# Water Intoxication: Man, 35, Dies After Drinking Too Much Water



## Asclepius (Jan 31, 2008)

> When you hear of someone drinking themselves to death, most of us assume it's alcohol-related. But that wasn't the case for a 35-year-old man from the U.K., the Daily Mail reports.
> 
> An investigation into how Shaun McNamara died revealed that he drank himself to death after consuming too much water. His body was found on the floor of his bathroom last September.
> 
> ...


This is a legit medical condition. I have really only heard of it happening in the hot months of the summer, but I guess it could happen anytime.



> *BRAIN COMPOSITION IN ACUTE VERSUS CHRONIC HYPONATREMIA*
> 
> In animals that have hyponatremia for <24 hours, cerebral edema is severe and rapid correction of hyponatremia returns brain water content to normal with no adverse consequences.8 After 3 days of hyponatremia, brain swelling is minimal and brain histology remains normal, even when the serum sodium concentration is maintained at very low levels for several weeks.14 However, if more sustained hyponatremia is rapidly corrected, the animals deteriorate neurologically and myelinolysis develops.8, 15, 16, 17 Similarly, in humans with acutely developing hyponatremia (e.g., subjects with self-induced water intoxication due to psychosis or marathon running and whose hyponatremia developed in <1 day), rapid correction of hyponatremia improves symptoms, alleviates brain edema, and does not usually cause myelinolysis.18 In contrast, in patients with chronic hyponatremia whose serum sodium levels are ≤105 mEq/L (by definition, patients who become hyponatremic at home drinking conventional amounts of water), correction by ≥18 mEq/L over 48 hours leads to transient or permanent neurologic sequelae in approximately 50% of individuals.8
> 
> ...



Citation: Sterns RH - Am J Med - 01-JUL-2006; 119(7 Suppl 1): S12-6


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## Megz7464 (Jan 31, 2008)

omg. i didnt even know that could happen...i would have thought it was alcohol related also...that is insane...


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## Asclepius (Jan 31, 2008)

Megz7464 said:


> omg. i didnt even know that could happen...i would have thought it was alcohol related also...that is insane...



That's why trainers really prefer that you drink Gatorade or something like that, because it replaces those nutrients that your body is losing.


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## VentMedic (Jan 31, 2008)

Death due to hyponatremia has been in the news alot over the past few years with fraternity initiations and last year a water drinking contest hosted by a radio station in San Francisco resulted in a woman's death. 

Recent thread: 

http://www.emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=5312&highlight=hyponatremia


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## Epi-do (Jan 31, 2008)

I just recently wrote a paper about hyponatremia for medic class.  Who would have ever thought drinking water would be a bad thing?


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## VentMedic (Jan 31, 2008)

We have had people admitted to the hospital with hyponatremia from taking the "water for good health, clear skin and weight loss" thing a little too far.  They thought if the recommended amount is good, more should be be even better.


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## Asclepius (Jan 31, 2008)

Epi-do said:


> I just recently wrote a paper about hyponatremia for medic class.  Who would have ever thought drinking water would be a bad thing?


Share it with us? Maybe we'll learn something from you we didn't know.


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## Epi-do (Jan 31, 2008)

I would be happy to share the paper.  I just tried to upload it and it was too large of a file.  I then divided it into 3 different sections and it was still too large.  If anyone that would like to read it wants to give me their email, I would be happy to send it to you.

In the meantime, I will keep messing with it to get it into a small enough file (actually multiple files) that it can be posted.


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## Asclepius (Jan 31, 2008)

You must have images in it? Try resizing the pictures that you put in it, if you have images. Those tend to make a paper huge sometimes.


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## Epi-do (Jan 31, 2008)

After removing the pictures, cover page, tables of contents, and abstract, I am still as 64 KB.  I will keep working on trying to get it broken into small enough sections to be able to post it.


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## Asclepius (Jan 31, 2008)

I PM'd you my email address. I'd really like to read the whole paper. Thanks.


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## Epi-do (Jan 31, 2008)

I just emailed it to you.  If you can figure out a way to get it in a form that can be shared with everyone here, feel free to do whatever and share it.


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## Arkymedic (Jan 31, 2008)

Asclepius said:


> This is a legit medical condition. I have really only heard of it happening in the hot months of the summer, but I guess it could happen anytime.
> 
> 
> 
> Citation: Sterns RH - Am J Med - 01-JUL-2006; 119(7 Suppl 1): S12-6


 
This can be seen with chronic alcoholics. They are so use to the physical body mechanics of drinking that they replace the alcohol with large amounts of H2O.


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## firetender (Jan 31, 2008)

There are no limits to the creativity of the human being when it comes to self destruction in the pursuit of happiness.


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## BossyCow (Feb 1, 2008)

Hubby just had his second case of this.  One a guy in jail who went so far as to drink the blue water out of the toilet in his cell. The second was a sweet little old lady who was trying to be 'healthy'


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## slepyii (Feb 3, 2008)

Hey all,

I have agreed to host the paper Epi-do wrote on the subject.  Anyone that is interested can download it from the following link; Hyponatremia.doc.

- Timothy


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## indygirl14 (Feb 3, 2008)

Epi--try to PDF it...if you don't have Adobe writer, go to adobe.com and they allow you like 3 or 5 PDF's for free...


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## slepyii (Feb 4, 2008)

For anyone that is interested I have also converted and posted a PDF version of the document.  You can download it from: Hyponatremia.pdf

- Timothy


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## Epi-do (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks Timothy!

If anyone chooses to read it, I would love to hear any feedback you may have.


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## So. IL Medic (Feb 6, 2008)

Epi-do said:


> I just recently wrote a paper about hyponatremia for medic class.  Who would have ever thought drinking water would be a bad thing?



A toxicologist once shared an axiom with me - there is no such thing as a toxic substance, only a toxic dose. Meaning anything can be harmful if ingested in the wrong amount.


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## TheMowingMonk (Feb 6, 2008)

Ive actually heard of serveral cases of this happening during fraturnity hazing. When some one rushes a frat and doesnt drink beer, they make them drink water instead and twice as much of it for that matter. I heard about one guy drinking so much he raised his blood pressure to high and diluted his blood to much and cased his death. Ill try and find the actual article, but it happens.


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