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Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

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Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#181

Post by ejstronge »

copperx wrote: post #111
8bitsrule wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There must have been something else involved. Should we not swim in pools, rivers or lakes, or submerge ourselves in hot tubs? Netis are part of Ayurvedic medicine in India since long before people dreamed of personal immortality. Remember when people worked outside all summer without worrying about excess UV? Maybe we're overthinking this stuff, we Chicken Little emulators.

Spending a large part of the day under direct sunlight (e.g., working in a farm), is known to paradoxically reduce the risk of skin cancer; whereas occasional exposure (e.g., working at a desk job and then sunbathing in Cancun) greatly increases the risk. Perhaps we're not overthinking it. Maybe there are complex processes that we don't yet understand.

This is interesting - do you have a source for this?

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#182

Post by cortesoft »

jeremyjh wrote: post #134
cortesoft wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, if the water is room temperature it really hurts my nose.

Do you use the saline packets? That makes it much easier on your nose. I only have to use mine a few times a year but I have a bottle of distilled water that I just use at room temperature and its fine.

Yes, I use the saline packets. It REALLY hurts without those. But even with them, it hurts at room temperature.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#183

Post by sitkack »

bonestamp2 wrote: post #126
dzhiurgis wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RTFM... When is the last time you’ve actually did it? It’s a problem with user not understanding its own anatomy rather than product itself.

Not to mention, hot water tanks are a prime facility for some of these pests to grow while most people have no idea they should avoid their home hot water for anything other than washing. It should not be consumed in any way... this is why coffee makers specifically tell you to use cold water.

Lead dissolving in hot water is the primary reason that one should not consume hot tap water. Nor should one wash their hands with hot water after lead exposure. Some gun ranges go so far as to remove the hot water tap from the bathrooms.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#184

Post by Marsymars »

harshreality wrote: post #90
scythe wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No cooking? Even, say, boiling potatoes? I always use filtered water if I'm planning to consume it, but I thought I could get away with the sink if I was throwing it out. That's news to me, I'll have to boil cold water from now on.

I wouldn't worry as much about boiled potatoes as I would something like soaking/cooking grains. It's a matter of your level of concern. I rinse dry goods and and vegetables with tap water, and steam with tap water, but I use expensive water for anything else. Mostly because I don't discard the water. Either the food absorbs all the water, or I accept a mushy, stewy, or soupy consistency. Steaming is better if you're…

> I rinse dry goods and and vegetables with tap water, and steam with tap water, but I use expensive water for anything else. Mostly because I don't discard the water. Either the food absorbs all the water, or I accept a mushy, stewy, or soupy consistency.

I use roughly the same rule of thumb, but I've never been confident about applying it to beans. I often rinse and soak dry beans in bulk. I portion them out and freeze them after cooking, and don't really want to be freezing bean mush. They do absorb a lot of water, but between the rinsing/soaking/cooking process, it's also a lot of expensive water to be pouring out.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#186

Post by Marsymars »

dom96 wrote: post #66
cortesoft wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do, but I am never sure how that is supposed to be practical. You need to use warm water, which is easy with tap water, but hard to do quickly with distilled or boiled water. I know it has risks, but I still use normal tap water. From what I have read, all of the cases are from people using well water, never from city provided, chlorinated water. It actually says this in the article, too.

Can you explain why you use a neti-pot? I don't know anyone who uses one and I don't really understand the reasons behind it.

Sinus pain can be excruciating. In my mid-20s, pretty much any cold or flu I got started being followed by a sinus infection. Most of them are relatively mild, but a couple of them have been truly debilitating. Pseudoephedrine brings some relief, but has side effects. Neti pot brings additional relief, and is free of side effects. (And is much cheaper than PSE.)

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#187

Post by Marsymars »

DanBC wrote: post #164
deepGem wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I used neti pot long long ago, our instructor made it explicit that you should only use boiled and cooled lukewarm water mixed with salt, if you cannot find a readily available saline solution. She even gave the salt:water ratio which I've forgotten. The general consensus in the yoga community is to better be safe than sorry.

> The general consensus in the yoga community is to better be safe than sorry The safe thing would be to avoid netting pots, which have no known benefit and several known risks.

Pain relief is a pretty nice benefit.

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#188

Post by wutbrodo »

Hello71 wrote: post #161
undersuit wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hot water in your water tank may contain an excess of salt deposits, leeched metals, and rusts that you don't want to consume. Cold water has less solubility of most substances than hot water and it spends less time sitting in a hot container of those substances. Therefore, use the cold water to make hot water on your stove and regularly clean the kettle: https://www.reddit.com/r/ThingsCutInHalfPorn/comments/7uu0…

> The hot water in your water tank may contain an excess of salt deposits This is clearly impossible due to conservation of mass, unless you're claiming that the water heater is so hot that it causes nuclear reactions in the water.

? I'm not quite a physicist, but I'm pretty sure this is wrong. The closed system under consideration here consists of both the solute (from the parts of the plumbing system the water has passed through) and the water. If hotter water dissolves more solute, then less solute remains in those parts. What part of this violates conservation of mass?

Re: Rare brain-eating amoebas killed woman who rinsed her sinuses with tap water

#190

Post by Latteland »

Tharkun wrote: post #87

I don't get the scare mongering in this discussion. People are saying to always boil the water, to not cook with hot tap water, etc. Don't these people bathe in hot tap water? Don't they drink cold tap water? Do they all live in areas with super unsafe tap water? Or is there a specific danger that comes from the water going up your nostrils? (Which can easily happen while bathing) What am I missing here?

What you are missing is that there is a particular organism that is not killed by normal safe water treatment and has been found in many city water supplies. When you drink it or get it on your body it doesn't matter, your digestive system handles it, that's why they don't have a concern with normal use. You can eat it, put it on your skin, it's okay.

But this particular organism can hurt you if it goes into your nostrils. It is found in many city water supplies, and I suppose the reason is there's something about typical water treatment that doesn't kill it. In both cities I have lived in it was there. My wife use's neti pots and knew about this. The first time I heard you couldn't use tap water for your nose, I thought it must be wrong, because "of course tap water is safe and treated". I have also swam in fresh water pools, usually a natural hot springs, that has a warning about this same organism. If you swim and water gets in your nose in those pools there is a chance it could get into your brain and kill you.

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