Omd something Scary just happened to my Sisters Bf!!!

There was a thread on here not to long about about energy drinks. Shakiness definitely sounds like it could be linked to it. I hope he can be convinced to go to a doctor soon and preferably be more discerning about what he eats and drinks.

I sure hope so too

The drink may have triggered something that he was already prone to -- which might be a blessing in disguise, since now he can be properly diagnosed. He has to see a doctor... and he may realize it himself, when he's thinking more clearly.

I hope she took all those blasted "energy" drinks out of his apartment!

Thank You,
I found the Post. http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...=energy+drinks

The same thing happened to me and my brother.

Almost 3 years ago my family and I were visiting family. I was walking around the bed and tripped on the leg of the bed. I fell REALLY hard on my knees. The instant I fell I started feeling very dizzy and light headed. The next think I knew I was waking up with everyone standing around me acting really scared. I didnt know why. I found out that I fainted and had a GRAND MAUL seizure!!!!!!! They wanted to call 911, but I talked them out of it (I know I should have gone, but I was SOOOOO embarassed and I didnt want any more commotion because of me). I think it happened because I fell SOOOOO hard on my knees that the fall sent my body into shock. I havent had ANY problems since.

My brother and dad both LOVE going to airports to watch planes land and take off. One day about 2 and a half years ago, they were at the airport watching planes and my brother all of a sudden had a grand mal seizure. He was rushed to the ER. They ran ALOT of test and found out that he had a proplem with his brain. He hasnt had any more grand maul seizures (but the doctors say that it is likley that he will have more), but he has many mini seizures everyday. He continues to have problems to this day. And he will continue to have problems the rest of his life. The problems didnt happen because of the grand mal seizure, he has had this problem his whole life. We just didnt know it untill he had the seizure.

I wonder if it was the drink or is he going to have problems now.

It was hers and he took one. I said get rid of all of them.

Thank you to everyone who responded to this post. Here is the full story. My bf likes to force himself to stay up all night and not have any sleep at all. Last night he stayed up and we were staying at my apt. He watched a lot of tv because he has issues sleeping at my place. I woke up and he was still awake. I went to drink a slim fast and thought one was missing so I asked if he had taken one and he said no. I sat on the couch with my laptop while he continued to watch tv and asked him if he got any sleep at all. I told him it's bad to stay up so long.

He is usually a goofy character and we were watching a kinda bloody show and when my air freshener poofed, that's when he started shaking and fell out of the chair onto my living room carpet. I told him to knock it off and he stopped shaking for a min but it started again so I again told him to knock it off and started looking at him. I couldn't tell if he was messing with me or not. I kept yelling his name and he said nothing, his hands were clenched in fists and he had some spit coming out of his mouth. His eyes were kinda rolled into the back of his head.

I saw blood on his face and that's when I really started to freak out. From a cell phone, calling 911 goes to the CHP. It just kept ringing and ringing so I hung up and checked on him. I tried calling his mom but she didn't answer. I again tried to call 911 and got it rang and then after a while told me that all operators were busy! Great!

At that moment I saw that he was coming too. First thing he said to me was that he was confused. He started to get a bloody nose so I ran and got him some tissues. He tried to get up but I told him to stay down. I tried asking him some questions about what just happened and he just kept saying what? He has rug burn on his forehead and right between his eyes. He yelled at me when I told him he needed to see a dr but there was no way that I could force him. I dropped him off at home and called his mom and she went to go see him.

I had somewhere I needed to be and after that I went straight to his house. He seems ok, besides the rug burn on his face. He explained to me what happened in his eyes. One second he was in the chair, the next he was on the floor. I told him what I saw and told him it was about 5 minutes. This is when he brings up me asking him about taking a slimfast. He said I told you I didn't take a slimfast but......I did take an energy drink.

He told me he had been shaky for a while before he fell. I told him that sometimes the energy drinks make me shaky and that I don't like to drink them. I am wondering if the fact that he was so sleep deprived and that he had a tall can energy drink, might have made his body react. Maybe he was overloaded with the caffeine and other elements of the drink. I am not sure but I do know that was the scariest thing to witness. I am still going to try to convince him to see a dr.

It is very well likely it was the energy drink. Those thing can be fatal in some cases. Whe is he so afraid to go to the doctor?

Originally Posted by luvmycat1

It is very well likely it was the energy drink. Those thing can be fatal in some cases. Whe is he so afraid to go to the doctor?

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He has social anxiety so going to the dr is pretty scary for him. I am going to try to convince him though. I already told him if it was me it happened to, I'm sure he would make sure I ended up at the dr.

Was the nosebleed from hitting the floor, or did it just appear? If the latter, I'm betting on lack of sleep plus the drugs in the energy drink raising his blood pressure.

Originally Posted by bad_kitty2001

He has social anxiety so going to the dr is pretty scary for him. I am going to try to convince him though. I already told him if it was me it happened to, I'm sure he would make sure I ended up at the dr.

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Tell him you'll be right there with him? Which I'm sure you will be, you're the witness so are the best one to help tell the doctor what happened.

The air freshener's timing sounds a bit suspicious too. Strong scents can be a trigger in those who have epilepsy.

Originally Posted by mrblanche

Was the nosebleed from hitting the floor, or did it just appear? If the latter, I'm betting on lack of sleep plus the drugs in the energy drink raising his blood pressure.

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His nose was not bleeding when I first saw him on the ground. I didn't notice it until he started to sit up.

I did tell him that I would be there with him. I know I was the only one that witnessed the event, so I would be the only one who could tell what really happened.

Here is some information I found when researching last night...


"A typical grand mal seizure starts with a loss of consciousness and falling down. This is followed by a 15- to 20-second period with muscle rigidity (tonic phase) and then a one- to two-minute period of violent, rhythmic convulsions (clonic phase). During a grand mal seizure, you may take on a dusky appearance, resulting from decreased blood oxygen levels due to impaired breathing during the seizure."

From http://edition.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00222.html

It wasn't exactly like this. He started shaking before he even fell and he was contracted for more than the 15-20 seconds. There really wasn't any violent convulsions. I do know that when he was relaxed afterwards, he started to breathe heavy like he was trying to catch his breath.

Also taken from the above website, "Most grand mal seizures last from 30 seconds to five minutes. After the seizure, you may experience a headache and drowsiness or confusion. Seizures often occur randomly, though in rare cases, stimulation by light, sound or touch can trigger a seizure in susceptible people. Sleep deprivation and excessive alcohol use also may trigger seizures."

Whatever it was happened for about 4 or 5 minutes. I didn't realize it had been so long except for the fact that I looked at the times of all my calls. I tried to figure out the time by thinking it took a few seconds to react to him falling, going and checking on him, calling his name to him, freaking out and then deciding to call 911 at 2:26 again at 2:27 and his mom at 2:29 before he came out of it.

He did have a head and and told me he was confused. This also says a sound could trigger it which made me believe the air freshener in the first place. It does say that sleep deprivation could be a trigger. He had not been drinking at the time. He used to drink pretty excessively, but I have been helping him with that a lot.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarana

When referring to the ingredients in these energy drinks, "From anecdotal evidence of excessive consumption of energy drinks, guarana may contribute (alone or in combination with caffeine and taurine) to onset of seizures in some people."

He has had these energy drinks before. I know that I get shaky from just drinking part of a can, so I try not to drink them very often. For a while he was drinking them regularly, but I don't know the last time he had one before this. He was shaky though, which doesn't go well when you are running on absolutely no sleep.

Coming from a person who has a seizure disorder, my neurologist said to ABSOLUTELY never drink any of those energy drinks because of the guarana they contain could send me into a seizure. I'd have him go and get checked out. Lack of sleeping and energy drinks are a bad combination. In all my seizures, I never remember having a bloody nose. Social anxiety or not, his health could be in danger, he needs to see a doctor right away.

Originally Posted by jugen

Coming from a person who has a seizure disorder, my neurologist said to ABSOLUTELY never drink any of those energy drinks because of the guarana they contain could send me into a seizure. I'd have him go and get checked out. Lack of sleeping and energy drinks are a bad combination. In all my seizures, I never remember having a bloody nose. Social anxiety or not, his health could be in danger, he needs to see a doctor right away.

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I agree completely, but I can't force him to go. I have told him several times and I will tell him again.

Another thing a doctor needs to rule out is syncope... a little info, not the best (but you wouldn't want to read lengthy technical medical studies and papers concerning it) http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/gen...opeseizure.htm

I tend not to faint, but when I have my pre/near syncope episodes I do jerk sometimes before I fall. After falling I cannot move until enough oxygen returns to my brain and allows that. Lack of oxygen to the brain can also induce non epileptic type seizures for some individuals. When I do faint I'm usually left very very confused.
I wouldn't dare try any of those silly energy drinks. They would set off my tachycardia and likely induce a faint. Tachycardia itself can decrease blood oxygen (which is why I can't speak or think clearly some days lol).

Infections, such as meningitis, cause cause seizures so you really need to drag him in to see a doctor soon. Tell him it will be more embarrassing if this happens again in public - point out that some people can lose bowel and bladder control during seizures.


I want to add a little bit of info and suggestion for anyone reading this. If you ever witness someone getting very dizzy, falling to the ground - with or without loss of consciousness, please do not set the person up. (if it happens to you, stay down for a bit) Remain with the person and make sure they lay flat. Whether it's syncope or a seizure, that's the safest place for a person to be during the episode.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Another thing a doctor needs to rule out is syncope... a little info, not the best (but you wouldn't want to read lengthy technical medical studies and papers concerning it) http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/gen...opeseizure.htm

I tend not to faint, but when I have my pre/near syncope episodes I do jerk sometimes before I fall. After falling I cannot move until enough oxygen returns to my brain and allows that. Lack of oxygen to the brain can also induce non epileptic type seizures for some individuals. When I do faint I'm usually left very very confused.
I wouldn't dare try any of those silly energy drinks. They would set off my tachycardia and likely induce a faint. Tachycardia itself can decrease blood oxygen (which is why I can't speak or think clearly some days lol).

Infections, such as meningitis, cause cause seizures so you really need to drag him in to see a doctor soon. Tell him it will be more embarrassing if this happens again in public - point out that some people can lose bowel and bladder control during seizures.

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Well I told him what if he was standing on the stairs or something. I already know what he would say about the public thing. He doesn't go out very often because of the anxiety. Thank you for all the information.

The thing is, if he has epilepsy or some other kind of seizure-inducing illness, this is likely to happen again (with or without the drink) -- and next time, he might be driving a car when it happens. So if he won't go to the doctor for his own sake, point out that he's putting others at risk as well.

I understand about social anxiety... but maybe it would help if you can arrange for him to be the first appointment of the day, so you can go straight into the exam room instead of waiting with other patients...

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

The thing is, if he has epilepsy or some other kind of seizure-inducing illness, this is likely to happen again (with or without the drink) -- and next time, he might be driving a car when it happens. So if he won't go to the doctor for his own sake, point out that he's putting others at risk as well.

I understand about social anxiety... but maybe it would help if you can arrange for him to be the first appointment of the day, so you can go straight into the exam room instead of waiting with other patients...

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I am still going to see if I can get him to go. He doesn't have a car so that example doesn't work. He is being super stubborn. He was supposed to ride his bike home from my apt yesterday too. I'm sure glad he didn't! I am definitely going to talk to him today. I think he is just starting to understand what happened from my view instead of his. He wasn't fully aware until last night when I went to check on him, of what had really happened to him. He also told me that if I had taken him to the emergency room, he would have just gotten up and walked home. He must be crazy.

My Sisters Bf is going to the Dr at 2.