Sarah Katz, 21, had a heart condition and was not aware of the drink’s caffeine content, which exceeded that of cans of Red Bull and Monster energy drinks combined, according to a legal filing

  • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I drank a monster energy once (well, to be precise, about half of one.),back when energy drinks were still relatively new and there wasnt as much common knowledge about them as there is today.

    Just that half of a can was enough to make me feel like I was going to die.

    My resting heart rate was over 150bpm, was shaking with tremors, and cold sweating. I genuinely thought I was gonna die.

    And I have never so much as touched another one, and will never touch another one, for the rest of my life.

    They are incredibly dangerous and shouldnt be something any kid or idiot can walk into a store and buy with couple bucks.

    and I have absolutely no idea how there are people that exist out there that can drink 6-10 of them a day without spontaneously combusting from tremor induced cellular friction.

    • Stuka@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      They are not incredibly dangerous, not be a long shot.

      They can be dangerous to a very small subset of people with preexisting conditions and that’s about it.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        The trouble is quite a lot of people have the pre-existing condition of being brainless. So they mainline 5 cans in a row, if you do that with Coke nothing happens, if you do that with Monster even a healthy person is going to have heart problems.

        Also some prat had a great idea of mixing it with Yeager. Thus mixing two of the most disgusting liquids in the world together. But more importantly mixing a stimulant and a suppressant, which again can have serious health risks even for otherwise healthy individuals.

        We don’t sell glue to children even though most of them probably won’t sniff it. So why do we tolerate energy drinks for them? The lasting kids need is to be even more hyper.

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Mine is cannabis and booze. Never mix something that makes me want to throw up with something that settles the stomach. If I drink too much I want it out of my body ASAP.

        • OKRainbowKid@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          By that logic, peanuts are also “incredibly dangerous”.

          Note: I’m not promoting or condoning the consumption of energy drinks, they are generally unhealthy. But calling them “incredibly dangerous” because they can evoke such a reaction in a small subset of the population is bullshit.

          • ɔiƚoxɘup@infosec.pub
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            1 year ago

            And products are often labeled, not if they CONTAIN nuts, but even if they were made somewhere that also produces peanuts and there’s a slight chance of cross contamination.

            This is done because of the liability. It should be easy enough to prove the Panera has liability here in the same way.

            • CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              It clearly states the caffeine content on the placard in front of the drink though, and it’s called charged lemonade. While that wouldn’t necessarily imply it has caffeine, that’s at least enough to tell me it’s almost certainly not plain lemonade though and I should read what’s in it.

                • CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  While that wouldn’t necessarily imply it has vitamins, that’s at least enough to tell me it’s almost certainly not plain water though and I should read what’s in it.

          • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Thats a stupid as fuck argument.

            Know whats on the label, and in fact, in the name, of peanut butter/peanut products?

            Peanuts

            and they even still have a specific warning, for extra special stupid people, that says “warning, contains peanuts”

            What was on the label of Charged Lemonaid? Of Monster?

            No Indicators, No Warnings, No nothing.

            Miss me with this bullshit false equivalency.

            • Jaigoda@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You clearly didn’t read the article, or actually look at basically any energy drink can. The label of the charged lemonade does in fact list exactly how much caffeine is in each drink, as well as stating it contains as much caffeine as their dark roast coffee.

              And Googling the label on a Monster Energy Drink can, there is a label stating that the total caffeine content is 120mg with a warning recommending against consumption by children or those sensitive to caffeine.

            • ChronosWing@lemmy.zip
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              1 year ago

              Both Monster and the Charged lemonade have labels that say “contains caffeine” you know if you had a heart problem and your doctor said not to consume large amounts of caffeine maybe you would read that label just like the peanuts.

        • sploosh@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Is it not credible that a small slice of people might be extra sensitive to something that the rest of the population can handle without issue?

    • threeduck@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      There often more caffeine in a standard coffee than half a litre of monster energy drink.

    • Commiunism@lemmy.wtf
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      1 year ago

      I’m guessing that every person is different when it comes to energy drink tolerance, or there might be some underlying conditions. Back when I used to drink energy drinks, I wouldn’t really feel anything except for maybe feeling a bit more “energetic” but I’m not sure how much of that is placebo. Granted, I wouldn’t drink 6-10 cans a day because I don’t think they taste that good, and would only drink a can occasionally.

      • Default_Defect@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, it seems for every person like the above with, I assume, a sensitivity to caffeine, there’s my friend from high school that pounded 3 BFC Monsters (32 oz each) and went to the next class like nothing happened.

        • June@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          It’s not really the caffeine that’s the problem in most energy drinks. It actually has less caffeine than a typical cup of coffee. It’s the addition of things like guarana, taurine, niacin, and ginseng that make them problematic for many. The high amounts of sugar in most can have pretty negative effects too.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        I had one can because we’re really overworked at work and I felt terrible and ended up being really useless. And this was when I was in my 30s so I wasn’t exactly some small kid

        I have no issue with coffee so it’s not caffeine that’s the problem, it’s something else that’s in the drinks. I even have had caffeine pills and not had that reaction.

        • Dekudibusei@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I haven’t verified the numbers (yet), but the fact remains that no one would drink 3000 ml of coffee a day. And that’s what we see happen with energy drinks all the time (source: I’m one of the toxicologists manning emergency line in our national poison control center).

          • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            the fact remains that no one would drink 3000 ml of coffee a day

            This sounds like a lot, but it’s only two pots. I used to do that all the time. I’m kinda surprised that “no one would”. I know it wasn’t healthy and I stopped because it was affecting my health.

            Maybe it’s just my area. A Dunkin Large is 700ml, and I know people who pound 2 in the morning and have one over lunch on a normal day. Then actually (their/our words) drink coffee on the tough hangover days.

        • reluctantpornaccount@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          Depends on the energy drink. The little V8 energy drinks have 80mg, and the green dragon extreme has 180mg in the same 8oz can. But yeah coffee has more than people think.

      • Frozengyro@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Those numbers are off.

        Energy drink: 80-300mg

        Coffee: 80-120mg this was accurate

        Cola/other soda: 25-55mg

        Black tea: 40-60mg

    • Kogasa@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Half a monster is 43mg caffeine. About as much as a Pepsi, or less than 3oz of Dunkin Donuts coffee (a small is 180mg at 10oz). I’m not at all saying you’re lying about your experience, but what you are describing is an extreme caffeine sensitivity (or a reaction to something else).

    • blue_zephyr@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I used to chug multiple of those on the way home from school and didn’t feel a thing. I think we lose much resilience with age.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I am not, and was not, sensitive to caffeine in any way.

        Hell, that can be proven just by the embarrassingly large amount of Mountain Dew I drank a day during that era of my life, which had absolutely zero effect on me.

    • DillyDaily@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I have absolutely no idea how there are people that exist out there that can drink 6-10 of them a day without spontaneously combusting from tremor induced cellular friction.

      A few years ago my doctor put me on beta blockers to try and manage my migraines. My blood pressure was always within healthy limits, usually around 110/70, on the beta blockers it dropped a little bit, but nothing drastic. My heart rate on the other hand?

      Resting, it was 41-45 bmp, sitting and fidgeting it was 54-58bpm, and walking around it was 65-73. I’d have to really push hard at the gym to get it to 100 and it would drop back down so suddenly when I stopped I’d often get blue lips when doing cool down stretches.

      My fingers and toes were always blue, I had chilblains in the middle of the summer.

      When I asked my doctor if I should try Alpha Blockers because they don’t effect your heart he said “just drink a can of redbull 3-4 times a day”

      So that’s what I did.

      It wasn’t until I changed doctors and she asked me about my tea and coffee habits that it fully dawned on me just how much caffeine I was having.

      I completely forgot tea has caffeine, I’d have 5-8 cups a day, plus 3 no-doze pills, 2 red bulls and a ristretto on most work days. On weekends I’d have 3-4 teas, 2-3 red bulls, 2 coffees and a caffeine based pre-workout.

      My resting heart rate during all this was about 58bpm…and I slept like a log.

      Anyway, my new doctor was horrified and I’m on alpha blockers now. Still no migraines, I’ve had to cut out everything caffeinated except 3 cups of tea a day, my resting heart rate is 67bpm…but now I have orthostatic hypotension which kinda sucks. Not as bad as taking trucker crack just so my he would remember to beat. I also struggle with intermittent bouts of insomnia now, which is weird.