A 20-year-old gym-goer was left fighting for her life after she consumed a popular energy drink and then went into cardiac arrest while working out.
Jazmin Garza was finishing her weighted deadlifts alongside her boyfriend, Isaac Ayala, when she began feeling light-headed and dizzy in late November.
She had just drank drank one-third of a can of Ghost, a caffeinated energy drink, and sat down to steady herself when she collapsed on the floor and started to have a seizure.
Isaac rushed over to find Jazmin’s heart had stopped beating and she was no longer breathing.
He began performing CPR before paramedics arrived and shocked her heart to restart it.
Jazmin, who lives in Texas but was in Iowa at the time, was told she went into cardiac arrest multiple times – and at one point her heart stopped for five minutes.
Each time, oxygen was cut off from her brain and organs. Her kidneys, lungs and heart were extremely damaged and she was placed on life support to aid her recovery.
Doctors told Jazmin’s family ‘she was going to need a miracle to come back to us – and be the same Jazmin we knew.’
Jazmin Garza collapsed in the gym while working out with her boyfriend and her heart stopped beating
Jazmin said she hadn’t been to the gym in some time so she had a third of an energy drink to improve her workout
Jazmin said: ‘We were at the gym and were in the middle of a workout doing a single leg deadlift when all of a sudden I did not feel good.
‘I don’t usually drink caffeinated drinks at all. I hadn’t been to the gym for a while and wanted to have a really good workout so had a third of an energy drink. I hadn’t had this type of energy drink before.
‘After working out, I sat myself down and really didn’t feel well. I felt light-headed. Isaac said I looked really pale.
‘Then Isaac told me afterwards that I started having a seizure. I’d never had one before. I had no idea what was happening to me.
Jazmin went into cardiac arrest four times while paramedics worked to restart her heart before being placed on a life support machine in the hospital.
Jazmin said: ‘I was very panicked waking up in the hospital and being told that my heart had stopped.’
Isaac wrote on a GoFundMe for Jazmin that she was put on ‘three different life supports,’ including ECMO, a machine that helps oxygenate the blood, dialysis to remove waste from her kidneys and a machine to control her oxygen levels.
She underwent multiple procedures, he added, though did not say which ones, though doctors did place an implantable defibrillator in her chest – a device that monitors an irregular heartbeat – to hopefully prevent similar instances in the future.
When the device detects irregularities, it sends electrical impulses to the heart to correct the heart rhythm.
The doctors also performed a barrage of tests but did not find any cause for her cardiac arrests.
Jazmin’s boyfriend performed CPR on her in the gym before she was rushed to the hospital
The 20-year-old had to be placed on life-sustaining machines to help her kidneys and lungs recover
After two weeks in the hospital, Jazmin fully recovered and was sent home.
She said: ‘Every day I started getting better and better. They would run a lot of tests on my heart and all the tests came out fine.
‘They couldn’t see any issues with my heart or why it happened or what might have caused it.
‘I had no prior issues or family history of heart issues. Doctors still don’t know why this happened.’
She believes the energy drink, in conjunction with an unknown heart condition, may have prompted the medical episode.
Jazmin said: ‘Our best guess is that I’ve always had this but just never paid mind to it. When I’ve had palpitations in the past, I’ve just thought it was anxiety or something.
‘I’d never gone to a doctors about it before. I don’t think the energy drink was the main cause. I think it was a contributory factor for everything to go wrong.
‘I’ll definitely be staying away from energy drinks now. You never really hear about a 20-year-old going into cardiac arrest, it just doesn’t happen.’
Jazmin blamed an undiagnosed heart condition and consuming the energy drink for her near-death experience
It is not known if the Ghost beverage contributed to her health episode in any way, and Isaac wrote they are ‘not sure if this is what caused’ the cardiac arrest.
Ghost is a popular energy drink that contains 200mg of caffeine, a little more than double the amount in two cups of coffee. It is available in a variety of sweet and sour flavors.
The drink also claims to contain vitamins, carnipure carnitine – a substance that helps the body convert fat into energy – neurofactor – a blend of nutrients said to improve brain function – and alpha-GPC 50 percent – a supplement said to aid in athletic performance.
It is advertised as ‘only intended for persons 18 years or older.’
While energy drinks may help you out of the mid-morning slump, they are not risk free and drinking too many puts you at risk of cardiac arrest, depression, colon cancer and insomnia.
In people with heart conditions, the drinks can disrupt the heart’s rhythm and lead to an abnormal heart beat, both of which could escalate into cardiac arrest.
Additionally, a UK analysis of data from 1.2million people found young people who consumed energy drinks were more likely to have poor mental health and suffer from anxiety and depression.
Jazmin underwent multiple tests and a procedure to insert a defibrillator in her chest
Some experts suspect drinking too many energy drinks may increase your risk of colon cancer due to the drinks’ high levels of sugar and taurine – an amino acid that works as a neurotransmitter in the brain.
Lastly, the beverages can disrupt sleep due to their high caffeine levels.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Ghost but did not receive a response.
During her recovery, Isaac wrote: ‘She had an army of prayers for her, and I know most of you were praying, and we are so grateful and blessed for every single one.
‘Thank God she has now overcome all of it, and I know God will continue to give her the strength to finish this miraculous recovery.’
However, the couple say they are now ‘overwhelmed with medical bills’ and have both lost their jobs because of how much time they’ve needed to take off for the incident.
They are raising money via a GoFundMe to ‘try and pay off these medical bills, and go home to Texas to see our family.’
But now, after surviving the near-death experience, Jazmin said she has a renewed perspective on life.
Ghost is a caffeinated energy drink that comes in a variety of sweet flavors
Guzzling too many energy drinks could have grave consequences, from an increased risk of heart complications and cancers to depression
She said: ‘Everything just happened at the perfect time for things to go perfectly wrong.
‘I feel like I’ve had a second chance at life now. I want to do even better now.
‘If this had happened later on in life or if I was on my own, I might not have made it. Everything just went perfectly wrong.
‘Doctors couldn’t believe how I had survived it, they said this was a miracle. I was really close to death at one point. I feel so grateful to be alive.’
Jazmin added: ‘I would tell people to just listen to your body. Get any concerns checked out because you might avoid something this big later on down the line.’
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