by Anon_E._Mus » 15 Oct 2011, 19:35
You are correct, MPee3, a young mother did die from water-intoxication trying to "Win an Nintendo Wii by holding her pee."
Excessive water consumption, especially over a short period of time, can lead to water-intoxication, or technically hyponatremia. In hyponatremia, cells of the organs absorb the excess water, swelling their size. If this happens to rapidly, it can swell the brain, and brain swelling can cause seizures, coma, and in rare cases death. This was most probably the cause of death of the young mother. She probably drank far too much water far too fast.
However, the physiology of the human kidneys and urinary bladder are such that the method Dave recommends of consuming about 1.5 liters of water per hour is relative safe for the models and reliably produces the desired result.
Normal human kidneys are capable of producing about one liter of urine per hour when functioning at their maximum capacity. For them to function at maximum capacity, there must be a need for the kidneys to do so, or, in other words, there must be sufficient water ingested in excess of the body’s normal requirements for the kidneys to remove it at that rate. So, unless the model is either seriously dehydrated to begin with, is exercising and profusely perspiring during the time of ingestion, or has abnormally poor kidney function, the guideline of 1.5 liters per hour produces the predictable result with relative safety. Also, holding longer with a full bladder may cause a model to have temporary obstructive hydronephrosis, a painful swelling of the kidneys that is easily reversible with urination.