Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T08:59:30.426Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Altered State of Consciousness in a Compulsive Water Drinker

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Sing Lee*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
Chun Chung Chow
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
*
Dr S. Lee, Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, 11/F, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong

Abstract

A relatively normal 16-year-old Chinese woman with a six-month history of compulsive water drinking resulting in a comatose state is reported. The drinking was perpetuated by an enjoyable altered state of consciousness after ingestion of an average of 20 litres of water per day. Treatment by fluid restriction and, later, simple education was successful. The subjective dimension of an altered state of consciousness may provide an important explanation for the obscure aetiology.

Type
Brief Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barlow, E. D. & de Wardener, H. E. (1959) Compulsive water drinking. Quarterly Journal of Medicine, 28, 235258.Google ScholarPubMed
Berry, E. M., Halon, D. & Fainaru, M. (1977) Iatrogenic polydipsia. Lancet, i 937938.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chinn, T. A. (1974) Compulsive water drinking. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 158, 7880.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldman, M. B., Luchins, D. J. & Robertson, G. L. (1988) Mechanisms of altered water metabolism in psychotic patients with polydipsia and hyponatremia. New England Journal of Medicine, 318, 397403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jose, C. J. & Perez-Cruet, J. (1979) Incidence and morbidity of self-induced water intoxication in state mental hospital patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 221222.Google ScholarPubMed
Koo, C. L. (1984) The use of food to treat and prevent disease in Chinese culture. Social Science and Medicine, 18, 757766.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ludwig, A. M. (1966) Altered states of consciousness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 15, 225234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noonah, J. P. A. & Ananth, J. (1977) Compulsive water drinking and water intoxication. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 18, 183187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickering, L. K. & Hogan, G. R. (1971) Voluntary water intoxication in a normal child. Journal of Pediatrics, 78, 316318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowntree, L. G. (1923) Water intoxication. Archives of Internal Medicine, 32, 154174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, S., Padi, M. H., Bullard, H., et al (1985) Water intoxication in psychiatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 127131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, W. O. & Clark, M. L. (1980) Self-induced water intoxication in schizophrenic patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 10551060.Google ScholarPubMed
Swanson, A. G. & Iseri, O. A. (1958) Acute encephalopathy due to water intoxication. New England Journal of Medicine, 258, 831834.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vieweg, W. V. R., David, J. J., Rowe, W. T., et al (1985a) Psychogenic polydipsia and water intoxication – concepts that have failed. Biological Psychiatry, 20, 13081320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vieweg, W. V. R., David, J. J., Rowe, W. T., et al (1985b) Death from self-induced water intoxication among patients with schizophrenic disorders. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 173, 161165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zubenko, G. S. (1987) Water homeostasis in psychiatric patients. Biological Psychiatry, 22, 121125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.