I've used 5 hour energy on a number of occasions. The effect is very subtle (probably partly because I did drink energy drinks all the time then). But when I needed to be awake from 9PM till 7AM, it came in REALLY handy some days.
I've used 5 hour energy twice, and both times it did nothing to me. I took it after a party to wake up and it made my hangover worse
First of all, that's just a bad idea. Those things are meant to keep you awake and alert. Which means that any sort of deadening of the senses that might have saved you from the full hangover will be gone.
and I was still sleepy
Would you have fallen asleep? The effect isn't a sudden burst of energy. It's more like delaying being as tired as you would be.
the second time I took it I was the first person to fall asleep and missed all of Black Dynamite.
Well that sucks.
But yeah, I don't actually feel any effect when I take it. But I notice afterwards that instead of being too tired to drive by 7AM, I'd be awake just enough to safely drive home, and pass the fuck out. It never made me feel like I was noticeably more awake than I was before I took it, but it seemed to delay me from getting more tired than I already was.