PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Stephen B Draper
AU  - Kate J Mori
AU  - Simon Lloyd-Owen
AU  - Timothy Noakes
TI  - Overdrinking-induced hyponatraemia in the 2007 London Marathon
AID  - 10.1136/bcr.09.2008.1002
DP  - 2009 Jan 01
TA  - BMJ Case Reports
PG  - bcr0920081002
VI  - 2009
4099  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2009/bcr.09.2008.1002.short
4100  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2009/bcr.09.2008.1002.full
AB  - We report a case of overdrinking-induced hyponatraemia from the 2007 London Marathon. The patient was a 37-year-old experienced female marathon runner. She was brought to the emergency room more than 6 h after completing the marathon suffering from diarrhoea, vomiting and confusion, and was unable to recall any detail of the race. An arterial blood sample confirmed hyponatraemia ([Na+] 117 mmol.l−1) associated with hypokalaemia (serum potassium concentration 3.4 mmol.l−1) and respiratory alkalosis (pH 7.62, bicarbonate 16.1 mmol.l−1 and Pco2 2.14 kPa). A diagnosis of uncomplicated exercise-associated hyponatraemia due to voluntary overdrinking was made and the patient was catherised and treated with a slow (1 h) intra-venous infusion of 500 ml of 1.8% sodium chloride (NaCl) solution. The following morning her serum [Na+] had normalised at 135 mmol.l−1 and she was discharged in the afternoon. She has recovered fully without sequelae.