Hi all,
Question, Ralph has been getting great labs. The last three using the July 1, July 15 and now Aug 1, his aluminum is creaping up the August one is 21.4. I am really worried about this.
Any one have any thoughts on this?
Pat Colongione
Hi Pat,
I don’t blame you for being concerned, that appears to be a pretty high number. Presumably Ralph is not taking aluminum-based binders, so the question is where is the aluminum coming from? Have you had your water tested?
Hi Dori,
We are on Nxstage and our center does water testing all the time.
Not sure if they test for aluminum. We are on city water.
Ralph does not take binders. We do nocturnal.
I tried thinking about his meds, the cooking utensils, anything I can think of.k
Not sure if the Nxstage is taking it out or not. We have been on Nxstage since October and we are just now having trouble.
One thing I just thought of is that when he was in the hospital in March, he had 9 units of blood. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.
I will be calling Shari tomorrow. She runs the home program at Rubin.
By the way how are you doing with your foot?
Pat
Hi Pat,
Two and a half more weeks in a cast (minimum) for the ankle. I would ask if the city water has been tested for aluminum. Cities use alum as a clarifier for city water, and it can be hazardous for people on dialysis. You might check out the Water Treatment module of the Core Currriculum for the Dialysis Technician. You can download it (free) from the Medical Education Institute website – http://www.meiresearch.org.
[quote=Pat Colongione;14133]Hi Dori,
We are on Nxstage and our center does water testing all the time.
Not sure if they test for aluminum. We are on city water.
Ralph does not take binders. We do nocturnal.
I tried thinking about his meds, the cooking utensils, anything I can think of.k
Not sure if the Nxstage is taking it out or not. We have been on Nxstage since October and we are just now having trouble.
One thing I just thought of is that when he was in the hospital in March, he had 9 units of blood. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.
I will be calling Shari tomorrow. She runs the home program at Rubin.
By the way how are you doing with your foot?
Pat[/quote]
Pat,
Your water authority publishes the results of extensive testing each year as required by the Safe Drinking Water Act. They are required to send the results to each system user. You can call your water authority and request their 2007 report if you don’t recall receiving one.
If your clinic is on top of things then they will add Aluminum to your sampling protocol when they sample your water. You may want to make sure they have already done this.
Erich
Hi Dori and Riverdude,
Yes the center is right on top of things.
Talked to Shari (program head) and she is having Ralph in today to do some special blood work. He is also brining home some water bottles for me to fill. one from the faucet and the other from the purepak.
So they are on top of it.
We also talked about medications and there does not seem that he is taking anthing with aluminum in it .
I will keep all posted.
I am truly worried.
He has enought health issues we do not need another one,
Pat
Hi Dori, Riverdude,
Ralph had blood work done today and I am doing water cultures for ALuminum tomorrow.
One from the tap and one from the purpak.
However I started doing some research and a light bulb went off this afternoon.
I bought new cookware first time in 43 years. Thought I bought something good.
Emeril’s Anaodized ALUMINIUM. Did not realize it until I brought it up and read what it was made of. Called Shari immediately and told her what I thought. She said Yup that is probably the culprit. We are still doing the tests to be sure.
Boy do I feel awfull. I am working my butt off to keep him alive and here I bought cookware that can kill him. Needless to say he made Sauce (tomato) on Sunday. That just makes it worse. Had to give all that sauce away today. No problem.
I just want him with me.
Never a dull moment!
Pat
Hi Pat,
I don’t know; I’d be extremely surprised if enough aluminum could leach out of pots and pans to cause those blood levels–even with tomato sauce. Aluminum is the most often used cookware, and is even used for soda pop cans. If aluminum leached out, most of the U.S. population would have aluminum poisoning. Here’s an article from an FDA consumer publication that says not: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00036.html. And here’s an abstract from a journal article:
Food Addit Contam. 1996 Oct;13(7):767-74.
Aluminium levels in Italian diets and in selected foods from aluminium utensils.
Gramiccioni L, Ingrao G, Milana MR, Santaroni P, Tomassi G. Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy.
In Italy, data on aluminium concentration in food items are scarce although aluminium containers are widely used to cook, to freeze or to wrap foods (foil) and it is known that aluminium can migrate from containers to foods. Therefore, an experimental study was carried out to quantify aluminium exposure from ingestion of actual total diets and from migration from containers to foods in conditions representative of the actual use. Samples of 24 h diets were collected, homogenized, lyophilized and the amount of aluminium was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The aluminium concentrations ranged from 1.0 to 2.1 mg/kg of food; the intake of aluminium ranged from 2.5 to 6.3 mg/day. The amount of aluminium migrating from aluminium cookware was determined by cooking various representative foods in aluminium and in glass or stainless steel containers. From comparison of the results, the increase in aluminium because of migration from cookware was relatively low, with the highest release into acidic and salty foods. The daily intake of aluminium even if all the foods were prepared and stored in aluminium containers would be approximately 6 mg/day, a very low value compared with the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake of 7 mg/kg body weight (equivalent to 60 mg/day for an adult man) established by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives.
My money’s still on the city water. One paper I found (from India) found substantial amounts of aluminum in some teas, but who knows what kind of teas they were? Aluminum is an ingredient in a number of deodorants and antiperspirants, too.
Well have not gotten the water cultures back yet. But his blood work from Tuesday shows the aluminum is now 41.1.
Needless to say we/center/dr are all scrambling to see what is causing this.
They have now switched us to using bags for dialysis instead of the Pureflow.
For me that is hanging 9- 5 liter bags. I have 60 boxes coming on Monday!
Last Sunday Ralph made a pot of tomato sauce in the Anodized pots and I think it is coming from that.
I am going to look at all his meds on line to see if there is an aluminum in them.
I am really worried.
Pat
Hi Pat,
I’m glad they’re staying on top of Ralph’s blood levels, which are certainly concerning. As I said before to the dialysis_support list, anodized aluminum is significantly LESS likely to cause problems with aluminum than other “regular” aluminum cookware, so I’d be really surprised if this was the problem. Have you contacted your municipal water utility to see if they recently used alum?
Hi Dori,
They are waiting till the water cultures come back. There are other people on Nxstage in our area that use the same water. They are not having problems.But they also do not do nocturnal.
I am at my wits end.
Early this Am when I got up to check an alarm, I twisted my left knee. (Already have a bad right knee) So needless to say I am hurting on top of this.
Went to the Chiropractor this PM and a little better. I also have back problems, I have spinal stonosis as well as the 4th lumbar that is out of sorts.
I had to have my son in law come over to put the 9 dialysate bags up for tonight,
OH well!
This to shall pass.
Life is really good.
Pat Colongione
Hi Pat,
Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry to hear about your knee. You definitely didn’t need that on top of everything else!
Depending on the size of your town, there may be multiple wells, so it’s possible that one might be affected by some kind of municipal water change while others are not.
If it does turn out to be the cookware (which I doubt), it would be important to report that to the FDA consumer hotline so others aren’t harmed by it. Most people don’t have regular blood lead levels done!
Feel better. 
It can’t possibly be from your pots and pans. The rise in his aluminum has to be from a water source, else I can’t think of anything other than alum based binders, ie basalgel et al, that would cause your hubby’s aluminum to rise so quickly. but I’m no physician either. Good luck - anxious to see the results of those water tests.
Pat,
Have you thought of having your blood tested. This may indicate it is something your both exposed too and would eliminate dialysis if yours was high also.
Dori, You are right.
Our water supply is 3 times the recommended amount. For normal people that is ok.
Until further notice he is on bottled water.
I am going to boil water in my pots an have that water tested to see if there is any aluminum left.
The center is going to talk to our tech about what can be done to take the aluminum out so he can drink the water.
I have real concerns for the people that have ESRD that do not know it and are drinking the water. I think I will contact our town.
Pat
Hi Pat,
Oh my gosh, that’s really a shame. (Unfortunately, it’s a lot easier to just stop using some cookware). What a lot of extra work for you. Notifying your town is a good idea. It may just be a temporary thing (due to alum), but either way, you’re exactly right about the risk to other people with ESRD.
[quote=Pat Colongione;14183]Dori, You are right.
Our water supply is 3 times the recommended amount. For normal people that is ok.
Until further notice he is on bottled water.
I am going to boil water in my pots an have that water tested to see if there is any aluminum left.
The center is going to talk to our tech about what can be done to take the aluminum out so he can drink the water.
I have real concerns for the people that have ESRD that do not know it and are drinking the water. I think I will contact our town.
Pat[/quote]
Great research, Pat.
I know it has been very stressful couple of weeks, but hopefully you feel somewhat better finding a potential source. You may be able to buy a point of use water purifier that will reduce aluminum. Make sure to check with your local health department for recomendations. In the long run it may be cheaper than bottled water though there will be a sizeable upfront cost.
Good luck, Erich
We’ve been using an Oasis brand water filtration unit for years! Here’s pic of what we’re using at home…
Got the call today. The water from my anodised pots is 2 times that of just my water.
Add the Tomato sauce to it and that will knock you on your bottom!.
So I am off to buy new pots tonight. Stainless steel by Emeril I think.
Pat
Wow, so your husband was getting a double dose of aluminum! Seriously, I would report that finding to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). You can do it on-line at http://www.cpsc.gov/talk.html. As you’ve noted, this level may not be a problem for healthy people, but it is dangerous for anyone with diminished kidney function.