Woman drinks so much water she dies

CNN/AP ^ | 01-13-07

[mfnorman]

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.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

And she went "wee wee wee" all the way home.

[hometoroost]

"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."

This quote is from the story on Yahoo! Let me give you the short answer Mr. Geary - you did something stupid and something bad happened. Much more common than dying from drinking too much water.

[texas booster]

I had first heard of water intoxication when a coworker went to a rave and became very ill.

Now, she never admitted to Ecstasy consumption, but excessive thirst is an effect of Ecstasy.

[Westlander]

[LibKill]

This happened before, about 20-25 years ago. There was no internet then and I read about in Time mag-rag.

Some woman who had a psychosis of some sort believed that she was contaminated and only drinking large quantities of water would flush it out. She was known to drink upwards of 5 gallons per day, sometimes standing under a shower-head with her mouth open.

Weird.

[armymarinemom]

During the seventies an anti-drug commercial ran using a hippy talking about the dangers of drug abuse. The commercial ended with him saying if you have to get high get a water high. Several hyponatremia deaths resulted from the commercial and it was canned.

[blu]

you did something stupid

Correction: SHE did something stupid. No one forced her to drink the water. By your logic, if your local radio station says "The first one to jump off the Golden Gate bridge gets an X-Box" would you do it?

[RouxStir]

"The same thing can happen by drinking water that is too pure. This is why it's dangerous to drink distilled water"



Same thing goes for air that is too pure. Don't breathe air when you are outside of the city...it'll kill you, it will.

[Graybeard58]

Reminds me of the Indian who drank a hundred gallons of tea one night, they found him drowned the next morning in his tee pee.

[hometoroost]

So, are you saying that holding a contest to see who can withhold urine the longest isn't stupid? If that station holds a contest to win an Xbox if they jump off the Golden Gate bridge then he would be partly responsible for that person's death just as he is in this case.

I wouldn't jump off the Golden Gate for an Xbox but if you ask enough people someone will.

If you sponsor a stupid contest you should be smart enough to know that there are people out there who WILL do something stupid.

[MichiganMan]

Correction: SHE did something stupid. No one forced her to drink the water. By your logic, if your local radio station says "The first one to jump off the Golden Gate bridge gets an X-Box" would you do it?

No, but sadly enough they would be sued into the ground by the family members of the moron that did.

[sgtbono2002]

I also smell a lawsuit.

[Paradox]

It has happened to me, once. I sometimes overheat, and am often dehydrated, so a couple of years ago, as I prepared to mow the lawn, I drank 2 liters of water. Took me several minutes, but I sure didn't want to dehydrate, did I? So I went outside, and started mowing, and as I sweated, I drank another liter. I started feeling a bit dizzy and disoriented, I thought it was overheat and dehydration, so I drank another liter. I felt awful, disorented, headache. I was going to drink even more, but by then, I had started p*ssin like a racehorse. Over and over again, my body was getting rid of uring that was totally water clear. I figured I had had more than enough. Back in the old days, before Gatoraide became popular, they use to give people salt and electrolyte pills when they were sweating alot, so I had a banana, and actually drank a mixture of salt water I made. Slowly, that and more p*ssing made me feel better. Only afterwards did I go on the internet and realize what I had probably done.

The vast majority of people don't understand how this is possible. I feel sorry for that lady, as well as the radio station people.

[6SJ7]

"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."

Three kids.. no mother... all for a Nintendo.

[twntaipan]

I'm not suggesting this should happen, but does the radio station have any liability in this?

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

it's the scientific name for drowning?

[Buddy B]

"without going to the bathroom"

Just do it! ...Any where...but, but, do use some caution...

[SpringheelJack]

Correction: SHE did something stupid. No one forced her to drink the water. By your logic, if your local radio station says "The first one to jump off the Golden Gate bridge gets an X-Box" would you do it?

And that station would get its ass sued off, because there are people dumb, poor or desperate enough to try it, and such a station would be callously reckless for taking advantage of them. There are obvious potential health problems from binge eating or drinking something, and if the station failed to keep proper safeguards to protect the people it lured in with offer of a prize, then they fully deserve the raking at the coals they're about to get.

[Tax-chick]

It happens to runners sometimes, as well as soldiers. Women are more susceptible, because they're smaller.

[Slings and Arrows]

Just damn. Add this one to the "everything'll-kill-you" file.