Discussion: Drank too much water..

Maybe most Attack Pointers have heard about this; but it is always a good reminder that more is not always good, in the case of water ingestion say when training or racing. You can find a lot of stories (although how much is fact vs. fiction?) just by googling "drank too much water".

Link to Globe and mail story is here

This is real for sure; I've had two nasty bouts with hyponatremia. It's also important to note that this is as much about low electrolyte levels as it is excessive water. Your body is pretty good at pushing out excess water (although, in the case of that stupid contest, people were resisting that). The problem is that it pushes out a bunch of electrolytes with it. As long as they are replenished, it's merely inconvenient. If not, it gets ugly fast and the fix is non-trivial because you can't get anything (even electrolytes) through your digestive system once your internal levels are too diluted.

Couple days ago women from Sacramento, CA died after water drinking contest. Story was on TV yesterday.

That's what the article was about. ;-)

Hold Your Wee for a Wii ???

Is that what the water-drinking contest was named?

I blame Nintendo for that woman's death. Does anyone know how they came up with a lame name such as Wii to identify their competing product to GameBoy and PlayStation?

I think "Wii" is supposed to be like "we", as it is supposed to be the kind of game console that everyone can enjoy. I thought at first it was like "wheeeee!" sort of like "yipeeee!" because it was the sort of console that has grown adults saying stuff like that. Shows what I know.

Us orienteers are immune to hyponatremia, thanks to Bill Gookin with his hydralite ;-)

I think that if we are training, we can't drink to much. we use the water by swetting.

no that is completely wrong, the more you sweat and the more water you drink (without any electrolytes) the more likely you are to get in trouble. Its all about an imbalance in electrolytes not at all about just having too much water in your body.

Its very true and very serious, if you get really dehydrated it is super important to drink something with electrolytes not just pure water - very important for athletes who are getting drug tested.

In Australia we have had one athlete need to be airlifted to hospital and another taken to hospital and being put on a drip because of this just last year.

I blame Nintendo for that woman's death

It was not Nintendo idea for the contest. It was radio station's idea to run that contest.

But I don’t think this issue is black and white regarding who to blame for the woman’s death. We can blame radio station for woman’s death but I would argue that radio station would not run such stupid contest if society would not crave shows that ridicule participants like American Idol, Fear factor, etc. Also I would argue that participants of that particular show (or any other reality shows) should have used some common sense or maybe little bit more of dignity before agreeing to do stunts that could potentially kill you.

Again – I am not trying to justify actions of the radio station. It’s just very easy to blame obvious culprits and overlook other guilty parties.

Well, with all the scatological references I hear on our local rock stations, I think Nintendo must have been aware of the obvious association of this nonsensical name to a toilet function...Wii --> Wee.

Thus it was only a matter of time before a Program Director of some rock station made a contest out of that word-play. In the age demographic to which most rock stations try to appeal, it's a simple, easy association. Can't you just hear the sniggering promotions in the weeks before the contest?

"....how long can you hold your wee...for a Wii???"

Someone at Nintendo should have seen that coming...

No-one should organise stupid contests like this without getting medical advice. I have heard of student associations organising similar contests in Australia. Same stupidity because of widespread and appalling ignorance of this condition. I'll admit to being ignorant until my son was airlifted to hospital from an orienteering carnival. The experience was truly terrifiying with doctors talking about heart damage, kidney failure, low ogygen levels in the brain etc etc. The trap about this condition is that there appears to be significant genetic variability in susceptibility. Ten people might go through similar sweating and drinking regimes, but only one might be seriously effected. This leads to an unreasonable sense of immunity amongst those unknowingly more likely to develop electrolyte imbalances.
No, I'll amend that.. unreasonable sense of immunity amongst nearly everyone.

Couple years ago person died after consuming around 2L of vodka during vodka drinking contest. Amazingly, first prize was 10 bottles of the same staff... Happened somewhere in Russia, in Siberia.

better than antifreeze, which is what a friend's language consultants used to drink when they couldn't get vodka.

I wouldn't be too quick to blast the organizers. After all, our own events rely on the competitors taking responsibility for their own safety. The only reason we can hold events at all is that the vast majority of participants accept this risk. If organizers were sued every time something went wrong, our sport wouldn't last long.

Granted, the competition was stupid, but in the end, the participants wilfully decided to do something very contrary to what their bodies were telling them. That happens all the time in athletic competitions. Sometimes the results are tragic.

Under the circumstances, I don't know if humor is appropriate. But there've been a few puns on the name "Wii:"

• I need a Wii now! I can't wait until Christmas!
• "Mum, I finished my homework. Can I play with my Wii some more?"
• "Hey Mom, Roger's bringing his Wii over. We're going to connect his Wii to my Wii and then we'll play all night."
• "We are the Knights who say Wii!"
• Wii Willy Winky runs through town, upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown. Knocking on the window, crying through the lock "Are the children all in bed? It’s past eight o’clock."
• "Pass me that wemote contwol pwease?" -- Elmer Fudd redux
• "Do you have any Wii in stock?" asked the customer. "Or course we do," exclaimed the clerk, "Urine GameStop!"

According to my understanding, at least one medical professional called the radio station and warned of the dangers of excessive water consumption while the contest was going on, and was laughed at by the radio hosts on the air, saying something to the effect that the participants had signed waivers, so it wasn't their problem. I don't know whether the participants could hear this exchange or not.

I'm generally not very sympathetic to the sort of lawsuit where somebody is found liable for somebody else not taking responsibility for his own actions. But it does give me pause when one person offers another person an incentive to take an action, when the first party clearly knows that it's dangerous. If you offer someone a million dollars to play one round of Russian Roulette, do you have any responsibility if they lose? From there, this differs only in degree.

In any event, the management of the radio station were clearly idiots for allowing this contest to go forward.

On that last point, there can be no doubt. And I assume that a lawsuit and generous settlement is forthcoming. That's not entirely a bad thing - it is only the possibility of big losses that keeps corporations from doing incredibly negligent things (I'm assuming that the suit will be directed towards the local stations parent company, which is likely a biggun).

The problem, of course, is that insurance companies look at that sort of thing and assume that the same sort of liability will extend to an orienteering club that sends complete novices out into the woods armed only with a compass that they don't know how to use and a map they can't read. They're not really that dumb, but they'll use that as an excuse to jack up the rates all the same.

There is a difference bewteen and unknown, unforseeable and non-specific risk and a medical guarantee of danger, if not death related directly to the act the contest (or race) requires of someone. An orienteerer who breaks a leg or dies in a meet can't say that the organizers knew the hazard was there and was likely to hurt someone. I think O meets are probably safe unless the organizers start putting controls in pits of molten lava or something equally stupid.

An orienteerer who breaks a leg or dies in a meet can't say that the organizers knew the hazard was there and was likely to hurt someone.

They can't!?! Then why do the waivers say things like, "I realize that (orienteering, adventure racing, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc.) as an outdoor activity carries specific risks that may result in serious or even fatal injuries..."

That sure sounds like somebody on the organizing side knows that the hazards are there and might mess you up pretty badly.

Well, an orienteer who dies can't say the organizers knew the hazard was there.

Back to the drinking contest. I doubt many of the competitors actually knew the risks they were taking. Legalitiy will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but ethics are hopefully consistent. My original grip was about the ethics of uninformed consent.

Well, an orienteer who dies can't say the organizers knew the hazard was there.

Sure they can - I explicitly put that possiblity in the course notes for the A-meet at cliff cave. If you run along a loose slope above a 60-foot cliff, you're an idiot, but that doesn't mean I don't know it could happen.

No. Read what I said. An orienteer who dies isn't going to be saying much of anything. Maybe his heirs...

I find your lack of faith disturbing.