Badwater Forum

Lulu it's a privilege to have you as part of this forum.

I've been following the hyponatremia thread at the loon list and you've provided so much helpful information and very kindly provided a list of all references for us to access, which I will provide here. Thank you again so much. I will add a caveat that the Consensus Statement references are in regard to ultra events dissimilar to Badwater (none are 135 miles nor do they take place in the extreme heat of Death Valley) so extrapolating here is difficult at best, if not impossible.

An excerpt from one of your posts dated 12/12/05, subject: Re: Hyponatremica/Peeing, states:

"As Lisa notes [in reference to Lisa Bliss, MD], there has been very little research done for distances longer than Ironman Triathlons or 50 milers (Comrades is 56 miles). The opportunity is there: why has no one in this country done the type of study that Dale Speedy did in the 1997 Ironman New Zealand, weighing subjects before and after, and measuring plasma sodium concentration? The Consensus Statement(*) does have three references for longer than Comrades, however: Galun 1991 (120 km march in 24 hours, with 50 - 70lb backpacks); Stuempfle 2002 (Iditarod, 100 mile cold weather run for 8 subjects, and Iditaride cycling); Surgenor 1994 (hyponatremia in a 100 mile run participant)."

Lulu...I too have often wondered why more has not been done in the research arena regarding ultramarathoning. Lisa Bliss, MD made a very good point recently regarding this to the loon list, stating that our questions/dialogue there is helping the research: "This discussion is great. Don't stop asking questions, even if there is no one-size-fits-all answer! Stimulating questions are prompting research ideas even as we speak."I couldn't agree more.

Trampler

(*) - "Exercise-Associated Hyponatremai (EAH) consensus panel statement (Hew - Butler et al, 2005) available for free by going to the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine: http://www.cjsportmed.com
Click on "archives" and go to July 2005 issue.

50+ mile refs in the Consensus Statement:

Galun E, Tur-Kaspa I, Assia E, Burstein R, Strauss N, Epstein Y and Popovtzer MM. Hyponatremia induced by exercise: a 24-hour endurance march study. Miner Electrolyte Metab 17: 315-320, 1991.
Stuempfle JK, Lehmann DR, Case HS, Bailey S, Hughes SL, McKenzie J and Evans D. Hyponatremia in a cold weather ultraendurance race. Alaska Med 44:51-55, 2002.
Surgenor S and Uphold RE. Acute hyponatremia in ultra-endurance athletes. Am J Emerg Med 12:441-444, 1994.

Lisa Bliss, MD has every so kindly offered to forward my way a power point presentation about her Badwater experience with hyponatremia in 2004 entitled, "The Badwater Ultramarathon & Hyponatremia: Can You Drink Too Much in The Desert?"

Please let me know if you're interested in it and I'll email it to you off-list.

Trampler