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Finally after 3 months a DIAGNOSIS

After being very sick for almost 3 months( See my 1st post) and taking the following steps,seeing my primary care doctor, 3 trips to the emergency room, 2 neurologists, a cardiologist, 2 ENTs, MRI, MRA, CT, CTA, EEG, EKG, BALANCE TESTING AND BLOOD WORK. Thousands of dollars later, I found out that I have aspartame poisoning from drinking diet soda and using artificial sweetners in my coffee. I AM ASTOUNDED that this POISON is considered safe by the FDA. Children are drinking this POISON. I had no idea that it was unsafe. The doctors were baffled, they thought I had everything from MS, to Menieres disease, seizures, vestibular migranes, you name it. I 've been prescribed a whole host of drugs (WITH HORRIBLE SIDE EFFECTS) to "help my symptoms and nothing was working. Of course I didn't realize I was washing down the meds that were supposed to help me with DIET SODA. I was getting very depressed over my health situation so I went online and googled my symptoms. Aspartame poisoning came up. I read it and thought this can't be true! So I made an appointment with my ENT and discussed it with her. Amazingly she agreed that it was possible. She said anything chemical or processed you put into your body, it's only a matter of time before it affects your health. I said yes but I've been drinking this stuff for 10 years with no problems. She said it builds up in your system over time. She told me to get off all meds and artificial sweetners and drink lots of water and see what happens. After 3 days my symptoms had greatly improved. It's 2 weeks later and I'm almost back to my old self. Aspartame poisoning mimics MS and Menieres disease because the aspartic acid destroys the myeline sheath in the brain, and aspartame turns to formaldahyde when it reaches 86 degrees. Our bodies are 98.6. So your drinking liquid formaldehyde or wood alcohol. It could also cause irreversable damage. This stuff is really bad and it causes so many undiagnosed or mis-diagnosed illnesses. If they want to reform health care they should start by pulling this poison off the shelfs and the Medical profession should start screaming about this stuff. It's not a question they normally ask. They always ask if you smoke but never if you eat or drink artificial sweetners. Well this is my story, I am so glad that I don't have MS but I'm also angry that I had to go through this because the FDA is in bed with big business. Google aspartame poisoning, you'll be shocked!
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987762 tn?1671273328
COMMUNITY LEADER
I'm a big believer to the affects some additives can do to chemical sensitive individuals and have spent the last 10+ years reading every product before it comes into contact with and definitely prior to any consumption, due to my childrens sensetivities. Over the years, I have learnt through experience and many many hours of research, that the negative affects are NOT singularly identifiable. Meaning, it is almost imposible for you to removed only 1 (man made) possibly suspect ingredient from your life with out also removing a few other ingredients that may be equally  problematic for you.

Soft drinks typically have flavourings, colourings, preservatives, caffeine and artificial sweetners etc etc etc, if you remove this 1 product (soft drink) you still will not be just removing the 1 ingredient but multiple ingredients. So how do you know that it was asparatine that you were having adverse reactions to, well to put it simply, you cant know with any conclusive evidence that asparatine is the cause.

Unfortunately, your theory is only that a theory, you have a right to believe in what ever you want and if you believe strongly enough then no evidence to the contrary is going to sway you from your beliefs, as is your right. Please understand though many of us do rely on unbias scientific studies which often negate the many anacdotal (unscientifically founded) articles that are available on the web and when it comes to diseases such as MS, then theories like asparatine are annoyingly in abundance.

I do hope for your sake, that you have found the cause of all your problems but in all honesty i very much doubt it. The main problem as I see it is the coincidence factor(s), lets just say for argument sake that Mrs Eve did infact have RRMS which is the most common form of MS. She was (strongly) convinced that ingredient A found in soft drinks was really the cause so removed product A from her diet. To be expected Mrs Eve started feeling better and with in a few weeks all her sx had completely gone.

Any strong belief can produce the plecebo effect, sx that improve or go away completely are consistent with RRMS, removal of soft drink from the diet of anyone will make them healthier for multitudal reasons, regardless of specific ingredients and the emotional release from thinking they dont have a serious and out of their control disease lifts all the depression, anxiety and stresses they may have had. I've mentioned only some of the unfortunate coincidences but i'm sure you understand what i'm saying.

Just my 2 cents.............JJ
Helpful - 0
1382889 tn?1505071193
Thanks for the info Bob. I had never heard of this problem and now I know why.  Personally I don't consume artificial sweetners so it doesn't really apply to me, true or untrue but people who do read the original post and get scared should know the facts.

Julie
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Avatar universal
Wow. When my husband ended up with an autoimmune kidney disease, he was a heavy consumer of diet soda. It was the one thing he wouldn't give up. They got him in remission, he kept drinking it and two years later it came back. His doc told him it's very, very, very rare to get once and double that to get it again after a remission.

The second time he gave up the diet sodas and so far, no more signs of it coming back. It's been eight years now.

Congratulations on finding such an obscure reason for your neuro issues, and docs that would actually KNOW how to help you with it.

I'm working on getting all the preservatives out of my diet again too. There is something I'm reacting to, or a lot of somethings. Because when I make everything from scratch I have less inflammation in my body. You just know when things are off. Little by little, I will figure out what is going on and learn to control it.

Thanks for stopping in and sharing your story. And I agree, aspartame should never have been allowed to be put in food. It was all politics and connections, and how many have been sickened by it over all these years that have never known the source of their illnesses. We will never know.
Helpful - 0
1453990 tn?1329231426
I'll agree with Sumanadevii!  You are hypersentitive to the compound.  Aspartame is not a "poison".

"A 2007 medical review on the subject concluded that "the weight of existing scientific evidence indicates that aspartame is safe at current levels of consumption as a non-nutritive sweetener"

Magnuson BA, Burdock GA, Doull J, et al. (2007). "Aspartame: a safety evaluation based on current use levels, regulations, and toxicological and epidemiological studies". Critical Reviews in Toxicology 37 (8): 629–727.

There have been several internet hoaxes and this has even been the subject of congressional hearings.  

Aspartame may hydrolyze (break down) into its constituent amino acids under conditions of elevated temperature, which is why it can not be used for baking.  

"At 180° C, aspartame undergoes decomposition to form a diketopiperazine (DKP) derivative."

Rastogi, S.; Zakrzewski, M.; Suryanarayanan, R. (Mar 2001). "Investigation of solid-state reactions using variable temperature X-ray powder diffractrometry. I. Aspartame hemihydrate.". Pharm Res 18 (3): 267–73.

The amine in aspartame can undergo a Maillard reaction with the aldehyde groups present in certain aroma compounds.  Acetaldehyde is not formaldhyde.  Acetaldehyde occurs naturally in coffee, bread, and ripe fruit, and is produced by plants as part of their normal metabolism. It is also produced by oxidation of ethanol and is popularly believed to be a cause of hangovers. http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/drugs-alcohol/hangover4.htm

Most of us deal in factual and scientific sources of information.  You will notice that I provided a citation to the source material I am quoting.  Pure Snake Oil.  Please peddle elsewhere.

Bob

Helpful - 0
582777 tn?1298456914
I'm sorry bhut I can't find the "1st post" you refer to. Can you tell us more about what your symptoms were that had you so ill for three months?

I'm pleased that you felt so well barely three days after stopping all medications. I find when I stop even caffeine I feel awful for quite a few days as my body detoxes, so I imagine stopping a lot of pretty serious meds would have been a bigger shock to your system.

I googled aspartame poisoning as you suggested and came across this interesting article: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Glad you are feeling better.

Nonny
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you! Be well!
Helpful - 0
1394601 tn?1328032308
I think you are one of the few that would become this sick from the stuff.  Some people are just more sensitive to additivies.  I wish you well with it and am glad you have found help.  
Helpful - 0
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