Ohio Teen Collapses After Video Game Marathon

Tyler Rigsby was on a mission -- Xbox's Modern Warfare 3, to be exact.

The mission lasted four, maybe five days. And, in the end, the 15-year-old landed in the hospital.

His mother told reporters at NBC4I he only came out of his bedroom to use the bathroom, to pick up some snacks in the kitchen, and to take a quick shower.

When he finally emerged Tuesday morning, he went to his aunt's house with his mother. That's where he collapsed three times, the station reported.

"It's like he was looking at me but he wasn't there. It was like he was looking through me," Jennifer Thompson, Tyler's aunt, told reporters. "We were talking and I heard a thump and I looked over and he just fell."

Tyler's mom, Jessie Rawlins, said he turned very pale and his lips became a disturbing blue color.

"I was very scared. I thought he was going to die..."

Medics were called to the house and established an IV to provide fluids after they suspected he was severely dehydrated.

Dr. Mike Patrick, an emergency physician at Nationwide Children's Hospital, says dehydration can be very dangerous, even deadly.

"When you're dehydrated, the amount of fluid in your entire body is decreased and that includes the fluid that's in your blood vessels," Patrick told reporters. "So you have decreased blood volume. That leads to decreased blood pressure. When your blood pressure gets to a certain point, you're unable to get enough blood up to the brain. If you're not getting enough oxygen to the brain, that can cause you to pass out and it could cause you to die."

Both Tyler and his mom realize it was a close call. And, she told reporters he hasn't balked at the consequences.

"The Xbox is gone," she said.

As for staying awake day after day, Patrick says your body will eventually shut down on its own. The reticular activating system fires neurons in your brain and that's what keeps us awake. Eventually, those neurons run out of juice and can't send the signals we need to stay awake and alert.

"After so long, it stops firing and you just go to sleep whether you want to or not," he says. "You, eventually, run out of those chemicals. Your body needs sleep to replenish that activating system to keep you awake."

Playing games for days on end keeps your body from rejuvenating its system. At a certain point, it has to shut down. That's when you pass out.

Patrick recommends some common sense when gaming: get plenty of food and fluids, take breaks for physical activity, and put the controller down now and then to get some decent sleep.