Hyponatremia Case Study

Physicians have generally advised individuals to drink a lot of water if sick. A new case study reports the dangers of consuming too much water and shows the need for more study to support this standard advice.

For years, the major medical advice in case of flu or respiratory infections has been to consume a lot of fluids.

Theoretically, this is regarded good advice; while in a cold, the body releases more liquids via the nose or may be running a fever, which could result in more fluid loss.

In the case of infections in general, consuming more water is thought to assist with intravascular volume loss, enhanced vascular permeability, along with replace the fluids lost in fever and vomiting.

The medical advice to consume plenty of water also rests on the assumption that water

Blood tests and a computed tomography (CT) scan quickly revealed this was not the case. However, blood tests showed signs of hyponatremia.

Too much water intake may lead to acute hyponatremia

Hyponatremia is a medical situation caused by unusually low levels of sodium - lower than 134 millimoles per liter.

Acute hyponatremia, which develops in with in 2days, is regarded an emergency, as it can have fatal neurological outcomes. Seriously low levels of sodium can result in cerebral edema with enhanced levels of intracranial pressure and brain herniation. This results in seizures, coma, and death.

The mortality rate for hyponatremia cases is 17.9 %.

In the case report, the sufferer's sodium level was 123 millimoles per liter. The fatality rate for sufferers with sodium levels below than 125 millimoles per liter is almost 30 %.

Water intoxication, which can result in fatal hyponatremia, has been reported in endurance exercise, in the use of the drug MDMA, and in psychogenic polydipsia - a condition where the sufferer drinks large amount of water compulsively, generally as a outcome of a psychiatric