Lafayette, LA (KADN) We've all seen them in Walmart, Walgreens, CVS pharmacy, or even advertised online but now the Food and Drug Administration is urging people to not use nitrite poppers for sexual enhancement or recreational use warning they can lead to brain death.

"I never got into them because I was told that they were like they raise your anxiety and like raise your energy and stuff like that and so I just really didn't want to go that route so I would drink coffee or tea or anything but I try to stay away from that to"

Energy enhancers are typically used as a recreational drug by people seeking enhanced performance.

"I mean I ran into it a lot at the marine corp it's like some kind of power booster energy and people were taking it to run their physical fitness test and they had like 5 or 6 people that caught heart attacks from it"

Jakendrik Stewart says he started drinking them because of the taste.

"Tasted good to me at that time and I'm speaking of the green monsters for some reason those taste real good"

The FDA says it has seen an increase in reports of people being hospitalized and even dying after using poppers. One law school student says a lot of students use them in order to stay alert for a test.

"When I was in undergrad and honestly last semester I saw a lot of people around finals times they were trying to pull an all-nighter study for a test at the last minute they would use those so that they wouldn't crash during the test or so they could stay up for 12 hours straight studying and stuff like that"

Editor's note: A previous version of this story improperly used a photo of energy drinks that aren't nitrite poppers. The picture has been updated to show some brands that are.