Two parents have issued a warning after their 10-year-old son had to be rushed to hospital after he downed six bottles of water and ended up with water intoxication.
Ray Jordan was out playing with his young cousins in Columbia in South Carolina across the 4th July holiday weekend and was 'running circles around the house, a bunch of boys together, jumping on the trampoline'.
After ‘going full throttle’ with his cousins while the sun beating down, Ray had popped inside to get himself water - but unbeknownst to his parents, he’d actually over-hydrated, knocking back six bottles of water between 8.30pm and 9.30pm.
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Around an hour later, at 10.30pm, his parents Stacy and Jeff Jordan began to notice something was wrong when the youngster began throwing up.
Speaking to WISTV, Stacy said it was like their son was ‘on drugs’ or ‘drunk’, with his dad adding: “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.”
At the hospital, medics ran a series of tests to try and determine what was wrong with Ray and discovered that his sodium levels were dangerously low, which happens when the kidneys aren’t able to keep up with the amount of water coming into the body.
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Stacy said: “They were giving him something to help him urinate as much as possible to get those fluids out because it was swelling around his brain, that was why his head was hurting so much.”
He was also given sodium and potassium by doctors to help try and regulate his blood.
Thankfully, Ray made a full recovery and is now in good health - but the family are sharing their story to warn other parents about the potential dangers of drinking too much water.
Jeff said: “It never would’ve even occurred to us that he was washing everything out, and that it was dangerous.”
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The parents say the scary episode has taught them to alternate between drinking water and sports drinks - such as Gatorade - because they contain electrolytes that don’t dilute your bloodstream in the same way water does.
The parents also expressed their gratitude to staff at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital in Columbia for everything they did for Ray.
The NHS recommends children should drink 6-8 glasses of fluid per day and says the ‘best drinks to slurp are water and semi-skimmed milk’.
Featured Image Credit: WIS-TVTopics: Health, US News, Food And Drink