When Mary Allwood began to feel ill she went to the hospital – and it was there that her secret came out.
Allwood’s liver was double the size it should have been and she had also put on a significant amount of weight.
Doctors immediately asked her how much alcohol she drank. The symptoms the Mother was experiencing were on par for what a severe alcoholic would experience.
Allwood maintained that she was not an alcoholic but it took many questions from the doctors before she admitted to her problem.
She had been drinking up to 20 cans of the energy drink Red Bull every day for FOUR years. In caffeine and sugar content, that equates to eating over a dozen cookies or candy bars and drinking over a dozen cups of coffee a day.
When Allwood first began consuming the drink, it was for energy but her consumption quickly turned into an addiction.
“I needed the taste and fizziness. It was my heroin. I would feel awful if I didn’t have it,” she said. The only liquid that Allwood drank was Red Bull.
When at the grocery store to buy more of the drink, the Mother would lie and say that she owned a restaurant.
Allwood was buying dozens of cans of the drink at a time.
After the hospital visit, Allwood swapped the Red Bull for water and she has lost weight and feels so much better now that she is staying away from the beverage.
Allwood is now using her experience to warn others about the dangers of energy drinks. She believes that there should be warnings on the packaging similar to that of cigarettes.