Welcome to Permies Jordan!
I can't address all your questions, but maybe this will be of help.
Jordan Rob wrote:Also anyone have any luck with those high priced Alkaline waters on the market?
I am supposed to be using Alkaline water too. I feel better when I do, it's just easier to turn on the tap and go. There is a much cheaper way to achieve alkaline water:
baking soda. (Disclaimer: I have not researched sites I quoted, so I don't know if their other articles are accurate.) This site suggests a couple other methods to change alkalinity, but I have experience with this one.
...to make your water more alkaline:
Baking soda: Researcher and author Dr. Robert O. Young has stressed the importance of pH balance for over two decades, and has considered ways to increase the alkaline levels in the diet by adding an alkaline ingredient to your purified water. Dr. Young recommends simply adding ½ a teaspoon of baking soda to a gallon of purified water and shaking it vigorously to ensure it mixes in completely. Because baking soda is highly alkaline, adding only a small amount to your purified water will result in a gallon of alkaline water.
https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/how-to-increase-the-alkalinity-of-your-water
I like Kangen Water, it tastes good. The baking soda water doesn't taste bad exactly, but is unique. When I do things right, I include the baking soda in our ice teas.
As alkaline water does its work, some nasties, yeast in your case, will be dying off. Yeast does not like to die. As with all life, it wants to live. It will try to make you stop. Below is an explanation that relates to candida.
...unfortunately, you began feeling worse once you start. It is actually very common to experience “die off” symptoms when doing a bacterial or yeast cleanse, or even during a course of antibiotics. This is known as the Herxheimer Reaction, where symptoms get worse before they get better. This is due to the endotoxins released by microbes when they die off...
https://www.alimillerrd.com/coping-with-a-candida-cleanse/
This phenomena may be why you do not feel better yet after starting your medication.
Oh, and if you are on city water, you may want to set your water out on the counter, to off-gas some of that chlorine in it.
This site explains why chlorine can bad. They recommend a whole house filtering system. That would be good, but expensive! I've read that you can put out a gallon, uncovered, overnight to off-gas it. Do your own research to be sure, I'm on well water.
