What time frame for the Death by Caffeine Calculator
The one question, by orders of magnitude, that gets asked here more than any other is: “It says that 10 bottles would kill me, but is that over a month, a day, a lifetime?!”
Let’s apply some common sense to this.
If you died after a lifetime consumpution of 200 cans of soda, most Americans wouldn’t make it past age 14. That’s clearly not the answer.
If you died after 200 cans of soda in a month, well, most of the loyal readers here might not have made it past age 30. It’s painfully easy to drink 6 cans daily, especially if you’re trying to stay awake to finish a project. Conversely, it’s about 142 cups of coffee for me. That’s under 5 per day. I can drink more than that with few side effects. It’s not monthly.
Weekly? That’s just a stupid measurement.
Daily? That’s actually believable. If you managed to ingest that much caffeine in one day, you won’t be feeling so hot. In fact you may be in serious trouble. Not everyone’s liver works at the same speed, and some people have reported feeling the effects of caffeine for a full 12 hours – for most people this is more like 4-5 hours.
Here’s the answer: IT’S HOW MUCH YOU HAVE TO HAVE IN YOUR SYSTEM AT ONE TIME.
Yes, it means that it’s practically impossible to kill yourself with caffeine. Practically. Don’t actually try it! After 1 gram, you’ll be a sad panda. If you manage to even challenge the number, you’ll be a schizophrenic, crazed panda, or a passed out panda. And if you’re passed out, you might get your wallet stolen.
94 Comments
As a physician who directs a student health center at a mid western university, I see several cases a semester of students suffering from toxic effects of caffeine. The most common way I see it happen is by accidental acute ingestion through the use of diet pills as many weight loss products contain large amounts of caffeine or its derivatives (frequently renamed “xanthines” by the manufacturers.) Many “fat burner” and “muscle builder” products are also laden with caffeine. (None work by the way…) Caffeine is a drug which exhibit zero-order kinetics for elimination, meaning the more you ingest, the longer it takes for you get rid of it. So, if a student takes more pills suddenly to lose more weight or in a misguided attempt to build muscle or because they are growing tolerant to caffeine’s side effects, they can get into trouble. It would be difficult to achieve lethal doses of caffeine from a beverage as the volume of liquid required to be consumed gets large. Also, the side effects from acute caffeine intoxication are pretty intolerable and usually stop the user from getting a high enough dose. Heart flutters, shakiness, paranoia, extreme nervousness, chest pain, headaches, insomnia usually clue someone in they don’t feel well. Those of you reporting little or no side effects from your experiments with large ingestions are probably tolerant to caffeine, as repeated exposure leads to tolerance to its effects by your body and nervous system.
I consumed four 16 oz. cans of monster energy drink in about half an hour, I felt jittery and had a light head ache, but then again I have moderate heart problems, also how much does monster cost were you guys/gals live its like 2.39 for a 16 oz. can here.
Well, monster + heart problems = bad news. lol it even says so on the can. As long as your heart isn’t racing for like 4-5 hours, your all set. Otherwise… 911. And also, monster is the same price here.
Im glad I found this site; its helpful to know how much caffeine are in the things we consume because even though you might not “die” from caffeine it can ruin your body. I think its good to consume certain amounts of caffeine but I’m caffeine sensitive so its nice to know this kind of information. And I don’t think people should test out how much caffeine they can take, it will just ruin their body especially if they are caffeine sensitive. I had to find out the hard way and went to the hospital for rapid palpatations when i was younger and didn’t know about controling my caffeine intake. So be careful with your caffeine, it can be just as bad as any drug.
LOL!!! passed out panda! i love pandas! but i don’t want to be one! *checks pockets for wallet*
Back in my insomnia/pychosis days I had a random urge to drink 100 cups of coffee straight after being awake for 3 full days… I got the idea from a Futurama episode where Fry drinks 100 cups and developes super powers (anybody know what I am talking about?). So I got to 20 full cups of coffee and then BAM. I have a heart murmer (one of my valves don’t close properly)and I felt like I was going to die. My stomach was basically exploding, I wanted more than anything to throw up, my vision was getting dim, I was shaking uncontrollably, and I was hallucinating. I wanted nothing more than for it to just end! However, I did not go to the hospital or do anything at all. I just layed in my bed in pain and terror until it eventually wore off and I was fine.
Considering my heart problem, I probably should have died.. but I have a heck of a tolerance.
My consumption used to be 3-4 red bulls plus 2-3 cups of coffee a day. I’m now down to 1 red bull occasionally and 2-4 cups of coffee a day. Caffiene IS a drug and can be very addictive and dangerous… and yes, it can get you high.
ps- i just looked up RedLine since it was the best energy drink I used to take. I remember it had like 8 warnings on it and you had to be atleast 18 years old to buy it.. Well, check this out: http://www.energyfiend.com/2005/10/quite-possibly-the-most-powerful-energy-drink-ever
yeaaa near-death experience with redline energy pills. that shyt will screw you upppp. i had like 15 of them crazy mfs.
MORNING: Yerba Mate, 73mg caffeine
LATE MORNING: water bottle with 2 packets of Zizzazz, 400mg of caffeine total.
LUNCH: Blade Energy Drink SUGAR FREE version, sold only at CVS. 240 mg of caffeine. You following me camera guy?
2 HOURS AFTER LUNCH: Zizzaz makes me crash. So I drink a Rockstar Energy shot, 200mg moar of sweet, sweet caffeine
DINNER: 10oz glass bottle of BLUE BAWLS. 64 mg of caffeine.
BED TIME: Traditional Medicinal bedtime tea. decaf.
977mg in a day.
i’m guessing my body is imuned to caffine cuz i drink well over 24 12oz cans of soda is a day and nothing happens to me no sleepyness at all
@mike
Try popping some No Doz (maximum strength). 200 mg in each pill. Stuff will hit you faster and harder than pop ever will. I only use the stuff in emergency situations (ex: studying for a test, writing a paper that’s due the next day, important things ya know? Usually I’ll pop 2 and have a 2-3 cups of coffee or a Monster Import with it).
That’s around 584 to 700 mg in about 10 to 15 mins.
I did about ~ 1.5 grams once(180 lbs, regularly drank a pot of coffee(8 cups)a day) . Not recommend. Ended up puking for about 4 hours. Ended up having to sleep nearly 14 hours. Would say this is worse then being drunk. Based on that I would say that double that would have killed me. I drank two Roombas(think a screwdriver, but caffeine instead of alcohol) and 6 of the “natural” energy pills, consumed across about 15 minutes. So now I am back down to 400 mg a day. Sadly I miss the “high” i got off my first redbull where I could feel the power through my veins. I keep drinking it hoping that one day I will find another that will give me that. Probably die of cirrhosis with out drinking alcohol.
Any one else ever consume so much caffeine that they smell colors? That has become the warning point when I need to stop.
I look at the latest studies and research about caffeine all of the time and I’ve never seen anything about it or energy drinks causing organ failure. Tell your mom to check out this site or show here that most research shows that coffee is actually good for you.