Toronto woman hospitalised after chugging gallons of water for TikTok's 75 Hard challenge

While staying hydrated might provide a string of health benefits, the habit comes with caution. In Canada's Toronto last week, a woman was forced to go to the hospital after she chugged down large quantities of water and experienced what experts call "water poisoning". 

According to Insider, popular TikToker Michelle Fairburn's ordeal began when she tried her hands on the 75-day challenge, a social media trend that involves exercising twice a day, consuming a strict diet, and drinking a gallon of water every day. Taking to the social media platform last Monday, Fairburn said that her increased water intake made her feel uneasy and ill. 

She also suggested that she might have gotten "water poisoning", a condition that can have fatal consequences if water is consumed at dangerously high levels. On the 12th day of doing the challenge, Fairburn, who is a mom and realtor, detailed her symptoms, which included nausea, weakness, and being "on the toilet all morning."

"I'm doing the 75 Hard, so I'm drinking an excessive amount of water. I don't know what to do," she said in the clip.

Michelle Fairburn narrates ordeal of drinking too much water 

She further explained that she did not want to give up and start all over again, telling her followers that "I don't want to go back to day 1. I cannot drink another gallon of water today." Fairburn later shared an update, revealing that she had visited a doctor and found out that she had an extreme sodium deficiency. "Which actually can be fatal. So now I'm going to the hospital and they're going to check everything and then apparently they can raise my sodium gradually," she said, adding "I cannot believe this is actually happening."

She was reportedly advised to drink less than half a litre of water per day, but allowed to continue the rest of her habits. While the 75 Hard challenge has caught the eye of fitness enthusiasts on Tiktok, it has also garnered backlash for being extreme and deteriorating an individual's health, instead of improving it.