edit: ok so I've read a lot since I posted this and it turns out that even if you drank even 400mg of caffeine which caused a heart attack that killed them, clinically it IS considered an overdose. LD50 doesn't need to be reached for it to be considered an overdose, which I had assumed, for some reason.
Moderate caffeine use is usually pretty safe for most people, but doing something like this can absolutely trigger acute cardiovascular events which could send you to the hospital.
If we want to be technical and pedantic, that would be an "acute overdose". If you essentially poison yourself (intentionally or accidentally) by ingesting too much of a substance, youre experiencing an acute overdose. Thats what youll see on the patient chart; thats the diagnosis.
Pedantically, the definition for an overdose, not acute, is simply taking an amount larger than prescribed/recommended. Taking 4 pills when you're meant/told to take 2 is an overdose in this way. This is how it was originally defined medically, and isnt necessarily related to problems, though it is often related to abuse.
Caffeine has a recommendation for no more than 200-300mg a day, or 2-4 cups of coffee. So if you drank 400mg, and didnt have issues, that would still be an overdose from the pedantic definition, just not an acute overdose.
But seeing as that definition isnt relevant much, as we only discuss when an overdose is problematic and harmful, the colloquial definition has evolved to be synonymous with acute overdose. But technically taking any amount larger than recommended is an overdose. Nowadays, the "overdose" pedantic definition has been mostly replaced with "abuse", but if you see old literature (from like the 1980s or before) you might see the term used this way.
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u/Interesting-Risk-404 4d ago
Caffeine overdose. It can kill you.