DOSE: T+ 0:00	150 mg	oral	Rhodiola rosea	(tea)
T+ 0:20	80 mg	oral	Caffeine	(liquid)
T+ 0:20	200 mg	oral	Ginseng	(liquid)

BODY WEIGHT:

130 lb

BE CAREFUL WITH CAFFEINE (AND MIXING ENERGY PRODUCTS)

Substances: Rhodiola Rosea - 125 to 175 mg
Blue Sky energy drink - contains:
Niacin - 20mg
Vitamin B6 - 2mg
Vitamin B12 - 6mcg
Taurine - 1000mg
Panax Ginseng - 200mg
Energy blend - 2200mg
L-Carnitine, Glucose,
Caffeine (80mg), Inositol,
Glucuronalactone, Maltodextrin

I'll start off describing this experience by first saying a little about myself. I'm 16, about 5'8', 130 pounds, and an athlete. I'm in good shape, and currently I'm lifting weights every other day with my friends. I play soccer, although I'm mainly lifting weights so I can bulk up for pole vaulting. I have a sort of slow metabolism because of soccer camp last summer. At camp, we play for 5 hours per day and also do other stuff, and I underate a bit for some reason, so I really slowed my metabolism. It's only sped back up a bit over the year, so it takes me a while to get substances (like caffeine and kava - my current favorites) out of my system. I enjoy partaking in a few mild substances, like Kava, blue lotus, wormwood and the likes, and I've always loved a good caffeine buzz. My friend J and I often enjoy kava and other stuff together.

Next off, I'll give you an idea of my set and setting. I had just come from a hard day of school, and had ended up play about 3 hours of soccer at school (school's almost over, and some of my classes went outside to goof around). I was tired. I was feeling good mentally, happy, a bit hyper. Not actually hyper, just more talkative and active-feeling than usual. I was ready to ride our bikes over to the gym and really work out. But, I was looking for a boost because I was pretty tired out. This lead to today's experience.

So, the experience. J and I lift weights together, and today, we decided to have a little Rhodiola Rosea before going to the gym. Rhodiola Rosea is an adaptogen that is better than eleuthero, and gives me more energy, concentration, physical work capacity, and helps build muscle. But it's not like steriods, and doesn't screw me up. It also potentiates caffeine and other energy products.

So I weighed out a gram of Rhodiola in my scale (the most accurate it can get is 1 gram), and I then divided that into 1/8ths by sight, working out to give doses of something in the range of 125 to 175mg. My friend P was with us at the time, but he didn't want any Rhodiola. So we brewed up some white tea, which has very low caffeine content, and J and I added the Rhodiola to our cups.

We all drank our tea, and then rode our bikes to the gym, which is a 10 minute ride for me, but I ride a lot faster than my friends, so we took about 20 minutes. Plus J had some bike troubles on the way over that slowed us up for a few minutes. We made a little detour on the way, as well. We stopped at our local organic food shop and J and I bought some Blue Sky 'Blue Energy' drinks. These only contain 80mg caffeine, but also a lot of other things which give you energy.

Now normally, 80mg of caffeine wouldn't get me any kind of a buzz at all. I have a decent tolerance - I can drink one of those big cans of monster without getting the jitters or even much of a crash. But this drink gets me a nice buzz that lasts for a couple of hours, even though it's only 8oz or something. So, J and I downed our Blue Skys, and then we all rode over to the gym.

We got into the gym, and got right into working out. We were running late today, and only had 40 minutes to work out. In that time, we did what we normally do in about 1.5 hours, so this was like a hard cardio workout in addition to a strengthening session. J and I were getting pretty buzzed part way in. I was a bit euphoric, talking fast, and having a great time. We were both like that. We were also lifting more weight than usual, and doing the same number of reps and sets as usual. We did our entire upper bodies doing better than usual, and going fast.

We got finished and rode our bikes back to my house. P had to leave right away, so J and I hung out a bit. We were bumming around the internet, and about 5 or so minutes before he had to leave, I started feeling light headed. I was also extremely tired from the workout, and sitting felt nice. BTW, I wasn't dehydrated, so the lightheadedness wasn't from that. After he left, the lightheadedness was worse, so I crashed on the couch and watched some TV. About 15 minutes or so into my Beavis and Butthead DVD, I started to fall asleep. I didn't really want to sleep at the time, so I woke myself back up. I was still feeling really lightheaded.

So I kept on watching, and then I passed out. Straight up blacked out. It wasn't gradual, either, it was pretty much instant. I was out for a few minutes, maybe 7, before I started coming back. I didn't wake up fully, though, and I drifted into normal sleep. I know this because I could hear the TV while I slept (this happens when I fall asleep with music or the TV running). I woke back up when mom came in to check on me. I told her I was just fine (didn't want to worry her), and ate dinner.

Now, about 1+ hour after I blacked out, I'm still feeling lightheaded, and I feel like if I don't keep fighting it, I'll pass out again. I'm sure I'll be fine, but I've got music running just in case it happens again (I'll hear the music when I enter normal sleep and wake myself up). If it does happen again, I'll tell my parents and then they'll do IDK what. My dad's a doctor, so I'm not worried. Oh, so before I passed out, my heart was going faster than usual, and I was still breathing hard, even though the workout had been over for a while.

I guess all these energy products just overloaded me. I think the caffeine and the Rhodiola caused this. My mom passed out from caffeine before (when she was like 20 something), so I know that it's possible, and because Rhodiola can potentiate the effects of caffeine, I think this was the most probably cause. I guess I know not to mix energy drinks and other energy products from now on. There is a positives side to this experience, though. Now I know my limits! I'm still going to drink energy drinks occasionally, cause I love the buzz, but I'll not mix them with Rhodiola again.

Peace and love!
Evan

Exp Year: 2006	ExpID: 53636
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Feb 24, 2007	Views: 39,886
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Rhodiola rosea (352), Caffeine (11) : General (1), Health Problems (27), Health Benefits (32), Combinations (3), Small Group (2-9) (17)