Woman Dies Of Water Intoxication

[Metallifold]

We all know that too much of something isn't good for you. However, it is NOT "common knowledge" that you can die by drinking too much water in short time. I guess no one at the radio station, or the competitors knew about it before the contest was held.

[Yverish]

Last year in Groningen, the city where I study, a member of a student society almost died when he drank 6 liters! of water for his inauguration...

When you drink 2L of water during a day it ain't harmfull, your body will get rid of the excess of water within the hour after you drank it: when you drink "clear" water, the excess of it won't be re-absorbed in the your kidneys, but the solutes (like natrium/sodium) in it will. When you drink too much water, the kidneys re-absorption of natrium and other solutes fails, so you become depleted.

[Euge]

thats crazy....such a waste of life!

[sacha]

thats crazy....such a waste of life!

When I read such news, I always think of the fact that everyone can die very abruptly in a second. One can say that it's a stupid death just like the people who organized this ridiculous contest ...

Anyway, just to say that, as Euge said, dying this way is a waste of life, there is no other word to qualify it.

By the way, thanks Yverish for those explanation. It sounds scientific to my "02/20 in physics" ears

[King_Nothing]

Thats terrible...all she tried to do is win a damn Wii for her kids and it ends up costing her her life?? I can only imagine how her kids feel right now...

On a side note, I once became real ill when I drank about 9 glasses of milk in just over an hour. It was not fun.

[dmegametal#1]

was the water mineral??? if that is the case..then that what happened!!

[MetDream]

It was regular water.

On CNN they played this call from a nurse that came into the station before the contest:

Listener: "I want to say that those people drinking all that water can get sick and die from water intoxication."

DJ: "Yeah, we're aware of that."

DJ: "Yeah, they signed releases so, we're not responsible, it's OK. (laughter) If they get to the point where they have to throw up, then they're going to throw up and then they're out of the contest before they die, so that's good, right?"

She specifically warned them that what they were doing could cause water intoxication and they blew her off. Then CNN played a tape of the call of the woman who died. She called into the show to complain about how she was feeling - which was the last time anyone heard from her - and she sounded like she was really weak and in pain, and they laughed at her and blew her off too.

No wonder they were all canned.

[King_Nothing]

I heard those sound bytes today too, and it was real distasteful, what a bunch of ignorant jackasses.