How is it possible to die from water intoxication?

Question

I saw on larry king there was a woman who was in a contest. Contestants drank as much water as they possibly could....and the last one to go to the bathroom would win...she drank two gallons of water and died....How is that possible? I dont think anything was wrong with the water i think she died from the amount she drank?????

Answer 1

Wikpedia has a pretty good explanation: see link below. That was really sad. She entered the radio contest to hold her wee for a Wii that she was trying to get for her kids. Several of the D.J.'s at the radio station have subsequently been fired.

Answer 2

Over saturation of fluids in the body is pretty hard to do. But drinking mass quantities at one time can causes the body to not be able to process and shed the excess fast enough.

Here is a fact. Females are more prone to this then men.
Also ecstasy, the drug, can cause kidney and liver failure. Hence all the fluids you drink don't get processed back out of the blood and you drown from inside. Or the sac around the heart fills with fluid until the pressure on the heart stops it from beating. Several young women have died from this in Germany last summer.

Answer 3

Yes, you WILL die from being overhydrated. We are 98% water and 2% other minerals and nutrients. We need that other 2%. Overhydration forces out those nutrients (like salt for example) into your waste. If you do not replenish those nutrients and minerals, your body will start to shut down, you will fall asleep and you will not wake up. The intoxication part comes from the 2 components of water: hydrogen and oxygen, both of which are classified as drugs. If you drink too much water, even if you go to the bathroom, and replace the salt; you will feel quite high for a while. I have flushed my system in the past, by drinking large quanties of water. I replaced the salt and went to the bathroom, alot. I felt very high, for quite awhile. It was unpleasant and I do not recommend it.

Answer 4

The body is in a state of chemical balance. This is called electrolyre balance. Salts minerals water etc are all pretty much in harmony.
I f you flood your body with water this delicate balanace is altered and becomes imbalanced, This causes cell structure to electrically misfire. The heart itself is conrolled by electrical impulses as ids the brain. These impulses misfiring can cause cardiac arrest.

Answer 5

Basically an overload of water in the system dilutes the electrolytes to a degree that the brain does not function correctly, organs shut down and you die.

Answer 6

Cant give you a doctors reason.. but she basically drowned herself, im assuming to much water in a short time messed up somethin inside

Answer 7

I would go into the lengthy explantion but would be easier if ya just read it...lol Site liste below

Answer 8

when you drink water, it goes to your stomach correct........so if you keep drinking, the stomach will fill up and it will gradually rise through the wind pipe and your lungs, so you cant breath....your basically drowning your insides

Answer 9

water poisoning (drinking too much water) is a fact.

Answer 10

yes it is..the body cant process it all