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Aspartame/Headaches/Seizures
About 6 weeks ago I had my first migraine (with visual aura) and it likely progressed into a seizure. (My young children were the only ones there, and since I was unconscious, I can't say for sure! But subsequent EEGs suggest seizure activity.) Over the past year I have had chronic daily headaches that I got used to and didn't really notice anymore, but since the migraine/seizure episode I started noticing them.
Since then I've done an elimination diet, and the only thing that cleared up my headaches (100%!) was eliminating diet soda. Since I always drank caffeine-free soda, I'm thinking it has to be the aspartame. I'm astounded that this is the case, since I only drank one can per day, and have for years.
Has anyone else with chronic daily headaches, migraines, or unexplained seizures tried this? I can't believe how pain-free my head is, and I *think* my short term memory has skyrocketed. But maybe I'm just imagining that!
On a side note, after this experience I am absolutely kicking myself for drinking diet soda while pregnant with my last child, as he now has epilepsy. Maybe they're not related at all - we'll never know, but it sure wasn't worth it for one lousy can of soda!
Since then I've done an elimination diet, and the only thing that cleared up my headaches (100%!) was eliminating diet soda. Since I always drank caffeine-free soda, I'm thinking it has to be the aspartame. I'm astounded that this is the case, since I only drank one can per day, and have for years.
Has anyone else with chronic daily headaches, migraines, or unexplained seizures tried this? I can't believe how pain-free my head is, and I *think* my short term memory has skyrocketed. But maybe I'm just imagining that!
On a side note, after this experience I am absolutely kicking myself for drinking diet soda while pregnant with my last child, as he now has epilepsy. Maybe they're not related at all - we'll never know, but it sure wasn't worth it for one lousy can of soda!
Just to add, if anybody is interested in more info regarding Aspartame and the effects it has then please don't hesitate to contact me as given what has happened with our son and myself, me and my partner have decided to reasearch the stuff and have made a free info forum about it. I am not sure i can put the link on here though, so anybodys interested then please contact me.
I wish you all the best.
Claire
I wish you all the best.
Claire
Hi, my name is claire. My story starts march 2007 when i became pregnant to my partner. We were over the moon and really excited at the thought of our little one being born. due date was the 10th of December. my pregnancy was text book until i went for the twelve weeks glucose tolerence test in which i was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, which is not uncommon in pregnancy. Still all went well. Because i had developed diabetes though i now had to watch my sugar intake, so i was sent to see the diabetic nurse to monitor my progress in the pregnany. Course now all the sugary products had to be got rid of as i was put on insulin three times a day to control my blood sugar levels, and of course i had to have more scans in my pregnancy than was usual. This is to watch for signs of the baby growing too large. My liver was also tested, which was fine to start with, so no worries at all. The scans always showed a healthy normal baby slowly growing and all was well.
Slowly over the months i started to replace the sugar in my diet with low sugar products, and Canderel in my tea. Day in and day out i ate what i was told was good for both me and my baby and so i thought everything was going to be fine. After about 6 months of pregnany and the many tests that i had to have, something started to change. My liver was slowly getting high readings in the tests they did on me, firstly the reading were slightly raised, then a month after, they raised a little more. Nobody was worried though as they say it is very common for this to happen in mid to late pregnany, and all seemed to be going well with our baby.
It was three days before they decided to induce me for our baby to be born 2 weeks before his due date. they said they dont like the pregnancy going full term just in case the baby starts to get too big with all the extra insulin floating about in the blood stream. so i prepared myself for a delivery the thursday of late november 2007. On the monday before that date though, our baby stopped moving and we became very worried. we got ourself up the the hospital as quickly as we could. I was rushed into theatre for an emergency cesarian.
Our son was born on the 26th of november 2007, he was rushed into the intensive care unit for monitoring after they had realised that he had been badly compromised before he was born. These things happen sometimes and we accepted that, although we were very puzzled after what seemed like a text book pregnancy to why things had gone so wrong. The doctors themselves expressed confusion to what had happened. our sons blood chemistry was haywire and he started fitting more or less straight away and was very poorly at one point. They didnt really know what could have happened. things started to become more clear though as they examined the placenta and umbilical cord. It had developed blood clots, and in the final few days, one clot had broken away to partly block our son's life line to his mums placenta. Still we just put it down to one of those things, even though it has become clear now that our son's development will be effected by what happened. We just accepted it as bad luck.
our son is now 4 month old and doing ok. The health issue is now with me. since He was born my liver reading were expected to return to normal, not only have they not, but have become even worse. I recently had a liver test done after a post natal examination caused concern over the reading. The gamma part of the test is the one that shows intake of substances that the body cannot deal with. Usually it is excessive alcohol or drugs that cause this part of the liver test to be high. A normal alcoholic will have a reading of 4 to 6 time the normal level. My reading for the gamma is a massive 10 times what it should be. I have been asked twice now by medical staff if i am a alcoholic and when i tell them that i am tee total and have been for years, they look at me with dismay and cant work out why my readings are so high. It wasnt until the doctor said. (this is something in your life style that is causing this, and usually to have reading so high you would have to be a raging alcoholic.. something you are doing is causing your liver to work hard as if its being poisoned like an alcoholic.) To this i was shocked because i know i dont drink, do drugs, medication or otherwise. my diet is still good and yes i dont even take sugar. this is when it hit me, the only difference in my life is the sugar free stuff i am eating and putting in my tea. Aspartame in all of these things. I decided to investigate and was shocked by my finding. i even saw a headline that said "ASPARTAME THE THALIDOMIDE OF THE 90'S" and we all know what that did to unborn babies.
The liver is your chemical factory, not only does it process toxins out of your blood stream but it also makes chemicals that help our bodies to function properly. One of those funtions is to regulate blood and clotting control. my liver started to go wrong as soon as i started to take artificial sweetners, not only in my tea in the form of canderel, but also in other food stuff like angel delight and sugar free chewing gum. This is the only thing in my diet that has changed, intake of Aspartame. i am under no doubt that this is the culprit to why my system is still being poisoned and maybe the link to why our son was so badly compromised. We went to see the specialist yesterday over our son and got the results from the MRI scan. The damage to his brain because of what happened we were told by the doctor, is highly likely to cause celebral palsy. This from a normal healthy pregnancy, scans which consistently showed a healthy baby.
Of course i am now off the horrible Aspartame poison and have been for almost a week. all i can do is hope and pray that the damage it had caused me is not permanent and that when i go and see the liver specialist my readings will start to fall and i dont have to have a liver biopsy. I guess at this point you may be wondering what massive intake i must have been taking to cause such problems for my health. well here is a run down to the amount i was taking. i'll let you decide if it's seems like a massive amount.
On average i would have 6 to 8 cups of tea with two canderel in each cup.
For treats i would have sugar free angel delight maybe twice a weeks.
I would chew sugar free gum for a while in the day.
then there are the bits that do add up. Like sugar free or reduced sugar sauces like ketchup and salad cream. Its also in options chocolate drinks i had at bed time, and in some cereal that is supposed to be low in sugar.
I never drink fizzy pop like cans of coke or other flavours, but it is in dilute fruit cordial which i drunk through the summer months.
Not a massive amount as you can see, but the things with Aspartame, its accumlative, it builds up and stores in your system and tissue, slowly eating away at you. A time bomb waiting to go off.
I do urge all of you who read this to watch the food labels and if it says ASPARTAME to throw it in the bin, dont give it to your children, and please if you are pregnant dont even think of taking anything with this substance in it. It could be responsible for hurting not only you, but your unborn baby......
Claire
I also had migraines when ingesting this stuff, fuzzy lights,headache and vision blurryiness...never had a migraine in my life before until i started sugar free and low sugar due to my diabetes.
Slowly over the months i started to replace the sugar in my diet with low sugar products, and Canderel in my tea. Day in and day out i ate what i was told was good for both me and my baby and so i thought everything was going to be fine. After about 6 months of pregnany and the many tests that i had to have, something started to change. My liver was slowly getting high readings in the tests they did on me, firstly the reading were slightly raised, then a month after, they raised a little more. Nobody was worried though as they say it is very common for this to happen in mid to late pregnany, and all seemed to be going well with our baby.
It was three days before they decided to induce me for our baby to be born 2 weeks before his due date. they said they dont like the pregnancy going full term just in case the baby starts to get too big with all the extra insulin floating about in the blood stream. so i prepared myself for a delivery the thursday of late november 2007. On the monday before that date though, our baby stopped moving and we became very worried. we got ourself up the the hospital as quickly as we could. I was rushed into theatre for an emergency cesarian.
Our son was born on the 26th of november 2007, he was rushed into the intensive care unit for monitoring after they had realised that he had been badly compromised before he was born. These things happen sometimes and we accepted that, although we were very puzzled after what seemed like a text book pregnancy to why things had gone so wrong. The doctors themselves expressed confusion to what had happened. our sons blood chemistry was haywire and he started fitting more or less straight away and was very poorly at one point. They didnt really know what could have happened. things started to become more clear though as they examined the placenta and umbilical cord. It had developed blood clots, and in the final few days, one clot had broken away to partly block our son's life line to his mums placenta. Still we just put it down to one of those things, even though it has become clear now that our son's development will be effected by what happened. We just accepted it as bad luck.
our son is now 4 month old and doing ok. The health issue is now with me. since He was born my liver reading were expected to return to normal, not only have they not, but have become even worse. I recently had a liver test done after a post natal examination caused concern over the reading. The gamma part of the test is the one that shows intake of substances that the body cannot deal with. Usually it is excessive alcohol or drugs that cause this part of the liver test to be high. A normal alcoholic will have a reading of 4 to 6 time the normal level. My reading for the gamma is a massive 10 times what it should be. I have been asked twice now by medical staff if i am a alcoholic and when i tell them that i am tee total and have been for years, they look at me with dismay and cant work out why my readings are so high. It wasnt until the doctor said. (this is something in your life style that is causing this, and usually to have reading so high you would have to be a raging alcoholic.. something you are doing is causing your liver to work hard as if its being poisoned like an alcoholic.) To this i was shocked because i know i dont drink, do drugs, medication or otherwise. my diet is still good and yes i dont even take sugar. this is when it hit me, the only difference in my life is the sugar free stuff i am eating and putting in my tea. Aspartame in all of these things. I decided to investigate and was shocked by my finding. i even saw a headline that said "ASPARTAME THE THALIDOMIDE OF THE 90'S" and we all know what that did to unborn babies.
The liver is your chemical factory, not only does it process toxins out of your blood stream but it also makes chemicals that help our bodies to function properly. One of those funtions is to regulate blood and clotting control. my liver started to go wrong as soon as i started to take artificial sweetners, not only in my tea in the form of canderel, but also in other food stuff like angel delight and sugar free chewing gum. This is the only thing in my diet that has changed, intake of Aspartame. i am under no doubt that this is the culprit to why my system is still being poisoned and maybe the link to why our son was so badly compromised. We went to see the specialist yesterday over our son and got the results from the MRI scan. The damage to his brain because of what happened we were told by the doctor, is highly likely to cause celebral palsy. This from a normal healthy pregnancy, scans which consistently showed a healthy baby.
Of course i am now off the horrible Aspartame poison and have been for almost a week. all i can do is hope and pray that the damage it had caused me is not permanent and that when i go and see the liver specialist my readings will start to fall and i dont have to have a liver biopsy. I guess at this point you may be wondering what massive intake i must have been taking to cause such problems for my health. well here is a run down to the amount i was taking. i'll let you decide if it's seems like a massive amount.
On average i would have 6 to 8 cups of tea with two canderel in each cup.
For treats i would have sugar free angel delight maybe twice a weeks.
I would chew sugar free gum for a while in the day.
then there are the bits that do add up. Like sugar free or reduced sugar sauces like ketchup and salad cream. Its also in options chocolate drinks i had at bed time, and in some cereal that is supposed to be low in sugar.
I never drink fizzy pop like cans of coke or other flavours, but it is in dilute fruit cordial which i drunk through the summer months.
Not a massive amount as you can see, but the things with Aspartame, its accumlative, it builds up and stores in your system and tissue, slowly eating away at you. A time bomb waiting to go off.
I do urge all of you who read this to watch the food labels and if it says ASPARTAME to throw it in the bin, dont give it to your children, and please if you are pregnant dont even think of taking anything with this substance in it. It could be responsible for hurting not only you, but your unborn baby......
Claire
I also had migraines when ingesting this stuff, fuzzy lights,headache and vision blurryiness...never had a migraine in my life before until i started sugar free and low sugar due to my diabetes.
Aspartame and red wine are one of my big triggers. Only a few sips and the headache starts.
My neurologist says the aspartame triggers his migraines as well.
The other day my 15 yo dd was drinking flavored water after drinking maybe 2 ounces, she developed a headache. Looking at the ingredient list and aspartame was listed.
My neurologist says the aspartame triggers his migraines as well.
The other day my 15 yo dd was drinking flavored water after drinking maybe 2 ounces, she developed a headache. Looking at the ingredient list and aspartame was listed.
I call Aspartame "migraine in a packet". It is one of my main triggers. I avoid it as much as possible. I can have little amounts but not a lot. Just last week I had one can of diet cherry 7-up with some potato chips w/ MSG and BAM a huge, nasty, aura stricken migraine. So, again, I kick myself for drinking aspartame, therefore no more for me. I have totally switched to splenda products and it gives me no problem. BTW, Diet Rite make tasty sodas and the are all sweetened with splenda. I dont drink regular sodas either! Best of luck.
I have also tried to elimate aspartame to see if it helped my migraines. I quit drinking any diet soda for 10 weeks, however it did not seem to make any difference. I have had headaches for 25 years and didn't drink diet soda when they first started. I have heard that aspartame is not good for you and am quite concerned. I probably drink 2-3 cans of it a day. Most doctors say that is not enough to worry about but I am concerned about always hearing negative news about it. I try to watch my weight because I have lost 40 lbs. and am probably still 15 lbs overweight so high blood pressure is also a concern.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi,
Literature investigating aspartame as a direct cause for seizure disorders, development of brain tumors or behavioural disorders are not very conclusive however, it has been noted that some individuals are far more sensitive to aspartame than others. This may explain why some people develop side effects with aspartame ingestion while others do not. Also, persons with known seizure disorders were also shown to have their seizure threshold levels decreased ( thus easily provoked )due to aspartame intake. There are several issues on aspartame and its seemingly adverse effects on neurologic cellular function.Studies are still currently being done.
Literature investigating aspartame as a direct cause for seizure disorders, development of brain tumors or behavioural disorders are not very conclusive however, it has been noted that some individuals are far more sensitive to aspartame than others. This may explain why some people develop side effects with aspartame ingestion while others do not. Also, persons with known seizure disorders were also shown to have their seizure threshold levels decreased ( thus easily provoked )due to aspartame intake. There are several issues on aspartame and its seemingly adverse effects on neurologic cellular function.Studies are still currently being done.
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