Can you die from drinking too much water? SC boy, 10, develops intoxication after downing six bottles in an hour
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA: Amid the south grappling with a heatwave, people are trying their best to stay hydrated. However, for 10-year-old Ray Jordan drinking a lot of water did more harm than good.
Jordan was out playing with his cousins during the Fourth of July weekend when he drank six bottles of water between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm. He began exhibiting alarming symptoms at 10.30 pm prompting his parents to rush him to the Prisma Health Children’s Hospital, where they were told he had developed a dangerous condition known as water intoxication.
Who is Ray Jordan?
Prior to being hospitalized, according to his parents, Jeff and Stacy, Jordan was having a lot of fun. Stacy said, "He ran outside with his cousins and started playing. They were full throttle running circles around the house, a bunch of boys together, jumping on the trampoline. [Ray] had gone in and gotten himself some water. What we didn’t realize was how much he got."
Within an hour, according to Jeff, the boy's "motor functions were gone" and he "couldn't control his head or arms or anything," as per WISTV. The alarmed couple said, "He almost seemed like he was on drugs, drunk, even mentally handicapped at that point."
Ray Jordan developed water intoxication
Jordan underwent several tests before doctors found he had water intoxication and his blood sodium were dangerously low. The condition happens due to the kidneys' inability to cope with a big influx of water at once causing blood salt levels to go down. Stacy said, "They were giving him something to help him urinate as much as possible to get those fluids out because it was swelling around his brain — that was why his head was hurting so much."
Doctors gave him sodium and potassium from for eight hours from 4 am to 12 pm after which he started becoming conscious. Stacy said, "At 1.30 he just woke up, he asked for food, he was like where am I? What happened?"
The fact that Jordan is now healthy and has no lingering consequences makes his parents happy. Jeff said, "It never would’ve even occurred to us that he was washing everything out, and that it was dangerous." As the electrolytes in sports drinks don't dilute the bloodstream like water does, the Jordans said that this experience showed them how crucial it was to alternate between drinking water and sports drinks on hot days. The parents expressed their sincere gratitude to the personnel at Prisma Health Children's Hospital for everything that they did for their family.
