Woman Dies From Toxicity After Drinking Too Much Water

A 35-year-old mother died from water toxicity while outdoors over the Fourth of July weekend. Ashley Summers was spending her Fourth of July weekend at Lake Freeman near Monticello, Indiana with her husband and two daughters when her brother Devon Miller received a call that made him immediately suspect something was wrong. 

"They were out on the boat all weekend long Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday," Miller told WKRC. "My sister Holly called me and she was just an absolute wreck. She's like, 'Ashley's in the hospital, she has brain swelling, they don't know what's causing it. They, they don't know what they can do to get it to go down and it's, it's not looking good.'" 

On that day, Summers' family reported she felt dehydrated and couldn't drink enough water. She also mentioned feeling lightheaded and having a headache. "Someone said that she drank four bottles of water in that 20 minutes. And I mean, you know, average water bottle is, her bottle of water is like 16 ounces. So that was 64 ounces that she drank in the span of 20 minutes. That's half a gallon. That's what you're supposed to drink in a whole day," said Miller. 

Despite making it home that night, Summers passed out in her garage and didn't wake up. Water toxicity was the cause of her death, according to doctors."It was a shock to all of us when they first started talking about water toxicity. And it was like, this is a thing," said Miller. 

"Water toxicity occurs when somebody drinks too much water really quickly," Blake Froberg, a doctor at the Indiana University School of Medicine, told WKRC. "There are certain things that can make somebody more at risk for it, but the, the overall thing that happens is that you have too much water and not enough sodium in your body."

According to Dr. Froberg, a toxicologist, it is a rare occurrence, but if you work outside or engage in sports often during the summer months, it's essential to have a hydration plan. "Making sure that you're drinking things that have electrolytes that have some sodium and some potassium," Froberg said.

"The warning takeaway that I I take from it is, if I, if I'm thirsty and I drink a bottle of water and I still feel like I haven't got enough that might be the, the light bulb for me to go," Miller said. "Ok. You know what, I need to drink a Gatorade."

Symptoms of water toxicity include feeling generally unwell, muscle cramps and soreness, and nausea and headaches. Summers' family said that she was an organ donor who saved the lives of five other people.