Doctors have reported that a British hiker died after ingesting a lot of water while on the trail. The 47-year-old woman, who was a resident of London, died after the levels of salt in her blood dropped with all the water she consumed, causing her brain to swell and resulting to her death.
According to doctors, this is the first documented case of a hiker dying of 'water intoxication'. The journal Wilderness & Environmental Medicine discussed her case, as follows.
In September 2008, the unidentified woman and her husband were hiking 6.2 miles across the Grand Canyon National Park. The couple caught a bus to the Grand Canyon Village after the hike. It was there that she fainted and fell face-forward onto the pavement.
Report has it that no bumps were found on her head and she regained consciousness after that incident. The woman was sitting upright when the emergency services arrived. However,they observed that she was slow to respond to questions and complained of a headache.
They placed a hard collar on her, head blocks and spinal board for precautionary measures, just in case there was damage to her spine. She was also given an IV line.
Enroute to the nearest hospital, it was reported that she suddenly sat upright and pulled out her IV line. She then threw-up a large amount of clear fluid and lost consciousness, according to the journal.
She was given saline solution and oxygen by the doctors to stabilize her condition. However, she never regained consciousness and was declared brain dead 19 hours after she collapsed.
The water intoxication she suffered from resulted in severe brain swelling thus increasing the pressure in her skull. It impeded circulation ultimately leading to "brain death''.
Her husband said she "drank a large amount of water and ate very little" on the hike. Strenuous hiking meant salt and mineral levels in her body plummeted below normal levels. With the large amount of water she consumed it created an imbalance in her system resulting to what doctors called ‘exercise associated hyponatremia (EAH)’, which means low levels of sodium in the blood.
Hyponatremia is a condition brought about by an abnormally low level of sodium in your blood. Drinking excessively large quantities of water during endurance sports along with an underlying medical condition are factors that can trigger this. It can definitely be fatal.
