Bruce Lee died from drinking too much water, nephrology team concludes

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Originally published at: Bruce Lee died from drinking too much water, nephrology team concludes | Boing Boing

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I got a haircut from Bruce Lee’s old barber in Oakland once and let me tell you he was most definitely a big believer in the “Bruce Lee was assassinated by Chinese gangsters” theory. And you know that barbers never trade in unfounded gossip so I assume it had to be true.

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Hyponatremia just as common as dehydration in causing medical problems. Docs: Drinking too much water can kill you

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Recently had the sweat glands in his armpits surgically removed IIRC. I guess I’ll just stay stinky.

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Chinese Gangster BBer shows up at aforementioned shop: “Nice barber shop you have here. Be a shame if…”

(no apologies for recycling the “Nice [blank] you have here” meme.

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holyprunepits! …and here i thought you were joking [forelock-pull]:
The Real Reason Bruce Lee Had His Armpit Sweat Glands Removed

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I was going to mention this as well. If he was unable to sweat enough to control his body temperature, and was drinking water to cool down, plus taking drugs to manage whatever he was dealing with at the time it seems like a combination of bad choices killed him.

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Do we have a problem with dates? The picture is labeled “Bruce Lee in 1973”, but according to the text, “Lee was 32 years old in 1972 when he died”.

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Probably needs a comma somewhere. Bruce Lee died July 20, 1973; and his birthday was November 27 (1940). So he hadn’t yet turned 33 when he died, and he was alive for part of 1973 to be photographed.

folks in Seattle kinda stroll around this particular sorrow…

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When I was seven years old, I spent six weeks in hospital with nephritis. It was a kidney thing.
I never took the time to learn about it later on. Wish I had.
But drinking too much water can kill you?
I used to think that only applied to drowning.
TIL

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Yeah even someone 100% healthy can die from too much water. There have been young kids forced to drink water as part of frat hazing who have died from drinking too much water. :frowning:

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Too much of anything can kill you, including oxygen.

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One of the biggest dangers in ultrarunning - one of the things that can actually be fatal - is hyponatremia. The REAL tough thing is that a lot of the symptoms are very similar to the symptoms of dehydration - nausea, vomiting, headaches, confusion.

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See! See! This is why I don’t run. Don’t want to get hyponatremia! (Not really, I am not capable of it.)

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Also infamously associated with a radio stunt entitled “Hold Your Wee for a Wii”

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To quote Stephen Fry, “Of course too much is bad for you. That’s what too much means.”

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It’s pretty damn hard, though not impossible, to give yourself hyponatraemia via water ingestion alone.

What’s not noted in the summary is that hyponatraemia frequently results from the effects of medication or drugs - many, many meds can cause something called SIADH and you have the water intoxication that can occur with recreational drugs like ecstacy, etc. And then there’s just good old fashioned renal failure…

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Fluid build-up in the legs can cause lymphoedema, where it leaks out through the lymphatic system. Not an option for brains, I guess.

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So much for Lee’s maxim “be like water.”

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