Energy drinks are now available in Nigeria in multiples and have been so now for several years. They are often rich in stimulants or rather made up of stimulant drugs and caffeine and are marketed as food supplements that provide both mental and physical stimulation. There may not even be as much caffeine in each drink as is contained in the regular cups of coffee that we drink at home or even in the kolanuts many people consume at their leisure in many parts of the country.
The major drawback with these drinks however resides with the sheer amount of sweeteners contained in each one. That makes them easy to drink and many youngsters have been known to consume multiple helpings of the drink with fatal consequences. As a result, many young people now suffer from real health issues as a result of consuming these drinks and we shall be dealing with some of these problems in the next few paragraphs.
It is clear that because of what these drinks contain, their usage is associated with increased anxiety and headaches; and the more quantity of it that is consumed, the more severe the headaches. Sometimes, these headaches are caused by the effects of caffeine withdrawal. In large consumptions such as may be associated with binge drinking seen particularly among teenagers, panic attacks may even result as a manifestation of the increased level of anxiety. They also keep people awake a lot and when it now becomes a habit to consume these energy drinks, the users move from insomnia to a state in which they miss sleep altogether. This sad trajectory of events leads people to function poorly at work with associated impaired judgement. This combination of events makes the consumers of such drinks to become dangerous drivers and unreliable operators of machinery and indeed other types of engagement that require an acute level of concentration.
We have already stated above that these drinks are rich in sugars. The heavy intake of the drinks soon helps to wear out the pancreas, the organ responsible for producing insulin which helps to regulate glucose. The result is that they become prone to developing diabetes. Consequently, diabetics who take such a drink, and it is only the very ignorant people with the disease who do this, suffer a progressively worsening control of their blood sugar level and they soon develop complications.
Energy drinks can also be regarded as a drug of addiction. This is because some of the substances used in producing them contain caffeine. In some ways, there is often a near complete inability to function effectively in any capacity especially when there is no such drink available to the person to consume at the time of need. Faced with such imminent ruin, only a psychologist intervening in the individual’s preoccupation with such drinks can ultimately rescue them from impending doom. The misfortune is two-fold: there is the inability to be effective at work and the risk of financial hardship caused by an obsession with taking some products.
Recently, it has been observed that teenagers who are high on caffeine are more likely than not to take risks, engage in risky behaviour and are exposed to significant bodily harm as a result. In the meantime, such people are also more prone to suffering from jitteriness and undue nervousness. As seen in an earlier paragraph above, this particular dimension is just a shade lower in severity than the panic attacks which can result. Worse still is the fact that when too much of energy drinks are taken, vomiting may result, which can lead to the development of a dehydration state. There may also be some acid erosion of the teeth and oesophagus, the pathway for food from the mouth into the stomach.
It keeps getting worse because when there is much consumption of these drinks, a barrage of allergic reactions can result and these vary from itching around the body, similar to the type some people who take kolanuts have complained about, to the profound constriction of the airway that prevents them from breathing. When this nadir is reached, death can result from asphyxiation. Death can also result from the irregular heartbeats that have been associated with the use of energy drinks. People with underlying heart disease have sometimes developed cardiac arrest as a result of taking several of these drinks at a time. Some others have died because their heart developed a mind of its own, essentially beating without control and too ineffectively to pump out blood into their circulation. The result is that they die from a malady known as ventricular fibrillation.
Even when a person’s heart is regarded as healthy, the use of energy drinks is now known to cause more forceful contractions of the heart, a relationship that has even been observed among teenagers – the healthiest subset of the entire population. If they have been proven to be susceptible to such cardiovascular effects, then the rest of the population had better be aware that their usage can often place the risk of death at the door.
Another potent driver of the heart of the individual who takes energy drinks is the release of stress hormones such as adrenaline and nor-adrenaline. These further cause agitation in the individual, unduly increase the degree of nervous activity and accelerate the entire cardiovascular system to the degree that threatens the very life of the person. Those people who suffer from high blood pressure are at particular risk at this point from suffering a stroke or a heart attack either of which could be fatal or result in very debilitating illness.
In a recent study at the Mayo Clinic in the US, it was found that the use of energy drinks among teenagers increased their stress hormone levels by 74 per cent, nearly doubling their cardiovascular effect. For the person who already has a raised blood pressure and the one who has an underlying heart condition, such acceleration is a time bomb. Recently, the World Health Organisation released a warning which sought to address the dangers these drinks pose to young people, especially when they found that as much as 68 per cent of adolescents indeed consume them. Once more, a novel drink is now at risk of threatening the health of the world. Please beware.
Ask the doctor
Dear doctor, I am a 29-year-old male planning to marry a 27-year-old lady who is a virgin, just like I am. A friend of mine said that to deflower such a girl is very difficult. Sir, is it true? 070338xxxxx
Your friend is quite amusing. It is difficult surely and there is pain on the woman’s side, but these are not new facts. When both of you prepare for it mentally and physically, that initial difficulty is easily overcome. Sort this out with your wife to be, not your friend.
Dear doctor, I have loss of hearing. Which eardrop should I use? 080599xxxxx
The only way to determine what has caused your hearing loss is to have a doctor examine your ears and assess your hearing. By so doing, a proper diagnosis will be made and they will then decide if you have a problem they can treat or you should be referred to an Ear, nose and throat surgeon. Using an eardrop is certainly not the solution.
Dear doctor, my wife is 50 years old and her problem is sweating. This happens every 10 to 15 minutes whether there is a fan or not. She stopped seeing her period about four years ago. Please help me, what can be done medically to solve this problem? Thank you. 08054xxxxx
Frequently, at her age, she may experience symptoms like these because she is now in her menopause. However, certain disease conditions, especially ones like goitre, can also cause problems such as these in addition to other features. The easiest thing for you to do now is to see a doctor for examination and confirmatory tests which will help confirm whether you ought to worry or not. Whatever the answer may be, such problems can be treated.
Dear doctor, I want you to help me with food that can make me fat because I suffered from some sickness recently which made me shrink in size. Thanks. 090352xxxxx
The only doctor who can give you that kind of advice now is the one who treated you when you were ill. Any recommendation I give you may delay your recovery or even harm you. For example, if you lost weight because you had poorly controlled diabetes, I would be causing you harm by suggesting that you take carbohydrates and fat which can make a recovering person gain weight but not somebody on treatment for diabetes. So, see your doctor for a detailed explanation of the nature of the sickness you just recovered from and he can then advice you on your desire to gain weight.
Dear doctor, I am having issues with my monthly flow. In May, it came twice and now in November, it has not come at all. I have done a pregnancy test but it is negative. What is wrong with me? 080960xxxxx
What is wrong with you may be due to a hormonal malfunction or an imbalance. As you did not disclose your age, it is somewhat challenging to determine what may have led to this other than what I have said before. But some of these factors can also be caused by using contraceptives. As a result of what is going on, you should see your doctor for relevant tests to determine if indeed that is the case. But you must bear in mind that these issues occur often among women.
Dear doctor, I often experience “deadness” on my left thigh with no flow of blood until I slap it several times. What symptom is this and what is the cure? 081378xxxxx
What you are experiencing in your thigh has nothing to do with the absence of blood. If it does, that leg will die and gangrene will set in. What is more likely is that you have a nerve injury or something is exerting some pressure on a nerve in that limb and it is causing you some numbness in the thigh. See your doctor for proper examination and treatment.
Dear doctor, I have been struggling with pains in my knuckles every morning when I wake up. I am not comfortable with this. Please, what can I do? 081276xxxxx
It is perhaps not as serious as you may believe it is. Some of these things have a lot to do with the kind of work you do with your hands during working hours and these may not become evident until you rest and wake up. However, it is known also that poor levels of water intake can sometimes be responsible for issues like this. So, your approach to dealing with it at this time has to be three-pronged: first is to ensure you take up to three litres of fluids every day if you are 18 years and above. The second thing is to use mild pain killers such as paracetamol for three days and observe the changes. Finally, if you do any manual labour or do a lot of hand-based work, you should wear protective equipment like working gloves, those thick orange or red types worn by electricians.
Dear doctor, I am a 28-year-old woman with sickle cell disease and I have two children. My problem now is that even though I have been advised to not have more children, my husband keeps disturbing me to get pregnant one more time. What do you advise me to do sir? I am so confused. 070862xxxxx
Your plight is understandable. Frankly, you have done well enough to have two children and I am sure neither the pregnancies nor the deliveries were smooth. I am certain that is why you were advised to desist from future pregnancies. Consequently, if you sit down with your husband and talk this over in a sober manner, he will stop pressurising you. The consequences of not adhering to your doctor’s advice can be very profound. You can lose your life and leave him with the sole responsibility of taking care of your two children alone. Or you can emerge from such a pregnancy with a debilitating kind of effect that will render you useless to your family as a whole, which is just as bad. Think hard about these possibilities before you make your decision. But I will join your doctors in advising you to face the two kids you have now and take proper care of them.
Dear doctor, your explanation in SUNDAY PUNCH on the side effects of prostate surgery such as retrograde ejaculations got me thinking because I experience it. Is there any way this side effect could be reversed? Thanks. 080726xxxxx
It is not reversible and it is not harmful either. When you fail to ejaculate during sex, the semen which escapes into the bladder is passed out the next time you pass urine.
Credit :PUNCH.
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