A mum who had a £19k "addiction" to Red Bull has gone cold turkey after being diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. "

Lucy Parker, 35, went for a CT scan after having pain in her thighs which revealed a cyst on her ovary and also highlighted a build-up of fat in the liver - which could lead to serious liver damage, including cirrhosis, if it got worse.

After cutting her three energy drinks a day habit - which saw her spend almost £20k on the energy drink over 15 years - Lucy claims doctors have seen improvements in her liver and says has no damage like fibrosis which means her condition is reversible.



She has also been using Chat GPT to help her make "little swaps" in her diet and help her understand her condition more clearly - which she's hoping to fully reverse after going cold turkey on the fizzy energy drinks."



Mum-of-two Lucy, a creative director for a marketing agency, from Perth, Australia, said: "I was addicted to Red Bull."



"If I knew I didn't have a Red Bull in the fridge before I went to bed I would drive out to go and get one or figure out how to get one first thing in the morning."



"I was having 81 grams of sugar a day in just those drinks."



"When you look at it on a scale there'' no way you can eat that much sugar, it would make you sick."



"I was so ashamed - it completely consumed me."



"Even my two kids on Mother's Day at school when they had to write down things about their mum they said 'my mum's favourite drink is Red Bull'." "

Lucy first discovered the issues with her liver when going for a CT scan in March 2025 after having pain in her thighs that was connected to a cyst on her ovary.



She said: "Doctors were like 'this is what's shown up - there's a cyst on your ovary we'll keep an eye on but that's the not the thing we're worried about'. "

"They told me: 'There's a lot of fat around your liver'."



"They said it's basically where fat builds up around the liver and it's not able to work as well as it should." "

It was determined rather than having alcoholic fatty liver disease - caused by excessive alcohol consumption - Lucy had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease following blood test results in April 2025.



"Doctors gave me six weeks and then I had another scan on my ovary, liver and more blood tests," Lucy said."



"I came home and looked in the fridge I had two Red Bulls left."



"I thought 'these are the last ones I'll have, this is serious now'. "

"I stopped drinking them after those two. "

"That was about four weeks ago." "

Lucy also found Chat GPT helpful in understanding her diagnosis and making swaps in her diet - such as going from consuming white to wholegrain bread.



Following an ADHD diagnosis two years ago, Lucy found her early morning Red Bull was her "first dopamine hit". "

"If you have ADHD it just does the opposite to what it would do for a neurotypical person," she said."



"It calms me down."



"Because of that dopamine it puts everything into check and helps me get through the day."



"I only struggled with headaches for a couple of days after stopping drinking Red Bull and they weren't extreme."



"With the energy thing I'm still looking to caffeine."



"If you have a Coke Zero in the afternoon every now and then it's better than three Red Bulls a day."



"I've had so many people message me saying 'I'm addicted to energy drinks'." "

After a fibrosis scan on her liver and more blood tests last week, Lucy found her liver was "improving"."



She said: "My doctor said 'whatever you have done between the last session and now is working'."



"I just said 'I've stopped drinking the Red Bull'."



"She told me to keep doing that and in six months' time we will have reversed it hopefully." "

Lucy had "no symptoms" with her diagnosis and urges others to get checked."



She said: "I had no pain, no nothing."



"If someone reading this is drinking the same amount of energy drinks for that period of time I would suggest they get a blood test."