I heard for the 2nd time in my life today that someone died of water intoxication. I never thought anyone could ever die of drinking to much water at one time before.
2007-01-14 07:27:05 · 15 answers · asked by eyepopping hideous female troll 4 in Food & Drink ➔ Non-Alcoholic Drinks
and if you happen to know how that happens I would be interested to know what happens to the body that causes such a thing. it just seems so unreal.
2007-01-14 07:37:14 · update #1
Unlike what I had previously believed, water intoxication (aka hyperhydration or water poisoning) effects the brain and not the other organs. This happens when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by a very rapid intake of water.
The fluid in our bodies contain electrolytes (pretty much just salt) in concentrations that must be held within very narrow limits. If water enters the body more quickly than it can be removed, body fluids are diluted and a potentially dangerous shift in electrolyte balance occurs. This is what pretty much causes the death part of the whole situation.
A person with two healthy kidneys can excrete about 1.5 litres of water per hour at maximum filtration. Consuming as little as 1.8 litres of water in a single sitting may prove fatal for a person adhering to a low-sodium diet, or 3 litres for a person on a normal diet.
Babies, usually younger then nine months shouldnt have too much water because of its potential harm. Runners are pretty succeptable to water intoxication if they drink ONLY water while running. If there are any activites that cause you to sweat a lot, you can get water intoxication if you drink to replace your loss in fluid. Mostly all other people in danger of water intoxication are because of a deficit or a disease. If you are interested, check out Wikipedia, thats where I'm getting this info :). Well I hope I helped a bit, DONT DRINK TOO MUCH WATER!
-Andrew
2007-01-14 07:57:05 · answer #1 · answered by wiltzandrew 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure how much water it would take, but basically what happens is the body takes on so much water that it dilutes the body of its vitamins and nutrients, there is really no way to fix this nor stop it from happening....I good look for info is to type in water intoxication.
2007-01-14 07:41:29 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it did, I'd die every time I drank a cup of coffee. Drinking water instead every time you want a high fat food or a high calorie drink would probably cause you to lose weight, so if they drink the water and then don't eat other stuff with lots of calories because of it, that would work.
2016-05-24 01:05:50 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
About 20 gallons a day. Someone dying from water intoxication is very rare.
2007-01-14 07:37:10 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I heard that if somebody was to swill down enough water, gallons over the day unless your in the dessert, it could cause bad enough brain edema to cause death.
2007-01-14 07:54:59 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's possible, but you'd have to drink a lot at one time and not use the bathroom for it to happen.
2007-01-14 07:37:32 · answer #6 · answered by icysapphire64 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Enough to fill the stomach and the gullet to overflowing into the trachea, and filling the lungs, whereupon you drown.
2007-01-14 08:25:27 · answer #7 · answered by thvannus@verizon.net 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yea i heard your inside will drown if u drink to much water...........i never knew this either until heard of a young women who died this way
2007-01-14 07:52:35 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
10 gallons or so.
It actually drowns the cells inside of your body.
2007-01-14 08:00:50 · answer #9 · answered by Lei Lei 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Too much of anything can't be good, but I'm sure there a medical reason for it.
2007-01-14 07:36:41 · answer #10 · answered by INDRAG? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋