A gamer managed to narrowly cheat death after supposedly drinking dozens of cans of energy drinks in just 10 minutes in what he dubbed a "legendary" trick for his colleagues.
As reported by The New York Post, Dr. Bernard Hsu shared this case in a YouTube video in September 2021. It has since resurfaced and has garnered more than 7 million views.
"A man drank 12 energy drinks in 10 minutes. This is what happened to his organs,” said Hsu, a clinical pharmacist whose YouTube channel Chubbyemu has over 2.73 million subscribers. His channel often uploads content that describes some of the bizarre cases he either heard about or witnessed firsthand in the emergency room.
Nearly dying from drinking 12 energy drinks in 10 minutes
Here, Hsu shares the case of a man identified only as JS, a glasses-wearing 36-year-old chubby and socially-awkward gamer who is obsessed with Pokémon, video games and other things he was never able to have as a child.
JS was admitted to the hospital with stomach pains and, as Hsu explained, suffered from back pain and atrial flutter.
He then decided to drink some alcohol, only to promptly throw up in the kitchen sink.
"Immediately after chugging all 12 energy drinks, JS didn’t feel well," Hsu recounted, noting that he couldn't eat or drink anything. "To take his mind off it, he started playing some games."
By pushing off seeing a doctor, JS ended up developing acute pancreatitis.
And at the hospital, the doctors discovered that his pancreas, swollen with fluids and infected, ended up starting to digest itself as it struggled to keep up with the sheer amount of sugar and caffeine from the 12 cans.
JS supposedly threw up on a nurse's shoes, but the doctors managed to treat him with antibiotics and intravenous fluids.
Ultimately, this would serve as JS's "wake-up call," with a blood test showing he was pre-diabetes.
All this comes as health experts have warned about the dangers of highly caffeinated and sweetened energy drinks, especially in light of energy-drinking challenges on TikTok and other social media platforms.
"Most people know that energy drinks can be dangerous when consumed in huge excess. If you have one once in a while, and you're young and healthy, it's probably not a big deal. But if you start chugging multiple cans back to back, then bad things are probably going to happen."
Dr. Bernard Hsu
As Hsu noted: "Most people know that energy drinks can be dangerous when consumed in huge excess. If you have one once in a while, and you're young and healthy, it's probably not a big deal. But if you start chugging multiple cans back to back, then bad things are probably going to happen."