Woman Overdoses on Liquid I.V. in This Viral TikTok

If you’re working or exercising in the heat, you may need to replace what you’re losing from sweating with an electrolyte drink. Electrolytes are minerals in your blood, tissues and organs that have an electrical charge. Examples of electrolytes include sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphate and chloride. They help muscles, nerves and organs work properly, move nutrients in and out of cells, and maintain proper pH and hydration levels.

You lose electrolytes when you sweat. If the sweat sesh lasts long enough or you’re sweating profusely enough and you start to become dehydrated, you’ll want to replenish both the fluids and electrolytes. This can be done with electrolyte replacement drinks. Certain foods can help, too, as the minerals in many foods also double as electrolytes. 

There are many different types of electrolyte drinks on the market. Some have artificial colors and flavors, so if you want to avoid those, look for drinks that contain natural colors and flavors. Some brands use coconut water as their base since coconut water naturally contains electrolytes. You can also purchase packets of electrolyte powder or tablets to add to your plain water. 

If you’re outside on a hot day or are sick with mild vomiting and diarrhea, an electrolyte drink may be a helpful way to rehydrate. But if you have a major stomach bug, opt for an oral rehydration solution (hello, Pedialyte!) since sports drinks don’t contain enough electrolytes to replace severe fluid losses. But is it possible to overdo it and get too many electrolytes? Can you overdose on electrolyte drinks? And are they something you should be drinking all day long? 

In a recent viral TikTok by @thebohemianmuse, the creator posts a video of her mom being taken away by ambulance because she’s having a difficult time breathing. 

“I could hear fluid in every breath she took,” says the TikTok creator. “It sounded like she was drowning!”

In the emergency room, The Bohemian Muse outlines all the signs and symptoms her mom was experiencing. It included shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, high blood pressure, high sodium levels, elevated blood sugar, abdominal pain, swollen feet, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and puffy eyelids. 

The medical professionals told her that her mom drank too much Liquid I.V., a powder electrolyte supplement that you add to water.

Can You Overdose on Electrolytes?

The short answer is yes, you can overdose on electrolytes. Consuming too many electrolytes may cause an electrolyte imbalance in the body and lead to many of the signs and symptoms The Bohemian Muse lists in her TikTok. Additional signs and symptoms you may experience include weakness, headache, tremors, confusion, muscle cramping, irregular heartbeat and constipation.

On their website, Liquid I.V. boasts that their products have “3x the electrolytes of the leading sports drink.” This means that if you’re sipping on water infused with this supplement all day long but not losing electrolytes through heavy sweating, vomiting or diarrhea, they could accumulate in your body—especially if you have certain health conditions that make it difficult for your body to excrete electrolytes efficiently. 

We don’t know this woman’s medical history and why she was adding Liquid I.V. to her water. Perhaps she was told she needed to hydrate better since it’s common for older people to not properly hydrate. And many people don’t like plain water, so they’ll add something to it for flavor. Liquid I.V. comes in a plethora of different fruity flavors so it wouldn’t be unheard of for someone to do this.

And it can be confusing when a company like Liquid I.V. promotes its products for “mental clarity” and “everyday wellness.” It sounds like it’s something that could be drunk all day long for those purposes. 

What complicates matters is that many of the signs and symptoms of electrolyte toxicity are the same as the signs and symptoms of dehydration. And if you have diabetes, dehydration can cause high blood sugar, which also has many of the same signs and symptoms. So it’s important that if you or someone you know is experiencing the signs of any of these conditions, seek medical attention to confirm a diagnosis with bloodwork, examination and medical history.

The Bottom Line

Staying well-hydrated and well-nourished with a varied, balanced diet and drinking plenty of fluids can help fend off dehydration and the need for an electrolyte replacement. The times you may need one include when you’re sick with an illness that involves vomiting and diarrhea, or if you’re working or exercising in the heat. There may also be some medical conditions that warrant an electrolyte replacement drink, which your healthcare practitioner would recommend. 

Imbibing electrolyte beverages throughout the day without these circumstances, however, might spell overload. And there’s another caveat to all of this—the added sugar many electrolyte supplements and beverages contain. 

There are reasons sugar is included in many of them. First, sugar helps push fluid into cells, speeding up how quickly the beverage rehydrates. The sugar also replenishes energy being used up from exercise or heavy labor and can help bring blood sugar back up. 

But using electrolyte drinks in place of water when you don’t really need to replace electrolytes or hydrate quickly can add a lot of unnecessary added sugar to your diet.

While electrolyte replacement drinks and supplements have their place and can serve an important purpose, they’re not intended as a beverage you drink all day long—unless you’re working or exercising out in the heat and sweating profusely.  When in doubt, seek the advice of your healthcare practitioner or a registered dietitian to see if electrolyte supplements are for you.