Posted on 01/14/2007 9:39:48 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
(CBS13) SACRAMENTO A radio contest participant may have died of water intoxication, a press release from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office said Saturday. The woman was discovered unresponsive by relatives in her home in Rancho Cordova Friday afternoon.
28-Year-Old Jennifer Lea Strange was declared dead by Sacramento Metro Fire Paramedics. Strange had reportedly competed in a contest held by local radio station 107.9 ‘The End’ earlier Friday that required contestants to drink large amounts of water without being able to go to the bathroom.
The preliminary investigation revealed no life threatening medical conditions to explain her sudden death. While the preliminary findings of the autopsy are consistent with water intoxication, the coroner says the final cause of death will not be available for several months.
Why didn't she just lie to the radio station? Did they have someone there to guarantee she was drinking that much without relieving herself? Why did she play the game to begin with? Was she that dumb?
Well, that being said, do you know how much water it takes to wash away your sodium? Answer: a whole heck of a lot.
It's mighty hard to die of water toxicity, and you'd NEVER be able to hold your pee long enough to drink that much. Never ever. It's a biological impossibility. You'd need a bladder the size of a beach ball.
So, either she cheated, and peed MANY times, or she didn't drink enough water to become fatally toxic, and the diagnosis is wrong. A stomach will not hold enough water to wash all your sodium away, all at once. It would require several stomach-fulls, and your bladder would not be able to hold that much urine.
The facts as thus far presented, are impossible.
The same thing has happened to a few marathon runners.
Too much water and they die.
Not necessary. Just make sure that, if you are going to drink large amounts of liquid, that you drink beer!
It happens occasionally to psych patients, too. Water intox can make you very high, or drunk. The hard part is that it takes such a huge amount of water to cause such intoxication. But these people still have to pee, and I mean a lot. You could never hold that much in a human bladder. Period.
I look at the photo and don't think she looks "healthy".
Since she entered such a contest, clearly she wasn't mentally healthy! This contest is not sensible and was in very poor taste. I know that's par for the course in radio but come on!
Okay, she peed.
However the idiots at the radio station will be found liable.
picture of the woman is here
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/01/14/1168709616021.html?from=top5
I think the authorities may have jumped the gun on this lady's diagnosis. They freely admit that they've not done the post-mortem yet, but still say she died from water intox. The whole point of this contest, though, was to hold your pee after drinking large quanities of water. Maybe she cheated, and did drink enough to kill herself, peeing secretly. But I wouldn't be too quick to say that this is the real cause of death, just yet.
In all fairness, Pukin', most of those outside the military and/or high level health and fitness occupations don't know about water toxicity. Hell, the Army didn't even really start talking about it until around 7-8 years ago.
Good point. If nothing else, you'd pee when you lost consciousness.
tee hee. I love that website. I haven't seen it for a while. Thanks for the reminder. :)
Nope, sorry.
The strong odds are that I will be found soaked in beer, with gummy bear drool flowing from my mouth.
"It's mighty hard to die of water toxicity, ".........."The facts as thus far presented, are impossible."
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please......water (in and of itself) isn't "toxic", unless it is contaminated with a toxin. Some people go overboard with avoiding salt, sort of like "too much of a good thing in reverse", and a variety of medical conditions and medications can have a person on the brink of serious pathologic electrolyte disturbances. It is also very likely that she didn't eat or drink for a day or two to "prepare" herself for the contest, and was quite dehydrated at the beginning.
You like facts? Here's a few snips that explain what can (and does) happen:
The electrolyte disturbance hyponatremia or hyponatraemia exists in humans when the sodium (Natrium in Latin) level in the plasma falls below 135 mmol/l. At lower levels water intoxication may result, an urgently dangerous condition. Hyponatremia is an abnormality that can occur in isolation or, as most often is the case, as a complication of other medical illnesses.
Severe hyponatremia may cause osmotic shift of water from the plasma into the brain cells. Typical symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headache and malaise. As the hyponatremia worsens, confusion, diminished reflexes, convulsions, stupor or coma may occur.
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Thanks for your spirited opinion, but I'll stick with the rudiments and what Dr Baden said.....he is, after all, a pathologist, and a forensic one at that.
Full liability by the radio station. I guarantee that discovery will prove that they reported about a year ago the story of a fraternity initiation death of a CA college student via the same method/cause.
Did you happen to see Without a Trace last night?
The 'missing' gent was an enterer of eating contests ~ as the hour unfolded, his past history was revealed, stemming from a prostitute mother who'd allow him to stuff his face while servicing clients in the house.
Your comment about the mother's legacy reminded me of this.
Yeah, but...
Woman loses life over a WiiAfter the contest, Strange had planned to go to work. She called a co-worker at Radiological Associates, crying. She had a headache and nausea and had to go home, said co-worker Angela Krause. Another employee tried unsuccessfully to reach Strange. She asked Strange's mother to check on her at her Rancho Cordova home. Strange's mother found her daughter dead.
lawsuit! Seriously, I think it is a solid case against the radio station (upon confirmation of the autopsy).
What's sad is, her kids probably talked her into doing it.
I keep thinking of that part of "The Right Stuff" where Alan Shepherd, in the Mercury 7 capsule awaiting liftoff, asks for permission to urinate. Permission denied but that didn't stop Shepherd from doing his thing.
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