Playing my regular Friday golf game with my high school buddies on a very hot summer afternoon, there was no drink cart or water fountains to hydrate with on the desert course we were playing.
After the round, I bought two big bottles of Mountain Dew at a convenience store to drink on the drive home. I consumed both of them because I was thirsty as all get out. Within an hour of returning home, I felt light-headed and had a tingling sensation all over my body. I couldn't figure out what it was and enlisted my wife to help. She was a nurse practitioner.
My heart was racing at about 140 beats a minute when my normal resting pulse was 70. She took me to the ER and I had an EKG. I was in full-blown Atrial Fibrillation.
They cardio-converted me (the classic paddles to jolt your heart back into normal sinus rhythm). It worked for a short while but I flipped back into it again.
I was given Warfarin to thin my blood to avoid clotting. In the history and physical interview, I told the doc about drinking the Mountain Dew. She said it has a very high caffeine content and probably sent my heart into overdrive.
I have been cardio-converted over a dozen times over the years trying to get rid of the rapid and irregular heartbeat, including what they call an ablation technique and a maze procedure during my open heart surgery a few years ago. Nothing has ever worked to correct the problem permanently and I still take Warfarin daily to keep a clot from forming in my atrial chamber and causing a risk for stroke.
All of this because I downed those two Mountain Dews year before. I haven't touched it or other sodas since. Bad stuff.
That’s the equivalent of drinking 16 cups of coffee. Plus the 250 + grams of sugar. No wonder it made you sick.
Sounds like a very bad experience. Probably best to avoid all stimulants in food and drink.
FYI, you were probably dehydrated and having a bit of heatstroke too. I had a friend (very healthy and athletic) who had a mile heart attack while out jogging because he got too dehydrated. Introducing a couple bottles of Dew on top of a situation like that is a disaster waiting to happen.
Nowadays, when I’m enjoying outdoor activities in the heat, I keep it to water and Gatorade and minimize the fizzy stuff.
fwiw