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Too much water is deadly?

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Replies

  • belinus
    belinus Posts: 112 Member
    The rule of thumb is take you body weight, divide it by 2, and then take the resulting number and divide it by the number of hours your are generally awake and that is how many ounces an hour you should drink on average.

    So if you weight 256 pounds, half that is 128. And you're away for 16 hours which means you should have 8oz of water an hour.

    That has diminishing returns though so if you're rally up there you don't really need to drink 1.5-2 gallons a day

    (this does not compensate for water loss due to activity)
  • dayone987
    dayone987 Posts: 645 Member
    Never underestimate your body's need for electrolytes on a hot day either. Salt isn't the only thing you lose when you sweat, nor is pure water the only thing that needs replenished when you get rehydrated. Consider fruit juices and/or a healthy vitamin water in addition to water and salt. And never forget God's natural rehydraters that are packed with electrolytes as well -- melons, especially watermelon!

    Good points! I used to work at a summer camp for little kids and melons are a great way to hydrate on hot days.
    According to wikipedia (not the most reliable source I know...) says that healthy kidneys should be able to process about 4 cups of water per hour. So, by that, you're definitely fine. Most known cases of water-intoxication have happened to people participating is a water-drinking contest or people with medical conditions such as mental illnesses where they can't control their water consumption.
    4 cups an hour x 16 hours would be 64 cups a day (waking hours) I think that's a little excessive no?
  • belinus
    belinus Posts: 112 Member
    4 cups an hour x 16 hours would be 64 cups a day (waking hours) I think that's a little excessive no?

    That's where diminishing returns would come in. I'd say you were fine with 128-160oz of water.
  • FiercelyBeautiful
    FiercelyBeautiful Posts: 590 Member
    I have never weighed 250lbs but I understand the math. I think im pretty convinced I am fine. I am not taking any medication for anything not even birth control, I have no physical conditions my blood pressure, et cetera are all perfect. I just drank a lot more than usual today and got a bad headache and started reading thats all. I always had issues of dehydtrating easily as a kid and as an adult I have been hospitalized for it several times. Thus, why I drink so much since I am exercising. My pee is clear like gin as a previous poster said. I just wanted to be sure I wasnt going overboard or anything :) Thanks for all of the imput!
  • pants77
    pants77 Posts: 185 Member
    You can screw up your kidneys drinking too much water but I have no idea what amount you'd need to drink. It would vary based on your size and whether you have any underlying kidney issues.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    When a girl died from drinking too much water (induced by recreational drugs) one of the doctors said that taking a teaspoon of salt in each bottle of water would have avoided it. It's all about the balance of water, sodium and potassium, not just water - rehydration salts for the 3rd world or for diarrhoea are salts, not water !
  • justjenn1977
    justjenn1977 Posts: 437 Member
    in school (I'm a nurse) we were taught 1oz per # of body weight... I am 265 so I should drink 265 oz per day (slightly more than 7L) ... we were also taught that those in inclement weather (both very hot and very cold) and those who are actively trying to loose weight and those who are actively exercising should drink about 1.5 oz per pound of body weight... for me that would be 397... 397 oz is slightly over 10 L...

    I personally drink about 6 L per day of straight water (or flavored water) among other beverages... or between 7 and 8L per day total...

    you do have to replace electrolytes... but most people get enough sodium and potasium through their diet and only have to worry about it if they are actively working out hard...

    generally you want to drink enough so that your urine is very light yellow... if it is clear (doesn't discolor the bowl at all when you go) then you MAY be drinking too much... I wouldn't worry about it though unless you CONSISTENTLY drink that much...

    if this excessive thirst is a new thing you should get it checked out especially if it continues... it could be a sign of many things that wouldn't be good :)
  • NelehY
    NelehY Posts: 52 Member
    I'm Australian and was always taught that there needs to be a balance between your water
    and salt intake when you are sweating alot.

    http://suite101.com/article/drinking-too-much-water-can-be-badoverhydration-a169892

    ...for what it's worth!
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    So I have been drinking a LOT of water lately, it is in the 100's here and I work out pretty vigorously and spend an hour or more out in the heat each day. Today I maxed out at 15 cups of pure water (no other beverages aside from milk and silk, 16oz total) but now have a terrible headache. I didnt drink just to drink, I was genuinely thirsty. However, I just looked it up and everything I have read thus far is conflicting. Some sites say women should drink 9 cups a day max, some say to drink half of your body weight which for me is 11 cups and that does not include extra for vigorous activity or extreme temperatures. So I am turning to my fellow MFP neighbors to figure out what it is you drink daily and how much you know to be too much.

    Thank You!

    Contrary to what some people who advocate drinking water all day long and lots of it, too much is extremely dangerous.

    It will mess up your electrolytes and you can end up with water intoxication - your cells swell up and it can be fatal. It dilutes all the salt in your body.

    Pop along to your doctor, explain how you have explained here. That headache is not a good sign.

    http://www.buzzle.com/articles/water-intoxication-symptoms.html

    It is a very real danger, do not brush it off as just one of those things. :flowerforyou:
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    My friend's super-fit son was in a coma for weeks with hyponatraemia from sweating during a race then drinking too much water without replacing electrolytes. It can be fatal. It's rare among people not participating in hardcore athletic events, but should be taken seriously.
  • L33TBl0nde
    L33TBl0nde Posts: 54 Member
    It's not deadly, but you may be aware, that when you drink that much water to loose weight it's to get rid of some of the bad stuff you eat during the day. You'll cleanse your system by drinking more water and naturally feel more filled (and therefore not as hungry). BUT when you drink that much water, as well as you clean out some other substanses, you clean out salt. Don't drink TOO much water, cause it well make your salt balance go low and then you'll feel headaches and dizzyness.
  • jjscholar
    jjscholar Posts: 413 Member
    In my opinion, the only times too much water in the body can be a problem would be either (1) if your kidneys are not working or (2) if your blood pressure is too high and you develop a case of pulmonary edema... But, drinking too much water, I don't think so... Most people drink too little...
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
    The rule of thumb is take you body weight, divide it by 2, and then take the resulting number and divide it by the number of hours your are generally awake and that is how many ounces an hour you should drink on average.

    So if you weight 256 pounds, half that is 128. And you're away for 16 hours which means you should have 8oz of water an hour.

    That has diminishing returns though so if you're rally up there you don't really need to drink 1.5-2 gallons a day

    (this does not compensate for water loss due to activity)
    Honestly, please don't take notice of posts like this.

    There are no magic formulas and there are certainly no recommended amounts to drink. The X number of cups a day was NOT EVER meant to be a recommendation. There is a website that you might be able to find, it asks a lot of pertinent questions and gives you a guideline, but it's not possible to give a set answer.

    There are a LOT more factors at play than your body weight. For instance are you spending time in sub zero temperatures, or are you somewhere very hot? Are you indoors or outdoors? Are you eating mainly dry food or consuming a lot of water anyway in things like soup? Is the climate humid or arid? Are you physically active or sedentary?

    Drink as much as you need so you never get thirsty.

    Yes you can drink too much, but it would have to be a ridiculous amount, that startled everyone around you! :bigsmile:
  • fozzie500
    fozzie500 Posts: 177 Member
    some one once bet me i couldn't drink 10 cups of water in 10 mins,so being a foolhardy chap i gave it a go, i did eight in about 5 mins, something told me i couldn't do any more,even though he was encouraging me, 2 mins later i was sick in the toilets and had a pounding headache,felt really ill for the rest of the day, so yes i would say drinking too much water in a short space of time could quite possibly be deadly.
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    It's not deadly, but you may be aware, that when you drink that much water to loose weight it's to get rid of some of the bad stuff you eat during the day. You'll cleanse your system by drinking more water and naturally feel more filled (and therefore not as hungry). BUT when you drink that much water, as well as you clean out some other substanses, you clean out salt. Don't drink TOO much water, cause it well make your salt balance go low and then you'll feel headaches and dizzyness.

    It CAN be deadly, this is the issue :flowerforyou:
  • justjenn1977
    justjenn1977 Posts: 437 Member
    I didn't mean to say that it isn't deadly... just that the amount that is deadly is a LOT....

    my advice... and what I advise my patients... is to drink until your urine is clear and light yellow... if it is colorless... then you have drank too much... if it is dark... drink more...

    if you have symptoms such as dizziness or extreme headache you should always call your doctor... also a sudden unexplainable increase in thirst should be reported to your doctor... if you have any questions you should call your doctor

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