Woman who drank energy drink for breakfast everyday for 15 years shares horrific organ damage that made her quit
A lot of us will do whatever it takes to shake off our grogginess first thing in the morning when our alarms go off.
Millions of people can't even think about the day they've got ahead before having a cup of coffee - but this mum's tipple of choice was an energy drink.
As she's not a huge fan of hot beverages, Lucy Parker has relied on cold caffeinated refreshments to perk her up in the AM for the last 15 years or so.
Despite being aware that guzzling energy drinks all the time is 'obviously not good for you', the mother-of-two, 35, didn't see anything wrong with her habit - until she recently discovered how it was impacting her health.
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Lucy, who hails from Maidenhead but now lives in Australia, had got in touch with her doctor after experiencing intense stomach pain and later underwent a CT scan to get to the bottom of it.
The results revealed that she had 'a lump' on one of her ovaries, but her GP informed her that this wasn't what they were concerned about - instead, they informed her that her liver was 'not looking too healthy'.
Speaking to LADbible, Lucy explained that she was informed she might be suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which the NHS explains is caused by a build-up of fat in the liver.
If it's not caught in the early stages, this can lead to the organ sustaining serious damage, such as cirrhosis, while it also has the potential to trigger a range of other severe health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease.
Recalling her reaction to the news, Lucy said: "I was like, 'Where the hell do you get that?' I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't take drugs.
"We went through everything, and they did loads of blood tests for other autoimmune diseases and all this stuff."
The expat explained that she then discussed different aspects of her lifestyle with her doctor to try and determine the cause of her liver problem - and she fessed up about having an energy drink for breakfast.
Lucy admitted that for the last 15 years, she'd usually sip one first thing before following this up with another two cans ahead of lunch.
Verbalising her longtime liquid diet led her to the realisation that her reliance on energy drinks had been going on 'way too long', and the doctor's disapproval only hammered this home further.
Time for change
Explaining how she had become hooked on the sugar-filled cans, Lucy told LADbible: "I used to just have it in the middle of the day as a pick-me-up.
"I started to have it first thing just after I had kids about seven years ago, because I just woke up so tired all the time."
Lucy has also been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but doesn't take any medication - and according to her psychiatrist, this was likely the reason why she reached for energy drinks first thing.
"One of the things that my psychiatrist said, is that I use energy drinks to get a very big dopamine hit first thing in the morning," the Brit continued.
"When your body has that first thing in the morning, I think it's really hard not to continue having it throughout the day. I would crave it more. The more I drank it, the more I needed it.
"Once I'd had kids, it was almost like I couldn't really control my ADHD because I was just so exhausted from running my own business and looking after the kids.
"So for me, I wasn't necessarily having the drink to give me energy - it was actually a drink to calm me down and make me feel happy, and just sort of get me through the day.
"I don't get that big buzz that some people get when they drink energy drinks. It just calmed me down, made me focus and made me clear."
A wake-up call
As her body was being overloaded with sugar first thing in the morning, her liver struggled to cope with processing it all - and the excess sugar was converted into fat, eventually leading to NAFLD.
After this eye-opening doctors appointment, Lucy decided that the two remaining cans in her fridge would be her last and she vowed to quit her energy drink addiction cold turkey.
She said the health scare had been the 'motivation' she needed to finally stop drinking the beverages after all those years, and she's managed to steer clear of them ever since.
Which has proved pivotal for the health of her liver - as when she returned to her doctor to undergo further tests weeks later, she was informed that the organ appeared to be in much better condition.
Lucy went on: "The doctor is like, 'What have you done?' I just gave up the energy drinks, that's literally it. Cold turkey. I don't have the personality where I can just have one, because then I'll just want more.
"So I just went cold turkey and I needed that health scare to do it. That was the motivation."
She also underwent a fibroscan at this follow-up appointment, which the NHS describes as a type of ultrasound which measures inflammation in your liver.
"It gives you a proper picture of where your liver is at," the 35-year-old said. "And it wasn't fibrosis, it is just fat. It's reversible."
Take a look at what she had to say about her experience here:
What's next for Lucy
Apart from struggling to lose weight, Lucy says there was 'no sign' that her body was going into meltdown due to the beverages she was drinking - although she now realises she was addicted.
She continued: "I've quit so many times and drunk it again, and I just was like, 'Oh, one day, I'll just give it up. It'll be fine'. It is an addiction, and it took me a really long time to admit it - like, I felt so embarrassed to say that.
"But addiction is addiction, and sometimes you can't stop it. And once I finally got answers about why I depend on it so much, and this is how this happened, it made sense."
She has been sharing her health journey with her more than 35,000 followers on TikTok (@abundantlylucy) to keep herself 'accountable' and is now taking the time to 'really educate herself' on how best to fuel her body.
"I need to look at the other natural ways to get these like dopamine hits that I was using energy drinks for," Lucy said, explaining she is now on a mission to reverse the damage to her liver.
"I used to just love getting up like an hour before the kids, go to the fridge, get a can and sit there in silence, and it became a ritual. So now it's just like, Okay, what other rituals can I replace that with? What I do instead?
"I'm 35, I don't need any serious health conditions - certainly not one that you're going to cause yourself. This is just something that I've got to do."
Lucy wants others who might be in a similar position to what she was to 'really have a think about what it could be doing to your body that you have no idea about,' too.
"Go and get some blood tests done and get them to check your liver and just see if it is having an impact," she said.
"Everything is fine in moderation, but I think nowadays, we are relying on them too much, and that's what's causing the problem. I loved the taste, I enjoyed drinking it, but I just tell myself I don't need to have it anymore."
The NHS advise people who have been diagnosed with NAFLD to take steps to stop it getting any worse and leading a healthy lifestyle gives you the best chance of this.
Losing weight, consuming healthy foods, opting for water instead of sugar drinks, regular exercise, stopping smoking and cutting out alcohol can all help you fix your liver.
Topics: Food And Drink, Health, Lifestyle, News, UK News, Originals
Olivia Burke