Energy drinks have become the fuel that keeps people going in this fast-paced world.
But one woman’s story hints at the possible price we could pay for just trying to keep up such a high-octane pace.
Thirty-three-year-old Samantha Sharpe, from Leicester, used to guzzle up to six cans of energy drinks a day even though they gave her “palpitations.”
Then in February 2018, she had a pacemaker fitted because of the series of blackouts she suffered and an abnormal heartbeat. And now Sharpe has sounded the warning for others not to repeat her mistakes and that it “breaks my heart” whenever she sees kids guzzling on energy drinks themselves.
Speaking to Leicestershire Live, she said, “I have three children and I work so it was daily life that pushed me to drink the energy drinks. I work in the evenings so it got me through the day. It woke me up and got me a bit hyper.”
A single can of energy drink can have as much as half a day’s level of sugar as well as high doses of caffeine. And Sharpe had been taking six of them a day for roughly four years.
Previous research has already shown that consuming excessive amounts of caffeine can cause high blood pressure, faster breathing, and rapid or irregular heart rate.
Sharpe said that it came to the point that she was in danger of developing type 2 diabetes. After she started fainting at home, she visited her doctor.
She recalled, “In 2014 I was drinking five or six a day until I had the pacemaker fitted in February 2018. The drinks made my heart beat faster, which would cause palpitations, then [afterward] I would crash when I needed another one, causing my heart rate to drop to 20 beats per minute.”
“It would give me headaches, I’d be grumpy, and I’d need another one to keep me going. I wouldn’t sleep and I had an overwhelming feeling of doom when trying to sleep. And I’d have the shakes. I felt like an addict.”
She added that she also developed second-degree heart block where electrical impulse problems in the heart caused it to beat irregularly.
Those with heart block could have irregular or slow heartbeats and could suffer dizziness, fainting, and shortness of breath.
In Sharpe’s case, doctors don’t know what caused her condition but said her energy drink addiction “wasn’t helping.”
Last year, she had a pacemaker fitted. The device emits artificial electrical signals so that the heart is kept beating in time.
Sharpe said, “My family warned me but I didn’t listen. In February last year at Glenfield Hospital, I had a pacemaker fitted directly into the heart to help my heart function.”
“The pacemaker had to go through a vein in my leg. It was not a nice experience and my kids had to see me in and out of the hospital.”
Dr. Aseem Malhotra, an NHS cardiologist and part of campaign group Action on Sugar, said: “I see a lot of patients who have palpitations and anxiety attacks which have been caused by energy drinks.”
“But I’m not aware of any way drinking them can lead to a pacemaker. The solution is to stop drinking them.”
Responding to a question whether energy drinks could trigger a heart block, he said, “absolutely not.” Then added: “There’s no known link to irreversible heart damage. This is likely to be a coincidence.”
Apart from her heart problem, Sharpe also developed kidney stones.
Sharpe said: “Doctors cannot figure out the cause [of the heart block] but have said that drinking energy drinks has not helped it.”
But she says she has a “new lease of life” after getting the pacemaker.
“I don’t black out anymore and I can’t feel my heart messing up anymore. My heart used to skip beats. But I do have to go back to the doctors every six months and I have to have the pacemaker replaced every 10 years.
“I know I shouldn’t drink it anymore, but I have had one energy drink since and I could feel my heart racing, my kidneys hurting and a headache coming on. I thought to myself ‘I can’t do this anymore.'”
After her ordeal, it now upsets her to see other people drinking those energy drinks, especially children.
“People do not realize how badly it affects you,” she said. “There is an age limit, but I still see moms buying it for their children. The effects of energy drinks need to be advertised more.”
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