I Gave Myself a Fatal Heart Disease at 21 by Drinking EIGHT Coffee a Day and Taking Caffeine Pills

A content creator revealed that her caffeine addiction left her with a fatal heart condition at the age of 21.

Rachel Finley, a skincare and beauty influencer, started drinking up to eight shots of espresso a day, plus caffeine pills, in college.

She suffered from palpitations throughout the night, but attributed this to stress.

She was eventually diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat that can damage the heart and brain and lead to a life-threatening stroke, heart failure or cardiac arrest.

Caffeine can cause the heart to beat faster, leading to palpitations or skipped beats, which can lead to the development of a persistently irregular heartbeat.

She told her 200,000 TikTok followers: “I started drinking espresso shots in high school because I thought it was cooler than a latte.

“Things got really bad in college when I started working in a restaurant. They had a coffee bar in the restaurant where my friend worked, so I was drinking six to eight shots a day.

“I just loved the feeling it made me.”

“Yes, my family has a history of addiction,” she added.

‘At that point I was up all night with palpitations and I thought, “Oh, it’s probably because I’m stressed.”

“Clearly I wasn’t putting two and two together.”

Rachel admitted that she would be so tired after her shifts that she would take caffeine pills so she could stay up and go outside.

‘There I was, so tired and couldn’t sleep because my palpitations were keeping me awake. And then I would just have more caffeine, rinse and repeat,” she said.

‘I’m going to the cardiologist. It turns out I gave myself a heart arrhythmia at the age of 21.’

An arrhythmia is an irregular heartbeat that occurs when the electrical signals that tell the heart to beat do not work properly.

The heart may beat too fast or too slow, or the pattern may be inconsistent.

If left untreated, they can damage the heart, brain, or other organs, leading to a fatal stroke, heart failure, or cardiac arrest.

According to the Mayo Clinic, too much caffeine can be a cause of cardiac arrhythmias.

Stimulants such as caffeine can cause the heart to beat faster, meaning it can cause palpitations or skipped beats, which can lead to the development of more serious heart rhythm disorders.

Caffeine is also known to temporarily increase a person’s blood pressure and heart rate.

“I basically had to cut caffeine out of my life forever,” Rachel said. “So if you’re at the third degree Celsius today, keep that in mind.”

“All I want is a Red Bull, and that will kill me,” she added.

But the majority of research has found no link between caffeine consumption and cardiac arrhythmias.

In fact, a 2020 study found that regular coffee consumption was actually associated with a lower risk of cardiac arrhythmias.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco analyzed the impact of coffee consumption on the incidence of arrhythmia in more than 380,000 people.

They found that every extra cup you drink daily appears to lower your risk of developing an irregular heart rhythm by three percent.

It’s still unclear whether consistent coffee drinking can cause a long-term increase in blood pressure, cholesterol levels or other harmful effects on the heart.

About one in eighteen people, or five percent of the American population, has a heart rhythm disorder.

President Joe Biden has a type of arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation. This is caused by extremely fast and irregular heartbeats from the upper chamber of the heart.

It can lead to dangerous complications, including blood clots, and it also increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related complications.

In total, Rachel consumed approximately 700 mg of caffeine per day, significantly more than the FDA recommendation healthy adults have no more than 400 mg per day – about four or five cups of coffee.

Caffeine addiction is the excessive and harmful use of caffeine over a period of time, and the inability to control caffeine consumption despite negative effects, such as heart palpitations.

It can cause sleep disorders, as well as dizziness, shakiness, headaches, increased blood pressure, nervousness and heart rate abnormalities.

It comes as fast food restaurant Panera Bread faces a third lawsuit over the alleged harmful effect of its highly caffeinated drink ‘Charged Lemonade’.

A 28-year-old Rhode Island woman is suing the chain, claiming the drink has caused her long-term heart problems.

Lauren Skerritt, an athlete, drank two and a half Charged Lemonades at a Panera location in Greenville, Rhode Island, last April, according to the lawsuit.

After drinking the lemonade, Skerritt is said to have experienced new episodes of palpitations and dizziness.

Scans later showed she was suffering from atrial fibrillation – an irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke and heart failure, according to the lawsuit.

This case follows the tragic death of a 21-year-old Pennsylvania student who suffered a fatal cardiac arrest after consuming the lemonade, which contains 390 milligrams of caffeine, according to court documents.

The student, Sarah Katz of New Jersey, was drinking a 12-ounce cup of “Charged Lemonade” from fast-food restaurant Panera Bread, which contains more caffeine than a Red Bull and Monster energy drink combined.

Mrs. Katz suffered from a serious heart rhythm disorder, the so-called long QT syndrome, which causes the heart to beat irregularly (arrhythmia).