Summary of three girls who developed hyponatremia
Many people especially the young adults are fond of taking ecstasy substances, which would influence their behaviour. Ecstasy is also known as MDMA, and Merck pharmaceutical company developed it in 1912. Initially, the US army used its psychological warfare tests and later as a medication to lower inhibitions. Many people abused the drug during parties in search of happiness. In 1985, it was banned. Ecstasy in the current world may contain several substance mixtures such as heroin, cocaine, caffeine, rat poison, methamphetamine as well as dog deworming. In this paper, we will evaluate three patients. One took ecstasy that led to the development of hyponatremia. The other one engaged in marathon taking a lot of water while the last one went through surgical procedures. Some recovered, and some died. The three patients include the girl who took MDMA, the surgical patient and the marathon runner.
A 20 years old girl who consumes multiple tablets of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine is taken to the emergency room for treatment. She is as well reported to have made large quantities of water when engaging in dancing and excessive drinking at the party. The effects of MDMA were seen in her in the following morning where she had foaming at the mouth; she was unresponsive, weak pulse, unresponsive to painful stimuli. However, there was no medical complication reported before such as surgical history, but at the emergency room the patient had respiratory distress, temperatures were high, she was hypoxemic and nonedematous. These were symptoms of a condition known as hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is a condition that can lead to an increase in intracranial pressure, which may cause the development of neurogenic pulmonary capillary leak hence resulting in Noncardiogenic Pulmonary Edema. For the case of cardiogenic pulmonary oedema it not familiar to young women adults who initially were not diagnosed with renal disease.
Also, hyponatremic encephalopathy can appear in the form of hypercapnic respiratory failure. The movement of water into the brain cell occurs after a person takes a lot of water and ecstasy while doing some work such as dancing or running. As a result, the person may sweat excessively, dissolving sodium in the blood. The MDMA as well causes thirst triggering the excessive consumption of water. If a person has attended a party, they are encouraged to take large volumes of water to avoid dehydration. MDMA results negatively to the production of vasopressin among the marathon runners and the dancers. Another common effect of MDMA is the decrease of gastrointestinal motility, which in turn leads to a sizeable static volume of electrolyte-free water in the lumen. The surgical patients may develop hyponatremia due to blood loss hypovolemia that causes the release of vasopressin (ADH) which makes the kidney resorption of water increase to regulate the blood pressure.
When the sodium concentration in the blood is too because of operational activities, use of MDMA or engaging in a tough job such as marathon and dancing, proper treatment is essential. It is unfortunate to note that the girl finally succumbed to death, despite the many efforts done to rescue her. The best treatment procedure for hyponatremia entails the use of intravenous fluid to raise the sodium levels in the blood. The patient stays in hospital so that there is close monitoring of the condition. Alternatively, there are medication offered which may help to regulate the symptoms especially when there are no severe symptoms. All the patients were administered with intravenous fluid. Further for the case of a marathon runner and the girl using MDMA they used hypertonic saline. Nevertheless, the girl died because of severe symptoms such as complex tachycardia, pulseless electrical activity, which were difficult to control.