Zhengzhou woman in coma after consuming 3 liters of water in two hours

A 33-year-old woman in Zhengzhou, China, has fallen into a deep coma with cerebral edema after consuming nearly 3 liters of water within a two-hour period. Medical examinations revealed she suffered from acute hyponatremia, a condition where excessive water intake dilutes the sodium concentration in the blood.

Doctors explained that when water is consumed too rapidly, the kidneys may be unable to excrete it fast enough. This dilution causes water to move into cells, causing them to swell. In the brain, this swelling—known as cerebral edema—is particularly dangerous because the skull limits space for expansion, potentially leading to severe neurological symptoms or death.