way to die #529: Chug-a-lug

This is a story about how a woman died from water intoxication. This happened to my mother, too, but she didn't die from it. She had hyponatremia.

She retained a lot of fluid and tried to get it off by drinking a lot of water, not knowing that it was her blood pressure medication, 100mg of Atenolol a day in divided doses, that was to blame. When she began to get pain in her legs, she ignored it, thinking it was her arthritis and cholesterol medication doing it. She finally went to the hospital when the pain got so bad she couldn't stand it. She was having terrible headaches, and dangerously high blood pressure.

We found out that if she hadn't gotten to the hospital when she did, she would have gone into a coma and eventually died; her sodium levels were down to 115. Just after that, she changed her heart doctor and he got her off the bad medicine. This caused her to lose 40 pounds in 8 months, and she wasn't even trying because it was all fluid.

Let me warn you all out there of quack doctors. They don't care about you, just your money. Yes, blood pressure meds help, but only if the doctor prescribes them correctly, which wasn't done in this case! B/p meds are real Judases if you are trying to lose weight because of the fluid retention. Don't go on them unless you absolutely *have* to. Your b/p will be high in the doctors' office because of "white-coat hypertension" ( yes, it is real!). What you might want to do is buy a blood pressure monitor and take your b/p twice a day, keeping a journal of it and take it to your appointments. This way, it will help the doctors prescribe meds in a more correct way.

Just the other day, I read something about water and how to drink it correctly:

1. DO NOT drink ice water. Some stupid doctor said that it would help people lose weight, but what it *really* does in the long run is hurt your esophagus and stomach. Don't drink ice water when you get really hot, either.

2. DO NOT drink water with meals, or just after you've eaten. Drink 1 glass (8oz) 30 minutes before a meal, and 1 glass 1 hour later. Drinking with or just after a meal will dilute stomach acid. If you have to drink with a meal, make sure it's warm and sip on it. Some people have chewing problems and/or not enough saliva, however.

3. Drink a glass 30 minutes before breakfast. This will help digest food.
4. Drink a glass 1 hour before bed, if you can. Some people have to get up during the night

I know that some people's schedules will not allow this, but just do the best you can. This may be the cause of some people's stomach problems, drinking water incorrectly. This may be why people crave junk food and gain weight because their bodies can't absorb nutrients that way it's supposed to.