The Poisoning Effect Of Water

A woman from Sacramento, California who competed in a radio station’s contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner’s office said Saturday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.

“She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad,” said Laura Rios, one of Strange’s co-workers at Radiological Associates of Sacramento. “She was crying and that was the last that anyone had heard from her.”

It was not immediately know how much water Strange consumed.

A preliminary investigation found evidence “consistent with a water intoxication death,” said assistant Coroner Ed Smith.

John Geary, vice president and marketing manager for Entercom Sacramento, the station’s owner, said station personnel were stunned when they heard of Strange’s death.

“We are awaiting information that will help explain how this tragic event occurred,” he said.
Initially, contestants were handed eight-ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes.

“They were small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be easy,” said fellow contestant James Ybarra of Woodland. “They told us if you don’t feel like you can do this, don’t put your health at risk.”

Ybarra said he quit after drinking five bottles. “My bladder couldn’t handle it anymore,” he added. After he quit, he said, the remaining contestants, including Strange, were given even bigger bottles to drink.

“I was talking to her and she was a nice lady,” Ybarra said. “She was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for kids.” The story was reported on Fox News Website on January 13th of 2007.

Water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain function that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by a very rapid intake of water.

It is the imbalance in intake and evacuation that causes normally beneficial, even necessary, water to have a poisoning effect.

How true the scriptures are when they remind us of the importance of keeping our lives in balance. Job prayed, “Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.” (Job 31:6 ).

Some things that might normally be beneficial, even necessary for us, can quickly become detrimental if they are pushed out of balance.

James 1:8 warns us that, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James I:8 ).

If we were to examine our lives I believe we would find (at least I would) that often when undesirable circumstances present themselves they are the result not of fate or of chance but rather of an imbalance somewhere in the decision making process.

Working is not a damaging thing unless our concern for work causes our attention to our family to suffer.

Taking your ease is not a bad thing and can be quite therapuetic to a person and a body. Everyone needs rest. Yet if we’re too concerned with ease, and disconcerned with effort, our family will suffer of poverty.

Making and saving money is a wise activity to engage in yet if we place too much importance on money will it cause our character to suffer?

Being successful in your endeavors is a worthy goal. How many people, however, placed too much importance on success and lost their integrity in the process.

The greatest question we must ask ourselves is, “Have we placed too little concern on eternity and will our soul suffer?”

It is vital that we stirve, not for perfection or impeccability, but rather for balance in every facet of our life so that we can avoid being poisoned by water.