Well Water and Crohns

For the past 22 years I have lived in the same house. Years ago, through my own research on the net, I found a connection between well water and crohns. In multiple studies; they say that well water could cause CD. My GI actually told me this when I was first dxed as well. It was shortly after this that we purchased a Cloister Water Cooler and only use that water to drink or cook with. I keep thinking to myself; what if I never drank the tap water; would I be fine? Oh well, it is what it is... But just wondering if any other CDers have well-water or have heard of this connection.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15803025

^^ Not really a good article, but you can google more and a lot comes up when researching the correlation.

I've never had well water in my life...I'm like 98% sure.  I blame my Crohns on smoking and a horrible diet.  I started smoking at age 16, I was rushed to the hospital, had an emergency resection and diagnosed with Crohns by 16 and a half.  Never had a problem before that.

I too have never drank well water. I like the poster above believe in my case a few things triggered my Crohns, with starting smoking at 13 being a strong possibility.

My daughter was diagnosed with Crohn's. She is a professional athlete, always trained, ate right, never smoked. She could have had well water somewhere, who knows. I think they have well water at parks, rest stops on the highway, and at camps. At home, we have city water. But I'm confident her trigger was when her appendix ruptured causing peritonitis and her immune system to go into overload. Antibiotics (Xifaxan for her now) are the only thing that helps.

yeah, I have a hard time thinking it is the water, but who knows, .... I personally drink bottled water, Aquafina just for the taste of it. The city water here doesn't taste very good. I have lived in rural settings recently in Northern Alberta, where I am from and I think well water is better than town water. For me the D was triggered from stresses in a relationship. At 23 I met a decent guy from the coast, a newfe, and yes I fell madly in love with him, well sort of, and then well we had our ups & downs and some of those "growing up" experiences I think caused me to get sick. I remember it started with a sinus cold, then the flu, and then ... well, it was D all the time and in the hospital I went for several mths. and came out with no colon and a bag on my side and Mr. Wonderful was no longer around. He didn't want to deal with a sick girlfriend.
And that's it in a nut shell.

sofee, was you guy dark haired with kinda curls and had a big head? and a wet kisser? i think ive seen him......;0)

Yeah; there are many different triggers as to what causes Crohns... I guess none of us can really know for sure which is frustrating. It's very possible it was smoking that triggered mine as well; but I just don't know!

i think there may be more to this than people are thinking. tap water and well water are not necessarily different. your municiple water supply could come from wells or surface water. you turn on your faucet, but the water originates from somewhere. ground water can have different types of minerals dissolved in it than surface water which would not be removed in treatment process. might be worth further study. since i moved to a town that all water is supplied by a nearby river from a town with well water supply, i have had no symptoms, no meds, and still in remission. might be coincidence, but maybe worth a look from scientific community.

Very interesting!

Have any of you tried the Specific Carbohydrate Diet?

 

I was diagnosed in 2000, but have had it since 1997. Ostomy in 2007, laparoscopic surgery in 2007, 1 foot of small intestine removed, fistula to bladder removed. I have been on the SCD for 3+ years, and it has been a blessing! My symptoms are controlled for the most part. I take pentasa 500 once daily, along with b12, D 1000mg, Calcium, 1000mg C, and Culturelle probiotic (L. acidophilus GG).

 

I am only posting this to be a blessing to someone here. It has changed my life, and I know it can do the same for any Crohn's patient. It is slow at first, but you begin seeing results almost immediately. I recommend reading the book, but you can also go to the website. www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info

 

God bless you all, and best wishes as we battle our disease!

 

Jose

Post Edited (JmoCRX) : 11/19/2013 9:19:32 PM (GMT-7)

If anything, I'd expect well water to help Crohn's sufferers. The vast majority of Crohn's patients are in the developed world where most people get chlorinated public water supplies. The less developed countries rely heavily on well water and have a noticeably low rate of Crohn's afflicted people.

As someone already pointed out, public water supplies can be well water. More likely it's from a reservoir, but gets chlorinated and perhaps aerated before being piped to your house.

Mineral content of well water is probably higher than reservoir water. The mineral content will vary due to local geology. A problem in many areas is a high concentration of calcium carbonate, causing so-called "hard water." Drinking that all the time can contribute to kidney stones. If that's a concern for you, add a little lemon juice to your water, but that's not a panacea.

All those fancy designer waters like Perrier are essentially well water, though they'll call it "spring water" for marketing purposes.

I did have a friend some years ago living in Fallon, Nevada (USA) who regularly drank well water which, as it turned out, had a high arsenic content. My friend got very ill from it, and might have died had it not finally been discovered where his arsenic poisoning was coming from. The lesson I took from his experience is that not all well water is equal.

So my conclusion: I actually don't think water quality has much to do with Crohn's. Conceivably, chlorination could have some effect (either positive or negative) on Crohn's, but I've never heard that before and I don't want to spread a rumor that it does.

Post Edited (ozonehole) : 11/16/2013 3:15:20 AM (GMT-7)

Never been near a well in my life. Used to live in London though, where the water was chlorinated to within an inch of its life and had passed through 7 people before you, supposedly.

On another note, it was a shame MikeB stopped posting. His posts were always succinct and well-informed.