Expert: Eric Brandt - 6/7/2007

Question
I started taking Pantothenic Acid And Pantethine having read that they are good for energy, allergies, healing, etc.

I have food allergies where I get round, bump-hives every day, I cough up a clear salty mucus every day, and I have general low energy from years of being a perfectionist and having past issues with anxiety. My sinus is usually swollen with dark circles, and I have PND that is ridiculous. Always clear, never colored, sometimes salty, sometimes ridiculously salty, usually ropey and very sticky/gooey. I rarely have burning in my throat, and I very rarely vomit/cough up acid - it's always this clear, sometimes white frothy, gunk.


I have 2 quick questions, please:

I just started taking Pantothenic Acid And Pantethine in pill form from the local health food store (average of 500 mg each). I am on day 3, and all of a sudden I feel like I am going to suffer a bad cold/touch of flu. Is it even possible this is due to the Hex/die off that might be happening, or are 3 days just not enough to start experiencing all these flu-like symptoms.

Second question is, drinking filtered water (double filtered actually) or bottled water almost immediately makes me cough up the clear gooey mucus. I'm on day 3 of drinking distilled water/sodium-free water I bought at Walmart. The first time I drank it 3 days ago I had NO reaction much to my absolute AMAZEMENT! I actually gulped the water down with glee. I did try a bottle of distilled water (Arrowhead) the next day, but immediately I got that taste/feeling again in my throat/chest and coughed up again. Is it possible that I have some strange allergy or something to sodium in water? Isn't distilled water also sodium-free or does it have to specify on the bottle.

I would greatly appreciate your help. I'm constantly putting together pieces of my puzzle to feeling well again (I am a very young 40 mistaken for a girl in her 20's all the time).

Answer
Hi Vicky,
I do not have an answer why you reacted the way you did to the pantothenic acid and pantethine. I can only guess that if you have multiple allergies you may be reacting to the filler in those pills.
As to the water, these water bottles are made of poor quality plastic. I can taste the plastic when I drink them.
You would be better off purifying your own water in a Brita filter or similar filter system.
Thank you for using Allexperts
Sincerely,
Eric Brandt, B.Sc. Pharm