Woman dies after water-drinking contest (Radio-Hold Your Wee for a Wii)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16614865/

A woman who competed in a radio station’s contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner’s office said Saturday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.

“She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad,” said Laura Rios, one of Strange’s co-workers at Radiological Associates of Sacramento. “She was crying and that was the last that anyone had heard from her.”

It was not immediately know how much water Strange consumed.

A preliminary investigation found evidence “consistent with a water intoxication death,” said assistant Coroner Ed Smith.

[Mythsaje]

1. Oh, Jesus Christ...

Isn't it about time we stopped these crazy ass radio promotions from doing this sort of crap?

Dead of water poisoning?

[MrSlayer]

2. No one made her do this.

Especially now when Wiis are readily available. Darwin award.

[RamboLiberal]

3. She was trying to win one for her kids

Who knows if she had the cash for one. BTW, I would bet most Americans do not know of the dangers of water intoxication. That it even exists and it can kill you. I would bet most think drinking too much water harmless and only problems may be you may feel uncomfortable and you will have to pee.

[MrSlayer]

4. I agree with your second point.

I was just now mentioning this story to my wife who had no idea you could get drunk or even die from drinking too much water. I thought it was common knowledge.

[orleans]

8. i've never heard of such a thing either. n/t

[krispos42]

14. Me either

I just thought you would pee nice and clear for a while.

[ikojo]

25. A friend of mine was hospitalized in the psych ward

overnight for hallucinations resulting from drinking too much water, and this was on a hot St Louis summer day. She weighs little over 100 pounds and had consumed a lot of water. She started having hallucinations. The ER physicians thought she was psycho until her husband was able to tell them she had drank a lot of water. She was drinking more water than her body was able to process at the time.

[Skittles]

7. whoever came up with this idea deserves the Darwin Award

yes INDEED

[Crunchy Frog]

17. It was an official promotion by a radio station.

Most people don't know that it's possible to die from drinking too much water. It was the radio station's job to find out before holding that kind of promotion. I hope they get taken to the fucking cleaners in the ensuing lawsuit.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

26. Too late for a Darwin Award ...

she'd already reproduced.

This is just unfortunate. The folks that dream up these games for radio, no way that they would have forseen "death by drinking water". They'll get sued of course, Hindsight is a way better than 20-20.

[LeftyMom]

29. They aren't readily available here (this was a local idiot)

People call the store where I work all day, every day to see if we have any (no) and when we'll be getting more (when Nintendo sends them.) Still, this is beyond fucking stupid.

[hogwyld]

5. Another unfortunate incident

of our consumerist society gone berserk. The radio station, HAD to know about water intoxication, so where was the medical staff? I smell a big fat lawsuit from her family coming.

[RamboLiberal]

11. I doubt radio station knew about water intoxication dangers

Not exactly geniuses running and promoting for these stations.

[BuelahWitch]

22. I remember reading about it in 9th grade

Don't they have lawyers who check shit like this out beforehand? :shrug:

[Igel]

28. Probably.

But would their lawyers have known about water intoxication?

I mean, I didn't hear of it until I was in my 30s. But I'd like to think, given what Mr. Eibner taught me in 7th grade science--homeostasis, cell electrolyte levels, and the like--that I'd have been able to predict it.

[neoblues]

6. Too much of anything...

even normally good and necessary things...

I wondered if it wasn't an electrolyte imbalance (meaning they needed to use a little Gatorade or the like), but water "intoxication" sounds like it might be something else?

[bananas]

15. It's real

I was surprised when I first heard of it, too.

"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."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

24. Thanks. Good argument for resisting ...

... the gawd-awful preparation for a colonoscopy.

"I can't drink all that, don't you read the papers?"

[OllieLotte]

36. Where were you Thursday with this advice?

[Crunchy Frog]

18. I believe that's what water intoxication is.

It throws off your electrolytes, and you go into cardiac arrest.

[WindRavenX]

31. it its electrolyte imbalance, in particular sodium (Na)

When there is a higher concentration of Na inside cells, water moves across the cell membrane and swells. Hooray for osmosis!

However, at the level this woman was at, she drank so much water than her brain swelled and probably is what killed her.

Usually a few marathon runners have this issue. It's easily avoided by drinking stuff like gatorade, like you said.

[fujiyama]

9. I've heard of water intoxifiction deaths

occurring with college frat hazing pranks.

[BayCityProgressive]

10. I didnt

know too much water could kill you!?!? I feel sorry for this girl..she wasn't being irresponsible..she prob was as clueless as I am about this..

[RamboLiberal]

12. I first heard about it on military drug test

Encouraged trainee to ingest too much water to produce urine.

Thinking about this a woman with kids like this woman probably assumed it was safe since she was probably told to ingest water till point of needing to pee for her ultrasounds.

[RamboLiberal]

13. Dangers of Water Intoxication

When too much water enters the body's cells, the tissues swell with the excess fluid. Your cells maintain a specific concentration gradient, so excess water outside the cells (the serum) draws sodium from within the cells out into the serum in an attempt to re-establish the necessary concentration. As more water accumulates, the serum sodium concentration drops -- a condition known as hyponatremia. The other way cells try to regain the electrolyte balance is for water outside the cells to rush into the cells via osmosis. The movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from higher to lower concentration is called osmosis. Although electrolytes are more concentrated inside the cells than outside, the water outside the cells is 'more concentrated' or 'less dilute' since it contains fewer electrolytes. Both electrolytes and water move across the cell membrane in an effort to balance concentration. Theoretically, cells could swell to the point of bursting.

From the cell's point of view, water intoxication produces the same effects as would result from drowning in fresh water. Electrolyte imbalance and tissue swelling can cause an irregular heartbeat, allow fluid to enter the lungs, and may cause fluttering eyelids. Swelling puts pressure on the brain and nerves, which can cause behaviors resembling alcohol intoxication. Swelling of brain tissues can cause seizures, coma and ultimately death unless water intake is restricted and a hypertonic saline (salt) solution is administered. If treatment is given before tissue swelling causes too much cellular damage, then a complete recovery can be expected within a few days.

It's Not How Much You Drink, It's How Fast You Drink It!

The kidneys of a healthy adult can process fifteen liters of water a day! You are unlikely to suffer from water intoxication, even if you drink a lot of water, as long as you drink over time as opposed to intaking an enormous volume at one time. As a general guideline, most adults need about three quarts of fluid each day. Much of that water comes from food, so 8-12 eight ounce glasses a day is a common recommended intake. You may need more water if the weather is very warm or very dry, if you are exercising, or if you are taking certain medications. The bottom line is this: it's possible to drink too much water, but unless you are running a marathon or an infant, water intoxication is a very uncommon condition.

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm

[crispini]

16. Oh, how sad.

I can't believe that nobody at that radio station has ever been a long-distance biker or runner. This kind of thing, although uncommon, is a very real danger. I smell lawsuit....

[Pab Sungenis]

19. This is actually a common radio promotion.

I even won something like it back before I got into broadcasting myself. Earned the nickname "the bladder of death" for it.

The problem is, something like this needs to be done under controlled circumstances, for example at the studios. Stunts need to be supervised for safety's sake, and the station is liable for not overseeing it.

[warrior1]

20. Do you think

that someone who works for Radiological Associates of Sacramento, would know this also? Still this is very sad.

[ikojo]

27. Was she a nurse or a doctor or a radiology tech?

If she was not any of those professions then why would we expect her to know about the risks of drinking too much water and not releasing it?

[warrior1]

21. This is radio station's logo

[ironflange]

23. That was poorly thought out

Even worse than WKRP's Thanksgiving turkey promotion.

[acmavm]

30. My kid's pediatricians warned me about water intoxication when the

kids were brand new. Told me to be careful, too much water was dangerous.

That was DECADES ago.

People are just getting dumber and dumber and dumber.

[Little Wing]

34. Or maybe because as demonstrated, a number of people haven't heard

about this till well beyond their teen years, it's the pediatricians are getting dumber and dumber.

I'm glad everyone on DU is so fucking smart, unlike that James Kim idiot. :sarcasm:

[Kat45]

32. Wow! I never heard of water intoxication.

I read a lot of things about health, nutrition, and consider myself fairly well-informed about health issues. It's a bit scary to realize I had no knowledge of something so basic.

[Wapsie B]

33. That is so sad and so stupid at the same time.

Stupid on the part of the radio station for having a contest like that and sad for the woman and her family. Plus it may just give someone else justification for not drinking enough water.

[HuffleClaw]

35. wow, what a stupid idea for a 'promotion'

'death by misadventure' i guess.