Energy drinks and teens coming to ER with chest pain

Specialties Emergency

Published

I have seen an unreal amount of teen-young 20ish patients coming to the ER c/o severe chest pain after drinking 1-2 energy drinks. All have been negative on drug/alcohol screens and cardiac workups are also negative. I've never had an energy drink (I'll stick with coffee) so I can't relate to what these drinks do. We end up giving them antianxiety meds and d/c them home.

Anyone else seeing this?

Specializes in geriatrics, IV, Nurse management.

Nursing Center - Journal Article

More research just released on the subject:)

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Actually had one of these come in tonight. Wasn't my patient, but told about her. Drank a 5 hour energy shot and a Monster, had resps of 60, pulse of like 130-140. I'm all for people being able to put whatever they want to in their bodies (I'm libertarian like that), but if we're going to dispense drinks that can have the same cardiovascular effects as amphetamines, I think we need to modify the age of the people we dispense it to. Kids shouldn't be shoving this crap in their bodies. You don't need "energy" when you're 16.

I agree.

Everyone I knew who regularly drank energy drinks did so because their sleep patern was already messed up. Go to school, go home, play video games all night, barely sleep, wake up, get an energy drink, go to school...it was a viscious cycle, with their sleep schedules getting more messed up because of the caffine.

Even "natural" ingredients can be dangerous. Heck I've heard herbal tea can kill infants. There are a bunch of ingredients in these drinks (not just caffine and sugar) so the effects are combined, plus they are way more concentrated than they are in other beverages. Also most cans are actually 2 servings.

It's scarey when you think about children drinking them. I'm not talking about 16 year olds, everyone I knew was chugging energy drinks in middle school. Now consider that most of these kids are already being medicated for ADD. Even if stimulants help them focus, to much will mess up their body.

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to storm - it's funny but I did think about you all with ADD/ADHD and how the drinks might work.
Srry it took so long but no problem many different ways an energy drink effects a person
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I know we've bashed this topic quite a bit but here is an article originally published by the Washington Post and aggregated by Stuff

Monster drinks cited in five deaths | Stuff.co.nz

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My husband, used to drink the Sugar-Free Rockstar energy drinks, just before he had his supra ventricular tachycardia attack. His pulse was clocked at 265bpm by the time the medics got him to ER. He is a healthy male, not overweight, athletic, 50 years old. But he loved those energy drinks. He now lives with 2 stints and an ICD (which was paid for because most people don't survive this level of v-tach) He luckily got into a case study for the Merlin @Home Device.

The main killer in these drinks aren't the caffeine- believe it or not it's the guarana. This stuff is horrible for your heart, and shouldn't even be allowed to be legally added to any food item. (Not a nurse, but starting my pre-req's in the spring.)

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What do high schoolers need all that energy for, anyway? Pulling algebra all-nighters?

Oh, I don't know, maybe cause of class all day, then parents have then in football, then baseball practice, they are probably working a part-time job then get home in time to do homework and up again to do it all over. Not to mention that I recall talking in Psych class about how teenagers actually need about 12 plus hours of sleep a night.

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My husband, used to drink the Sugar-Free Rockstar energy drinks, just before he had his supra ventricular tachycardia attack. His pulse was clocked at 265bpm by the time the medics got him to ER. He is a healthy male, not overweight, athletic, 50 years old. But he loved those energy drinks. He now lives with 2 stints and an ICD (which was paid for because most people don't survive this level of v-tach) He luckily got into a case study for the Merlin @Home Device.

The main killer in these drinks aren't the caffeine- believe it or not it's the guarana. This stuff is horrible for your heart, and shouldn't even be allowed to be legally added to any food item. (Not a nurse, but starting my pre-req's in the spring.)

Ok, a stent would not be put in for side effects related to energy drinks, they are placed because of atherosclerotic plaque build-up which is blocking his coronary arteries.

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The cardiologist cannot figure out why the v-tach happened to begin with, he did mention a woman died from a mitral valve prolapse from drinks containing it. That and taurine, I wouldn't be surprised of anything this stuff can do. My point was, it shouldn't be consumed, it's dangerous. Not sure about the stents either since they have done 2 heart caths, and innumerable echos and never saw a block, but because of a mystery arrhythmia decided to put the stents in. It did fix the arrhythmia. *shrug*

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I get what you are saying, and I agree that kids should not be consuming it. Like others have said though, I do think people need to take more responsibility for themselves and their own health. However, this does not take into account the scary amount of people with far below average IQ who just don't get it.

On the point a PP made, yes, I agree warning labels are getting out of hand. But there is a difference between 'Do not ingest laundry detergent' and 'do not mix energy drinks with alcohol' or 'do not drink more than X amount of energy drinks per day'. Since A) they are sold in bars and clubs together, and B) the advertisements say they are recommended by doctors and are marketed as healthy/sugar free/vitamins and supplements.

On that note, I probably wouldn't have made it through full time nursing school and full time work without copious amounts of coffee and energy drinks. I was lucky, I am here and healthy today (as far as I know at least! :p)

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Specializes in ED, trauma.

Sorry to revive a somewhat dying post.....

Out of curiosity... How do energy drinks compare with diet pills? Don't diet pills cause some nasty arrhythmias? Is this a similar issue?

Thanks.

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Oh, I don't know, maybe cause of class all day, then parents have then in football, then baseball practice, they are probably working a part-time job then get home in time to do homework and up again to do it all over. Not to mention that I recall talking in Psych class about how teenagers actually need about 12 plus hours of sleep a night.

We need it to stay awake in class

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Also on the topic of energy drinks, does the 5 hour energy commercial saying doctors recomend it bother anyone else? They say they asked 3000 doctors and most would recommend 5 hour energy "to those who drink energy drinks", but what do those 3000 doctors say about energy drinks in general?

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This doctor sayeth to many inquiring patients (many times): save your money. Those overhyped drinks are overpriced, and oversweetened.

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