From the time we are very young, we begin to get advice from our mother. When we are children, we start to listen to the advice because we realize they know what they are talking about. They are telling us to brush our teeth, look both ways before we cross the street and to pick up after ourselves. It’s advice that we will remember for the rest of our lives. When we get older, however, we start to ignore the advice that our mothers give us but it is still worth considering.
That was the case with a man named Michael Clarke. He was 35 years old and his mother, Shani Clarke warned him about drinking too many energy drinks when he saw how many cans he had in his truck. She let him know that he should stop drinking them because she was afraid for his health. We often hear about the dangers of chemicals inside of energy drinks and she must have known about it. He didn’t pay any attention to what she said but within a few weeks, he was found dead inside of his truck. He was a victim of caffeine toxicity and he had a massive heart attack.
“I can’t tell you the pain I felt at that moment, my heart just hit the floor and I sobbed and sobbed,” Shani wrote on Facebook.
The family is from Perth Australia and Shani recognized that her son had a caffeine addiction before he died in January 2014.
“He was cleaning his truck out and I saw he had an armful of the big cans of Mother and I said ‘I hope you’re not drinking too many of them in one go’ which he just shrugged off as we mums know nothing, I didn’t think much more of it at the time,” she said.
Mother is the brand name of an energy drink from Australia and New Zealand.
After the tragedy occurred she started to put things together. He was complaining about indigestion before he died.
“The coroner said the indigestion could have been mistaken for a mild heart attack,” she said.
She had also seen him buying multiple packs of Mother energy drinks at a time. Those drinks have 160 mg of caffeine in every can. The daily limit according to the FDA is 400 mg. He would consume the Mother energy drinks and then drink coffee when he got home.
Shani was devastated over her son’s death and knew that it should not be in vain. She decided to create the
Caffeine Toxicity Death Awareness Facebook group.
The people inside the group discussed their addiction and make others aware of the issue. Michael may have died in 2014 but his mom is still a hard-working individual that wants to help other people. She even had the opportunity to discuss a red bull addiction with someone in 2018.
“Things ALWAYS happen for a reason, my back has been bad this week so got a dog wash lady to come round … and of course the caffeine subject came up and BAM she drinks Redbull every single day!” she posted in 2018.
“We had a BIG chat and gave her some cards to join the caffeine toxicity group to get help to come off, she has been thinking that she needs to stop but today I gave her the reason to stop…..another one to add to your list Michael Clarke of people you have helped.”
Drinking energy drinks and other caffeinated products can cause difficulties, especially if you don’t drink them in moderation. Use caution with any of these products and stop using them if they make you feel ill.
