Recently, I was in the Fastrip gas station on University and Mount Vernon picking up some junk food. While browsing, I noticed in one of the aisles, a whole section devoted to instant energy in tablet form.

I was looking at all the brands and decided to buy one to see if it actually worked. I picked Ultra Energy Now, and the slogan is “The Herbal Energy Booster That Works.” Skeptical, I bought it, which, surprisingly, was a dollar more than a can of Monster.

Before I took the pills, I read the ingredients on the back. The ingredients listed are very hard to spell and read. But some of the major ingredients were guarana, ginseng and green tea leaf. Also, there was ginkgo biloba.

I took the three pills out of the package. They were quite big and didn’t smell very good in my opinion. I swallowed all three pills.

Afterward, I read the back of the package, and, stupid me, I didn’t read the tiny line at the bottom that said take one with water once a day.

I did not panic or anything. I just assumed that I would get a triple dose of energy by taking all three pills. I took the pills at 9 a.m. By 10 o clock, I felt like Superman. I seemed to have a lot more energy. But the energy did not last very long, maybe 15 minutes. Later, I crashed big time. I was quite sleepy and felt like I hit a brick wall. Obviously, I felt this way because I took three pills at once instead of taking one pill each day.

I admit the energy high was pretty good, but, it doesn’t last forever, and you crash big time especially if you’re a dummy like me and haven’t read the directions. I would definitely say that Ultra Energy Now works about the same as a can of Monster or Rockstar.

But everybody is different, and it may not work for others like it did for me. In my opinion, next time I want to get some energy, I will choose the energy drink over the pills. For one, it’s easier to swallow, and it also takes effect faster than the pills do.