Curious stories on the Internet – that attracts many users. Many site operators like to pick up on these often touching stories, but these stories are often on thin ice.
We received requests for a story to be shared on Facebook as a link to an external article.
It's about a young father named Austin, whose brain is said to have been destroyed by consuming energy drinks and as a result he is missing part of his skull:

The fact check
As our colleagues at Snopes report, this claim first appeared on October 3, 2017 in the form of a Facebook post from the page “ Endres Photography .” The post has already been deleted, but it contained a statement from a customer of the site named Brianna:
“Doctors concluded (after running his tox screen and ruling out drugs) that this horrific event was due to his recent excessive consumption of energy drinks (a habit he had picked up when he first started drinking). to work and commute).”
Who, when, where, how?
These are the usual questions we ask ourselves when it comes to stories like this.
We don't want to doubt that the photos are real, but is the story behind them? What we know :
It's supposed to be Brianna and Austin.
The photos were taken when her child was 8 months old.
What we don't know :
The last name, the exact time, the place, the exact circumstances.
Of course, various publications wanted to do an interview with the couple, such as Fox News , but the couple reportedly declined any requests. And, as mentioned above, the photographer's posting was deleted.
Can energy drinks cause something like this?
This is the next question we must now ask ourselves. According to Brianna's statements, the energy drinks that her husband drank excessively caused a cerebral hemorrhage that was so massive that half of his skull had to be removed.
We can't make sense of the story itself. “The doctors” said that (medical doctors, not the best band in the world). There are no further statements from experts, no name or location of the hospital. So let's take a look at previous research into what energy drinks can trigger in the brain.
In fact, there is at least one medically proven case , according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birningham. In the magazine “ American Journal of Emergency Medicine ” they report on a 57-year-old patient who developed a so-called intracranial hemorrhage within 15 minutes of drinking an energy drink. The man went to the local emergency room after he developed symptoms such as tingling and numbness in the right arm and a staggering gait, a CT scan discovered a small hemorrhage near the left thalamus.
Doctors add that energy drinks contain high levels of caffeine and other ingredients that increase blood pressure. For a patient at risk of vascular disease, such an increase in blood pressure can be potentially dangerous because an already weakened blood vessel is then put under so much strain that it ruptures.
In that case, the man also had a medical history of elevated blood pressure and an increased risk of vascular disease.
So could the story be true?
Looking at the pictures, it appears Austin had to have the front part of his skull and brain removed. This measure, i.e. at least removing the front part of the skull, is necessary if there is extreme bleeding in the brain, such as occurs after accidents. It is basically the last method to stop brain bleeding. After the operation, that half of the skull is usually reattached to the head. The complete removal of the front half of the brain is only necessary if the brain has been massively destroyed by the process and the tissue is already dying.
Did this happen in this case?
Did the man suffer such a severe brain bleed that half of his skull had to be removed? We can't rule it out, but we can't confirm it either. It is actually possible for people with pre-existing conditions to get a brain bleed if they drink too many caffeinated energy drinks. However, there is currently no known medical case in which drinking one of these drinks led to such massive effects.
Conclusion
Energy drinks are high in sugar, caffeine and other ingredients that increase blood pressure.
In people with high blood pressure, this can actually lead to brain bleeding, which is why these people in particular should listen to their doctor and read the warnings on the doses. However, whether the excessive consumption of energy drinks led to Austin now only having half a skull is unproven . If this is the case, this is an extremely rare case of energy drink-induced cerebral hemorrhage, which requires a medical history with an increased risk of vascular disease and high blood pressure.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

