‘Devoted’ wife dies from water intoxication, family says. How much water is too much?

After drinking a lot of water in a short span of time, an Indiana mother passed out and later died, according to news reports.

The tragic accident happened while Monticello resident Ashley Summers, 35, was spending the Fourth of July at Lake Freeman with her family, according to WRTV.

Feeling dehydrated, Freeman began downing bottles of water, ultimately drinking about half a gallon in 20 minutes, Devon Miller, her brother, told the outlet.

After returning home later in the day, she collapsed in the garage, Miller told ABC News.

Summers, a “devoted” wife, mother of two and owner of a day care center, later died at the IU Health Arnett Hospital in Lafayette, according to an online obituary.

Her death was caused by a rare and relatively unknown condition called water intoxication, Miller told ABC News.

What is water intoxication?

Water intoxication occurs when excessive water intake disrupts the body’s balance of electrolytes, setting in motion a chain reaction that can prove fatal, according to experts and published studies.

Electrolytes are a group of minerals, including potassium and calcium, that are key to the body’s functioning. They are obtained from fluids and food.

By quickly swallowing large amounts of water, one electrolyte in particular, sodium, rapidly decreases in quantity, according to a 2003 study published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.

When the blood’s sodium concentration drops, water rushes into the cells in an attempt to balance the body’s fluid levels, Arthur Siegel, a Harvard Medical School professor, told McClatchy News.

“So water goes into the cells, and the cells swell,” Siegel said. “And it’s no problem even for the cells in the heart to get a little swollen because they can expand and there’s no difficulty.”

But because it’s surrounded by the skull, the brain has limited space to expand, Siegel said.

“So when the brain swells, it forces compression on the base of the brain where the vital centers of life are,” Siegel said. “The patients die of brain swelling. The medical term for that is acute cerebral edema.”

What are the symptoms of water toxicity?

There are multiple signs that suggest someone may be alarmingly overhydrated.

“When people start to get water intoxication, they seem to have a general feeling of being unwell,” Dr. Blake Froberg, toxicologist at IU Health, told McClatchy News.

“People can have nausea and vomiting; they can have full body muscle aches,” Froberg said. “And then, especially later on in water toxicity, people can have headaches and potentially changes in the way they’re thinking as well.”

Seizures, loss of consciousness and comas can eventually occur too, Froberg said.

What should you do if water intoxication is suspected?

If someone is suspected of having water intoxication, they should immediately be transported to a hospital, Froberg said.

“Depending on how sick someone is, it may even be a situation where you’re wanting to call 911,” Froberg said.

Loss of consciousness and death can happen quickly if a person has consumed large quantities of water in a short period of time, Siegel said, and the condition can only be diagnosed with blood tests.

“Then the appropriate treatment has to be given on a very urgent basis,” Siegel said.

How common is it?

“This is very rare,” Froberg said. “It’s not very common in someone who is otherwise healthy or doesn’t have any underlying problems.”

Infants and older people with kidney problems are two populations that may be at a higher risk of water intoxication, Froberg said.

Marathon runners are another group of people known to experience the life-threatening condition, Siegel said.

He authored a 2015 study that found that, though the incidents were rare, middle-aged male runners and young female runners were occasionally dying of water intoxication.

How to prevent it

People can limit their risk by being cognizant of their fluid intake, Froberg said.

“(These are) just very rough numbers that don’t necessarily apply to everybody in the population, but it’s estimated that your average adult, during a 24 hour period, typically needs about 2 to 4 liters of fluid,” Froberg said.

Mixing it up and drinking fluids with electrolytes, as opposed to just plain water, can also be helpful, Froberg said, adding that people with concerns can always talk to their doctor about their hydration.

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