Sue YM, Lee YL, Huang JJ (2002) Acute hyponatremia, seizure, and rhabdomyolysis after ecstasy use. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol 40: 931-932.
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The authors report a case of hyponatremia, seizures and rhabdomyolysis in a 19-year old woman after ingesting "several tablets" of Ecstasy and at least ten glasses of water at a party. (Text is confusing, but it is possible the patient consumed ten tablets, with 1 glass of water per tablet). Over the course of 10 hours, she became lethargic and had at least one seizure lasting several seconds. Body temperature on arrival was 39 deg. C (about 104 F) and serum sodium was 115 mmol/L, urine sodium of 223 mmol/L and osmolality of 239 nOsm/kg. MDMA was detected in urine and blood with gas chromotograph-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and was 66.4 mcg/mL (in urine at 12 h after ingestion) and 202 ng/mL in serum 25 h after ingestion. Rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown) due to hyperthermia and possibly due to treatment of hyponatremia was detected. The patient was treated with i.v. 3% saline at 10 mL/h for 6 hours, raising serum sodium to 129 mmol/L. The patient began menstruating on the second day in hospital, leading the treating physicians to suggest an association between low estrogen levels (as they would be prior to menstruation), and risk of hyponatremia. Menstrual phase is generally not reported in other cases of Ecstasy-induced hyponatremia in women. The patient had fully recovered after six days in hospital, but with some retrograde memory loss (amnesia concerning recall of prior events).