Ray Jordan, 10, drank six bottles of water in an hour. Soon after, his family noticed he was acting strange.
Drinking too much water can be dangerous, especially when a lot is consumed in a short amount of time.
Over the Fourth of July weekend in Columbia, South Carolina, a 10-year-old boy was hospitalized when his family noticed he was acting as if he was drugged after he drank six bottles of water in under an hour, WYFF 4 reported.
“He almost seemed like he was on drugs, drunk, even mentally handicapped at that point,” said the boy’s father, Jeff Jordan, according to WYFF 4.
Ray Jordan, 10, was playing outside with his family when he got exhausted from the heat, he then went inside to get hydrated but ended up drinking six bottles of water from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., WIS-TV reported.
“He had gone in and gotten himself some water,” Stacy Jordan, Ray’s mom, told WIS-TV. “What we didn’t realize was how much he got.”
An hour after consuming a large amount of water, his family started to notice him acting strange.
“He couldn’t control his head or arms or anything. His motor functions were gone. I rushed him straight up to Richland Children’s at that point,” Jeff told WIS-TV.
Doctors found that Ray’s sodium levels in his blood were dangerously low and quickly gave him something to help him urinate in hopes to help eliminate the fluids that were causing swelling around his brain, WIS-TV reported.
Drinking too much water can cause hyponatremia, which occurs when blood sodium levels are lower than normal, according to Mayo Clinic. When this happens your cells can swell and could be deadly if not treated quickly.
Luckily, Ray’s parents caught his symptoms soon enough and were able to get him treatment. He woke up and didn’t even know what had happened but since recovering, he is doing well and has no lingering symptoms, according to WIS-TV.
Unfortunately, in Indiana following the holiday weekend, a mother did not have the same positive outcome.
Ashley Summers, 35, died on July 6 after drinking four bottles of water in under 30 minutes in an attempt to rehydrate herself after spending the weekend out on a boat, her brother, Devon Miller shared on Facebook.
“Her brain swelled to the point that it cut off the blood supply to her brain. All this happened apparently from water toxicity,” said Miller. “To all my friends, do a little research on water toxicity. It may save someone's life.”
