A 20-year-old woman suffered a heart attack and seizure at the gym shortly after consuming an energy drink, leading to her being placed on life support.
Jazmin Garza, 20, took a few sips of an energy drink before her workout. Moments later, she began seizing and collapsed, her boyfriend, Isaac Ayala, recounted in a GoFundMe post. “She fell to the floor, shaking, and her nose started bleeding,” he wrote.
Although Ayala mentioned the energy drink, he noted that doctors have not confirmed if it was the cause of the incident.
Emergency services were called immediately. While waiting for the ambulance, Ayala checked for Garza’s pulse but found none. “I started CPR right away,” he stated. When paramedics arrived, they took over and continued resuscitation efforts. After several minutes, they successfully revived her using a defibrillator.
Following the cardiac arrest, Garza’s condition worsened. “Her stomach and kidneys stopped working, and her lungs and heart were in bad shape,” Ayala wrote. She was placed on three forms of life support: an ECMO machine for blood circulation, dialysis for kidney function, and a ventilator to regulate oxygen levels. Doctors performed multiple procedures to stabilize her condition.
Garza revealed she had experienced palpitations before but had never been diagnosed with a heart condition. “I had no prior heart issues or family history of heart problems. Doctors still don’t know why this happened,” she told Kennedy News and Media via The Daily Mail.
She explained that she rarely consumes caffeinated beverages. However, since she had not been to the gym in a while, she decided to drink a third of an energy drink to enhance her workout performance.
After spending two weeks in the hospital, Garza was discharged, but the cause of her heart attack remains unknown. “Doctors conducted several tests on my heart, and everything appeared normal. They couldn’t find any issues or determine what caused it,” she said.
Her case highlights ongoing concerns about the potential risks of energy drinks, particularly for individuals with undiagnosed heart conditions.
