Woman drinks so much water she dies

[gldstwmn]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/13/wat....ap/index.html

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- 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 known how much water Strange consumed.

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

John Geary, vice president and marketing manager for Entercom Sacramento, the station's owner, said station personnel were stunned when they heard of Strange's death.

"We are awaiting information that will help explain how this tragic event occurred," he said.

Initially, contestants were handed 8-ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes.

"They were small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be easy," said fellow contestant James Ybarra of Woodland. "They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk."

Ybarra said he quit after drinking five bottles. "My bladder couldn't handle it anymore," he added.

After he quit, he said, the remaining contestants, including Strange, were given even bigger bottles to drink.

"I was talking to her and she was a nice lady," Ybarra said. "She was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for her kids."

[AliceLover]

Thats so sad. I feel bad for her kids, she was doing it for them. What an awful way to go. I'm sure that radio station has a lawsuit on their hands.

[sara1998]

Wow. That's sad. Who'd a thunk it?

[DavidMn]

Water intoxication? I never thought you could die from that.

[elie]

^ Apparently, it's possible. I would like to get more information about it. Some years ago there was an incident in England (I think), where a teenage girl died after consuming too much water in a club, after having taken ecstasy. That was the first time I heard about water intoxication.

[Miss Vicky]

Apparently water intoxication messes up the balance of electrolytes in your body and causes your cells to swell. Which is, of course, incredibly bad if those cells happen to be in your brain or other vital organs.

Here's a wikipedia article on it:

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

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by Miss Vicky

Apparently water intoxication messes up the balance of electrolytes in your body and causes your cells to swell. Which is, of course, incredibly bad if those cells happen to be in your brain or other vital organs.

Here's a wikipedia article on it:

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

Very interesting. Thnak you for posting this.

[becca]

Originally Posted by Miss Vicky

Apparently water intoxication messes up the balance of electrolytes in your body and causes your cells to swell. Which is, of course, incredibly bad if those cells happen to be in your brain or other vital organs.

I wonder if someone were to drink Smart Water with electrolytes if they'd be okay? Not that people should be doing dumb things like pushing extremes anyway... lots of people die running marathons too, or doing so-called sports like skydiving and base jumping. I always think "don't they care about their families?" but here it was for her family she did this. I might be tempted by a lasagna eating contest... what a way to go, but not tempted by plain water. You can never protect everybody from every possible thing.