Fitness enthusiast who loved drinking energy drinks and coffee dies at 28
A 28-year-old who enjoyed taking caffeine supplements followed by up to three energy drinks per day for her workouts has died of a heart attack.
The Daily Mail reported on March 24 that Katie Donnell, a teacher from Florida, fueled her gym sessions by having a caffeine supplement and then up to three energy drinks with coffee every day.
Her mother, Lori Barranon, recently looked back on her daughter's death with Kennedy News and Media, noting that she had no underlying conditions and that she was a "workout queen" who "ate real clean [and] organic food."
But Barranon acknowledged that Donnell did energy drink "abuse."
She said Donnell would typically start the day with a "pre-workout" supplement containing roughly the same amount of caffeine as an energy drink.
"I didn't realize how much she was drinking until after she passed," she said. "One of her friends said she'd hardly see Katie without an energy drink in her hands. When I cleaned out her car after she passed, it was full of cans, at least three or four in there."
"She thought it'd help her work out and give her more energy. She was working out, working full time and going to school, burning it at both ends," she added. "I think she got used to the buzz."
Donnell's boyfriend said she was "rarely" seen without an energy drink in her hand. She would also buy a four-pack soda every two to three days.
According to Barranon, Donnell suddenly fell unconscious while hanging out with friends, with her eyes "rolling into the back of her head."
"[Her friends] thought she was having a stroke but she was actually having a heart attack," Barranon said. "The ambulance got there and couldn't intubate her. She was without oxygen for too long and it caused brain damage."
"They worked on her for three hours and she never woke up," she added.
Doctors initially thought that Donnell was a victim of drug spiking.
She was placed in a medically induced coma and never woke up. "Whenever she tried to wake up she was having seizures," Barranon said. "Then her body started to fail."
After 10 days, her family had to make the "horrible" decision of cutting Donnell's life support.
“At 28, you just don't see people dropping dead of a heart attack.”
According to the National Library of Medicine, caffeine can acutely raise blood pressure and stress the cardiovascular system, furthering the likelihood of abnormal heart rate (arrhythmia).
Mayo Clinic, meanwhile, said up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. That's tantamount to four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of soda, or two energy shot drinks.
Though Donnell's energy drink of choice wasn't specified, a drink may contain up to 200 mg of caffeine per can.
