I didn’t see this as him saying that people know better than doctors.
I saw this as him saying that self diagnosis, especially with multiple tests from reasonably reliable sources, is a valuable tool in a wide variety of circumstances, and with autism in particular, has very few ill effects and is a net positive.
Including as a first step in the official diagnosis process.
There may be a number of reasons not to get an official diagnosis. When I self diagnosed for autism about… maybe 15 years ago, there was a three year wait list for the only psychiatric diagnosis thing I could afford. (I can’t remember the details, it’s been a while, but it was some government funded program.)
I have since gotten an official diagnosis, but getting the unofficial one first was extremely helpful for me in narrowing down where I should focus my efforts.
The guy, towards the end, was even encouraging people to get the official diagnosis - if they’re able to, financially, etc. But starting with self diagnosis makes a great deal of sense.
The whole thing was about cutting down the myths and attacks around self diagnosis and saying people should be allowed to start there without getting attacked for it. That’s all it is.
I, incidentally, am not anti vax or anti science. I’m a science teacher, as it happens, and science is totally my jam. I love how he included study information on accuracy rates of self diagnosis, and misdiagnosis rates for mental health issues with the medical field. I love how he encouraged people to get official diagnoses, and how his suggestions for the medical field were to increase access and affordability for people. This video did not strike me as anti science or anti psychiatry at all.
It’s complicated. Short version, over a small amount of time.
In the case of water, how it kills you is by diluting your blood, basically. Your kidneys will be working extremely hard (and quickly) to empty out the excess water, so for the most part, you’ve got to drink much faster than your kidneys can work.
That said, it’s not just speed - other stuff gets cleaned out with your urine, like certain vitamins and such. Drinking excess water over a long time, but significantly more than what’s on the chart, will drain you of certain nutrients / electrolytes, and that’ll screw you, too.
Drinking sports drinks in that quantity could actually sidestep that particular problem, drastically raising the amount of water you can take in.
One way or another, though, while it’s possible to hurt or kill yourself from drinking too much water, you have to bring it to some serious extremes and your body should be vehemently complaining during this process.
If ever you think you’re doing something extreme and might possibly be slightly risky in this regard, just drink some electrolyte heavy stuff instead for a while - Gatorade, Powerade, etc. Then your only risk is basically outrunning your kidneys and your stomach should really be making you throw up if you try that.