Drinking too much water can kill you?!

@suedarr (2382)
Canada
January 14, 2007 1:50pm CST
A Californian woman who took part in a water-drinking contest to win a video game system has died of water intoxication, tests have shown. Jennifer Strange had taken part in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" game run by KDND 107.9 radio in Sacramento, which promised the winner a Nintendo Wii. A work colleague said Ms Strange had reported her head was hurting hours after the contest and was going home. Ms Strange, 28, was found dead on Friday at her house in Rancho Cordova. Full aticle here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6261509.stm I feel so terible for this woman and her family, but honestly I had never heard of anything like this before. Who knew that dinking too much water, which we are all told to drink more of for our health can actually have such a negative affect on the body?
16 people like this
81 responses
@buntyu19 (70)
• India
14 Jan 07
i m feeling so bad abt that women , but telling u i never hered this before she is come in to play game but she hv 2 lose her life so sad god make her space in heaven
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
Thank you.
@korek222 (701)
• Poland
14 Jan 07
she wanted to win it for hers children so her intentions were very good
2 people like this
@ashjoe76 (1422)
• India
14 Jan 07
That is a sad piece of news. But the people who conduct such contests should know about such catastrophes. Why don't they do it just for fun and not allow people to risk their lives in the process. Or, why should such kind of contests exist? How many people really enjoy it?
2 people like this
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
14 Jan 07
ive actually heard of this before and its true, you can kill yourself by drinking too much water, your bladder cant cope with it
3 people like this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
Thank you!
@rainbow (6761)
14 Jan 07
I have heard that when you drink a lot of water due to dieting it can make you ill because of the level of trans something or other in your body and that all these diets are not neccessarily healthy but this is awful Poor woman and her family, makes you think twicebefore doing anythig sill like this, thank for sharing
2 people like this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
Thank you. I feel bad for her and her family. You would think that the show would have found this out before running the contest.
1 person likes this
@funfreak2k2 (1734)
• India
14 Jan 07
perhaps.. coz no unbearable quantity of any thing should not be taken in.
2 people like this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
Thank you for your reply!
@rick615 (413)
• United States
14 Jan 07
Water intoxication is a very real condition. It is caused by drinking too much water at one time. Your kidney's essentially get overloaded and cannot process the extra water. It gets into your body cells and causes them to swell. It dilutes sodium, an electrolyte that your body uses to regulate a host of functions. When this gets low from whatever reson, you can have severe side effects, like seizures. There does not have to have been any toxins or poisons in what she drank. This condition typically happens in infants who are fed too much water (or diluted formula) or in athletes that try to drink too much water after strenuous workouts. IT IS VERY RARE. It's not something most of us need to worry about. For those who want to look up wierd diseases, there is a related condition called pschogenic polydipsia, a psychiatric condition that causes poeple to drink hue amounts of water. I hope this helps the understanding of this tragic event. I imagine the radio station is going to get sued over this, right or wrong.
3 people like this
@1syntax (22)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
Too much of anything is harmful. Something becomes poisonous when the amount exceeds the acceptable amount. Its just that some requires less to hurt you while some needs more. Which in this case, water should require a lot. At least thats what I think :)
2 people like this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
Good point!
• United States
15 Jan 07
I remember hearing a story about a frat boy that had to drink 5 gallons of water for his frat house. Well 5 gallons of water is toxic. He passed out and the boys in the house just kept him there. After a while the boy ended up dying. This happened a few years ago so i don't really remember details. The radio station could of done a food eating contest or something else. I guess they decided to use water instead of anything else because it's cheaper. It's bad that this happened to this woman. I can't imagine someone dying becuse of drinking too much water!
@wyykidd (1460)
• Singapore
15 Jan 07
This is so bizarre! I can't believe this is true! How can one die from drinking too much water? The article did not mention exactly how much water she drank though. Seriously, I would think the worst it could do is to cause the person to keep having to run to the toilet & maybe puffy eyes the next morning because of water retention. This is tragic...
1 person likes this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
15 Jan 07
That is how I felt when I first read it, tragic and bizzare!
@riskey58 (248)
• United States
15 Jan 07
I all so saw that on the news.I could not believe it. I never realized that drinking to much watwr could kill you. But I guess too much of anything could be harmful.
2 people like this
• Italy
14 Jan 07
what sad way of ending your life ! my god i believe she drank a lot of it probably litres ! I didn't think you could die of drinking too much water beacause your body automatically throws up if there isn't enough space ! :'-( So don't worry about drinking water, just don't exaggerate like that woman did !
2 people like this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
Thank you!
@TerryZ (22076)
• United States
14 Jan 07
I heard something about it but I didnt know you could die from it. Wow that is terrible. It wont happen to me I dont drink enough.
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
I do try to drink a bottle of water per day, but like you said probably not enough to be harmful.
@spcbrass (1190)
• United States
15 Jan 07
I have known about the dangers of drinking too much water for a number of years now. During the hot summer months I do a lot of outdoor activity, often when the temperature is well above 100 degrees. While it is important to drink water in these conditions it is equally important that you don't drink too much water. You need smaller amounts over a longer period of time rather then large quantities in a short amount of time.
1 person likes this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
15 Jan 07
One of the other commentators mentioned Gatorade as a better alternative than water in the heat and outdoor activities. Thank you!
@shana123 (2095)
• India
15 Jan 07
oh gosh! what a pity for that lady!!?! she has 3 kids!, this news really shocks everyone,i have never heard such news before!GOD should comfort ms.strange's family...! there is a old saying in our language "alavukku meerinaal amirthamum nanchu"(tamil),which means,Whatever we eat(take in should be sensible(quantity)even if it is amrutham(divine food) else it will turn out to poison! {Please am a bit poor in translation} I quoted this to say everyone should have food that their body requires ,even if the food is good to our health if it is taken in large amount the result will be like MS.STRANGE'S end...!
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
15 Jan 07
That is a goodly saying! Thank you for sharing it!
@justreal (2364)
• Canada
15 Jan 07
I mean if you drink water until there is no more space in your body, logically you'll blow up. Same thing as filling a ballon with water and overloading it. If you overload yourself you'll bust.
1 person likes this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
15 Jan 07
That does make sense!
@kokopelli (4842)
• United States
15 Jan 07
it's an old adage - "anything in excess is not good". so it's not only water, but anything and everything. thus, we need to moderate things, even working, loving, or playing (or posting here in mylot, lol), for that matter :)
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
15 Jan 07
Very true Koko!!!
@ffnstuff (411)
• United States
14 Jan 07
thats insane, it seems fake like it couldnt just be water... Ill have to read that whole story. how did you find that?
1 person likes this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
15 Jan 07
Surfing around, odd headlines tend to get my attention. Cheers!
@tildy12 (760)
• United States
14 Jan 07
I just read about this story,this is so sad.
1 person likes this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
Very sad especially for those poor kids.
@Kaorin (756)
• Australia
15 Jan 07
Yes, it is possible to die of water intoxication, but it is not something that happens very often at all. This is because essentially, the more water the body gets, the better. The line where water becomes more dangerous than beneficial to a human being is at a SUBSTANCIAL amount, and I cannot even conceive how much she must have drunk for her to die from it. It must have been gallons and gallons. People shouldn't take this into account and be scared for drinking more water, though, as 2 litres a day is the recommended, and anything more is still benefical. You;d have to be guzzling it down in substancial amounts for a long time for it to even become a little endagering to the health...
1 person likes this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
15 Jan 07
Good point! I hope the news item does not make people forget that water is actually very good for you in the right amount.
15 Jan 07
Doesn't it depend on whether or not you get rid of your liquids? If you eliminate as usual, you shouldn't have a build up. I do drink a lot of liquids, but I do keep a bathroom handy!!
1 person likes this
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
15 Jan 07
Good point! I think the point of the contest was to hold it.
@korek222 (701)
• Poland
14 Jan 07
i haven't thought it is possible to kill yourself by drinking water - well maybe if you drink too much your stomach can explode but this can happend to anything you put in your stomach :) but in the article they say it's intoxication by too much water. Maybe water was polluted or the bacteries which normally reside in the water and in normal quantities are not dangerous started to attack her immunological system when she drank too much water?
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
Good question! Thank you!