Water Toxicity....and Don't argue with me

That is why they recommend athletes to drink sports drinks to replenish sodium, potassium, and other electrolytes. In this instance, doing what you were suppose to do turned into a bad thing. IMO, and experience, the water was flushing everything out via waste and sweat, but there was nothing to replace those needed nutrients to keep your bp at a normal level. Something similar happened to a friend of mine, and the Dr. basically said the same thing: some people can maintain their nutrients and don't need replenishing drinks while being athletic, while others NEED to have them (which is why they were created in the first place), low bp and passing out = low sodium. But your right, this actually is the definition of water toxicity. It's not an overdose of water, it's when the water flushes out all of the goodies!!
. . . Soooo, have you made up some death-defying heroic tale to tell those who ask about the black eye?! (I have done that before, it's hilarious!)

Very interesting.... Thanks for posting this!

Creepy. Did you get any warning signs, feeling weird, anything? I guess this is a sign not to drink water just to try to get in what MFP says you should (instead, drink when I'm thirsty), but surely thirst won't lead me wrong, right?

PS - feel better!!! thanks for sharing.

I think they say you need to drink BEFORE you are thirsty. If you feel thirst, you are already dehydrated. That's what I've heard anyway. People can correct me if I'm wrong

How scary!
Perhaps your body just reacts this way? I know I drink a gallon a day sometimes with no issues. I love water and I don't force myself to drink it, I just do.

Hope you feel better soon!

First to other posters: everyone's body is different!! They react differently


When I drink more water i seem to get dizzy easier. I would drink at least a gallon a day. I talked to my doctor about getting dizzy and he said to make sure I was getting enough water. lol

Feel better!

Thank you for posting this!! There are so many factors behind hydration (over, under or normal) that you can't just say "I got over hydrated becuase I drank 8 cups of water today". Everyone has different diets and activity levels and may drink more liquids than just water or eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies so they get liquids that way. You just never know.

I personally like to give people the advice to drink water slowly (sip, don't chug) and to monitor your urine color, as posted above from the breast cancer site.

"Endurance sportsMarathon runners are susceptible to water intoxication if they drink too much while running. This is caused when sodium levels drop below 135 mmol/L when athletes consume large amounts of fluid. This has been noted to be the result of the encouragement of excessive fluid replacement by various guidelines. This has largely been identified in marathon runners as a dilutional hyponatremia.[5] Medical personnel at marathon events are trained to suspect water intoxication immediately when runners collapse or show signs of confusion"

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this is definitely true, and infact you will often see medical professionals handing out salt packets at endurance races beacuse you are not meant to drink a cup of water at every single stop, but most rookies will do so and end up with the condition described above. Drink some gatorade or similar at these things to get some electrolytes

what I still dont understand though is how it resulted in dehydration? like the other posted, just trying to understand.

My body wouldn't RETAIN the necessary water to keep me hydrated.....since I had low sodium and my electrolytes were being flushed out of my body by the water....the end result is DEHYDRATION!

Bingo

I'm curious to what you were eating, too. Is it from too much water, or from not enough sodium plus too much water?

SIADH. If no one mentioned it to you during your hospital stay, make an appointment Monday morning to ask your doctor.

Some people swear by drinking insane amounts of water...but I feel comfortable around the 6-8 glasses mark. I typically don't drink anything else other than 2 cups of coffee/daily. And wine.

I signed up for one of the MFP challenges not long ago - one of the requirements was to drink 100 oz. daily. Because of that, I dropped out. That's far too much for me personally.

This guy drank too much water (like at every water stop) while losing electrolytes:

[img]http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x326/wallyg7/Pics for MFP/dehydration.jpg[/img]

Ew. Has he done what I think he's done?. ....