Man Suffers at Least 4 Seizures After Mistaking NOS Octane Booster for Energy Drink

A man from Washington was rushed to the hospital after suffering multiple seizures. According to reports, he drank a bottle of NOS Octane Booster, used for cars, as he mistook it for an energy drink.

Man Hospitalized After Drinking NOS Octane Booster

A 54-year-old man, who hasn't been named, drank a 12-fluid-ounce NOS Octane Booster Racing Formula bottle. He thought it was NOS High-Performance Energy Drink.

However, two hours later, he collapsed and suffered seizures. He suffered at least four seizures, prompting his girlfriend to rush him into the emergency room, Daily Mail reported.

Upon arrival, the patient experienced a seizure, and drugs to prevent seizures were given to him. Medical professionals intubated him, placing a tube through his mouth or nose into his airway and giving him sedatives. However, after a third seizure occurred two hours later, the doctors also had to provide him with anesthetics.

The following day, they attempted to lower his dosage, but he experienced another seizure. The doctors had to increase it once more.

By day four, he had healed well enough that they could lower the dose and take the tubes out. Before being released, the patient spent one more day acting disoriented and ataxic (lack of coordination and unstable movements). He experienced no long-term consequences.

Doctors were concerned that the patient may have consumed the liquid intentionally to hurt himself. However, the patient insisted it was not the case. According to him, he had mistaken the octane booster for an energy drink. He made a full recovery and experienced no aftereffects.

It wasn't known if the man noticed any differences in the liquid and energy drink flavors when he was ingesting both.

The patient had no prescriptions or prior medical history. Still, urine testing showed that he had cannabis in his system and medications generally used to treat anxiety or insomnia.

The strange story was published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine in 2020 and has surfaced on social media once more.

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Responsible Labeling of Consumables

The doctors cautioned that the incident shows how energy drinks might occasionally be packaged in a manner that is "similar" to hazardous home items like automobile fuel.

According to Dr. Antonia Nemanich, an emergency medicine physician, and others who oversaw the paper, the report emphasizes the significance of appropriate labeling of consumables.

Household chemicals are a common cause of unintentional poisoning, especially among kids.

The incident happened to the man from Washington shows how packaging resemblances between food and non-food items, or between harmful and non-toxic products, can lead to confusion.

Methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT), a substance that can be hazardous to humans, is present in the automobile fluid. After inhalation or ingestion, the body converts it into heavy metal manganese, which can result in neurological symptoms, including seizures.

The NOS Octane Booster is a product offered in a tall blue bottle at automotive stores and is used by automobile enthusiasts to lessen "knocking," or when fuel ignites too early in sports cars. The kidneys eventually eliminate it from the body, filter it out of the blood, and excrete it.

NOS Energy drink was also packed in a tall blue bottle as it was intended to resemble a "nitrous oxide canister" popular among car enthusiasts. However, the company behind the energy drink, the Monster Beverage Corporation, has changed the packaging and now offers NOS energy drinks in cans available in three colors - blue for the original flavor, purple for the grape, and electric green for sonic sour.