Woman ‘drank too much water’

TELLING people to “drink plenty of fluids” when unwell could be dangerous, doctors have warned.

Experts at King’s College Hospital in London questioned the recommendation after treating a 59-year-old woman who drank so much water she became gravely ill.

The unnamed woman overdosed on water after developing symptoms of a urinary tract infection.

She recalled being told by a doctor previously to drink lots of water – 0.28 litres every 30 minutes – though she admitted in this case she had consumed more to “flush out her system”.

Describing the experience, she said: “I remember my hand shaking rather violently and I wondered why I could not stop it, then I realised that my whole body was shaking.”

The woman was taken to A&E, where she was found to have dangerously low salt levels in her blood. This can occur if too much water is drunk in a short period.

Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and headaches. In serious cases, the brain can swell, which can lead to confusion, seizures, coma and death. A death rate of almost 30 percent has been reported in patients with abnormally low salt levels.

Writing in the journal BMJ Case Reports, doctors said there was little evidence to say how much water is too much.