TikTok Screenshots from a video on the "dry scooping" pre-workout TikTok trend.
Briatney Portillo, an Instagram influencer known on TikTok and Instagram as @brivtny, says she suffered from a heart attack while trying to perform the “dry scooping” pre-workout TikTok challenge.
On Instagram, Portillo says she’s a dancer, model and entrepreneur.
“Putting this out there so y’all don’t do what I did because I’m the type of person to try anything and everything I see here w/o questioning it,” Portillo said of the challenge in one TikTok video, which you can watch below.
“Dry scooping” involves eating a powdered pre-workout supplement dry rather than mixing it with water to create a drink, as intended, and the practice has been trending among users of the TikTok platform, Newsweek reported.
According to Health, there are multiple dangers associated with dry scooping, including choking, dehydration, aspiration pneumonia, and effects from concentrated caffeine ingestion, which can increase blood pressure and damage the heart. The latter is especially true if you have an underlying heart condition, including one you don’t know about, Health reported.
Here’s what you need to know:
Portillo Wrote That the Dry Scooping Pre-Workout TikTok Challenge Sent Her to the Hospital
@brivtnyPutting this out there so y’all don’t do what I did because I’m the type of person to try anything and everything I see here w/o questioning it ##fypシ
“When you do a dry pre workout scoop for the first time knowing you don’t consume caffeine regularly and end up in the hospital for a heart attack,” Portillo wrote.
She said she used Redcon1 Total War pre-workout supplement in the challenge.
@brivtnyStory time feel free to ask more questions down below I’ll answer them in my next video ##fypシ ##preworkout
Portillo posted a series of TikTk videos on the situation.
@brivtny##fypシ
Another TikTok video shows her dancing in a hospital gown.
Is the Dry Scooping Pre-Workout Challenge Dangerous?
@brivtny##inverted also heparin is what’s helped me be fine and stable throughout my experience because it helps with heart attack symptoms no need to cap🙂
According to Complex, dry scooping means you eat “dry pre-workout supplements or protein powders” instead of “diluting them with water.” But experts say it can cause a concentration of caffeine, the site reported, so it can be dangerous.
According to Buzzfeed, pre-workout powder “is typically comprised of amino acids, B vitamins, caffeine, creatine, and artificial sweeteners.”
Portillo told Buzzfeed, “After I took the pre-workout, I started to feel tingly and itchy all over my body, which wasn’t a good feeling, but I googled it and it said that was a normal side effect. … So I began to do my workout. I started to feel a heavy feeling in my chest and slight pain, but it wasn’t too bad. I thought it was maybe anxiety or a bad panic attack, so I decided to just ignore it and push through my workout.”
Buzzfeed noted, “It was determined that she had had an NSTEMI — a type of heart attack that’s less damaging to the heart.”
A second TikTok user said she also had a health scare after trying the dry scooping trend.
TikTok user @mkaaaybabee started crying and saying she couldn’t breathe after eating a scoop of the powder and then chasing it with water. She needed her inhaler.
@mkaaaybabee#####
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