Check Consumer's Guide, Web MD or other reliable medical sources. Or even your Dr. Many of the stimulants have hidden products that are not listed. It may depend on what other meds or even over the counter pills you take.
Just my opinion.

Our receptionist swears they triggered a stroke in her last year. She used to use them a lot for the energy but she's convinced they caused it, and cautioned me against ever using them.

If I were you I wouldn't use a day you have to be alert and driving to try them out. You never know what your reaction might be. If you're worried about being sleepy when driving, I find that an audio book helps a lot. It keeps my brain more alert than music does.

OMG, Chi, that's all I need to hear to put me off them forever. I'm so wary of these things anyway. I think I'll have one of my rare cups of coffee instead.

Marie, good idea to read more about them--which I'll probably do even if I'm never tempted to take one again. I'm curious. They're loaded with B vitamins, but I've taken the B's for years without getting charged up.

No, never will, I hate the feeling that kind of stuff causes plus they can interact with too many medications.

Oh, Alisande, they are MARVELOUS! Really. I use them on my long drives to and from my daughters.

Most of the time, they last longer than 5 hours for me. Thus, I have to time it right... and not take them to late, or I can not sleep.

I tried my first one on a drive to Albuquerque, and was very pleasantly surprised.

Moni

Yes, I have used them and would recommend them. I only drink about half at a time, never have had the full bottle. I use them when I am driving long distances and start getting sleepy, and they really work without revving me up. I have also used them when I have been up all night and need to work the next day with a clear, functioning mind. We have have an ER doc that doesn't drink coffee, she swears by 5 hour energy. I would recommend only using half, I call it 2.5 hour energy, lol.

Chi, I would take your receptionist's self-diagnosis with a grain of salt. People want to find something to blame with health problems, but it's usually due to intrinsic factors. Strokes can be caused by a multitude of factors.

I am surprised that a DR who refuses to drink coffee, would take this 5 hour energy stuff. A bottle contains 200mg of caffeine. I would think a Dr would look at ingredients before taking anything like this.

I never said she refuses to drink coffee. Many people just don't like the taste.

My husband and his colleagues have taken 5-Hour Energy with no ill effect. I've never taken it. I have seen a couple of patients who were told to stop taking it due to side effects, but they were also drinking Mountain Dew and coffee, etc., along with it.

From a CNN article, "These energy shots have over a dozen ingredients all together, and consumers are ingesting them at very high doses but there is no research of how the ingredients react all together," Bauer (from the Mayo Clinic) said."

Here is a link that might be useful: http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-14/health/energy.drink.ingredients_1_glucuronolactone-b-vitamins-amino-acids?_s=PM:HEALTH

Uh-oh, I read the posts by Sleeperblues and Moni, and now I'm back on the fence again.

Okay, now I'm really curious. Maybe what I'll do is buy one and bring it as an emergency measure. I'll be with my son, so that helps. I read over the ingredients, and am familiar with many. Looked up the others, and found nothing alarming. I take no meds myself.

I thought this research from the UK was interesting:

Physiol Behav. 2002. Sleep Research Centre, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK.

Coffee is often used as an effective countermeasure to driver sleepiness. However, the caffeine levels in coffee are variable, whereas certain proprietary "functional energy drinks" contain known levels of caffeine (and other ingredients).

We investigated the effectiveness of a well-known energy drink in reducing sleepiness in drivers. Twelve healthy young adults drove an instrumented car simulator between 14:00 and 17:00 h. Their sleepiness was enhanced by sleep restriction to 5 h the night before.

Following a pre-treatment 30-min drive and at the beginning of a 30-min break, participants were given double-blind 250-ml energy drink (containing sucrose, glucose, 80-mg caffeine, taurine, glucuronolactone and vitamins) vs. a control drink with the same volume and same taste but without caffeine, taurine and glucuronolactone.

Two hours of continuous driving ensued. Compared with the control, the energy drink users significantly reduced sleep-related driving incidents and subjective sleepiness for the first 90 min of the drive.

I've never tried them. I don't quite understand them, at least for people who like coffee (which doesn't include me, but does include most people). From what I've read, it's the caffeine that does pretty much all the energy-boosting work, yet the caffeine content of a 5-Hour Energy Shot, the brand Susan mentioned, is about the same as that in a large cup of coffee from McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, or Starbucks.

I did try No Doz once. (It has 200 mg. of caffeine, 33% more than 5-Hour Energy, which has 150 mg.) It made me feel sick - jittery, dizzy, and nauseous. Not what I was hoping for.:)

Here is a link that might be useful: Caffeine content of various drinks and foods

Thanks for the article, Oldgardener. It makes a good point--we certainly live in a self-medicating, substance-using society, so I'm not surprised that these drinks have become so popular, and some people use them in conjunction with other products.

The article also says this, which is more reassuring--especially since I don't see myself using the drink with any sort of regularity.

Medical experts acknowledged that if taken modestly, the products are unlikely to have a negative impact on health.

"In moderation, it can give you energy. But the problem is people drink coffee, then take these energy shots, then down Red Bull, take Hydroxycut, and it is just too much in the body at one time," White said.

I tried one, one time. I was coming home from the flea market and I was so sleepy. I had another 40 miles to drive.
I pulled into a convenience store, and bought one. It did nothing for me. Nada. Zip. Zilch. About 15 miles down the road, I had to pull over into a park and take about a 30 minute nap.

I don't know....maybe caffeine doesn't affect me the same as other people. I don't drink coffee, but when I drink tea, I feel calm and almost sleepy.

I think I would worry a little about what happens after it wears off--would you suddenly feel utterly exhausted?

I've never tried it and I'd want to test it out beforehand, and not have the first time be when I'm driving alone. Then I'd know in advance if I have any adverse reactions to it. Just because someone else gets along with it and it is effective for them doesn't mean it'll work out for everyone.

Also, if I were to use it, it would be on very rare occasions, such as the one you are referencing. I think some people are taking it daily to get through the day, and that's not good.

I know that this is going outside of the scope of your question, Alisande, but if it were me, I'd skip the poetry reading tonight and get to bed early and be well-rested for the big day tomorrow. :-)

Shea, I think you're right about people taking energy supplements to get through the day. Probably many of those same people take sleeping pills at night. It's alarming.

I'm afraid getting out of the poetry reading isn't an option. Only three of us are reading, and it's been well advertised. Next time I'll pay better attention to timing before I agree to read.

I have never taken it, so I would not be done within the 5 hour window. But a couple of times I had a tough time to get to sleep later.

I take it only for the long drives. I am not a coffee drinker. Coffee does a number on my stomach. The 5 hour energy stuff doesn't.

Alisande, the orange tastes best, but I hardly ever find it. Honestly, I don't take it for the taste, I take it to keep me alert.

Moni

Good luck with your drive tomorrow, and your poetry reading tonight. I'm glad you didn't mind the unsolicited advice! It really was based on myself, because I can't seem to drive half an hour on open roads without getting heavy eyelids. I always have to get lots of rest, and stop often and stretch my legs, to keep from falling asleep. Fortunately most of my driving is in the city, and with all the starting, stopping and traffic, I don't get groggy.

Have safe travels!

There was a report that came out that said they can be dangerous to your health. I didn't pay any attention to the details because I don't eat stuff like that. I won't even use an artificial sweetener.