Wife’s warning after husband dies from energy drink habit

For John Reynolds, grabbing an energy drink on his way to work seemed a good way to help him stay alert for his night shift. But his wife Cassondra, from California, in the US, says it was a habit that would end up killing him, The Sun reports.

The 41-year-old, who didn’t drink or smoke, died in February 2011 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The dad-of-three worked nights as a mechanic and would usually consume an energy drink on his way there.

One morning, Cassondra woke to hear her husband gasping for breath and had to perform CPR while desperately waiting for emergency services.

She later found out that he had suffered a cardiac arrest and was immediately transported to the hospital where he was put on life support and into a medically induced coma.

Sadly, just weeks later, John was pronounced brain dead, and Cassondra was left with the heart-wrenching decision to turn his life support off.

The couple, who had been together for 10 years, had three boys together who were five, six and eight at the time.

“John was healthy, he worked out every day, he had had a full physical examination the month prior, and all his results came back fine,” Cassondra said.

“When he went to the hospital, the doctor told me that his sugar levels were sky high and was asking me all sorts of questions about his lifestyle, whether he took drugs and if he had any health issues.

“He was put in a medically induced coma and a therapeutic state of hypothermia to try and prevent any further damage to his brain caused by a lack of oxygen.

“Eventually, the doctor asked me if he drank energy drinks, which I replied yes, but only once a day.”

The doctor explained to Cassondra that it only took one energy drink to throw off the heart’s rhythm and cause a heart arrhythmia.