A 20-year-old Texas gym enthusiast was placed on life support with multiple organ failure after suffering seizures and multiple cardiac arrests at the gym. She had consumed a highly caffeinated energy drink just before her workout, though experts have not yet confirmed whether it contributed to the medical emergency.
Jazmin Garza sipped a can of Ghost while at the gym, and moments later while working out, she experienced seizures, and collapsed on the floor with bleeding from the nose, according to a GoFundMe page set up by her boyfriend Isaac Ayala, who was with Garza at the gym on November 22. Ayala called 911 quickly and gave her CPR as he could not detect her pulse. When the emergency personnel arrived, they managed to jump-start her heart using a defibrillator.
"When she went into cardiac arrest, her stomach and kidneys stopped working, and her lungs and heart were in really bad shape. She had to overcome three different life supports (an ECMO machine for her blood circulation, dialysis to clean out her kidneys, and a machine to control her oxygen levels) at the hospital and multiple procedures," Ayala wrote on the page.
Garza was discharged after two weeks in the hospital, but despite a thorough investigation, doctors could not determine the exact cause of her cardiac arrests. However, Ayala noted that doctors are "not sure if this [the drink] is what caused it."
Garza did not have any diagnosed heart issues or a family history of heart problems. But she had heart palpitations that could have been a sign of any undiagnosed heart condition. She believes a combination of this, and energy drink consumption may have triggered the episode.
"Our best guess is that I've always had this but just never paid mind to it. When I've had palpitations in the past, I've just thought it was anxiety or something. I'd never gone to a doctors about it before. I don't think the energy drink was the main cause. I think it was a contributory factor for everything to go wrong," Garza told Daily Mail, as reported by News.com.au.
"I'll definitely be staying away from energy drinks now. You never really hear about a 20-year-old going into cardiac arrest, it just doesn't happen," she added.
Research shows that consuming highly caffeinated drinks can increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (Afib), a potentially serious irregular heartbeat condition that, if left untreated, may lead to heart palpitations, blood clots, stroke, or even heart failure. Certain ingredients used in energy drinks such as taurine can also heighten the effects of caffeine, leading to cardiovascular events.
