Water Intoxication

Before today, I had no idea that such a thing as water intoxication existed.  But as shown in this story here, such a thing is very real.  The story is that of a woman who participated in a ‘Hold your wee for a Wii’ contest, who drank too much water, and subsequently died of water intoxication.

This came as a shock to me, as I always thought that the more water you drink, the more that just passes through your system.  But apparently your cells continue to absorb this water and swell up.  And when your brain and spinal cord swell up… very bad things happen.

I heard that the radio station fired ten people including the DJ’s that organized the contest.  I originally thought this was unfair because I (and I like to think of myself as a somewhat learned man) have never heard of death by water, so maybe you can give a pass to these DJ’s that were just having innocent fun, dire the consequences may be.

I then hear exceprts from the show both before and during the contest, and I must really re-think my position on the matter.

Before the show:

“So whoever holds their wee the longest wins.” The first DJ says.

“But can’t you die of water poisoning?” The second DJ asks.

“Your body is 98% water, your body will just throw up what it doesn’t need.” The first contends.

“Maybe we should research this or something before we do this.” The second states.

A nurse calls in:

“If you drink too much water, you can get water intoxication and die” (paraphrase, I don’t remember the EXACT line), the nurse stays.

“We had them sign releases,” the DJ replies, “Why don’t you join the contest?”

“Because I don’t want to die!” (this IS an exact quote)

Now, with all of that… you’d think that maybe you’d take a little caution and research it a little.  We have this thing called the internet (which I hear is a series of tubes), and if you want to know something, you can find out within minutes.  Yes, its true, there is more than email, chatrooms, and porn on the internet.  Incredulous, I know.

Zel-kun out.