OT: what do PD meds do to pH?
 

Everyone has probably read all the hype about pH miracle this and that, and there may be some truth to that. I think we can all agree that everyone's body has a pH that is optimal for him/her, and we strive to get to and maintain that.

But what I was wondering is: has anyone monitored their pH levels at home with those testing strips, and if so, what did you learn? I just happened to buy some and we used them this morning....pH was MUCH more alkaline after our first PD meds of the day!

Do our PD meds mess with our pH balance? And how does that effect us? I'll keep a log for a few days and report back. If others want to do the same, the testing strips are quite cheap and easy to use, and you can get them at most health food stores.

PH level
 

My PH is abnormally high according to my blood screening this past week

Dianna

This is a complete red herring. The kidneys (and lungs, via chemoreceptors)regulate the pH of the blood within a very tight range optimized for enzyme function. With the exception of extremes of pathological conditions (sepsis, diabetic ketoacidosis, etc.) and in the absence of severe renal or respiratory failure the range of variation is quite narrow and more or less biochemically irrelevent. This is regardless of what you consume, including most medications. A very few medications (such as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors) can alkalinize or acidify the urine or a few other subcompartments to a small degree, useful in a few clinical conditions.

Nevertheless, anyone who is not a nephrologist and wants to help you "regulate your body's pH" is selling you snake oil.

Re: PD-- find meds that work for you and take them. Don't worry about the effect on your blood pH.

Thanks, but sources?
 

Thanks for this, but where do you get this information from? Are you in the medical field and know this from your profession, or have you read it somewhere?- I do not see how all you say can be true when I see the testing strips myself, several times a day, and I can tell you they vary from morning to evening and also depending on what we have eaten. There are rather large swings in pH that are undeniable.

I am not buying any product to regulate our pH: just watching what we eat, and it does make a difference....unless you are saying those strips have no validity. I can see a difference if we spit on the strip versus pee on it as well, but the most telling change is first morning urine versus later in the day, and what we eat.

As for these pH strips, I think they work, although they may not have the specificity of a lab. For example, if we put some tap water on the strip, the pH is much more alkaline than if we just put some spring water on it, and the difference between the two is not insignificant.

I don't mean to offend, you just sound very definitive and what you say does not reconcile with what I have been seeing the past several days.

I'm a physician (neurology specialist with fellowship training in movement disorders) with a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology.


May I ask what bodily fluid you're measuring? If your blood pH varies by more than about 0.05-0.1 unit, you are sick enough to require hospitalization. Generally speaking this is not enough variation to see on the kinds of pH strips they sell for use on pool water etc.; digital meters are more reliable.

Moreover, the pH of your urine or saliva tells you nothing about the pH of your blood (which is the only relevant thing when worrying about "body pH" and how medications might affect that); the urine is a sink for excess H+ ions.

There are plenty of things to be concerned about if you have a neurodegenerative disease. Your pH isn't one of them.