Be careful! Water intoxication! (Who knew!)

[No Elephants]

It's also called hyponatremia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

Until this week, I did not even know that too much water could hurt you in anyway, let alone kill you. To the contrary, I thought, the more the better.

With the hot, humid weather, losing your appetite and overindulging in ice water or other water based beverages is not all that farfetched.

It happened to me. And I have been restricting salt severely, on doctor's orders, for over a year.

At least, i think that's what happened. I have cut back on water a lot and had a few potato chips (for both the potassium in the potato and the salt) I have also been having ice cream, mostly because it is the one thing I have any appetite for right now. And that contains salt and calcium.

i do feel somewhat better, but i am being very wary. If I don't feel 199% back to myself within a day or two, it's off to the doc!

Wouldn't you think that a doc who told you to drink "lots of water" and eliminate salt from your diet would have at least mentioned guarding againt water intoxication?

She actually said "no salt and lots of water, with lemon." I told her I could not do the lemon as the acid bothered me. I also told her I was not about to bake my own bread. At that point, she said "no more than half a teaspoon a day." (Actually, she said it in grams, but I looked up the conversion.)

Had I taken her original instructions at face value and been obedient--and i tend to be way too obedient to doctors--, I would have been dead long ago.

Mind you, this is a top kidney specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, just named number 1 hospital in the nation by some magazine--Newsweek, I think. A top specialist at one of the top hospitals in the country, telling me no salt and lots of water, without giving me limits or mentioning the possibility of water intoxication.

And then they blame lawyers because they get sued and insuers charge them a lot to insure them for malpractice?

[Enthusiast]

1. Who knew? nt

[NYC_SKP]

2. Years ago doing brutal outdoor work in hot temps, we took salt tablets with our water.

I loved them.

K/R

[No Elephants]

6. Smart tip, I did not even know salt tablets existed.

If you really don't feel like eating, it's hard to force yourself.

And, it's a vicious cycle because the heat makes you feeling like drinking more water, but it also takes your appetite. Then, as you drink more water without electrolytes or salt, the symptoms of water intoxication begin--and one of those symptoms is loss of appetite.

But, taking a salt tablet with water would not be a big deal, even if you do not feel like eating.

Thing is, my doc had told me to stay away from salt, so even if I had known about the tablets, I would never haven taken one because I had no clue about water intoxication! I an going to call her today!

Really, Google was my doctor. I forced myself to stop drinking water and to have a few potato chips and a banana (salt and the electrolyte potassium, in which bananas and potatoes are rich). And that was when I started turning around.

[lbrtbell]

3. I knew, and learned the hard way

Drinking lots of water is only half the picture. You have to keep eating, too, to replace any sodium and other electrolytes that you sweat off or urinate out of your body. Even if you don't get hyponatremia (as you did), you'll still get heat-related illness because your electrolyte balance is thrown off.

Whenever I'm in the heat, I bring a thermos of water and a canister of Pringles with me. I've been okay in the heat ever since. That's why I always tell people, keep eating in the heat! Drinking isn't enough.

[No Elephants]

7. Now, we both learned the hard way. You'd think they would include this in the PSAs

about what to do in hot weather.

It's very tricky, too, because the symptoms of water intoxication are the same as symptoms of dehydration.

Thank heaven for Google!

[PatrynXX]

4. know it since a radio stunt that killed a mother

Was trying to win a Wii for her kid. So they had a contest to see who could drink the most water without using the rest room. Well she won. but had a bad headache on the way home and died not long after when her brain swelled due to the lack of oxygen in the blood.

[No Elephants]

5. Oh, I am so sorry How sad and awful for everyone involved.