intake to name a few. HPA axis dysregulation is one thing that all pwms have in common. The alternate causes you listed are not issues with all pwms. I might be wrong, but it won't stop me from being stubborn and trying to treat HPA axis dysregulation as the cause to see what happens.