# Loading up with water



## Big Beautiful Dreamer (Feb 14, 2007)

About a decade ago, before I ever discovered the wonderful world of Dimensions, I used to pass the time in a boring job by deliberately chugging large amounts of water, enjoying the sensation of an aching stomach sagging with fluid... sometimes at home, too, I would chug down a quart or more of water and look at myself in the mirror. And think I was the weirdest person in the world.

Does anyone else do the water thing? Or have done in the past? I've read up on water intoxication, and evidently you have to drink a half gallon all at once to be at any risk. I've never been able to hold more than a quart or so without quitting.

Or maybe I am just weird.:batting:


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## Tad (Feb 14, 2007)

....but a couple of times at the end of an indulging spree I've chugged back a lot of liquid (sometimes water) to have a final, maximal, fullness and projection of my gut.

Also back in my first year university an older class was training some people from my class on a competitive drinking competition held between engineering classes. It was all about speed of drinking. We trained with water. I don't know how much I drank in total, but it was a LOT. It seemed I spent most of the next hour in the washroom as my body flushed out the extra liquid. That was definately too much water.

On the other hand, I've probably drunken a quart of water quite few times, just because I'm thirsty. I can down a lot of liquid quickly! (I guess that training in university took *L*)

Regards;

-Ed


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## bigplaidpants (Feb 14, 2007)

Big Beautiful Dreamer said:


> ...I used to pass the time in a boring job by deliberately chugging large amounts of water, enjoying the sensation of an aching stomach sagging with fluid... sometimes at home, too, I would chug down a quart or more of water and look at myself in the mirror. And think I was the weirdest person in the world.
> 
> Does anyone else do the water thing? Or have done in the past? ... Or maybe I am just weird.:batting:




Funny. I mentioned this in another post.

One time, I was between 8-10, I deliberately chugged water with the expressed intension of making my belly bigger. I was fanasizing about being fatter. The thing I remember most was the shame I felt about it. I didn't know what was going on. I just knew I fantasized about fat people, about being big. It's was such a turn on. But, I was paranoid anyone would figure out what I was doing...someone would catch me guzzling glasses of water and pushing my belly out and looking at myself in the mirror.

Anyway, yea. I did the water thing once. I didn't do it again because it didn't accomplish what I wanted. I thought I could just keep going, getting bigger...but I got sick.

Weird? Yea. Maybe. But, that makes two of us.


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## Brit (Feb 14, 2007)

I've done it, if only for the satisfying belches and the lovely sensation of the swooshing liquid in my gut.

God, I think I'd like to try it again now! Bye!


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## herin (Feb 14, 2007)

I usually drink about a liter of water after I binge. I find it to be rather climactic.


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## OutaTowner (Feb 14, 2007)

Ya, I've also done the chugging water bit. Its a rather cool feeling I might say. Normally I can get 2L's going depending on what else I had drank or eaten before. The most I have done is a little over 2.5 Liters... I actually started feeling slightly dizzy afterwards. 

Basically water intoxication is when so much water has rushed into your system that it naturally throws off the balance inside your body. Particularly with the sodium levels inside your blood and plasma. The water will then often rush inside various cells causing them to bloat up quite a bit. They can even rupture when this happens. Wikipedia says that the first symptom is light-headedness (dizziness). 



> "Initial symptoms typically include light-headedness, sometimes accompanied by nausea, vomiting, headache and/or malaise. Plasma sodium levels below 100 mmol/L (2.3g/L) frequently result in cerebral edema, seizures, coma, and death within a few hours of drinking the excess water. As with alcohol poisoning, the progression from mild to severe symptoms may occur rapidly as the water continues to enter the body from the intestines or intravenously."
> 
> "A person with two healthy kidneys can excrete about 900ml (0.24 gal)/hr.[2] Consuming as little as 1.8 litres of water (0.48 gal) in a single sitting may prove fatal for a person adhering to a low-sodium diet, or 3 litres (0.79 gallons) for a person on a normal diet. However, this must be modulated by potential water losses via other routes. For example, a person who is perspiring heavily may lose 1 L/hr (0.26 gal) of water through perspiration alone, thereby raising the threshold for water intoxication."




Hehe, so basically make sure you have a lot of salt in your diet when you go to do this, and you'll be fine! Either that or substitute some gatorade or powerade along with the water.


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## Totmacher (Feb 15, 2007)

Loosing water through perspiration _lowers_ your threshold of hyponatremia. Perspiration is kinda salty. Water intoxication is commonly seen among athletes who perspire themselves into dehydration and ravers who are trying to avoid getting dehydrated... jeeze, now I have to go correct the wikipe... oh, they cover that in the next sentence.


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## OutaTowner (Feb 15, 2007)

Totmacher said:


> Loosing water through perspiration _lowers_ your threshold of hyponatremia. Perspiration is kinda salty. Water intoxication is commonly seen among athletes who perspire themselves into dehydration and ravers who are trying to avoid getting dehydrated... jeeze, now I have to go correct the wikipe... oh, they cover that in the next sentence.



Ya, I figured that most on the Dimensions site didn't need that part. Though I guess the sentence at hand could be worded better. Because truly it is actually raising the threshold for water intoxication; there is less water to dilute down the electrolytes. WI only becomes a problem when the electrolytes aren't kept in balance.


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## AnnMarie (Feb 15, 2007)

OutaTowner said:


> Hehe, so basically make sure you have a lot of salt in your diet when you go to do this, and you'll be fine! Either that or substitute some gatorade or powerade along with the water.



There was a very media intensive case recently of a woman who died from water intoxication. I think any "tips" or "pointers" on how YOU think it can be done safely are a huge mistake and it should be clear to all posters here that you should not be doing anything that could kill you - period.


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## Totmacher (Feb 15, 2007)

Jennifer Strange was a young mother who's desire to please her children drove her to consume around two gallons of water in attempt to out-drink the other contestants on a poorly-planned radio show contest and win a video game console. That's tragic, but it's not the kind of thing a reasonable who's aware of the risks does by accident is it?


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## Fuzzy Necromancer (Feb 15, 2007)

AnnMarie said:


> There was a very media intensive case recently of a woman who died from water intoxication. I think any "tips" or "pointers" on how YOU think it can be done safely are a huge mistake and it should be clear to all posters here that you should not be doing anything that could kill you - period.



In that case

Don't drive.

Don't walk in the street.

Don't go outside.

Don't own a home.

Don't eat.

Any number of thigns COULD kill you, including pencils and dental floss. However, the probability of them killing you is so low as to be negligable. 


Water is, simply put, the safest thing to ingest. It's the most medically neutral substance and the nutrient your body needs and can take more of. Too much vitamin C is worse than too much water.

Here's a rule of thumb: if you feel like puking, stop drinking. Follow that and you will be fine.


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## AnnMarie (Feb 16, 2007)

Totmacher said:


> Jennifer Strange was a young mother who's desire to please her children drove her to consume around two gallons of water in attempt to out-drink the other contestants on a poorly-planned radio show contest and win a video game console. That's tragic, but it's not the kind of thing a reasonable who's aware of the risks does by accident is it?



No, I don't think it is. My point was him advising that consuming whatever you'd like as long as you have a high salt content isn't something you should just "assume" based on what you read about the problem. 

If someone's going to be stupid enough to do it, so be it, but as a moderator, I can't just let a statement like that stay there without pointing out it's probably not a sound idea.


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## AnnMarie (Feb 16, 2007)

Fuzzy Necromancer said:


> In that case
> 
> Don't drive.
> 
> ...



Way to be literal, thanks.

See above.


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## OutaTowner (Feb 16, 2007)

AnnMarie said:


> There was a very media intensive case recently of a woman who died from water intoxication. I think any "tips" or "pointers" on how YOU think it can be done safely are a huge mistake and it should be clear to all posters here that you should not be doing anything that could kill you - period.



I understand your concern, I really do. And I do understand your need to as a moderator to keep these boards and it's visitors safe. So I do honestly thank you for catching this.

However I will state that though I am not a doctor, I am currently a Biology major with an emphasis in Pre-Med. I absolutely love learning about what takes place with in our own bodies. Besides all the classes I have taken, I regularly look at medical journals and other scientific publications. 

When the aforementioned case occurred, I was extremely intrigued to learn what exactly takes place during water intoxication. I was especially so because it was actually relevant to my life. I first read about in a daily scientific website: www.sciencedaily.com. From there I researched it out on not only Wikipedia, but also on other sites as well, because frankly, I don't always trust wikiality. 

But people still do Methamphetamine even though it puts holes in your brain. People still smoke, and pick up smoking, even though we are constantly reminded of how it much death and chronic illnesses it creates. People still speed and race their cars, even though it causes so many people to get killed if not seriously injured. People will drink alcohol to the point where they are throwing up, falling over, crashing cars, and killing themselves. And people will still drink large volumes of water to see how full and swollen they can get their belly.

My point is that people frequently do things that aren't the best choices, if not things that could kill them. The best anyone else can do is to educate others about the known risks. Then after being educated about the subject matter, one can make a choice to either continue doing said activity, or discontinue/make a plan to quit doing said activity. There could then either be one of two steps to take if someone truly wanted the person to stop or be safe while doing it (if there was a way). They could either continue trying to convince the person to stop, or they can point out what they can do to help make sure they are safe while doing so. 


Either way, I will once again say that it was wrong of me to give such tips to avoid water intoxication _with out_ stating what my personal qualifications for giving it (so people could [no pun intended] take whatever be with a grain of salt) and reiterating the very true risks that occur with it. A lesson I needed to learn now before it could have very serious legal ramifications for me. 

And I truly hope my response does not come across as sarcastic or cynical. This was written very sincerely and objectively. Thank you for understanding.


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## OutaTowner (Feb 16, 2007)

Fuzzy Necromancer said:


> Here's a rule of thumb: if you feel like puking, stop drinking. Follow that and you will be fine.



That is a symptom, yes, and at that point you definitely should stop. But I do not believe that should be your rule of thumb. I think the only reported complaint Jennifer Strange felt was a severe, debilitating, head ache.


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## OutaTowner (Feb 16, 2007)

Another safety tip I can think of if someone is going to be doing this is to *do it slowly*. When doing it slowly you will be able to keep in tune with how your body responds to the increase of water. 

_You usually can not go wrong with taking every precaution that you can. _


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## Gordo Mejor (Feb 17, 2007)

Fuzzy Necromancer said:


> Here's a rule of thumb: if you feel like puking, stop drinking. Follow that and you will be fine.




I agree that water is one of the safest things to drink. In moderation!!!!!!

But drinking it excessively, can be fatal. Your rule of stop drinking if you feel like puking is pure nonsense. You can easily drink a fatal amount of water without feeling like puking. It's not alcohol.

One time in my youth, many decades ago, I chugged a gallon of water. It felt cool for a short time. Then I began to feel logey, nauseous and pretty bad. I had a headache, but never had the urge to puke though.

I ended up just sitting in bed, very miserable, for several hours. From what I read now, I was lucky. God protecting fools I guess.


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## Totmacher (Feb 17, 2007)

OutaTowner said:


> Another safety tip I can think of if someone is going to be doing this is to *do it slowly*. When doing it slowly you will be able to keep in tune with how your body responds to the increase of water.
> 
> _You usually can not go wrong with taking every precaution that you can. _




Wouldn't you not get a good bloat on if you do it that slowly? I'd think you'd have to drink more water to get the same effect 'cause you'd be absorbing the water and/or draining it into your intestines... I'm not a doctor, that's just my best guess.


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## lonelyfa (Feb 18, 2007)

Fuzzy Necromancer said:


> In that case
> 
> Don't drive.
> 
> ...





thats just dumb she wasnt saying dont drink water just DONT CHUG 2 quarts of water just like dont drink a handle of vodka neither is good


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## Fuzzy Necromancer (Feb 18, 2007)

My bad. I apologize for my oversimplification of the issue.


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## Jack Skellington (Feb 20, 2007)

AnnMarie said:


> There was a very media intensive case recently of a woman who died from water intoxication. I think any "tips" or "pointers" on how YOU think it can be done safely are a huge mistake and it should be clear to all posters here that you should not be doing anything that could kill you - period.



I agree with AnnMarie.

Honestly, there has to be safer ways to get your jollies than risking water intoxication and death. Just when you think the weight room can get no weirder something like this comes along and totally raises the bar.

Damn.


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## Sojourner (Feb 20, 2007)

Doesn't have to be water. Juice works; isotonic drinks would be best. Little pricey if you're putting away several litres, though.

Fascinating subject, it'd be great to see how people manage with this.


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