Weird chemical reactions (kinda gross)

[averygoodun42]

Okay, so as you probably know, I have the Cold From Hell. That is an improvement over thinking I had the flu or, worse yet, strep. But, Cold From Hell is hellish, and my legs have been taking it on the shins (and quads, and hamstrings and... well, you get the picture) since before it really became hellish. Pain meds have only slightly dented the discomfort/pain. (Oh... now that I think about it, I have some tylenol 3 somewhere in the house...)

But! Today was better. I was feeling miserable the entire time I was out, but I managed to get out and do the shopping and a ciouple other errands, later in the day. However, after the errands, I was feeling crampy again, so I decided to take a detox bath.

I went with the classic 1 cup epsom salt, 2 cups baking soda. Unfortunately, I didn't check the temperature of the water until the tub was half-filled, and found it to be too much on the cool side. Warmer than me, but only by a few degrees. Considering I'm still prone to chills, this was not acceptable.

I waited about twenty minutes, soaking the entire time, till I thought the water heater might have caught up, when I emptied half the tub and tried again. Unfortunately, it still wasn't warm enough for my taste, so I opened the drain and turned on the shower.

After about five minutes of warming up, I realized I needed to tinkle. So, I tinkled in the tub, with the water still only about half gone (we have slow drains). Five minutes after that, I looked down and saw all these black dots on what was obviously the detritus of either the salts or soda (or both). Those dots were not there before I peed, nor had the detritus been visible.

So, I'm left wondering, with my nonexistent knowledge of chemistry, whether it was a basic chemical reaction between all the elements that created the black dots, or if it was a chemical reaction that changed the color of what I detoxed. Or something else entirely (remember, no knowledge whatsoever of chemistry, here).

(The reason for thinking it could be making the toxins visible is that I've had those ionic foot baths. The colors that come out of your feet are... remarkable. And varied. And really, really gross.)

Any ideas?

Comments

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the bath, but those foot bath things are a scam. Read "Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

I'm of two minds about the foot baths. I'm certainly not going to be shelling out for a unit of my own, but I take hollistic cynicism with as much of a grain of salt as I do hollistic medicine. And virulent cynicism with more than a grain of salt. You can "prove" or "disprove" just about anything with... bad science.