www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2148294,00.html

Just say no to espresso: teenager in hospital after overdose of coffee


Stephen Bates
Tuesday August 14, 2007
The Guardian

It is an all too familiar modern morality tale: teenager goes too far and gets rushed to hospital suffering from an overdose. But in the case of 17-year-old waitress Jasmine Willis, the hyper-ventilation, uncontrolled sobbing and rocketing temperature that she suffered behind the counter of her dad's sandwich shop had a more mundane cause. She'd guzzled too much espresso coffee.

Jasmine drank seven double-espressos during the course of her shift at the shop in Stanley, Co Durham. Customers noticed the difference. "My nerves were all over the place," she said yesterday. I was crying in front of the customers and had tears streaming down my face. I was drenched and burning up and hyperventilating. I was having palpitations, my heart was beating so fast and I think I was going into shock."

In the end, Jasmine had to be sent home. But after being despatched by her father, Gary, her condition worsened.
The teenager developed a fever and was unable to breathe properly and had to be admitted to the University Hospital of North Durham.

Jasmine made a full recovery, but last night her plight was being copied into countless office emails, with a warning about the dangers lurking, especially, within filter coffee, which has much higher caffeine levels than the instant variety.

According to the British Coffee Association, drinking a daily cup or three may reduce liver diseases and stave off Alzheimer's but caffeine stimulates the heart and central nervous system and may temporarily increase blood pressure and raise cholesterol levels.

Not since revelations of Robbie Williams' apparent 36-a-day double-espresso habit has coffee had such a bad press. His publicist acknowledged he had checked into rehab earlier this year to combat his craving for the eccentric combination of three-dozen espressos, 60 Silk Cut, and 20 cans of Red Bulls every day.

Looking on the bright side, French researchers have apparently found that women who drink more than three cups a day show less decline in memory tests than those who don't.

Unfortunately for Jasmine, the bad news is that she will have to wait another 48 years to discover whether that's true, since the tests were only carried out on women over the age of 65.

Jasmine's father Gary, who runs the Sandwich Bar in Stanley, said: "She did not realise she was drinking double measures. I have always stressed to my children the importance of moderation but Jasmine got caught out on this occasion."

Although she was only kept in hospital for a few hours, Jasmine suffered side-effects for several days.

Jasmine says she now cannot face the sight of coffee, which may limit her future career prospects in her dad's sandwich shop.

Instead, like one of Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales, she is left offering dire warnings to others: " I did not realise this could happen to you and I only hope other people learn from my mistake," she said.

Not since revelations of Robbie Williams' apparent 36-a-day double-espresso habit has coffee had such a bad press. His publicist acknowledged he had checked into rehab earlier this year to combat his craving for the eccentric combination of three-dozen espressos, 60 Silk Cut, and 20 cans of Red Bulls every day.

Gotdamn!

Quoted: Not since revelations of Robbie Williams' apparent 36-a-day double-espresso habit has coffee had such a bad press. His publicist acknowledged he had checked into rehab earlier this year to combat his craving for the eccentric combination of three-dozen espressos, 60 Silk Cut, and 20 cans of Red Bulls every day.

can we say kidney failure  

How soon until government starts regulating caffeine?

OH NOEZ!!!1 Coffee is bad fer teh childrenz!!11!!


If people had any damn sense about them any more , shit like this wouldn't happen.

Quoted: How soon until government starts regulating caffeine?

It's on the FDA's to-do list, right after they get done with cigarettes.

I drank 3 triples the other day


I got some shit done baby  

Quoted: Quoted: How soon until government starts regulating caffeine? It's on the FDA's to-do list, right after they get done with cigarettes.

After that  it will be transfats, corn syrup and sodium.

Quoted: How soon until government starts regulating caffeine?

Caffiene free county....giant Starbucks at the border..

I used to drink this thing called a black widow. It was a 24oz of coffee with 5 espresso shots. Lets just say I tried not to drive after drinking one.

Quoted: Quoted: How soon until government starts regulating caffeine? It's on the FDA's CATF's to-do list, right after they get done with cigarettes.

Look at caffeine as another taxable vice after alcohol & tobacco are driven into submission.

Could we see DWW's in the future? (driving while wired) Any source of revenue is not out of the realm of possibility...

Quoted: Could we see DWW's in the future? (driving while wired) Any source of revenue is not out of the realm of possibility...

Don't laugh, but I was quite the typical aggressive DC metro area driver until I cut myself back to one cup of coffee per day in the mornings after I arrived at work.