Patients are blinded by advertisements for water cures.
Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Anti-Poison Center, Bach Mai Hospital, said: Drinking too much normal water such as filtered water or boiled water left to cool in one day, even in healthy people, is very dangerous and can cause harm to the body such as: Edema, pulmonary edema, blood dilution, hyponatremia, cerebral edema, coma, not to mention using large amounts of alkaline water per day.
The reason why Dr. Nguyen said so is because recently, Bach Mai Hospital has continuously received cases of poisoning, even difficulty breathing, coma due to drinking a type of water that is advertised to have the ability to cure all diseases. Patient P.T.M, 60 years old, Tan Dan commune, Soc Son district, Hanoi, was hospitalized in a state of fatigue, weak limbs, vomiting... and was diagnosed with alkaline water poisoning, metabolic alkalosis, and hypokalemia below the permissible level.
According to the patient, due to having many illnesses, when hearing the villagers whispering about the address of the “water” that cures all diseases right in the area, he also went there and asked to be treated. The daily treatment regimen includes drinking “water” taken from the filter, possibly adding a little salt to make it easier to drink and not eating anything. Drink at least about 5 - 6 liters of water a day, for about 10 - 15 days.
Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen added that previously, Bach Mai Hospital had received a group of patients who also used a type of water introduced as "alkaline water" to treat their illness.
These 3 patients with kidney failure who were undergoing dialysis were advised to stop dialysis and go to Thanh Oai (Hanoi) to drink “water” in a manner not unlike that of patient M in Soc Son. They drank 6 liters of water a day and fasted completely for 15-20 days. These patients only drank for about 2-3 days before they began to have difficulty breathing and fell into a coma and had to be taken to the emergency room.
The Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases also received a case of a patient who drank 10 liters of alkaline water to purify his body, causing him to become critically ill. The patient used a home-based alkaline ionized water treatment regimen from a traditional healer with a dosage of 10 liters of alkaline ionized water mixed with salt per day and did not eat or drink anything else to purify his body.
At K Hospital, a patient from Bac Giang was admitted to the emergency room in critical condition and could not survive due to exhaustion. The patient was diagnosed with stomach cancer, the tumor had spread so surgery was not possible. The patient refused treatment and went home to drink tobacco. At home, the patient drank alkaline ionized water in the hope of detoxifying and shrinking the tumor. 20 days later, the patient was admitted to the emergency room. At this time, all efforts of the doctors could not save Mr. C's life.
No scientific proof
The cluster of cases using alkaline water in Thanh Oai district (Hanoi) mentioned above happened at the facility of Mr. Nguyen Tien Nam (house number 47, Dia village, Binh Minh commune, Thanh Oai district). Mr. Nam's facility advertised that the treatment only required drinking alkaline water provided by the owner of this facility, without eating any food or taking any Western medicine.
However, the interdisciplinary inspection team of Thanh Oai District People's Committee, when conducting an inspection at Mr. Nguyen Tien Nam's house, concluded that Mr. Nam performed water treatment at home and did not have a professional degree or certificate, and was not licensed by the management agency to conduct medical examination and treatment. The authorities have suspended the operation of this facility.
"Listening to and following treatment regimens and propaganda that lack scientific basis is very dangerous, and can even lead to death," Dr. Nguyen warned.
Dr. Vo Duc Linh, Department of Intensive Care (Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases) said: Drinking alkaline ionized water has no scientific basis and cannot replace medicine. When combining drinking alkaline water with fasting, it causes the patient's body to fall into a state of severe exhaustion. The problem of exhaustion combined with infection makes the condition more severe, making treatment difficult.
