Death from Too Much Water

[Daisalana 33]

I always heard it could happen, but I figured it was impossible to drink enough Water to actually kill you.. how bizarre!!

A middle-aged man died from drinking vast amounts of cold Water to relieve pain from gum disease, an inquest heard.

Andrew Thornton, 44, dangerously 'overloaded' his body on water after drinking 10 litres in eight hours on the day he died.

He had also been drinking at a similar rate for the previous two days as it helped to numb his mouth.

The divorcee thought he was being sensible by refusing to take painkillers and had no idea he was risking his life by drinking excessively.

He was taken to hospital last December after collapsing at home and doctors initially thought he was drunk on alcohol because he was staggering and slurring his words.

In reality the symptoms were caused by the excess water causing swelling in the brain.

Doctors put salt back into his body in an attempt to counter the effects of his huge water intake, but the following day he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Pathologist Dr Alan Padwell told the Halifax inquest: 'He claimed drinking water relieved the problems with gum trouble, though he vomited a lot afterwards.

'He had been drinking an awful lot of water and vomiting. He had overloaded with water. Your body tells you how much you need. Eat and drink normally and your body will regulate itself.'

Coroner Mark Hinchliffe recorded a verdict of death by misadventure and concluded Mr Thornton died of a heart attack triggered by overconsumption of water.

Man collapsed and died of water overdose in attempt to soothe his gums | Mail Online

[heartfire 4]

Yep, heard of it happening before. A year or 2 ago a radio show had a contest and the person who could drink the most Water in X amount of time got some prizes of some sort. A woman died doing the contest.

It happens at colleges too when the fraternities are doing some of their stupid stuff.

Do you know how much Water 10 liters is? That's FIVE big bottles of soda! And he did that over several days?! Sheesh! I'm sorry he died but that was just crazy! I feel bad for his family.

I don't even know how you get that amount of water into you. I have a 2 quart container in the fridge to try to get my water in everyday (I've got a 2 yr old, I lose count!). If I drink too much too fast, I feel sick! And I'm just talking about a glass or 2 of it too fast!

Man...

[plain 12]

Yeah, the amount of Water you have to drink to die (assuming you don't have a pre-existing electrolyte imbalance) is huuuuuuge!! You almost have to be trying to kill yourself.

[MacMadame 81]

It is huge, but if you are an infant or an athlete, it's not as hard as you think. Those are the people most likely to die from Water intoxication. Oh and people who are high on something.

[Daisalana 33]

Yeah after reading that article I was looking up how that happens. A girl died from ecstasy (or they thought), but it ended up she was drinking a lot of Water and she poisoned herself with too much water. I think they said she drank 4 liters in 2 hours. And then ecstasy has something in it that inhibits using the restroom.

Very bizarre, and 8 litres doesn't sound like THAT much to me, it's still plausible. I was thinking you'd have to drink the size of a swimming pool to do something like poison yourself with water.

[MacMadame 81]

It can happen a lot when it gets really hot too. People just guzzle and guzzle.

[Daisalana 33]

Yup, it said that too!

Again, just amazes me, never realized it was a viable quantity of Water that can kill you. Now I wonder what it actually takes to die from chocolate poisoning! I always assumed it would be like a football field worth of chocolate :biggrin:

[plain 12]

Yeah after reading that article I was looking up how that happens. A girl died from ecstasy (or they thought), but it ended up she was drinking a lot of Water and she poisoned herself with too much Water. I think they said she drank 4 liters in 2 hours. And then ecstasy has something in it that inhibits using the restroom.

Very bizarre, and 8 litres doesn't sound like THAT much to me, it's still plausible. I was thinking you'd have to drink the size of a swimming pool to do something like poison yourself with water.

In cases of Ex usage, and sports players, the culprit is usually not the amount of water, per se, but that the individual has lost a lot of electrolytes through profuse sweating (usually sodium, but also potassium). Then when the person drinks water, the concentration of electrolytes is further diluted. Too little potassium can cause muscle cramps....and since the heart is basically a big ol' muscle......poof!

[Sunwyse 1]

10 litres! Crikey, I'm hard pressed to drink 2. How on earth does anyone get down 10 litres in a day???

[plain 12]

10 liters is about 20 lbs of water! Yikes!

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

That Water contest happened right here in good ole Sacramento. It was hosted by one of our local radio stations 107.9 the End. It plays a bunch of trendy Top 40 stuff and they had this morning crazy group who thought of the idea. Well, it was a really bad one.

It was called “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” They fed the contestants and 8 oz bottle of water and they had to drink one every ten minutes and whoever could hold out from going potty the longest would win the Nintendo Wii.

I didn’t personally listen to the contest, as I don’t really prefer that type of station, but as you can imagine it was all over our news for weeks.

So, if there is any good to come out of that story it would be – YES YOU CAN DRINK TOO MUCH WATER.

However it would be an obscene amount in a very short amount of time. I personally wouldn’t try to find out how much…