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Another similar one is chocolate poisoning. Humans can handle 3 times more chocolate per KG of body mass than dogs so the risk is much smaller to us but we're

Another similar one is chocolate poisoning. Humans can handle 3 times more chocolate per KG of body mass than dogs so the risk is much smaller to us but we're still susceptible at the extremes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine_poisoning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine_poisoning

baby 6y ago
Oh gosh, I used to eat massive amounts of chocolate for easter when I was a kid and I would get really sick from it.
- mywittyname 6y ago
  In all fairness, this was probably due more to the massive sugar intake than the chocolate. Chocolate is expensive and cheap Easter candy producers probably try to minimize the amount they are actually putting into their candy to control costs.
- WalterSear 6y ago
  Fwiw, high doses of theobromine feel like very high doses of caffeine, but with much more anxiety. So, if you were bouncing off the walls and couldn't sit down or sleep for 24+ hours, that would be theobromine.
- myself248 6y ago
  I made that mistake as a kid. Got a 3-pound bag of Milky Way Dark Minis for Christmas, and I'm sure it was supposed to last me several months, but I went through about half the bag watching TV that afternoon. The next morning I was so sick I don't have words for how sick I was. Once I finished with the first kind of sick, I still had a pounding headache, acute sensitivity to light and sound, etc. I described the symptoms to my dad, pleading for help, and his first reaction was "...do you have a hangover?" Good lord if that's what hangovers are like, why do people drink? To this day, I point to that experience as the reason I've never had more than two alcoholic drinks in a day. I just can't imagine...
- SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
  My cousine ate a pound of prunes when he was 3 yo. He got a royal diarrhea that day, the damn prunes came out of every hole.
dangoor 6y ago
I eat more than my fair share of dark chocolate, so I took a look at that. The toxic levels are _a lot_ of chocolate, and I can't even imagine consuming anywhere near the lethal levels. That said, I think the black licorice case here also falls into the "levels I can't even imagine" category.
WorldMaker 6y ago
Humans can do it much easier with Caffeine. The pathways are related (and basically swapped between humans and dogs; in theory a dog would experience coffee more like we experience hot chocolate). That's why Four Loko was so dangerous and why a lot of colleges tend to have massive "Caffeine Pill Awareness" campaigns and why college administrators (and psychologists) have sometimes thought that Caffeine in any pill form should be "behind the counter" and somewhat strictly controlled because humans can't be trusted with Caffeine doses in pill form and overdoses are more common than a lot of people think.
- myself248 6y ago
  Aw jeez seriously? Caffeine pills are helping me kick my Dew habit. I suppose if the pills go behind the counter I can just get a kilo of the lab-grade powder and portion it out myself... that would actually make it easier than trying to break the pills in half to taper the dose.
  - WorldMaker 6y ago
    Everything I've read suggests you would be much better off using black coffee to wean from a soda habit, especially if you don't like the taste of black coffee (because it might just wean you off caffeine altogether). The ritual of brewing a cup of coffee (even as simplified as it has gotten with modern single cup machines) is a useful slowdown to measure your doses by. Also, it's an easier switch than "cold turkey" from all the sugars of soda if you do want to cheat and not go straight to black coffee but start with sugars/creamers and work your way towards black as you acquire more of a taste for it. (ETA: And you can progress to black tea then red/green/white easily as a way to cut caffeine in stages. Anyway, good luck trying to break the Dew habit, I sympathize.)
    - xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
      > Everything I've read suggests you would be much better off using black coffee to wean from a soda habit, especially if you don't like the taste of black coffee (because it might just wean you off caffeine altogether). The ritual of brewing a cup of coffee (even as simplified as it has gotten with modern single cup machines) is a useful slowdown to measure your doses by. I find this funny. I don't have a soda habit (I do not enjoy drinking it regularly, but a couple times a month, maybe, is nice) but I drink a lot of black coffee! I love the taste, and even though I grind beans on a per-cup basis, and my kettle takes a while to get hot, and there is some cleanup involved, it doesn't stop me whatsoever. If I didn't like the taste, and needed milk/sugar, maybe things would be a different story...

baby 6y ago

Oh gosh, I used to eat massive amounts of chocolate for easter when I was a kid and I would get really sick from it.

mywittyname 6y ago
In all fairness, this was probably due more to the massive sugar intake than the chocolate. Chocolate is expensive and cheap Easter candy producers probably try to minimize the amount they are actually putting into their candy to control costs.
WalterSear 6y ago
Fwiw, high doses of theobromine feel like very high doses of caffeine, but with much more anxiety. So, if you were bouncing off the walls and couldn't sit down or sleep for 24+ hours, that would be theobromine.
myself248 6y ago
I made that mistake as a kid. Got a 3-pound bag of Milky Way Dark Minis for Christmas, and I'm sure it was supposed to last me several months, but I went through about half the bag watching TV that afternoon. The next morning I was so sick I don't have words for how sick I was. Once I finished with the first kind of sick, I still had a pounding headache, acute sensitivity to light and sound, etc. I described the symptoms to my dad, pleading for help, and his first reaction was "...do you have a hangover?" Good lord if that's what hangovers are like, why do people drink? To this day, I point to that experience as the reason I've never had more than two alcoholic drinks in a day. I just can't imagine...
SomeoneFromCA 6y ago
My cousine ate a pound of prunes when he was 3 yo. He got a royal diarrhea that day, the damn prunes came out of every hole.

dangoor 6y ago

I eat more than my fair share of dark chocolate, so I took a look at that. The toxic levels are _a lot_ of chocolate, and I can't even imagine consuming anywhere near the lethal levels. That said, I think the black licorice case here also falls into the "levels I can't even imagine" category.

WorldMaker 6y ago

Humans can do it much easier with Caffeine. The pathways are related (and basically swapped between humans and dogs; in theory a dog would experience coffee more like we experience hot chocolate). That's why Four Loko was so dangerous and why a lot of colleges tend to have massive "Caffeine Pill Awareness" campaigns and why college administrators (and psychologists) have sometimes thought that Caffeine in any pill form should be "behind the counter" and somewhat strictly controlled because humans can't be trusted with Caffeine doses in pill form and overdoses are more common than a lot of people think.

myself248 6y ago
Aw jeez seriously? Caffeine pills are helping me kick my Dew habit. I suppose if the pills go behind the counter I can just get a kilo of the lab-grade powder and portion it out myself... that would actually make it easier than trying to break the pills in half to taper the dose.
- WorldMaker 6y ago
  Everything I've read suggests you would be much better off using black coffee to wean from a soda habit, especially if you don't like the taste of black coffee (because it might just wean you off caffeine altogether). The ritual of brewing a cup of coffee (even as simplified as it has gotten with modern single cup machines) is a useful slowdown to measure your doses by. Also, it's an easier switch than "cold turkey" from all the sugars of soda if you do want to cheat and not go straight to black coffee but start with sugars/creamers and work your way towards black as you acquire more of a taste for it. (ETA: And you can progress to black tea then red/green/white easily as a way to cut caffeine in stages. Anyway, good luck trying to break the Dew habit, I sympathize.)
  - xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
    > Everything I've read suggests you would be much better off using black coffee to wean from a soda habit, especially if you don't like the taste of black coffee (because it might just wean you off caffeine altogether). The ritual of brewing a cup of coffee (even as simplified as it has gotten with modern single cup machines) is a useful slowdown to measure your doses by. I find this funny. I don't have a soda habit (I do not enjoy drinking it regularly, but a couple times a month, maybe, is nice) but I drink a lot of black coffee! I love the taste, and even though I grind beans on a per-cup basis, and my kettle takes a while to get hot, and there is some cleanup involved, it doesn't stop me whatsoever. If I didn't like the taste, and needed milk/sugar, maybe things would be a different story...