Top 10 Bizarre Cases of Water Intoxication

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Most people would never think that drinking water is bad for you. Especially when studies show that the body is composed of around 60% water. However, if you drink too much water you can get water intoxication which has several effects including death. Normally victims of water intoxication include marathon runners and football players; however, there have even been cases of water intoxication with people doing yoga and lawn bowling. Check out below for the top 10 bizarre cases of water intoxication.

#10: Women dies from drinking too much water while competing on a radio contest

One of the most unfortunate cases of water intoxication is the water intoxication death of Californian, Jennifer Strange. She was competing on a local radio shows competition called ‘Hold Your Wee for a Wii’.^[1]Scientific American – Strange but True: Drinking Too Much Water Can Kill The winner of the contest would win a Nintendo Wii. The on air competition consisted of drinking a lot of water and not going to the bathroom. Jennifer drank over 6 liters of water in around 3 hours. She ended throwing up. After the competition, Jennifer went home with an extreme headache. Later that day she died. While Jennifer did sign a waiver saying that she would not sue the radio station, her husband later went ahead and filed a suit for wrongful death.

#9: A fraternity hazing gone wrong

In the United States, the drinking culture in universities is well known. This culture is extremely popular in the Greek system, especially when hazing new fraternity members. In most cases, the hazing involves alcohol. However, in this case it involved water. On February 2, 2005, Matthew Carrington died due to water intoxication during a Greek hazing ritual. In the basement of the Chico State Chi Tau fraternity house, Carrington was forced to do pushups on the wet floor, answer trivia questions, drink water from a five gallon jug, and get hit with freezing air on their wet bodies.^[2]npr – A Fraternity Hazing Gone Wrong Carrington ended up urinating and vomiting on himself. Unfortunately, his ‘brothers’ did not stop the hazing until Carrington fell to the floor where he later died due to water intoxication.

#8: Andy Warhol died from water intoxication while in a hospital

Andy Warhol was an American director, artist, and producers. He is one of the leaders the art movement Pop Art. Unfortunately, he died much too early. In 1987, during a routine gallbladder removal surgery, he died.^[3]The New York Times – Care Faulted In the Death Of Warhol Before his surgery, he was weighed in at 128 lbs. However, his autopsy revealed his weight at death to be 150 lbs. It ended up being that the hospital had intravenously administered too much liquid back into his system, resulting in his water intoxication death.

#7: Anna Wood’s Death

MDMA (Ecstasy) is a popular party drug. Many clubs recommend drinking a lot of water when taking this drug. While ecstasy does not directly dehydrate the user, it does cause the person’s core body temperature to increase. Along with the hot temperatures and humid environments of a night club, this can cause people taking MDMA to sweat quite a bit. Naturally, many people drink a lot of water to counteract this. Unfortunately, on October 24, 1995, Anna Wood, a 15 year old Australian, died from the effects of water intoxication brought on by the secondary effects of Ecstasy.^[4]The Vaults of Erowid – CORONER’S REPORT

#6: High school footballer dies from water intoxication

The day before his senior year of high school, football player, Zyrees Oliver died due to water intoxication. All summer, he had been suffering from cramps while training for the upcoming football season. He had been drinking a lot of water, thinking that the cramps were due to dehydration. However, on this day, he drunk too much including around 2 gallons of water and 2 gallons of Gatorade.^[5]WSB-TV – Douglas Co. HS football player dies after collapsing after practice When he got home, he felt better; however, the next day he collapsed in his house. Doctors later determined that he had been water intoxicated causing his brain to swell and eventually leading to brain death.

#5: UK Man dies from drinking a lot of water

Shaun McNamara was your average 35 year old man for York, England. He showed no outward signs of anything wrong with him. However, one day, some people found Shaun McNamara dead on the floor of his home.^[6]Fox News – Man, 35, Dies After Drinking Too Much Water Doctors originally thought he died of a heart attack. However, they later determined that he died due to water intoxication. In fact, the doctors were so surprised that they said it was the first time they had ever seen a case like this in person. While the drinking culture in England is world famous. No one would ever think that someone would die due to drinking too much water!

#4: 3 year old girl dies due to water intoxication

The following story of the death of 3 year old, Rosita Gonzalez, due to water intoxication is due to the gross negligence. Nancy Gayoso was allowing the mother of Rosita Gonzalez, Carmen Saldarriaga Pinedo, to stay in her home rent free. While the mother was at work, Gayoso took care of Rosita. However, one day, the baby died while under the care of Nancy Gayoso.

Later investigators found that the 3 year old had drunk around 1 gallon of water over the course of 4 hours. This caused her sodium levels in her body to go down resulting in her brain to swell and her organs to shut down. In 2002, the courts found Gonzalez guilty for manslaughter. They threw the book at her and gave her the maximum of 5 years in jail because Gonzalez refused to admit that the baby Rosita’s death was due to her forcing the her to drink too much water.

#3: A healthy woman dies after hiking the Grand Canyon

Hiking the Grand Canyon is the trip of a life time. While the trip is not easy, it should not be deadly for any healthy person. There have been cases of people dying from falling; however, it is much more unusual to hear about a case of someone dying while hiking the Grand Canyon because they drank too much water. Unfortunately, this is what happened to a 47 year old British woman. She and her husband had finished a 5 hour hike of the South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon.^[7]Medical Daily – Grand Canyon Hiker Dies From Water Intoxications — What Can We Learn From Her Death? Shortly after the hike, she fainted. Emergency medical personnel quickly took her to a local hospital, but died not too long afterwards due to water intoxication. Her husband said that she had drunk a lot of water while not eating too much.

#2: Tourist in Amsterdam dies of water intoxication

Amsterdam is a great destination in any European vacation. This multicultural city has many attractions including its historic canals, famous museums, red light district, and many cannabis coffee shops. All of these attraction draw in millions of visitors yearly. However, in 2016, one tourist died due to water intoxication from drinking too much water after having had some drugs that are readily available in the city.^[8]NL Times – TOURIST DIES OF WATER INTOXICATIONS IN AMSTERDAM HOTEL ROOM

#1: Marathon runner dies from water intoxication

Running a marathon is a great example of will power and strength. The amount of training and dedication required to successfully complete this difficult race is extraordinary. While this race requires a lot of training, it also requires a lot of planning. In many cases, runners don’t take this important step into account. Proper preparation doesn’t only mean knowing your pace, but also knowing what the weather is going to be like, what the course is like, and most importantly how to refuel during the race.

In fact, it’s nearly impossible to run a marathon without eating and drinking something. However, in some cases, runners take their refueling efforts too far. Studies have found that marathon runners often overestimate the amount of water that they need to drink. This can be caused by a number of factors such as how hot it is outside which makes them think that they need to drink more water. Unfortunately, in 2007, 22 year old David Rogers died after completing the London Marathon due to water intoxication.^[9]BBC – Funeral of London marathon runner