stupid question,how easy is it to die from water?

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workoutgirl23
workoutgirl23 Posts: 267
in Food and Nutrition
this may be a really stupid question. but i got some anxiety and i'm extremely paranoid about things. i read some where the other day, that drinking too much water/fluids can kill you. kike water Intoxication. i know its a rare thing. but ever since i heard about that, i'm freaked out to drink too much water. am i way over worrying about this? i'm sorry, i know stupid question.
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  • workoutgirl23
    workoutgirl23 Posts: 267
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    Water Intoxication.
  • ayshamc
    ayshamc Posts: 226 Member
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    When I started my weight loss journey I thought the same thing....I was drinking no water at all and just diet soda's so I didn't know how much was too much water - it freaked me out a bit too!

    I drink about 3L a day now and it's fine :smile:
  • workoutgirl23
    workoutgirl23 Posts: 267
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    people always say you would have to be really drinking a lot of water in a short period of time, to really have to worry about it. and what about soda. can you drink too much soda. its confusing. cuz soda is made from carbonated water, and it doesn't hydrate me, so i was wondering on that too. ?
  • tabulator32
    tabulator32 Posts: 701 Member
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    Does it have alligators in it?
  • Spanntastic12
    Spanntastic12 Posts: 181
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    It's not easy to do. You would just have to keep going and going and you would definitely feel "full" before you got to that point.
  • Glowbee
    Glowbee Posts: 68 Member
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    If you're drinking -too- much water your body will let you know it. You feel -very- ill, your head absolutely aches, and you are extremely sick to your stomach. They call it water poisoning, and you definitely feel like you've been poisoned. It takes a very large amount to do this to yourself! Just drink ballpark of your daily recommendation, and you'll be fine. IMO this shouldn't be a concern at all for you :)
  • sl1ngsh0t
    sl1ngsh0t Posts: 326 Member
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    I'd pick another thing to worry and become anxious about. Really.
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
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    Hard, but not impossible.
  • Jeliwood
    Jeliwood Posts: 61
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    You'd have to drink like 2 gallons of water, maybe more, within an hour to even begin to worry about that. And before then you'd most likely vomit and stop. If you're just drinking a little too much your urine will be clear. If you're drinking 8 or 12 cups of water a day there is nothing you need to worry about.
  • Athena98501
    Athena98501 Posts: 716 Member
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    I drink 16 glasses of water many days because I am that thirsty, and I've had one friend who drank 30+ (don't ask me why).
  • workoutgirl23
    workoutgirl23 Posts: 267
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    yea. i know its silly to worry about it. but i just can't get it out of my head now. but i'm not gonna stress about any more. i'm sure its fine.
  • Sox90716
    Sox90716 Posts: 976 Member
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    Cases of hyponatremia are quite rare. New England Journal of Medicine has a good article about it occurring with marathon runners.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,248 Member
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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

    Or in short: Don't enter any water-drinking-contests and don't drink only water if you're running a marathon, and you'll be fine.
  • kittyhasclaws
    kittyhasclaws Posts: 446 Member
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    The kidneys can process 15-20 liters of water a day. As long as you're also getting sodium, magnesium and potassium in with it (you can get it all from the food you eat), you're fine. Water intoxication usually occurs only in infants and major athletes. Infants under six months get it if they are consuming a lot more fluid than just BM or formula. Athletes get it when they only hydrate without consuming the electrolytes when they've been sweating it out hard.
  • mermx
    mermx Posts: 976
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    A healthy adult can process up to 15 litres of water a day if drank over the day.

    8 - 12 glasses is recommended and more if a warm day. You are going to spread it out over the day as I think anyone would find it hard to drink it all in one go.

    Water intoxication is really very rare so I don`t think you should worry about it. It is most likely to happen to babies or athletes if at all.

    Just enjoy your water :-)
  • professorRAT
    professorRAT Posts: 690 Member
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    You really answered your own question; if it is rare then it must not be very easy to do.

    Here are a few articles about it, if it makes you feel better: http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm
    http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-water-intoxication.htm
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    You'd have to basically drowned your body. I mean, unless you're a total freak, you're not going to do that. I cold see hat happening to someone with severe OCD or something. But, no one normal would ever do that to themselves. You'd feel it start to suffocate you before you did yourself in.

    While its possible, it's more likely that you'll win the lottery first.
  • RedVelvetCurls
    RedVelvetCurls Posts: 304 Member
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    You can actually poison yourself with water, in the sense that your blood becomes more water than anything else and your blood cells burst, etc. But you need to drink an insane amount of water to even get to that level. When I was training in the psychiatric wards, we had patients that were on meds that made them constantly and desperately thirsty. They were high risk for water intoxication because they would actually just lie under a tap and pour the water into their mouths for as long as they could.

    Don't worry about this, you aren't at any risk. Drink when you're thirsty, you'll be just fine.
  • workoutgirl23
    workoutgirl23 Posts: 267
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    thank you. :)
  • tinkermommc
    tinkermommc Posts: 562 Member
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    my first thought was "if you inhale it, easy!"

    But unless you are throwing back gallons of water in a short period you'll be fine! You'll get sick of trips to the restroom and therefore slow down drinking before you drink to the point of making yourself sick.

    http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/water-intoxication.htm

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