It seems like everyone is on energy drinks, which I never knew... found out by coming here the other day
well I had figured caffeine by myself, and that's what I've been drinking, a very much lots of very strong coffees, past couple weeks.

But I have a couple of questions about this and I'm sure some of you have answers for me.

I saw the OUCH site promotes energy drinks, but with this warning:
Care should be exercised when using energy drinks as an abortive at the same time verapamil is being used as a preventative. The combination of taurine and verapamil should be kept to a minimum as this combo has been linked to heart arrhythmia. A good rule of thumb is to avoid consuming more than one (1) 8-oz. serving in a 24-hour period while on verapamil therapy. START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

And it also says to look for "minimum of 80mg of caffeine and around 1,000mg of taurine per 8-oz".

So my question: do you all take this in consideration?

Also, with my 15 or so very strong coffees a day, I'm wondering how bad it affects my health, I mean my heart and  idk what else

thanks in advance for sharing your informations
:-)
B.

The caffeine acts a vasoconstrictor.

Taurine acts as a calcium channel antagonist, which is the same as verapamil, so the effect of the taurine is cumulative to that of the verapamil.

Verapamil is linked to some people having a change in their ECG (PR interval change), which is why it's important to get regular ECGs whilst taking verapamil or when changing doseage. If you add too much taurine, then it's effectively a dose change.

Where the PR interval changes, stopping the verapamil is effective for the vast majority of people in reversing the PR change.

However I've not seen anything that conclusively shows what number of cans of energy drink is "too many", hence the caution in taking only a "few".

I normally have just one can a day when needed, but rarely have had two.

Man if you are drinking 15 cups a day you must be dehydrated,This is not good for the muscles or the body and how it works.I think you should google effects of too much caffeine on the adrenaline glands and body, You might also want to google effects of dehydration on the body and how it works. ALL THE BEST

Yeah, thanks Sharkbay, you're right, I drank too much coffee yesterday, I was realizing this today as I feel better and maybe because I drank less coffee LOL

Actually, I realize I'm used with the beast, but not with the meds I'm taking for it. I appreciate very much no more visits at night (3 nights now :-)), but i find verapamil and lithium hard to cope with. It's only the 4th time I'm dealing with these, as before I took nothing but Tylenol with codeine and... endurance and ice.

So I'll skip the taurine if it has similar effects to verapamil, thanks Mike for this detailed info. Kind of creepy to know these are playing with my heart beat and... not sure I got what a PR change is but... it's scary...

I paid my first visits to clusterbusters today. Think I'd rather go this way, after all. Looks effective, mushrooms or LSA or something
Thanks everyone for the info
:-)
B.

head404,

This thread really should be moved to the board Medications/Treatments where you can search similar threads titled "Taurine/Caffeine Energy Drinks"

and "how much is too much red bull?"

and "I love red bull"

and "Red Bull"

and "Verapamil

and Taurine Caution"

and "Whats the real deal with taurine and verapamil?"

All of these threads can be found under the Medications/Treatments board and should answer all of your questions.

Good Luck ;)

-Gregg in Las Vegas

oh-oh, all this is there? I asked the questions because I didn't see it... will search more next time. If someone wants to move this one  :-[

Purple (head404) wrote on Jan 20^th, 2012 at 8:15pm:

So I'll skip the taurine if it has similar effects to verapamil, thanks Mike for this detailed info. Kind of creepy to know these are playing with my heart beat and... not sure I got what a PR change is but... it's scary...

There should be no problems with the odd energy drink. Just as taking medication at slightly different times is unlikely to make a big difference. It's just a matter of balance, don't go drinking 10 of them a day when also using verapamil.

The PR interval is the time between two points on the ECG (ElectroCardioGram) - START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE.

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGESTART PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Ask your doctor about it when you get the ECG done.

As to worrying about your heart, most drugs people take will have interactions with different parts of your body. Several of those used with CH can also affect the heart. Personally with dealing with the combination of CH and migraine I've some that both raise and lower my pulse rate, so this is where my doctors use their skills to get the right balance as to what works best for me and also my CH / migraine.