Show of Hands

I agree! I have mitral valve prolapse. When I was dx, the doctor told me to lay off ALL sugar and caffeine, which I did for an entire year. He was shocked when I went back, in how much I had improved. He said that I had improved faster than any patient he'd ever had, because I obeyed his orders and most people don't.

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Reminds me also, my husband went to the DR after he had been drinking Monster. They said it was a panic attack and told him to lay off the energy drinks.

ER.

It does? I didn't realize that, and it's good to know! I was low in B-12 the last time I went to the doc and am now on shots for energy! The doctor didn't tell me anything about that! WHY?! ARRGGHH! They just want to dump more meds on you without telling you lifestyle changes you could make that would help!

I have cut way back on caffeine. I'm only drinking one Dr. Pepper to get me going in the morning and then flavored water the rest of the day.

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I'm seeing more and more young people talking on FB about their anxiety and panic attacks. I wonder if this could be part of it!

I love my doctor. He ran the rest twice because he was so surprised by the results. I don't recall how low my levels were but I got some injections, cut back on caffeine, and now take a daily multivitamin. I haven't gone back to check levels, I'm guessing I'm okay!

I think it could totally be a part of their panic attacks, their bodies just can't handle it!

Thanks! I just PMed both of the young people I was talking about and told them about what you said about the panic attack and also the teen that dropped dead and my son's coworker that died.

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I keep myself to one Dr. Pepper a day to get me going, and then flavored water the rest of the day.

You're right, it's energy drinks. You might be interested in the links that Susanr posted below, about these drinks.

Energy drinks are no worse for you than sodas, and most of the bad is the sugar, so if you get a low sugar one, and you don't drink 10 of them a day, it's fine

I think that Susan posted some links below that say that energy drinks are much worse and why.

Coffee- the monster I drank was sugar free 😀

Energy drinks are fine in moderation

- my doctor

If your doctor told you that, Coffee, that's fine--drink them. But you can't recommend that others do, because they might have a health condition that makes it dangerous. I'm sure your doctor wouldn't want to take responsibility for their deaths! Lol

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I'm not recommending them, I'm just saying there's a lot of hyperbole around them that doesn't hold up to science

I recommend water. Anything else is going to kill you

I take that back. Water is going to kill you too

Did you read Susanr's articles that she linked within this poll? They are about the science, etc.

All I know is that there have been a lot of people that have dropped dead of a heart attack after drinking them, including my son's coworker. I don't think they're anything to mess around with.

Additionally, someone here in this poll told me that her hubby ended up at the ER after drinking one and the doctor said he was having a panic attack and to lay off energy drinks.

I've seen a LOT of young adults complaining of having anxiety and panic attacks, so now I'm wondering if the drinking of these drinks could have something to do with that, since young adults seem to be the main ones drinking them.

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No, I have her on ignore for harassment and stalking.

Like I said, they aren't health drinks. But the "omg ur gonna die if u have one" is just not supported by anything I've seen. You're better off with a low calorie energy drink than a Coca Cola

I really don't want to argue about it. I will say that some of the articles were stating that they advertise these drinks in such a way that they look like they are great for drinking while you're doing sports, which is NOT the case as they dehydrate you.

I'm sure that one is not going to hurt anyone. But young people are drinking them back to back, all day long, as their choice of drink, and it is causing problems, especially since they have ingredients in them that are not regulated. I think at the least, they should contain a warning, especially for those that have heart conditions.

My doc made me come off ALL caffeine and sugar because I have mitral valve prolapse. I did so for an entire year, and the doctor told me I was the most improved patient that he'd seen because most people refused to follow those orders. So I KNOW that caffeine and sugar can mess with your heart if you have a heart condition.

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"But young people are drinking them back to back, all day long, as their choice of drink, and it is causing problems"

Well yeah, that's not moderation

There was another report on the local news this morning, talking about that kid that died, and saying that caffeine enlarges the blood vessels and increases blood pressure. They said that adolescents shouldn't be drinking more than 100 mg a day, which is about 1/3 of some of these drinks! YIKES!

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I AGREE!

Are you talking about soda or energy drinks? That's a LOT! Have you ever considered flavored waters? I can't drink plain water, but flavored ones are a great alternative!

If you're drinking a lot of energy drinks, you might want to check out Susanr's comments below, with the links to those articles.

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I hate energy drinks, they are nasty and only make me tired. Its mostly Crush, Mtn Dew, and root beer.

Good to hear, General! You might be interested in knowing that Mt. Dew has the most caffeine of the sodas, though, so it's not great to drink them at night, if you can avoid them.

Thanks for letting me know! The latest I drink these sodas ever are 7:00 PM, and thats because dinner is late. But usually its around 4-6, so its plenty of time to let me settle down for bedtime. I am slowly trying to phase out Mtn Dew, Dr Pepper, Crush, and A&W by drinking iced tea, which actually tastes better in my opinion and is considerably healthier in the long run. I am just thankful that my brain decided that Coca Cola tastes and feels nasty, because that is by far the worst of the bunch.

You're welcome! Glad it helped! Another tidbit I heard on my local news when they were talking about the teen that died: Doctors say that adolescent should keep caffeine intake to 100 mg or less a day.

I've been suspicious of the contents of energy drinks since they arrived on the market. It probably wasn't caffeine alone that affected him.

Here are a few figures, for comparison. First, what the teen probably ingested:

Large Mountain Dew: 55 mg caffeine
McDonald's latte 16 oz: 142 mg
energy drink - no brand given, but lg Monster brand is 160 mg
That's a total of 357 mg caffeine. That's a lot, but...

12 oz of coffee made with 2 Tb ground Folger's has 60-80 mg, so the teen had maybe the equivalent of 6 12-oz cups of coffee in a 2-hour period. Of *Folger's coffee.

What if he went to a coffee shop and had some of the currently popular drinks?

Dunkin' Donuts Coffee 14 oz - 210 mg
Panera Coffee 16 oz - 300 mg
Starbucks 20 oz Americano - 225 mg
Dunkin' with Turbo Shot 20 oz - 398 mg
Starbucks Blonde 20 oz - 475 mg

Unless my initial calculations are *way* off, this would seem to say that *one* of the more high-powered Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks drinks would also have killed him!

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I suspect that you're right, Wert. There's other stuff in there, and if I recall correctly, some of it is NOT UNDER FDA REGULATION.

OK, here's my personal story (and this is just caffeine, no weird energy drink ingredients):

In 1966, I was cramming for a final exam. I added something like 6-8 cups of coffee worth of instant coffee to one cup of water, and drank it.

And hallucinated. All night. Forget the exam, I was in no condition to take it. After I stopped hallucinating, I went to the university library and looked up caffeine in whatever the equivalent of the MSDS was at the time, looking at adverse effects of too much caffeine. At the end of the listing was this progression, which I will never forget:

"Hallucination, coma, death."

I was just glad that my own experience stopped at "hallucination."

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I believe @Wert is correct - that caffeine wasn't the sole culprit here, but that the energy drink played a larger part in the teen's death than just additional caffeine. Here are a few articles outlining *why* energy drinks are a concern, especially for children and teens. Partly it's a combination of effects; partly it's because of lack of regulation (and therefore, of knowledge) of some ingredients.

pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/3/511

health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2015/01/16/are-energy-drinks-really-that-bad

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/23/just-how-dangerous-are-energy-drinks_n_5515647.html

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Darn it, that was going to be a new comment.

Thanks, Susan. I'm really SHOCKED that you haven't heard of this happening before. I've heard of a lot of people dying from drinking Monsters. And like I said, my son's 35 yo coworker dropped dead of a heart attack this week. He DID have an underlying heart condition.

I don't understand why the FDA hasn't required a warning label on energy drinks!

You mentioned the levels of caffeine, & listed different places to get them. Did you notice in the HuffPo article that it said:

"Get high enough levels — & I’m not talking really, super high here, say 500 milligrams of caffeine, that’s the equivalent of five cups of coffee – and you run into what’s called caffeine toxicity,” Miller says. “That includes the headaches, tremors, heart palpitations and nausea. At high enough levels — and this is fairly unusual — caffeine is toxic enough that, for some people, it can cause seizures, mania, hallucinations, even strokes.”

So the amounts you posted were getting close to causing health probs!

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I believe some people can possibly have a heart arrhythmia that is affected or caused by caffeine. Years ago I had frequent skipping heart beats which I could feel as they happened. Sometimes they were frequent enough to to make me feel light headed. Caffeine seemed to make the symptoms worse. I decided to quit caffeine completely. Shortly afterwards the arrhythmias went away. They have never come back. I believe some people are more sensitive to the effects of caffeine than others...may be true in this case.

I know that there have been a few cases, but I believe that there have been some underlying medical issues. And I know, of course, that with high enough doses, it can be lethal (and I also know that the time element is important). And absolutely I know that with higher doses the symptoms you list can and do occur - and of course one of the serious ones is exactly what happened to me.

I was surprised to see the *very* high levels with even things like a Dunkin' Donuts drink, though.

I don't know why there isn't any FDA warning about caffeine, at least to indicate the likely dose of caffeine on your bag of coffee beans, jar of instant coffee, or cup of brewed coffee from a coffee shop. The energy drinks are another issue, since at least some of them contain ingredients that the FDA, by law, has only retroactive regulation over ("supplements"), and we have Congress to thank for that entire, very large mess. (There may be a similar issue with caffeine; I really don't know.)

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4boot, you're right about caffeine making heart probs worse.

I have Mitral Valve Prolapse/Dysautonomia. My doctor made me come completely off ALL caffeine and sugar for an entire year. At the end of the year, he was shocked and said that I had improved the fastest of anyone that he'd seen because I obeyed him! Lol

Susan, I meant to say that your experience with the caffeine and hallucinating sounds horrific! I'm so glad it wasn't worse than it was! I bet you never did THAT again! Lol

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That's great! This is not the first time I've heard of this happening. I think they ought to be required by law to put warning labels on Monsters!

Yeah, see, that's just ASKING for a heart attack to happen! They need to be especially careful if they have heart problems or a family history of heart problems. This is not the first time it's happened, and like I said, my son had a 35 yo co worker who dropped dead of a heart attack on the job this week from drinking Monsters.

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That's great, Carolynn! I try to limit myself to one Dr. Pepper a day to get me going and then flavored waters the rest of the day.

That's great, Finny! We've been telling our grown son about the dangers of this for years now, as he drinks a lot of Monsters.

His coworker dying kind of shook him, and he said he drinks them in moderation now. When you have a family history of heart problems, it's even more important!

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Coffee in moderation is fine. It's the consumption of copious amounts of caffeine in a small amount of time that's dangerous.

Yes, singkitty is correct. And if you have a heart problem, or even a family history of heart problems, it is even more important that you not overdo it!

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You're welcome! It was worth my posting the poll just to have one person make a change! I'm so glad you are!