Health effect, on ernergy drinks.

[Lemi Died]

I can't do the energy drinks. Or coffee. The most I take now is a 5 hour energy......and I have to be really dragging butt even to do that.

I have even cut way back on beer.

Besides that stuff being super expensive....I have found that by adjusting my diet to 6 smaller meals a day spaced out correctly will keep my energy levels up and I will be more alert. I also cut a ton of red meat out of my diet. It sounded crazy at first...but too much red meat for me made me sluggish. And I drink tons of water to keep flushing the bad stuff out and keep putting the healthy stuff in. (I also suffer from kidney stones)

I can no longer eat what I want....when I want. I now will suffer for it.

All good advice. And I see Hooli's article up above, which is also good...if not quite the same thing. From an emergency perspective, "Overdose" it a one time (or short period of time) intake at toxic levels. What is being described here is more of a chronic issue. Still not healthy (i too have a dr. pepper addiction), but not likely to be lethal. Caffeine's biggest issue is the constant affect on your heart. That much cardiac stimulation overworks your heart for decreased long term function and increased cardiac stress.

Also, glad to see no uses of "i suffer with..." (HeDidIt used it, but not in the same context). One of my biggest issues is when I get a patient (usually after pain medicine) who states "oh I have high blood pressure, diabeties,...oh and suffer with chronic back pain". Bah, this statement is the quicker, universal pisser-offer. Do not try and word your statement for your next pain or attention seeking question. When I am triaging you, I need raw data, not the fluff you choose to accompany with it.

Sorry, bit of a rant there...

[HeDidIt]

I was a mt dew addict for quite a while. I up and quit one day cold turkey. Threw my body into shock. The problem I found was my heart came to depend on the caffeine in all the Mt Dew I drank. It helped it beat. When I quit my heart didn't handle it too well. Man trips to the Docs......

Also....I really do suffer when I pass a stone. The pain can seriously be unreal at times. But its not like I am complaining. Stuff happens. But keeping super hydrated...while not a cure really helps. Just passing on another reason for why water can be so important. Really bad thing is I can't drink tea....or eat lots of salad anymore.

[WCP Squirrel]

I can't do the energy drinks. Or coffee. The most I take now is a 5 hour energy......and I have to be really dragging butt even to do that.

I have even cut way back on beer.

Besides that stuff being super expensive....I have found that by adjusting my diet to 6 smaller meals a day spaced out correctly will keep my energy levels up and I will be more alert. I also cut a ton of red meat out of my diet. It sounded crazy at first...but too much red meat for me made me sluggish. And I drink tons of water to keep flushing the bad stuff out and keep putting the healthy stuff in. (I also suffer from kidney stones)

I can no longer eat what I want....when I want. I now will suffer for it.

This is exactly the type of thing that I'm going for with my lifestyle change.
I wouldn't look at it as a " suffer " - You should look at it as a better yourself for yourself.

[HeDidIt]

Oh no....if I eat pizza or tacos like I used to....suffer describes it pretty well. After a while your body will start to reject the fatty and unhealthy stuff. Makes for all kinds of suffering.....

[Lemi Died]

Hehe, I'll grant an exception for kidney stones. But for example "I suffer with scoliosis". No you have scoliosis, you either live with it (like I do) or do something about it. But at that point, the only suffering going on is my patience.

BTW, you see any reduction in your stone frequency after dropping Colas?

[HeDidIt]

Yes I have had a nice sized drop in the number of stones.....but more important is the drop in size.

In the past....a 7mm stone was usually the norm. Since I stay off the colas now, I am right around a 3-4mm average. Sad to say....but its been nice. I have also heard taking low dose bayer once a day will really cut back the stones too......but I don't do that. Just tons of water....

[Trogdor]

Yikes, I used to drink a lot of soda, but I never got any stones. Now I only get soda when I go out to eat. I never have any at home. I can crush a 2-liter in 45 minutes. I don't even think about it.

[HeDidIt]

Yeah....I used to be bad with soda. Learned my lesson. Diets hit me the woste though. Make me feel sick and give me headaches.

I went from soda to juice. But just plain fruit juice is almost as bad. Now I have a juicer and mix my own concoctions. Some have tasted like win......and some I got to taste a second time.
But I really recommend investing in a good juicer/blender to start making tastey healthy drinks to take the place of the sodas and energy drinks.

[Myla]

When caffeine drinks first hit the market, I thought what a waste of money. Then I discovered 5 hour energy in 2008 when I started working out. Now I'm not sure if I actually need it before each workout 5-7 days a week, but I know that I forgot one time and felt like I could only stay for a a "normal" amount of time, instead of my usual 2-3 hours of pure joy in a hard sweat.
I buy the 12 packs from Costco 2 at a time and keep them in my car.

I know it could totally be psychological but don't have the courage to try to workout without my special shot.

Why, why did I ever start! @!%R@%$&%#T!

[Hieta]

Energy drinks are total bull. You can get the same rush from normal soda and couple caffeine + b-vitamin pill for fraction of the price.
All energy drinks do is give you a sudden rush of sugar into your system that makes you feel all juiced up and the stimulant effect of caffeine to get all hyper. But do you really want that ?? I mean after the sugar rush is over your levels are going to crash and your all tired and hungry. And getting all that caffeine is only going to give you that notorious headache all the coffee drinkers complain about.

If you want to boost up your game and think you need to be "juiced" in your paintball tournament or just at your workdesk go get some adaptogens. And no no no im not talking about any illegal crap forget that. These things are just kind of opposite to stims.
For example caffeine that most of us know and have tried works by stimulating your system so you can be more aware and active on what your doing. The negative thing on it is that once you get used to it the benefits gets less and less useful. And if you keep on trying to juice yourself with it you just get headaches and other unwanted effects because your system gets reliant on it.

So the reason you should ditch stims and start using adaptogens is that instead of stimulating your body those lets your body adapt to the situation. Meaning that if your stressed out and need to calm down it lets your body be able to produce the things you need and make you relax. And if you need to push yourself hard on something it lets your body to draw all the power it has to succeed in that task. Ofcourse sometime if your body is totally burnout you might not get much of a benefit, because your body needs rest so that what you should do. Then again thats just a good thing because then you know you should get some rest and not push on in stim haze and burnout yourself more.

Anyway everyone should just avoid sodas and energydrink because theres nothing in it that you would really need. If your thirsty just get some clean water and that should do the trick. In really hot areas you could get some high quality salt and other things to replenish the stuff you loose by sweating huge amounts. But for most situations normal water is enough because you get all the other stuff you need from normal food.

[Lemi Died]

nice idea, but adaptogens fall into the vitamins and supplements side of the FDA equation, meaning little to no proof, little to no assurance that they are actually containing what they say, etc. Speaking from a emergency standpoint, without a lot more studies (reputable studies, mind you) stating their exact effects, I would be concerned with their use. I.E. I do not like getting a patient with who knows what in their system. Of what he is talking about, ginseng seems to be the most prominent. From what I understand, not a lot of interaction with other meds...just not a lot of studies showing its efficacy. (why would you when you do not have to. Does it seem like I dislike the vitamin and supplement industry for shady business practices and governmental lobbying...well, maybe) IF you choose to use supplements like this and are on or prescribed ANY medicine, consult your doctor. There may not be enough info on interactions with other medications, but it will at least give them a fighting chance.

Looking around the interwebs, this seems to be a nice article describing the basic problem and some of the possible side effects. http://www.itmonline.org/arts/herbdrug2.htm
Realize, this was written in 2003, but unlike prescription medications, which undergo a huge amount of testing, supplements do not. So more recent info probably will not garner better results, but I will keep my eyes out.

[HeDidIt]

The only supplements I take now are fishoil and Bioflex. And both for my knee.

I have found in changing my diet to a more balanced approach I do not need to take supplements. Honestly everyone professes to know what all these things do.....but honnestly I haven't really seen one hardcore study done to prove anything whatsoever beyond a shadow of doubt.

[Hieta]

Well not sure it helps your if you a doc and get a patient whos full of random pills from a pillparty I mean no matter how researched those are you still have a bag of worms on your hands even if all the stuff they ate would have been regulated and researched.

Besides have you ever looked at the prescriptionmed infolabel ? Using this product can cause "put random number of problems" so please see your doctor before using this with any other medication. It pretty much tells you on the box that theres probably some minor problems, maybe some bigger ones too if you use the product.

So yea if your using meds its bad idea to go eat some herbal products without consulting someone before doing it. The problem just is that if you go to your average doc they are like "uh oh.... i got no clue what those things might do....maybe you can take some and see if anything happens??" Thats because docs these days are lectured only by the pharma lobbyist who only talk about the products they sell. So the doctors really have no idea about the "old" stuff anymore.

Anyway just saying there is time and place for everything. So if your in good shape and have no health problem then trying some adaptogens can be a good idea if your into that thing. Ofcourse for most of us, good clean food and plenty of rest and enough pure water is all we need to be at the top of our game. Just wanted to point out that there are alternatives for the stims if people want to use something "extra".

[Hieta]

The only supplements I take now are fishoil and Bioflex. And both for my knee.

I have found in changing my diet to a more balanced approach I do not need to take supplements. Honestly everyone professes to know what all these things do.....but honnestly I haven't really seen one hardcore study done to prove anything whatsoever beyond a shadow of doubt.

Yea if you eat fish frequently enough then its true that you dont really need those pills because your eating the oil in your meal already.
Im eating omega3 pills because i dont like fish so all the fish i might eat are in such form that theres not much of that healthy oil left in it. Just need to do some research on how and where those pills are made.

Anyway if your knee feels better from eating those pills, then i guess you know it must be doing something good No hardcore study would make it feel any better.

[Sacrificial_Soul]

Anyway if your knee feels better from eating those pills, then i guess you know it must be doing something good No hardcore study would make it feel any better.

Not saying it is, but no way to distinguish the two without a "hardcore study": Placebo effect.

[Hieta]

Not saying it is, but no way to distinguish the two without a "hardcore study": Placebo effect.

Well yea i dont want to sound like im against studies, ofcourse i feel better if i know the things are tested and how it works.
Just not sure what research scientists can make with fishoil, theres plenty of research on it and all say different things so if it works, then its all good?

[Myla]

Energy drinks are total bull. You can get the same rush from normal soda and couple caffeine + b-vitamin pill for fraction of the price.
All energy drinks do is give you a sudden rush of sugar into your system

hmmm....
caffeine=sugar?
carbs=sugar
soda is sugar

[Hieta]

Caffeine = stimulant
So it has no nutrional value like sugar and cant make you fat. The reason its in those drinks is to give you a rush of "energy".

Carbs = sugar
Yea thats correct. Sugar is just high source of carbs, so it can make you fat and it affects your blood sugar pretty quickly.
Reason its in the energy drink is because it makes the caffeine taste less bad and that sugar rush makes you feel like your "pumped" up for a moment.

In America soda is usually HFCS, but basicly same thing.
Just wanted to point out that drinking cheapest soda you can find and popping the bvitamins and caffeine on your system should work out just like drinking one of those energy drinks. And when you think about it, soda is no good for you and caffeine is not something you should be drinking all the time so if those are whats in a energy drink then its not really something thats good for you.

[Myla]

I don't remember the last time I had any type of regular soda in my system. Coffee, tea is OK in moderation which have caffeine. But it does not spike BG. Although caffeine does promote belly fat.

Just not same as " sudden rush of sugar "