I have never had any type of herbal supplement, any monster, red bull, or any other kind of 'energy' drink. Growing up a huge sports fan, i watched REggie Lewis fall over dead on the court and he was huge into herbal supplements. I saw Hank Gathers fall and die on the court as well. these images mortified me as a young sports athlete. i saw tip-top in-shape athletes dying from heart related issues. The fact that these supplements, and herbal remedies, and energy drinks are messing around with your nervous system, and effects your heart was reason enough for me to never have the desire to drink one of these drinks in any facet of my life. to this day, i have never had any type of those drinks.
Even though its a different story/situation, but the death of Len Bias 'scared me straight' even before I was old enough to use drugs. Because of Len Bias I never used any drugs (other than smoking some marijuana in my youth)
I'm just like the kid in the story (i was glad to see that he was still alive btw) I say stay away from that stuff. its all bad news.