Mum with £19K Red Bull addiction goes cold turkey after chilling CT scan
Lucy Parker, 35, went in for a CT scan for another health problem only to be warned that she was at risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease - she's now quit her Red Bull habit
A mum who had a £19,000 "addiction" to Red Bull has gone cold turkey after being diagnosed with a serious disease.
Lucy Parker, 35, went for a CT scan after feeling pain in her thighs, which revealed a cyst on her ovary. But the same scan also unexpectedly showed that she had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease - a build-up of fat in the organ - which could lead to serious liver damage, including cirrhosis, if it got worse. After cutting her three energy drinks a day habit, which saw her spend almost £20,000 on the energy drink over 15 years, Lucy claims doctors have seen improvements in her liver and have not found evidence of fibrosis, which means her condition is reversible. She has also been using the AI tool ChatGPT to help her make "little swaps" in her diet and help her understand her condition more clearly - and is hoping to fully reverse the damage by going cold turkey.
Mum-of-two Lucy, a creative director for a marketing agency, from Perth, Australia, said: "I was addicted to Red Bull. If I knew I didn't have a Red Bull in the fridge before I went to bed I would drive out to go and get one or figure out how to get one first thing in the morning.
"I was having 81 grams of sugar a day in just those drinks. When you look at it on a scale there'' no way you can eat that much sugar, it would make you sick.
"I was so ashamed - it completely consumed me. Even my two kids on Mother's Day at school when they had to write down things about their mum they said 'my mum's favourite drink is Red Bull'."
Lucy first discovered the issues with her liver when going for a CT scan in March - and said doctor told her the cysts they found were "not the thing we're worried about." " She explained: "They told me: 'There's a lot of fat around your liver'. They said it's basically where fat builds up around the liver and it's not able to work as well as it should."
After a blood test the following month, it was determined rather than having alcoholic fatty liver disease - caused by excessive alcohol consumption - Lucy had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease . "Doctors gave me six weeks and then I had another scan on my ovary, liver and more blood tests," Lucy said.
"I came home and looked in the fridge I had two Red Bulls left. I thought 'these are the last ones I'll have, this is serious now'. I stopped drinking them after those two. That was about four weeks ago."
Lucy also found Chat GPT helpful in understanding her diagnosis and making swaps in her diet - such as going from consuming white to wholegrain bread. Following an ADHD diagnosis two years ago, Lucy found her early morning Red Bull was her "first dopamine hit".
"If you have ADHD it just does the opposite to what it would do for a neurotypical person," she said." It calms me down.
"Because of that dopamine it puts everything into check and helps me get through the day. I only struggled with headaches for a couple of days after stopping drinking Red Bull and they weren't extreme.
"With the energy thing I'm still looking to caffeine. If you have a Coke Zero in the afternoon every now and then it's better than three Red Bulls a day. I've had so many people message me saying 'I'm addicted to energy drinks'."
After a fibrosis scan on her liver and more blood tests last week, Lucy found her liver was "improving". She said: "My doctor said 'whatever you have done between the last session and now is working'.
"I just said 'I've stopped drinking the Red Bull'. She told me to keep doing that and in six months' time we will have reversed it hopefully."
Lucy had "no symptoms" with her diagnosis and urges others to get checked. She said: "I had no pain, no nothing. If someone reading this is drinking the same amount of energy drinks for that period of time I would suggest they get a blood test."
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