Did you realise that there is also water poisoning? We have all heard of (if not personally experienced) food and drink poisoning. When too much water is consumed in too little time, a condition known as water toxicity or water intoxication, which can be fatal, occurs.
Sadly, after consuming 64 ounces of water in 20 minutes, Ashley Miller, a 35-year-old mother of two, passed away from water intoxication. She took a trip with her family over the Fourth of July holiday, spending the majority of the time on a boat on the Indiana reservoir’s Lake Freeman.
Her brother, Devon Miller, said, “They were out on the boat all week and long Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday,” adding that his sister was severely dehydrated and that drinking water didn’t help. She felt dizzy and had a terrible headache at one point.
In order to alleviate her headache and vertigo, Ashley Miller drank four 16-ounce bottles of water over the course of 20 minutes. For contrast, the recommended daily intake of water is eight glasses. Things didn’t start to go south until Tuesday night, July 4, when she and her family arrived home.
When Ashley suddenly passed out, she was in her garage as she crossed it to enter her family’s house. The mother of two lost consciousness and was never revived; it was later determined that she had died from water poisoning, which her brother and many others were unaware even existed.
Devon Miller recalled the exact moment he realised something was wrong: “My sister Holly called me, and she was just an absolute wreck.” “She says, ‘Ashley’s in the hospital,’” Her brain is swollen. They are unsure of the cause. It’s not looking good, and they don’t know what to do to make it go down.
Although she was an organ donor at the time of her death, her husband and two daughters are consoled by this information even though they are still in mourning. Five people’s lives will be saved by Ashley Miller’s heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and long bone tissue.
Your first thought when you’re thirsty, especially on a hot summer day, is to sip on some water. The Millers want other families to be aware of two things about dehydration and water consumption in order to prevent a similar tragedy, even if it’s a great place to start.
They first discovered that drinking water should be spread out throughout the day. While it is generally advised to drink two litres of water each day, it is also not advised to consume more than one litre in a single hour; Ashley drank two litres in just under 20 minutes. That’s the first lesson.
They also discovered that the body needs electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and others, which are found in drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, and Pedialyte, in addition to water, to prevent dehydration. It can be exceedingly harmful, if not lethal, to have too much water and not enough electrolytes, as was the situation for Ashley.
The National Kidney Foundation lists the most typical signs and symptoms of hyponatremia as headache, nausea, vomiting, disorientation, weariness, loss of energy, low blood pressure, muscle weakness, twitching cramps, soreness, seizures, coma, and/or restlessness.