Last Night I Went to the ER for Water Intoxication (Though I Was Dehydrated).

I was severely dehydrated, sooooo thirsty, trying to drink more water.

I had had a headache all day (the only time I get headaches is when I am dehydrated), and had been unsuccessful in making it go away.

Earlier in the day...I exercised in the hot sun for an hour (there was a breeze so I didn't feel hot), but when I stopped, realized it was a good thing since I was beginning to feel the nausea from heat exhaustion.

Then, was disappointed because I love resting in the sun after my workouts, so just laid in the sun with a wet towel covering my face since it was the only part of me that I thought might burn. Stood in the freezing cold outdoor pool shower every few minutes (felt AWESOME).

I tried eating tomatoes after exercising so as to help with electrolyte stuff while trying to re-hydrate.

Tried bouncing on the mini-trampoline a bit (most of the time this helps somehow--moving the water around in the body?--and makes the headaches go away within a few minutes)...still had the headache.

Decided to try to get some studying done, but really wanted to be outside. Sat in the shade with a breeze, but it was still hot and humid out and I was still sweating.

Decided I had better move indoors, and found a cool indoor place to study. The headache was so bad, though, I tried to drink a LOT more water...not sure how much, maybe a half gallon to a gallon in an hour?

Got quite lightheaded and started to feel nauseous. Went home.

Took a hot-cold contrast shower, which has worked in the past. I could see my face was swollen, and thought maybe the cold could help me squeeze out the bloating in the cells. Thought maybe my body could absorb some water to hydrate myself from the hot part. Decided to take a hot bath, hoping to hydrate my body without drinking anything else.

Finally felt so lightheaded, nauseous, intense headache, and very weak, asked my hubby to take me to the ER. I knew both dehydration and water intoxication are fatal, and I didn't know how to fix either one.

Had to wait a little bit at the ER, but my entrance in was probably speeded up by the fact that I started vomiting in the waiting area...loads and loads and loads. That barf bag was FILLED to the brim. I felt much better after vomiting...the headache and abdominal pain were much less.

The lab tech tried to draw blood but busted my veins because there was nothing to draw...finally, after 4 attempts, he got something. FINALLY, the part I was waiting for, they put me on an IV and started hydrating me. They also gave me potassium after getting my blood results back. They gave me pain and anti-nausea medicines for my tummy and head, and though I tried to resist, I was too weak to argue so just let them.

My lab results were normal aside from the low potassium and they were ready to discharge me. I was frustrated because I knew I was still dehydrated--my lips were not as dry as they had been, but I was still SOOO thirsty! I persuaded them to give me another IV bag before sending me home.

Overnight, even though I wanted to drink LOADS of water at a time, I have been trying to moderate, and just drink a smaller amount each time I am thirsty.

SO, just wanted to share that. I was really glad that I have done some reading on both dehydration and water intoxication, so that I was not totally unaware what was going on (just unable to do anything about it once it happened!) I felt kind of silly because there were car accident victims in the ER and there I was, begging them to let me stay to get more hydrated, and they did not seem to take me seriously.

My discharge paperwork included information about migraines and abdominal pain. They gave me prescriptions for pain and anti-nausea medication. I don't think they really knew what to do with me. I am glad I was not an uninformed patient.

Today I did a search for water intoxication and dehydration and found this article. Thought it was pretty helpful. http://suite101.com/article/water-intoxication-a22501

Hope this can be helpful to someone else.

Tash

Tags: dehydration, food, intoxication, raw, water

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Permalink Reply by Rawbert on September 20, 2012 at 6:21am

I think you were just undercarbed.. no mention of eating any food.. besides 'trying to eat some tomatoes'.

They pumped you up with glucose and you got better.

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Permalink Reply by HealthySkinnyBeautiful-TashaLee on September 20, 2012 at 6:29am

i felt sick. no desire to eat.

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Permalink Reply by Rawbert on September 20, 2012 at 6:34am

so you eat nothing all day than you were active all day?? no wonder the light-headedness and nausea!

If you feel sick you stay in bed until you get better and also find the cause and adjust your lifestyle accordingly.

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Permalink Reply by HealthySkinnyBeautiful-TashaLee on September 20, 2012 at 6:40am

no. i woke up, then went outside and rollerbladed for an hour. it was not intense, just movement.

i usually have pretty restful days of studying after a little movement in the morning. but with a headache, i was planning to just drink water til it went away before eating.

i was not jumping on the trampoline, i was barely bouncing--just for the up and down movement--and only for a few minutes.

i did not get light-headed or nauseous until after drinking the boatload of water in the evening.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa MixedUp on September 20, 2012 at 9:35am

When I allow myself to get undercarbbed I don't get hungry, infact its the opposite I'll go

HOURS without food and then I start to get a lightheaded crackhead feeling lol

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Permalink Reply by HealthySkinnyBeautiful-TashaLee on September 20, 2012 at 9:44am

i understand that feeling from fasting but this was different. it was actually a pretty quick onset after the "overdrinking".

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Permalink Reply by Melissa MixedUp on September 25, 2012 at 7:11pm

I wasn't describing a feeling from fasting. I was describing to you how I get when I allow myself to be undercarbbed.

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Permalink Reply by HealthySkinnyBeautiful-TashaLee on September 26, 2012 at 5:30am

oh, ok. :)

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on September 20, 2012 at 6:22am

I don't see why you think you were water intoxicated, it sounds like you were just dehydrated. Anyway, glad you are okay and took care of yourself! :)

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Permalink Reply by HealthySkinnyBeautiful-TashaLee on September 20, 2012 at 6:28am

light-headedness, nausea, vomiting, swollen face, and intense headache are water intoxication. i have gotten those headaches and swollen face from it before, but never got to the vomiting part. i tend to go to extremes, and drinking half a gallon at once does not help.

do you think dehydration causes those same symptoms? read the water intoxication article. it describes what happened with me.

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Permalink Reply by Rawbert on September 20, 2012 at 6:36am

Why would you drink 1/2 at once??? That's insane! No wonder you were vomiting all over the place...:)

I wonder where do you pick up these practices not on 30bad that's for sure..:)

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Permalink Reply by HealthySkinnyBeautiful-TashaLee on September 20, 2012 at 6:46am

i'm not saying it was the greatest choice in the world, and no i didn't learn it on 30bad. i was just soooo thirsty and wanted my headache to go away, it was the choice i made.

the point of posting i guess is to warn people who tend to go to extremes like me (again not saying it is a good choice, just saying that is my tendency) that it can be dangerous.