A social media user and blogger, Briatney Portillo, almost lost her life after taking part in a viral TikTok challenge. She’s since spoken out to warn others about the dangers of the trend.
In April 2021, Briatney Portillo, 20, took part in TikTok’s “dry scooping” challenge. During the death-defying challenge, participants have to ingest some undiluted supplemental energy powder.
The blogger ended up suffering a heart attack. While in the middle of the life-threatening medical emergency, first responders didn’t think it was a heart attack or that she was going through cardiac arrest either.
A black-and-white image of a woman working out while balancing a weight | Photo: Pixabay/Ichigo121212
Speaking to The New York Post, Portillo recalled how the police and EMTs thought she was probably having an anxiety attack. They thought she was nervous about going to dance as a stripper, with her adding:
“I never thought something like this would ever happen to me. Especially because I’m so young.”
The TikTok user explained that she never had any anxieties about her work before. So when the heart attack happened, she wasn’t sure what her body was going through, knew something was terribly wrong.
Portillo ended up taking part in the “dry scooping” challenge after watching online fitness instructors swallow heaps of pre-workout for weeks. The powder is non-Food and Drug Administration-regulated.
It is a caffeinated substance that athletes tend to mix with water and drink before exercising to improve their stamina, endurance, and focus. The Bronx native thought if they could do it, so could she.
The blogger has since released a video where she’s seen connected to some machines as she lay in a hospital. She warned other TikTok users to be careful of taking part in random challenges because they could be deadly.
The TikTok user never took part in the challenge for clout as she didn’t even record herself while doing it. Since she already exercised every week, she just wanted to have more energy so she could work out.
The challenge has seen several people take part where they shared videos on TikTok. Sadly, in April 2021, a 12-year-old Colorado boy passed away after participating in a “blackout” challenge on TikTok.
For the challenge, social media users choke themselves until they become unconscious. Most of the people who take part in the challenge survive; however, Joshua Haileyesus didn’t.
These challenges can be deadly, and Haileyesus isn’t the only young victim. In January 2021, a 10-year-old Italian girl was declared brain dead after allegedly taking part in the “blackout” challenge.
According to ANSA, the wire news service in Italy, the little girl arrived at a hospital in Palermo, Italy, while going through cardiac arrest. The child had taken part in the TikTok challenge by trying to self-asphyxiate.
Doctors at the hospital tried their best to save the girl, but she was already brain dead. Her parents seemed to have taken her off life support as they revealed that they would donate her organs.
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