Drugs In The Water Supply Are Destroying Your Health

One of the biggest health problems that Americans face today is hormonal imbalances. Hormonal imbalances lead to a variety of health issues, like a sluggish thyroid, early onset of puberty, estrogen imbalances in men and women, hair loss, depression, mood swings, and numerous other dangerous health conditions.

Many thyroid issues are caused by the imbalance of estrogen in the body. When the balance of progesterone and estrogen are out of alignment, serious health problems can occur. Not only does the thyroid become sluggish, but mood swings and depression can occur.

Unfortunately, one of the main sources for hormone imbalances is our own water supply. Studies have shown that our water supply is contaminated by a variety of medications including pain killers, antidepressants, antibiotics, and more.

Simply drinking water could be causing your thyroid to slow and many other dangerous side effects.

Drugs Are In The Water Supply

According to a study conducted on municipal water supplies from the Environmental Protection Agency in 2013, our water contains more drugs than previous estimates. The study examined 50 water sources from across the country and tested them for traces of 56 common medications and drugs. The researchers found that every single water source tested contained traces of at least 25 of the medications on the list.

The biggest drug concentration in the water was high blood pressure medication. High blood pressure medication has numerous side effects and can be dangerous if taken over an extended period.

An earlier study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1999 and 2000 showed similar results. This study tested 139 sources of water from 30 states. 80 percent of the water tested found measurable amounts of drugs in the water.

The Dangers of Medicated Water

Medicated water is a serious problem that researchers have only begun to identify. In fact, until recently, researchers thought that the amounts of medication in drinking water would have no effect on someone drinking the water. However, changes in animals living in medicated water along with the new tests that identify precisely how much medication is in our drinking water has made researchers think again.

What is even scarier is that 90 percent of water treatment plants are not equipped to remove medications from the water. This means that over time, the concentration of drugs in the water becomes more potent. Combine this fact with the fact that today’s Americans consume more drugs than ever (research shows that about 70 percent of Americans take some form of medication on a regular basis) and there are no Federal regulations controlling pharmaceutical compound levels in the water, and you have a potentially devastating health risk that is nearly impossible to escape.

What Are The Risks of Drug-Contaminated Water?

Strangely enough, few researchers have even tried to examine the long-term risk of drug-contaminated water on humans. It appears as if this condition is treated as a “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” problem by most environmental agencies. However, researchers have conducted studies on how the drug-contaminated water effects wildlife.

The most prominent side effects are the effects of estrogen imbalances on fish and other aquatic animals. Many of the drugs used to treat a variety of health conditions upset the balance of estrogen and create synthetic forms of estrogen that produce estrogen-like effects in animals. This has caused fish to birth more females, animals born with both male and female sex characteristics, and some male fish and frogs to be born with eggs.

Antidepressants have caused developmental delays in aquatic animals according to a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey. In other water supplies, fish and aquatic animals have been shown to have high concentrations of antidepressants and other medications in their blood when the fish are near water treatment plants and sewer systems.

It makes sense that the same medications would cause similar health changes in humans. In fact, many of the common health problems seen today could be a result of synthetic estrogens in the water supply. An estrogen imbalance can cause fertility problems in men, trigger a sluggish thyroid, lead to mood swings and depression, and lead to an increased risk for developing certain forms of cancer.

What Drugs Are In the Water?

Researchers have found traces of thousands of medications in water supplies around the world. The largest concentrations of medications included painkillers (both prescription and over-the-counter varieties), antibiotics, antidepressants, heart medications, blood pressure medication, synthetic hormones, blood thinners, anti-seizure drugs, cholesterol medication, and chemical fragrances.

How Do Drugs Get in the Water?

If you think about it, the answer is simple. Your body tends to remove all excess compounds from the body through urine. Drug tests are based on this fact. Any person who is on medication of any kind releases it into the water supply each time he or she uses the bathroom. In other methods, some people flush their excess medications down the toilet when they have expired or they no longer need them. Although this is not an approved disposal method for medications, it happens all the time.

Factory farms dump medicated animal waste into water supplies filled with hormones and antibiotics that are designed to make animals grow bigger and faster. In fact, agricultural farms dispose of over two trillion pounds of waste each year into the water supply. That is a huge amount of medicated animal waste that ends up in your drinking water- which is completely unable to filter the drugs out of the water.

Medicated Water Can Cause Thyroid Imbalances

According to ZRT Lab and other medical associations, an imbalance of estrogen can lead to hypothyroidism (sluggish thyroid). Estrogen hormones inhibit the actions of the thyroid hormone at the cellular level. Women who have high levels of estrogen are more likely to have extreme menopausal symptoms and suffer from a sluggish thyroid. Men who have high estrogen levels may also find their thyroid out of balance. A sluggish thyroid leads to weight gain. In an even stranger turn of irony, weight gain increases estrogen production. This can create a vicious cycle of estrogen imbalance in the body that not only slows the thyroid but can also have other dangerous side effects.

Eliminate Drugs from Your Drinking Water

One of the best things you can do for your health and thyroid function is to eliminate as much of the drugs in your water as possible. Some of the water treatment processes in modern water treatment plants do get rid of some medications, but not every medication is removed. To eliminate drugs from your water, you must take steps on your own to ensure your water is clean and safe to drink.

The best way to remove excess drugs from your water is with an at-home water filter. However, simple counter-based water filters do not remove drugs from the water. For that, you need a smaller-particle water filter. Unfortunately, there is no way to remove all drugs from the water, but certain filters will remove more drugs than others.

Reverse Osmosis Filter

This filter removes the smallest particles of contamination and will remove the most drugs from your water. Make sure you use a model that replaces the minerals back into the water since reverse osmosis removes everything from the water-including healthy minerals.

Gravity Filter

This filter is countertop based, which means you can use it anywhere. This filter will remove all contaminants from the water- even if you use water from a muddy backyard puddle. The coolest thing about this filter is that it works without electricity.

Carbon Block Filter

The carbon block filter is similar to traditional pitcher and faucet filters, but instead of filtering with carbon flakes, the filter uses a solid block of carbon. The advantage of this filter is that it can remove some concentrations of medications but it does not remove the vital minerals necessary for your health.

Keep The Water Clean

If you are like most Americans, you probably have a few medications that you take at least some of the time. You can avoid contaminating the water supply further by disposing of excess medications properly. Don’t flush or toss medications. Many pharmacies have take-back programs for expired medications. Use this disposal method and encourage others to do the same. It may be a small step, but any step is better than none.

Other Ways to Boost Thyroid Function

We can all benefit from a boost to our thyroid- particularly because simply drinking water is likely to slow the proper function of your thyroid. The following steps will help control the estrogen levels in your body and can help optimize the function of the thyroid- reducing your risk for weight gain, diabetes, high cholesterol, insulin resistance, depression, mood swings, and cancer.

Eat Your Bs

B vitamins offer some of the best support for thyroid function. B vitamins are essential for the proper function of your thyroid. The most essential vitamins are B6, B12, B9, B1, B2, B3, and B5. B vitamins are responsible for supporting your metabolism and preventing fatigue. Vitamin B12, 9 and 6 lower homocysteine levels, which can lead to an increased risk for heart disease. Many individuals with a sluggish thyroid have high homocysteine levels. B vitamins also are responsible for removing excess estrogen from the body, which may be one way how they can boost thyroid function.

Consume Enough Minerals

Low mineral levels can also lead to poor thyroid function. That is one reason why it is important to ensure you replace any minerals back into the water if you use a reverse osmosis filter or another filter type that removes minerals from the water. The best minerals for boosting thyroid function include magnesium, zinc, copper, selenium, iodine, and calcium. According to studies, supplementing with these minerals can improve thyroid function in patients with a sluggish thyroid. The biggest concentration of minerals in the diet is generally found in root vegetables, whole grain products, and meat.

Avoid Estrogen

Go organic: Foods with hormones and pesticides can synthesize estrogen production in the body. Avoid chemicals, pesticides, and hormones by eating organic foods when possible.

Avoid chemicals: Many common chemicals used in household products can stimulate the production of estrogen or prevent the body’s own removal of excess estrogen. Among the culprits are parabens, phthalate, BPA, VOCs, PABA, and antibiotics.

Exercise: Exercise can help remove excess estrogen from the body in men and women.

Clean Your Water and Boost Thyroid Function

There are many contributing factors to what causes a sluggish thyroid, ranging from genetics to what you eat- but many people are unaware of how large a contribution drug-laced water can have on the thyroid and dozens of other health problems. If you still drink tap water, you can have the cleanest diet in the world, but you still may have a sluggish thyroid thanks to the hundreds of drugs found in the water supply.

One of the best things you can do to boost thyroid production is to clean your water, add estrogen-removing vitamins and minerals such as B vitamins, and avoid sources of estrogen elsewhere in your life.