Can our prescriptions affect our tanks

Not much worried with getting a cut my skin is like leather they have bent iv needles in the hospital trying to stick me ,and i heal just fine for now was more thinking on all the meds i take getting in the water.

 

i wouldn't worry about it unless your on something very toxic i.e (possible organ failure or screws up babies,some like accutane pregnant women shouldnt even pick up). but it is a real problem when it comes to water supplies because most of the water treatment facilities aren't equipped to handle the medications that come out in urine. since they can't remove them they are continually building up in our water supply

 

bump

 

That is interesting. There is not a lot of information out there on excretion via sweat glands. Most testing has been done on feces, urine, saliva and breast milk. There are patches that can test for illicit drug use available, but they are not all that accurate from what I have read.

In terms of transmission to the ecosystem. Yes, there is a chance. A very minor chance. At such low levels that not even corals would notice. And that is if you are sweating. A lot. Putting a dry or washed arm in a tank should pass nothing into the environment in any measurable amount.

In thinking this through, I was trying to remember what was the weirdest case of substance transmission I have come across. I can think of two reported.

1.) About 10 years ago there was a thing on the news about a girl who died of a peanut allergy. They could not figure out what was up. She had kissed her boyfriend after he had eaten a peanut butter sandwich. However, I don't believe there was any residual in his mouth, they were going for salivary transmission. In the end, it was ruled out. That is weird story #1

2.) About 20 years ago, when I was in school, we were talking about secretion of certain antibiotics in bodily substances in class. In this case, a woman went into anaphalactic shock (a life threatening allergic reaction) after having relations with her husband. He was currently taking penicillin. She was allergic to penicillin. I can see penicillin penetrating the prostate and creating levels there, entering the ejaculate and getting absorbed by the recipient. Whether this was urban legend (this was before the internet was big......so confirmation was difficult) I don't know, but it does make a good point.

I have never counseled a patient to be careful holding hands or hugging or anything like that if their spouse is allergic to what they are taking and I have never in my 17 years as a pharmacist heard anything come back to indicate that this would ever be a problem, although anything is possible.

So, now that I have spent the good part of twenty minutes working through this post and doing a minor google search to verify what I already thought........

........the answer is no (probably-----I am trained to say that).

Peace.......John.

Good thread homegrown.......

 

Yeah. Accutane would be a worry. Anything cytotoxic also.....chemotherapy, whether it be oral or IV. And there has been very, very low levels found in certain cities' water supplies of estrogen and some antidepressents. And that's not including the active metabolites which come out in higher concentrations than the parent drug most of the time. Most metabolites are inactive, but there are those that still have the ability to have effects.

 

The short answer would be, "yes--medicines we take can leach from our skin and enter our water column if we put our limbs in the tank." Although it's a healthy fear, I think people are a bit over cautious when considering small concentrations of chemicals in our reef tank. I haven't done the math, but if you took an eyedropper full of some nasty chemical, and put one drop in your tank, I don't think it could make much of a difference. If one drop is less than 1/100th of an ounce, and one ounce is 128th of a gallon, and one gallon is one 90th of a 90 gallon tank, then that's gotta work out to something like single digits ppm. in the whole tank. I suppose over time things could accumulate, but common sense should dictate.

I can't see that small amount having an effect. Of course, I wouldn't do it with copper, but I think it's over the edge when I read about how someone won't use a jug for a water change if it's ever had tap water in it.

 

me too! i actually rinse my container that i use for WC's in tap water, dry with a towel, and ive never had a problem, and this is a 10 gallon

 

yea a minor amount of chemicals wont do anything to corals or fish, if it did there would be a trail of death behind scuba divers, not to mention the vehicles that transport them to the reef

 

WOW, when you all put things into medically scientific terms, I understand them!!!!!!!!!;D:biggrinbo:trampolin Good job!

 

If you wash your hands and arm, there will be no problem. I would be more concerned about the soap residue than anything in your system getting into the water column. You would get a much, much, much greater transmission if you hocked a lugey into the tank. And it still wouldn't be a problem. The levels would still be negligable. Meds just don't excrete in the sweat in levels that are of any concern. The main mode of excretion is the urine and/or feces depending on the drug and it's kinetic profile.