A lady on the radio was drinking too much water for who knows what reason and everyone kept calling in saying she needed to stop because she would die if she didn't. Well she ended up dieing. So I'm wondering what happens to your body it you drink WAY too much water at one time that would cause you to die. Does your stomach expand so much that it just bursts or what?
pepper
Favorite Answer
It flushes all the electrolytes out of your system. It's called water intoxication.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_overdose
redhotsillypepper
Drinking too much water, too quickly upsets the balance of electrolytes in the bloodstream. Most notably Chloride, Sodium, and Potassium. These electrolytes become diluted when too much water is consumed. This causes the heart to beat erratically and ineffectively. This disrupts the flow of blood to vital organs which can potentially lead to death.
I would add one more thing to these really good answers here. Many people think that by drinking a gallon or more of water, that it will help them beat a drug test. A: this is almost always ineffective because modern drug tests are very sensitive and B: it is potentially lethal for the reasons described.
Also, those people that said drinking too much water will cause drowning are full of baloney. That is virtually impossible in a healthy and conscious person.
Marsholomew
What you're speaking of is water intoxication. It's a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by over-consumption of water. Normal, healthy individuals have little to worry about accidentally consuming too much water. Nearly all deaths related to water intoxication in normal individuals have resulted either from water drinking contests, in which individuals attempt to consume more than 10 liters (2.2 imp gal; 2.6 U.S. gal) of water over the course of just a few minutes, or long bouts of intensive exercise during which electrolytes are not properly replenished, yet massive amounts of fluid are still consumed.
There are many high-risk factors, including heat stress, endurance sports, low body mass and gastroenteritis (for infants and children), astrogenics, and medical/psychiatric.
During the most severe cases, there are 3 treatments: diuretics to increase urination, saline to restore sodium electrolyte levels, and vasopressin receptor antagonists - a drug to restore the hormones.
That should cover it, right? XD
JFish
Water intoxication (also known as 'hyper-hydration' or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by over-consumption of water.[1] Normal, healthy (both physically and nutritionally) individuals have little to worry about accidentally consuming too much water. Nearly all deaths related to water intoxication in normal individuals have resulted either from water drinking contests, in which individuals attempt to consume more than 10 liters (2.2 imp gal; 2.6 U.S. gal) of water over the course of just a few minutes, or long bouts of intensive exercise during which electrolytes are not properly replenished, yet massive amounts of fluid are still consumed.
?
It flushes out the system of all the good things that your body needs to operate. It's why gatorade has sugar and electrolytes.
You don't "drown" yourself. It doesn't go into your brain. It doesn't water out your blood. It's the electrolyte imbalance.