Man Dies Of Caffeine Overdose

[IronWing]

Is it something in the air of Britain?

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Good god...I wonder what that translates to in milligrams?

My caffeine tolerance has gone down considerably, as I don't consume nearly as much of it as I once did. (24oz Mountain Dew daily, while employed stocking shelves.) Now, 50mg is about the limit for what I will take at once. Much more than that, and you could take my pulse with a seismometer mounted on the other side of town. It's a really unpleasant state to be in.

Something like caffeine might be best in pill form, to carefully mete out the proper dosage. If you really want it powdered, buy a mortar and pestle.

Oh well, chalk up another one for Darwin, possibly.

Assuming that it was pure caffeine powder... 10,000 mg (assuming level teaspoonfuls rather than heaped), washed down with an energy drink with more caffeine in it.

Edit: Yup you can buy 100% pure (yeah right) caffeine for around the £3.50 mark

 

[MarkXIX]

I almost overdosed one morning before my PT test for the Army. I woke up and took two Excedrine Migraine pills (130mg caffeine), drank about 20 ounces of coffee on my way in (~300mg caffeine), and then slammed a Mt. Dew Amp 16 ounce (~150mg caffeine) right before the 2-mile run. All that was inside of about 90 minutes. That's approximately 980mg in that short time period.

I did my push-ups and sit-ups and felt okay, but when I got to the 2-mile run, I started to get tunnel vision, heart palpitations, and excessive sweating (it was about 40 degrees out that morning). I started to feel like I was going to vomit, but the timer started the clock, so I held it down and started running. Ended up running the fastest 2-mile run (14:06) in several years at age 32.

 

[BudAshes]

i could totally see one of my friends doing that in high school. As an adult though, that's pretty sad way to go.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Man, I've had mild "overdose" effects from caffeine before, primarily because my body seems to process stuff like that VERY slow. I drank a combination of soda, energy drinks, and coffee all in one afternoon and started getting a horrible "butterflies in your stomach" feeling, heart palpitations, feeling like I was going to vomit, jittery (obviously...), slight paranoia, and some loss of muscle control (exaggerated movements). It was NOT a pleasant experience.

People that take a large dose of something just because deserve what's coming to them, unfortunately. You wouldn't dump a few pints of some mystery liquid into your car just to see what happens, so why take a chance with something even more precious - your body.

 

[Locut0s]

I almost OD'd on caffeine when I was younger. I now have an irregular heart beat and heart palpitations because of it.

Wow really what did you consume?

 

[PlasmaBomb]

how could you counter the effects of it?

Normally treatment would consist of supportive treatment - aimed to reduce the immediate symptoms of caffeine overdose - antihypertensives and/or betablockers would probably be used to lower the BP and control the heart rate...

Possibly stomach pumping, activated charcoal, laxatives, depending on the time of ingestion and plasma levels of caffeine.

If the concentration is high enough, or the patient is reacting badly enough, you could use hemodialysis/hemofiltration to try and lower the plasma concentrations.

 

[Eli]

I almost overdosed one morning before my PT test for the Army. I woke up and took two Excedrine Migraine pills (130mg caffeine), drank about 20 ounces of coffee on my way in (~300mg caffeine), and then slammed a Mt. Dew Amp 16 ounce (~150mg caffeine) right before the 2-mile run. All that was inside of about 90 minutes. That's approximately 980mg in that short time period.

I did my push-ups and sit-ups and felt okay, but when I got to the 2-mile run, I started to get tunnel vision, heart palpitations, and excessive sweating (it was about 40 degrees out that morning). I started to feel like I was going to vomit, but the timer started the clock, so I held it down and started running. Ended up running the fastest 2-mile run (14:06) in several years at age 32.

980mg is no where near OD levels...

I suppose "OD" includes "unpleasant effects", but your life wasn't in danger.. lol

 

[scott916]

Wow. That musta been a fuckin bad way to go. I stupidly drank a 2-liter of mountain dew in like 20 minutes when I was a kid once and half an hour later I thought I was going to pass out.

 

[IronWing]

Wow. That musta been a fuckin bad way to go. I stupidly drank a 2-liter of mountain dew in like 20 minutes when I was a kid once and half an hour later I thought I was going to pass out.

That's the HFCS talking.

 

[Eli]

That's the HFCS talking.

Yeah. Last I checked, Mt. Dew had 55mg per 12fl oz.

So 310mg in 2 liters. Meh. The energy drinks I drink contain 300mg in 16oz.

 

[TraumaRN]

Yeah. Last I checked, Mt. Dew had 55mg per 12fl oz.

So 310mg in 2 liters. Meh. The energy drinks I drink contain 300mg in 16oz.

I worked with a guy who would drink on an average night 8-12 energy drinks, and at least 4-5 shots of espresso, he literally never sat still, and if he did you could see his hands tremor, and yet he was one of the best ER nurses I've ever worked with...but he was just wired 24/7.

This thread reminds me of when we give people caffeine through an IV, usually 500mg dose in an hour for certain types of headache...if they are caffeine light weights the result is usually pretty funny.

 

[Born2bwire]

Good god...I wonder what that translates to in milligrams?

My caffeine tolerance has gone down considerably, as I don't consume nearly as much of it as I once did. (24oz Mountain Dew daily, while employed stocking shelves.) Now, 50mg is about the limit for what I will take at once. Much more than that, and you could take my pulse with a seismometer mounted on the other side of town. It's a really unpleasant state to be in.

Something like caffeine might be best in pill form, to carefully mete out the proper dosage. If you really want it powdered, buy a mortar and pestle.

Oh well, chalk up another one for Darwin, possibly.

I did a turn in the stock room of the chemistry classes at my high school. The bottle of caffeine had the warning that "as much as 1 grain may be life threatening."

:hmm:

 

[scott916]

Damn, it was crazy, I always figured it was the caffeine. I was about 10 years old, though.

 

[destrekor]

I have seen a few seem to think somewhere between 1-2g, causing unpleasant side-effects, are in the OD level.

Technically, it's over the comfortable dosage, but... "OD" as everyone knows it means that it threatened the life of the consumer.

You may get sick after 1g of caffeine, but not everyone does (tolerance, obviously)... and it goes no further than nausea and possible extreme lethargy.

I did that on quite a few occasions, over a time no longer than a handful of hours, and suffered no "negative" effects, though I was definitely lethargic later in the day after the crash. The super-buzz is exactly what I was wanting, so I kind of new hour to handle the elevated feeling. It was most definitely an extreme caffeine high whenever I went that route, and I sought it. :biggrin:

And I had looked into getting pure powder, more economical than caffeine pills, and could help make a high-potency cup of coffee.
But alas, I kind of feared the actual idea of owning pure caffeine, kind of would have made me felt like a junkie.

I've had nasty nausea and/or a torn-up stomach, but nothing more severe. But I could definitely understand 1g causing some people some nasty side-effects.

But man, I sure do want to award this guy a damn Darwin Award. I mean, seriously.. you took that much caffeine powder?

Fuck warning labels, let this fucking idiots keep making insanely idiotic decisions.

I guess some people just forget caffeine is actually a lethal chemical... but we have it readily available in so many products, seemingly without regulation, that they get numb to the concept of it being an actual drug.

Also, fairly similar with dogs.
They aren't "allergic" to chocolate, merely, another chemical found in a few plants of the theobroma family (found in cacao and tea, can't remember if it's in coffee or not). Just like caffeine is lethal to us, it is lethal to dogs. However, dogs are more sensitive to theobromine than we are, which is found in a good quantity in chocolate. Eating a chocolate bar worth of even dark chocolate? Not likely to cause any side effects, though likely more energy. Milk chocolate, probably won't feel much.
Eating a 3lb box of chocolate? A small dog it might kill, a large dog it will probably only make it sick and lead to puking.

You can give your dog chocolate just like you give yourself coffee - keep it reasonable (and for dogs, far far less often - don't need to indoctrinate dogs into our drug consumption habits )

 

[Eli]

Damn, it was crazy, I always figured it was the caffeine. I was about 10 years old, though.

It probably was. 310mg is a good dose for a 10 year old. Hell, it's a good dose for an adult if you have no tolerance.

 

[TraumaRN]

The LD50 of caffeine in humans is dependent on weight and individual sensitivity and estimated to be about 150 to 200 milligrams per kilogram of body mass, roughly 80 to 100 cups of coffee for an average adult taken within a limited time frame that is dependent on half-life. Though achieving lethal dose with caffeine would be exceptionally difficult with regular coffee, there have been reported deaths from overdosing on caffeine pills, with serious symptoms of overdose requiring hospitalization occurring from as little as 2 grams of caffeine.

Just FYI on those asking about lethal doses. From Wikipedia. But a quick look in micromedex confirmed it as well.

 

[destrekor]

Just FYI on those asking about lethal doses. From Wikipedia. But a quick look in micromedex confirmed it as well.

Hmm... I wonder if the description of 2g would be a case of ingesting it all at once. That I definitely could believe, but our body can process caffeine fairly well, I can't imagine anyone needing hospitalization if they consumed that even in the span of a few hours.

 

[Eli]

Hmm... I wonder if the description of 2g would be a case of ingesting it all at once. That I definitely could believe, but our body can process caffeine fairly well, I can't imagine anyone needing hospitalization if they consumed that even in the span of a few hours.

I've eaten 1.2g in the span of a few minutes before. It was an interesting experience. Not fun overall. Not really recommended.

I certainly wasn't close to needing hospitalization though.... But, 800mg more is quite a bit. I'm sure it would have become extremely unpleasant at that point...

 

[IcePickFreak]

I'll keep this in mind - and a jar of caffeine powder in my desk - for the next time my boss orders me to get him a coffee.

 

[silverpig]

I have never felt the need for caffeine and haven't ever enjoyed feeling all hopped up on it (had it happen twice, but nothing major, just a little increased heart rate).

I drink coffee purely because of the taste. If decaf could be made to taste good, I'd enjoy that just fine.

 

[RPD]

Crazy... I'll stick to my coffee in the AM.

 

[Powermoloch]

we should ban caffeine




















maybe not >_> i love 'em too much

 

[bfdd]

Also, if your curious what syrup. Skyrocket Caffeinated Syrup. I drank a whole bottle with some energy drinks don't remember what kind exactly it was awhile ago. Sucked balls.

 

[Locut0s]

I have never felt the need for caffeine and haven't ever enjoyed feeling all hopped up on it (had it happen twice, but nothing major, just a little increased heart rate).

I drink coffee purely because of the taste. If decaf could be made to taste good, I'd enjoy that just fine.

I... like... the taste?

Yeah I know lots of people love the taste of coffee but I'm on of those who can't stand the taste. Pretty much anything coffee flavoured is a turn off for me.