Woman Dies - Hold Your Wee For A Wii

[Momma Rosie]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/13/water.intox.ap/index.html

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- A woman who competed in a radio station's contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner's office said Saturday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.

"She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad," said Laura Rios, one of Strange's co-workers at Radiological Associates of Sacramento. "She was crying, and that was the last that anyone had heard from her."

It was not immediately known how much water Strange consumed.

A preliminary investigation found evidence "consistent with a water intoxication death," said assistant Coroner Ed Smith.

John Geary, vice president and marketing manager for Entercom Sacramento, the station's owner, said station personnel were stunned when they heard of Strange's death.

"We are awaiting information that will help explain how this tragic event occurred," he said.

Initially, contestants were handed 8-ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes.

"They were small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be easy," said fellow contestant James Ybarra of Woodland. "They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk."

Ybarra said he quit after drinking five bottles. "My bladder couldn't handle it anymore," he added.

After he quit, he said, the remaining contestants, including Strange, were given even bigger bottles to drink.

"I was talking to her and she was a nice lady," Ybarra said. "She was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for her kids."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[fideliuscharm]

Yet more proof, that people all too often leap before they look.

Darwin award winner 2007 here we come.

[Frink]

Totally. They should have a "stab yourself in the kidney for a ps3" contest next.

[ab/dljimmy]

I knew to many alcohic drinks were bad but water is a new 1 on me.

[Mr. Big]

Yeah, I've heard of people getting addicted to water because if you drink enough, it'll get you high-I think it messes with the electrolytes in your systems.

[RMS401]

Not to be crass, but if she'd been wearing a diaper this could have been avoided.

-RMS

[AutieAB]

Kind of a misguided competition I think... I can almost hear the lawyers rubbing their hands together.

Some people just don't know how to rationalise what's important though. A Wii is worth £150. A kidney is pretty much priceless... If you don't know when enough is enough, you shouldn't enter competitions like that...

[justindiapers]

I see that she worked at "Radiological Associates of Sacramento"; ie, she worked in health care. I would hope she was a secretary, and not a doctor or radiologist, since the fact that you can die or damage your kidneys from drinking too much water isn't exactly obscure knowledge.

According to Wikipedia, 1L to 1.5L of water per hour is the maximum that two healthy kidneys can filter, with 2L to 3L being potentially fatal. The contestants started out drinking about 1L per hour, and they were given larger bottles later on.

[Guest]

I thought you had to drown in it for water to be fatal

[Acecool]

To drown is to swallow lots of water, or breath it in...

Also, You can get put in a coma if you drink more than 3 or 4 liters of water per hour.

[diapercj]

Here is a link to Wikipedia that further explains Water Intoxication

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

[Floaty_Boy]

Human Physiology 101

I'm glad somebody besides me explained the science for once!

--Floaty

[ruuuuuuuuu1]

I'm glad somebody besides me explained the science for once!

--Floaty

[/quote>Sip the water frequently over a period of time, generally not more than a liter an hour. Don't drink to the point where you feel sick. Drinking far too much water within a short period of time can lead to euvolemic hyponatremia , which can be fatal. In addition, don't let the urge rise to the point of being painful. This may drive urine back into the kidneys, damaging them.

Look -> http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic275.htm <-

bye bye

[Red Barchetta]

Not to be crass, but if she'd been wearing a diaper this could have been avoided.

-RMS

Well, if they didn't check for such things. - There was a bar I used to go to years ago, that had a sort of contest on Friday knights called "penny till you piss" - they idea was starting at I think it was 7:00pm (been so long I can't remember for sure) the beers would only cost $0.01 per refill until you went to use the restroom - then when I just sat there till they closed quite a few times, bartenders started asking around, and got wise to the fact that I wear diapers, therefore no realistic way to tell when I piss, so that was the end of $0.01 beers for me.

But the contest itself - well, I am not for outright banning much of anything - but if you are going to do something that has the potential to be dangerous, the least you could do is have a doctor on stand by, check whatever needs to be checked from time to time! Come on, they do for boxing matches, and this seems like it could be more dangerous than boxing......

[Morv]

Not to be crass, but if she'd been wearing a diaper this could have been avoided.

-RMS

Wouldn't have changed a thing, as previous posters have pointed out. It didn't have to do with holding it in, it had to do with dillution of blood.

What would have helped her is if she consumed several salty snacks and perhaps a vitamin while she was drinking all that water. Say, some salty peanuts or potato chips or salted popcorn. Strange that something generally considered unhealthy is actually beneficial in this case.

I haven't ever personally dealt with water intoxication, but while backpacking I have felt the electrolyte depletion become an issue when I wasn't hungry so I wasn't eating food, but I was drinking a lot of water. Athletes deal with the same issues with losing electrolytes and depletion of blood sugars.

[sunnykait08]

Anyone participating in those contests should realize that they should wear a diaper so that they don't have to worry about going to the bathroom. Nonetheless, its tragic that someone lost there live over it.