Too much water!

"Earlier this year some friends and i went to a dance party. None of us had been doing Es for very long, and one friend 'sammy' had only ever had one real one before. Anyway, to cut a long story short we all had one and a half, and had been having a usually euphoric experience when when another one of my friends started vomiting. this wasn't unsual for her, and and she wasn't particulalry distressed by it. But then sammy started feeling a bit
sick. She got worse and ended up throwing up right on the dance floor. So the group of us (about 6) all decided to go home (about 5 am). Sammy kept saying she thought she had too much, and people were trying to give her water, thinking she was dehydrated. When we got home she kept thowing up, and couldn't keep anything down. She kept saying 'i dont feel good'. She crashed on the couch and we all just sat and chilled, not particularly worried. It was no worse than if she'd been really drunk or something. But
then she started acting funny, she couldn't hold a cup properly, and she dropped a full glass of water on the floor. She said she couldn't feel her legs, and when she got up to go to the toilet, she wanted help sitting down.

This is when i started to freak out. (If we hadn't all still be peaking, we probably would have become worried sooner). We thought about calling an ambulance, then realised that they would probably call the cops when we told them what was wrong. So i got my car out of the driveway, but couldn't drive properly. In the meantime, someone had called a cab to take her to ER.

She kept throwing up all the way to the hospital. when we got there, cops were waiting outside, but by this time we didn't care. they helped us in, and we told both them and the attendant what was wrong. The cops told us they weren't there for us (which was nice and reassuring). She was trying to tell the nurse her details, but couldn't remember her birthday or where she lived. By this point i was really panicking, I left to go and get another one of my friends. when i got back she was totally incoherant. she was lying
there, and couldn't recognise any of us (her best friends). It was like she was retarded or something. She passed out, and we spent about six hours by her bed in ER just waiting. The doctors wouldn't tell us anything, and one of the nurses said she might die, or never get back to normal (which i realised later was probably a deliberate ploy to scare us).

The doctors finally looked at her, and told us it 'wasn't as bad as other's they'd seen'. We waited by her bed all morning in shifts, two at a time. We still had no idea why she was sick. Finally, at about midday, i was on my way back to the hospital and i got a phone call from my friend, saying she'd woken up and made some smart arsed comment - which pretty much made me cry with joy because it was just like her.

She was discharged by 9pm. We found out the reason she was sick was because she had consumed too much water. When you take E, your unrinary system shuts down, so you cant get rid of water. although you need to keep hydrated, it is really important to not drink too much. Her brain was literally flooded with fluid, which is why is was like she had brain damage or something.

I've since done a bit of research and found - it is recomended that you drink half a litre an hour WHEN DANCING, and only 250mls an hour WHEN NOT DANCING.

The condition my friend had is one of the most common forms of death from E - several here in Australia have been blamed on it.

If someone gets sick at all (even if it doesn't seem that bad), please call an ambulance or get them to a hospital straight away. Oh yeah, and peaking in the ER isn't that fun.

Since that experience, none of us have done Es again, but i think its important to let everyone know about this condition."

- Tom
24th August 2001