Wee for a Wii

This article talks about Jennifer Strange, a 28 year-old woman who died due to water intoxication. Water intoxication results when the normal balance of electrolytes are disturbed and pushed out of safe limits from drinking excessive amounts of water. As we talked about in class today, cells prefer to stay in an isotonic solution. With the excess water coming in, the fluid outside the cells would get more water, becoming diluted. This would cause the fluid outside the cell to become hypotonic. Cells in hypotonic solutions start to swell up. Because, in comparison, the cells would have a higher concentration of salts and the water would rush into the cells. Eventually the cells would burst due to all the pressure. In the brain, this swelling increases intracranial pressure. This may cause headaches, confusion, and drowsiness; symptoms that Strange went through just hours before her death. Eventually, vital signs will be effected; including bradycardia which is an abnormally slow heart rate. Cerebral edema can occur; an excess accumulation of water in the intracellular and extracellular spaces of the brain. This can cause cerebral infarctions because blood vessels may collapse due to all the pressure, resulting in paralysis. In sum, the body will slowly stop working causing brain damage, coma, or even death.
Water intoxication can be prevented if your water intake does not exceed your losses. Healthy kidneys can micturate about a quarter of a gallon an hour; stress may reduce this number. Water intoxication, before it goes too far, can be treated with diuretics to help you urinate :) Another treatment is vasopressin receptor antagonists which are one of the cell surface receptors that play an important role in your body's retention of water.