There’s no harm in taking alcohol and energy drinks if such is done responsibly. However, as it’s always said, “too much of everything is bad.” Excessive intake of energy drinks can kill you.
A woman who got addicted to energy drinks suffered for the choice she made with her cravings.
The love she developed for Red Bull (energy drink) gradually rocketed to an uncontrollable behavior that it seemed her life depended on it. At a point, she had to gulp 5 liters of the sweet drink everyday.
As one would expect, she suffered terribly for the addiction but luckily, she’s alive to warn others who may be threading her part.
Energy-drink addict Mary Allwood used to guzzle 20 cans of Red Bull every day and splashed more than £2,300 a year on her unhealthy habit.
‘The 26-year-old was necking the daily equivalent of 16 Mars bars worth of sugar and the same amount of caffeine as 17 cups of coffee.’
After a while she became so sick and was rushed to the hospital in extreme pain. There and then it was discovered that her liver was badly damaged, after medical analysis by the doctors. The MRI scan didn’t just reveal the vital organ was twice the size it should be, but it also had two fibrous lumps on it – the size of a grape.
It was believed that Mary was an alcoholic. Would you think the doctors were wrong? Being an alcoholic isn’t exclusive to beer or spirit.
Worried medics were convinced she was a drinker and revealed an MRI scan showed her liver had ballooned to twice the normal size.
The honest truth is, Mary had suffered liver damage due to the high amount of sugar she gulped from those energy drinks. Of course, it was very sweet that she didn’t care of any side effects. Maybe, she thought there was none. Mixing energy drinks with beer doesn’t make it less harmful.
Revealing the height of her addiction, the mum-of-one said: “I needed it and I didn’t care at the time what damage it was doing to me.
“If I didn’t get my fix I would be miserable and grumpy and it just wasn’t an option – I would make sure I got it.
“At first I would feel as if it would give me a buzz and energy, but eventually it wouldn’t give me energy – I just needed it.
“I needed the taste and power. It was my heroin. I would feel awful if I didn’t have it.”
Mary confessed that her first time of downing the caffeinated drink was at the age of 22. It gave her some kind of strength that made her crave for more. In few months, she was already drinking up to 20 cans everyday.
The energy drink addict said she would wake up at 8 am and kick-start her day with an energy drink. This housewife watched her weight shoot up from a size 16 to a size 24 and she was no longer drinking anything else apart from Red Bull.
By the time she realized it had become an addiction, Mary was heading to the grave.
In her words: “If I didn’t have any in the fridge I would walk to the shop and get two.
“I’d drink the first one in three sips and then try and make the second one last longer.
“I would go to the supermarket and get 10 multipacks at a time. I’d tell the person at the shop that I had a restaurant and was buying them for that reason.”
Mary described what she suffered at the hospital: “They kept talking about alcohol and asking how much I drank.
“They said my liver looked the same as someone who was an alcoholic and that’s when I said I drank at least 12 Red Bulls a day. They looked at me in disgust.”
Excessive alcohol intake over a period of time can cause the liver to become inflamed leading to health problems like fibrosis and cirrhosis.
But a sugar-laden diet can lead to build-up in the liver, causing it to become dramatically inflamed as well as leading to scarring and lumps.
Mary is advising everyone who cares to listen, “Like any foods or beverages, energy drinks should be consumed in moderation and as part of a balanced and varied diet and healthy lifestyle.”
Meziesblog 
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