Re: aspartame?(nutraswee Date Mon, 4 Mar 1996 15:29:00 GMT Newsgroups rec.crafts.brewing I didn't know anyone else was having problems with Nutrasweet, but personally the stuff gives me splitting headaches. --------------- Re: aspartame?(nutrasweet) Date 4 Mar 1996 19:59:19 GMT Newsgroups rec.crafts.brewing ... but fairly small amounts of NutraSweet make me feel like I'm having an asma (SP?) attack. IE: short of breath. Happens even when I don't know that its in there. I've heard 5% of the population gets this, but the stuff is still approved. Similarly the new superfat that your body can't digest has the harmless side effect of causing "Anal Leakage" in 'some people' IE: you shit yourself! I forget what the commercial name is Splendra? Olestra? Or something like that? It is the so called Fatless Fat. Its approved too! Makes you wonder sometimes. What happens to me when NutraSweet gets cheaper than sugar, and shows up in everthing? --------------- Re: aspartame?(nutraswee Date Tue, 5 Mar 1996 09:20:08 -0800 Newsgroups rec.crafts.brewing I used to drink Nutrisweet'nd beverages, but no more. It made me sick - long before I knew why. If you think kids get crazy on sugar, watch them after 12 oz of pop sweetened with this junk. No. I would personally not recommend using aspartame in brewing. --------------- Re: sleep paralysis Date Fri, 9 Feb 1996 16:49:26 -0500 Newsgroups alt.support.sleep-disorder While I cannot say that "aspartame" caused "narcolepsy-like" symptoms, I can say it has a "bad-effect" on me. When drinking a lot of sodas "sweatened" by it -- I had effects that made me dub it "stupid drug". Similar effects to "Excessive Daytime Sleepiness". At the time, I was not diagnosed as narcoleptic... I cut out aspartame from my diet years ago because I didn't like its effect on me... could its effect have worsened the narcolepsy and I didn't know it? I am not sure. Now, I am diagnosed as narcoleptic and I watch my diet closely -- and don't drink or eat anything "sweatened" with aspartame. Yes, I think it causes "bad effects" in narcoleptics. No, I don't think we are going to see a "scientific study" to prove anything -- its just not economically feasible today. My personal recommendation is to stay away from the stuff... but that is without any scientific or medical justification. ---------------- Re: HEADACHE SUFFERER NEEDS HELP Date 4 Feb 1996 14:22:16 GMT Newsgroups alt.my.head.hurts .... Food allergy-if there are foods you dislike, look for a trend in them. A lot of people of Hungarian descent, for example, get migraines from garlic (I'm one of them.) I also get headaches from MSG and aspertane (NutraSweet (tm).) Some people are sensitive to food coloration or preservatives. Some people can't take sunlight. The key is to look for a pattern in what sets you off. --------------- Re: ASB Party? Date 5 Feb 1996 04:27:41 GMT Newsgroups rec.arts.sf.fandom Although I must note that I am now five days into going cold turkey on all forms of aspartame, and I have noticed a distinct lowering of appetite and increase of energy. I tend to resist food crankery, but mark my words, there's something odd about aspartame. --------------- Date: Sun, 21 Jan 1996 13:14:06 GMT To: xxxxx@xxx.xxx.xxxxxx Subject: Re: rBGH - Controversy - The Facts Because of your information on Aspartame, my wife has stopped using this substance and is reporting less depression! Thank you for that. I am also in a support group for panic and anxiety disorder and have given them this information as well. Several of the members are taking Prozac and learning about the connection to aspartame has been very interesting to them. I believe that most, if not al, have either stopped using aspartame or have cut back. Once again, thank you! -------------- Re: Aspartame (tm) Date 7 Feb 1996 01:34:28 GMT Newsgroups alt.drugs.chemistry,talk.politics.drugs xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxxxx wrote: : I was really interested to see an aspartame (tm) thread. : Whenever I happen to drink by mistake or desperation a nutrasweetened(tm) : beverage, I detect a slight light-headedness. I had thought this : might be psychosomatic due to my aversion to things dietetic, but now : I see it may be real. Sometimes i get headaches after drinking diet Pepsi, like hours long migraines. : __________________________________ : Headlines from year 2012: : Aspartame Contributes to Senility "Aspartame consumption culprit in infertility among heavy consumers of diet sodas." ----------------- Re: Nutra Sweet Get THE Facts Date Wed, 07 Feb 1996 01:56:52 GMT Newsgroups alt.folklore.herbs This is just an honest question, not a flame. If Nutrasweet is not a bad thing to be adding to your diet, why is it that the only way I seem to be able to loose weight is to replace my diet beverages with plain water? It has to be something besides a caffeine problem, because I use products without caffeine and the problems remain. My weight problems seem to begin at the point in time I started using artificial sweeteners because of a possible diabetic condition. --------------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 10:12:08 -0500 (EST) To: i_see@indiana.edu Subject: Re: Red and heavy eye Thanks for the information on aspartame. I don't use it, nor do I allow my children to have it. We sometimes feel strange insisting on real sugar : ) Years ago, when aspartame was first introduced, I found that it gave me headaches. Being slighty skeptical of artificial food, I had no trouble living without it. I am not surprised to hear it is damaging. -------------- Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 10:16:21 -0600 (CST) To: xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxx Subject: Re: aspartame and diabetes I am so HAPPY to have read your post about NutraSweet. I have cystic fibrosis, which is a genetic disease (lethal) which severely affects my lungs and my ability to digest foods. Finally, like many CF patients, I developed diabetes. However, I was never told not to eat NutraSweet, so in my angst and depression of being told I had something ELSE wrong with me I loaded up on the products with NutraSweet--Cokes, ice cream, yogurt, etc. I had always loved sweet things and thought the NutraSweet alternative would satisfy my craving for sugar. I became more depressed and had all the leg cramps. I couldn't seem to remember anything. I considered killing mysel by flying to Greece, burning my passport and dying of exposure and lack of CF medicine on the steps of the Parthenon. (Yeh, I was going crazy.) I probably would have died had I not had a chance encounter with a long-time, insulin-dependent diabetic on a flight from Chicago to the East Coast, where my brother was to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. She told me she could not have NutraSweet because her body thought it was sugar and screwed her blood sugars up. I was so mad that no doctor had warned me about this. Perhaps had I never taken NutraSweet I would have been able to stay in graduate school. In any case, I had to quit graduate school because I was too ill and could not write my papers (since I couldn't seem to remember anything) and was hospitalized with pneumonia shortly after arriving in Dallas/Fort Worth. I can't even imagine what might have happened to me if I had kept imbibing NutraSweet. I did some research in a local library on NutraSweet, and, although I could not find many articles because the library was not huge, I did find enough disturbing things about NutraSweet that I decided that it should have never been put on the market or AT LEAST there should be more warnings on NutraSweet products. For example, warnings to diabetics, dieters, and parents. I had no idea that each person's body weight could sustain only so much NutraSweet before it saturated the body and became toxic. Little kids are in particular danger because of their low body weights. .... P.S. I work on trying to eliminate environmental tobacco smoke from public accommodations through the Americans with Disabilities Act. Just like NutraSweet CEO's and the politicians/bureaucrats they paid off, tobacco companies insist that environmental tobacco smoke is not harmful. [followup] Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 11:18:14 -0600 (CST) To: xxxx@xxxx.xxxx Subject: Re: aspartame and diabetes When I stopped using aspartame, I stopped being quite so nervous but I didn't really get better until I was hospitalized for pneumonia. I suspect that the aspartame and fluctuations in blood sugar left me open for rapid growth of lung bacteria (bacteria which is never completely eradicated in CF patients). However, the anxiety and intense suicidal depression left me, even though my lungs were screwed up, and I sought out other people to befriend. (I was still depressed but not like I was.) The leg cramps subsided. After hospitalization, my sugar levels stabilized. I was very weak and spent six to eight months working through the fact that I could never go back to graduate school because of my CF and working through my isolation. (I had to move back home, my parents worked, and I had no friends.) I finally joined a health club and for months the only time I saw other people was at the health club. Finally, I met other people and joined more clubs. I do believe that the aspartame permanently damaged my memory capability. When I was on it, I could not remember the scholarly articles I had just read and it was SO frustrating because I had to write papers. Short-term memory improved after getting off the aspartame but I never seem to have the memory powers I once had and my attention span seems shorter. I just remember that before aspartame it seemed like I could focus for hours at a time on one project. I've never really been able to focus like that again on one thing after aspartame. I think there should be a study on aspartame-use and ADD-like behavior. (ADD--attention deficit disorder) --------------------- Re: Lee Brown seeks a Politically Correct name for Tennis Shoes. Date 29 Jan 1996 07:01:20 GMT Newsgroups alt.usa-sucks,talk.politics.misc,talk.politics.drugs, alt.censorship,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.society.labor-unions, alt.politics.economics,alt >.... >It's simply two amino acids joined. It's no more dangerous than sugar. Then why do I feel tired and drained every time I drink anything with Nutrasweet in it? [continued] Re: tiredness Date 31 May 1996 16:17:19 GMT Newsgroups alt.folklore.herbs >does anyone know something i may use to elevate tiredness? i get >plenty of sleep, and i cycle to work each day, and my doctor can't >find anything wrong with me - maybe something 'alternative' may help? Remove all NutraSweet/Aspartame from your diet. This might help. I know whenever I drink a Diet Coke with Nutrasweet, I get VERY tired, and shaky, and cold, clammy, etc.. ------------------ Re: Aspertame and depression... Date 29 Jan 1996 16:32:50 GMT Newsgroups alt.support.depression : Anyone know of links between using Aspertame (nutrasweet) and : depression?? Before I continue with this, I'm going to test post : it, as my last posting failed and vaporized into cyberspace. If : you're reading this, please continue on to the next response. O.K. great, it worked this time. Now, on with my story.. About four years ago I started having mild bouts of depression, I guess what most folks would call "the blues". These bouts would last about a week and then would go away, only to resurface a few months later, and each time the depression got worse. I would fight my way through it, and it would go away. I didn't seek out help, I'm a very independant and stubborn person, and was sure that this could be beaten alone. My depression was indeed an enigma, sometimes striking at what should've been a very happy time. I mean, heck, this can't be happening to me, I've got a great relationship, carreer, etc; etc; and so forth. I never discussed this with anyone, determined to beat it on my own. Then a couple of years ago, things got so bad, I contemplated suicide. Most of what has happened betweeen then and now shall remain a private matter. I did however, a little over a year ago seek and get treatment for my conditon. The first thing my doctor did was to medicate, first with Prozac/Lithium then Zoloft. None of these were totally effective, I just felt kind of blah, existing in a never happy state, with bursts of depression every couple of weeks. Wellbutrin worked a little better, the intermittent episodes more or less disappeared. But I still only felt so-so. About 5mos ago I sat down and did some serious brain-grinding and turned my thoughts back to when the depression episodes first started happening and asked myself "What had I started doing differently about that time?" My strongest posssible link was that right around then I started on a fitness kick and started using Aspertame as my only form of sweetner. Nutrasweet in my soda, Nutrasweet in recipies, Nutrasweet on my cereal, on and on and on. My next step was to elim- inate using it all together. I'm back to using regular sugar, but in moderate amounts and am happy :) to say that my depressed feelings have more or less gone by the wayside. When my last prescription of Wellbutrin ran out in November, I didn't bother to get it refilled. So, this is my conclusion - it's POSSIBLE that this was indeed the cause, it's POSSIBLE that the anti-depression drugs have caused my level of neuro-transmitters to stabilize, it's POSSIBLE that my form of self-treatment has caused a psychosomatic reaction. Please don't accept this as fact without further studies. I have yet to discuss this with my doctor, as I haven't made a follow-up visit. So far, so good. I'm hoping and praying that this was the key. ---------------- Date: Thu, 01 Feb 96 00:17:37 -0800 To: xxxx@xxxx.xxx Subject: Nutrisweet and MS-like symptoms Hello.... I wanted to share an experience I had about three years ago--one that continues to haunt me. I worry that these debilitating symptoms will return someday. When I was in my second year of law school I was an obsessive worker. I was doing entirely too many activities. I was then, and am now, addicted to caffiene. I picked up the habit of DRINKING TWO LITERS OF DIET-SODA per DAY! At one point of extreme stress (I was up for almost two days straight) I began to have paroxysmal attacks. These, if you are unfamiliar, are seizure-like symptoms that are occasionally found in Multiple Sclerosis patients. These symptoms--including temporary double vision, slurred speech and an lack of coordination on the right side of my body, worsened over a two month period. For some strange reason, after two weeks of symptoms I stopped drinking diet soda. I was eventually diagnosed with MS--a diagnosis my neurologist later recanted when I made a complete recovery. I took an anti-seizure medication--Dilantin--and my symptoms went away over a two week period. ----------------- Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 21:09:00 GMT To: xxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx Subject: Re: Aspartame What an impressive list of problems you give. It makes my migraines look somewhat insignificant. A friend of mine, also in the UK, has more severe problems I know of. For several years she suffered from unexplained loss of consciousness. Without warning and with no other apparant symptoms she would pass out at irregular intervals. This happened at work, in the street and in her home. She was tested for everything her doctor could think of, including AIDs. The source of the problem was not found until the doctor suggested she might be allergic to saccharine. Since she was dieting, she switched to a brand of diet cola that only used aspartame. Result? The episodes got worse! Eureka! But the doctor wouldn't believe her because 'aspartame is safe'. I am appalled by the range of products that aspartame appears in. Diet soft drinks you expect: but non-diet drinks? chewing gum (non-diet), crisps? I check the ingredients list of everything I buy these days since I hate my migraines. Apart from stress - and that only under extreme circumstances - aspartame (nutrasweet) is my only trigger. ----------------- Date: Sun, 04 Feb 96 21:27:15 0600 To: xxxxx@xx.xxx.xx Subject: Aspertame Sir I am reading the postings on the internet about aspertame with great intrest and anger. I had been drinking Diet Coke for the past 12 years. This was the only form of liquid I consumed, with the very odd glass of water or even less often a glass of milk. The quantity of consumption varied between 2 and 5 litres a day. Every day for almost 12 years. In March of 1995 I saw part of a TV program that was about aspertame. The interviewer was talking to a representative from the company that makes aspertame. The representative said that the company had received 6,000 written complaints about the product, everything from strokes to liver and kidney failure to joint problems. He sat there and said that their doctors and scientists could not confirm even one of the complaints. My understanding of the American ratio of actual complaints to written complaints is in the neighbourhood of 5,000 to 1 and may be as high as 10,000 to 1. This would mean that between 30,000,000 and 60,000,000 million people were having problems with this product. I quit drinking diet coke immediately. Problems that I had attributed to stress of running my own business included high blood pressure, gout, kidney stones, joint problems had been with me for several years. Other problems that were present, but masked included; burn out and depression, confussion in decision making, general lack of drive and loss of feeling in my hands. The withdrawl process was not easy, but I have been off aspertame for approximately 10 months now and many of my problems are going away. I understand that it make take a long time to perge the body of the residual toxins, but it is happening. [updated information] Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 17:04:57 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: My history with aspartame In looking back over the past 5 to 7 years many problem are now clear and they affected my business and my life. These I do attribute to aspartame. Difficulties with decision making. This first surfaced when I went to get a new car in 1992. I had problems making a decision as to which car to buy and to lease or purchase. This was totally out of character, I have had many years running a business and mathematics was my major at university. I finally took a car because the salesman was nice. Great way to do business. The changes were taking place very slowly and my wife just put them down to the stress of doing business. This confusion continued and came to a head when we moved our business from Cambridge to a small rural community of Holstein. During the move I could not decide what to even put on the truck and threw out or gave away items because they were too heavy or I did not know what to do with them. The items included equipment, storage pieces, shelving etc., not scrap or garbage. Again not in keeping with my character. I lost the feeling in most of my right hand in December of 94. I went to my chiropractor he said it was nerve damage come and see me 3 time a week. It should only take 6 months or so for the nerves to heal once the sublimation was corrected. Several months later the feeling was going in my left hand as well. 4 months after my withdrawal, a new chiro (because of location) and 1 visit per week, feeling returned and has been OK since. Personality changes over the past 10 years. When I got married I was a very mellow person with a good sense of humour. I have been told that I am much less tolerant than I was and my sense of humour is just not as good as it was. I thing that I have noticed is for the past number of years my emotional state was blah, nothing much mattered and trying to get excited about anything just did not happen. From purchasing an old school to having dinner at a nice restaurant was just Ok, nothing special. Even feeling of frustration didn't seem to happen. When things were not going well with renovations, or with business I could not get myself in gear to do anything about it. In the last week I had strong feeling of frustrations at my lack of progress in renovating our old school house. This is the first time in memory I have had these feelings. On thing that I had always prided my self on was my memory. I could remember people that I had met only once many years ago. School time friends that I had not seen for 10 or 15 years I was able to remember their names and even their grades. When I had an antique store, we bought most of our items at auctions. Driving through the country I could remember location where we had been at an auction and even most of the items we bought their and who the auctioneer was. Not bad since I went to 4 or 5 auction a week for 5 years. Not so now. It is getting better, but it still isn't as good. I still have difficulties with people I meet. Some time I need to be introduced to the same person 3 or 4 times before I get the name right. At one time in my printing business I could recall every job, now I need to look up the docket to see if we even did it before. My eye sight has changed dramatically over the past 8 years with new glasses coming about every 18 months. I thought is was due to working on the computer so much. I just went in for an other examine because things were getting out of focus at times. No new glasses needed this time. My tear fluid isn't keeping the front if the eyes moist enough and they are drying out causing a change in the focus. First time that I have not needed new glasses in many visits. I hope that this means the damage to my eyes has stopped. Growths on my forehead. I was becoming quite warty, as my wife said. I had little white bumps like cysts forming on my forehead about 20 of them over the years. Over the past few months, remember it has now been 16 months since I stopped poisoning myself, these bumps have been reducing in size and some have disappeared. My current chiro says that it may be because the liver has become detoxified enough to start doing its job again. Shortness of breath due to position. I noticed this in the material you sent yesterday and am not sur if I have this problem or if what I have is the same. As I said I am over weight, but still reasonable active. I don not have shortness of breath walking, on the flat or up stairs, nor do I have shortness of breath working hard, but when I bend down I cannot breath. I thought it was my belly pushing against my diaphragm and not allowing my lungs to expand. Either way I wish it would go away. For over a year now I have been being treated for muscle spasms in my right hip. The pain is quite awful and does keep me from doing many of the things I want to do. I do not know if aspartame is retained in the body for a long time or if the effects it has on the muscles can last this long, but if it can and does, then a tactical nuclear devise should be sent to Searle and the FDA for Christmas. My daughter, adopted, has Borderline Personality Disorder. She would drop off the edge every once in a while and go into almost a comatosed state. We tried to find the trigger and now believe it was aspartame. Since we have explained to her about the possible connection she no longer drinks diet pop and her bad time have almost disappeared. Again I cannot say that aspartame was or is the only chemical that caused these problems but it sure is a strong suspect. xxxxxx, I am not sure that I have included everything, but this is enough. My health is getting better every day and I can notice changes for the better myself. I know that I have a long road to cover yet and I am sure that there will be disappointments when I discover damage that will not get better and will affect my life style and possibly life span. Having people like yourself out there to talk to sure helps. In Canada diet drinks do not carry any warnings period. Also the Bovine growth hormone has not been approved for use here, thank God. PS: I am making copies of the information and giving them to my member of parliment. --------------- Date: Mon, 05 Feb 96 09:08:10 GMT To: xxxx@xxxx.xxxxxxx.xx Subject: asp???? poison ???? October 1994 I started to get red rashes whith small lumps and very itchy in a random pattern,size,time and duration. November 1994 Anti Histamine gave relief for a few days at a time December 1994 I saw my GP who sent me for blood test, which found nothing January 1996 I went to skin specialist who sugested stronger antihistamine Then a friend sent me your email address about aspartame I downloaded all your information and stopped using anything with aspartame in it Jan 28 stop aspartame Jan 29 rash and itch :-( Jan 30 less rash and itch :-( Jan 31 rash 8-) Feb 1 a few small rashes :-) Feb 2 no rash :-) Feb 3 no rash :-) Feb 4 No rash :-) Feb 5 no rash and send this happy email :-) Ps I wonder what was poisoning my Body ???? ---------------- [Older case history and recent update] AOL Post: Subj: Re: It's Monday Again Date: 90-06-27 23:21:42 EDT From: BARBEE44 I suffered terrible headaches for 3 years. They got more severe and more often. I went to several docs and all I could get were pain killers that soon lost effect. I even went to a headache specialist who had me giving myself shots for the headaches. After 4 or 5 I became immune to them too, and they were $75. a shot. Then, a friend lent me a book about headaches and it mentioned some of the possible causes. ONE WAS NUTRASWEET. Being a constant dieter--- and also hypoglemic (sugar intolerant) I ate bushels of that stuff. I drank diet pop continuously and ate diet this and diet that--- all with nutrasweet. I stopped and so did the headaches. [updated case history -- it seems to be the same person] Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 19:42:38 -0500 From: BarbeeNY@aol.com To: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xxx Subject: Re: Sandbox invitation I stopped all NUTRASWEET and ASPERTAME in March of l995 due to progressively worsened headaches (migraines). At the end I was missing 2-3 days of work as frequently as every 3 wks. I took so much aspirin that I am now allergic to it--- and I've ruined my esophagus and gall bladder from so much pain killers for these headaches. My bladder is also weak because of it. I would have to get up 2-3 times in the night and urinate---- for some reason that diet pop did that. This past month I've finally stopped urinating at night and can sleep through the night. Does this perhaps mean that I am detoxified of this horrid chemical??? I've been hypoglycemic for many years and used this sweetener because there really wasn't much else on the market to select from. I used it in my baking, sugar bowl, etc. I ate only products sweetened with it including cough drops and drinks. My husband was consuming it with me and he didn't get the headaches but he did get the weak bladder and was up several times at night too. We thought this was natural for our early 50's. Now, to learn that you have to rid your body of this chemical by more means than just stopping its use has me worried. [continued] Date: 96-09-10 20:31:11 EDT To: xxxxx@xxxx.xxxxx.xxx > Yep, and I have been off that stuff now for over a month, and > noticing the difference. It took me a year to get over all the symptoms.....your body actually becomes toxic from it. Well, it is a chemical afterall. -------------- Re: NutraSweet Date 20 Jan 1996 17:47:21 -0500 Newsgroups misc.kids.pregnancy Interesting subject... I cannot tolerate nutra-sweet (or any aspartame sweetener) either. Nor can my oldest sister (10 years older)... My other family members aren't affected. I would no sooner give it to my children than drink it myself. There is no reason why my kids NEED it... sugar is fine for kids, just don't give them shovel-fulls. ----------------- Re: Soft drinks, etc. Fri, 19 Jan 1996 14:50:37 -0500 (EST) Diabetic Mailing List .... 3. does anyone have suggestions re soft drinks that don't contain asparteme? I get headaches from Nutrasweet, etc., and it seems like everything on the market has Nutrasweet. I can drink about a half a can of Tab or Diet Dr. Pepper without much impact, but any more than that generates Excedrin headache No. 26. Needless to say, I use Sweet N' Low in my coffee, oatmeal, etc. and omit sweetner from my favorite cereal, Grape-Nut Flakes. .... -------------- Re: equal...headaches Thu, 18 Jan 1996 01:06:26 -0500 (EST) Diabetic Mailing List up to the time i was in the hospital in october i had no trouble with equal or aspartame...but since then i have had cough ing spells and headaches whenever i eat jello or drink soda pop with the stuff in it... is this normal or is it just a finicky reaction to this artificail sweeetener??? -------------- Re: NutraSweet Date 19 Jan 1996 06:02:46 GMT Newsgroups misc.kids.pregnancy I'm certain that there is something to the Nutrasweet problems. I had a most interesting happening in my business that I got to witness some eighteen months ago. Two clients met and got into a conversation about food. One is particularly concientious regarding the food she takes into her body, and the other was merely participating in salon conversation. I was quite startled to discover both women weeping and hugging, especially since neither of the ladies are prone to such, and our environment is certaintly not really comfortable for outbursts of an emotional nature. Both women had brutal migranes, false hunger, depression, and generic irritability, restlessness, and discontent that had been traced to Nutrasweet consumption. Both had spent over a year fooling with the medical establishment, and spent quite a bit of time thinking that: a) they were nuts, and b) they were alone. Since this time I've run across about half a dozen folks that have sensetivities to something in Nutrasweet with about the same responses. (I'm a stylist, and conversations tend to go where they will. . .) I've no idea what this might do to a child on the way, but herself has made it clear that Nutrasweet is taboo for both of us til we pay off the delivery. Most assuredly better safe than sorry. --------------- Re: Nutrasweet? Has it caused problems for anyone... Date 19 Jan 1996 00:45:05 -0500 Newsgroups alt.support.epilepsy I had my first of two seizures 9 years ago right after losing 30 pounds in 3 months on a diet filled with nutra sweet. The cause of my siezures were never figured out, but the neurologist said that nutra sweet can cause all kinds of neurological disturbances and to never touch the stuff again. Once, a couple of years ago, I drank some tea with some in it, by accident and got light headed. Afterward, someone told me there was nutra sweet in it. So, I definitely hold stock in the nutra sweet theory. You should read up on nutrasweet. It basically is poison. Lose weight some other way....i.e. watch your fat intake! -------------- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 23:19:33 -0500 To: xxxxx@xxxx.xxxx.xxxx Newgroups: rec.food.veg, misc.health.alternative, sci.med, sci.med.nutrition, alt.folklore, herbs Subject: Re: rBGH - LAUGH OF THE DAY! xxxxx, Here is my brief Aspartame story. It doesn't involve a 60-day break, but maybe it will be useful anyway. I don't drink diet colas with Aspartame because each time I did several years ago, I would get this strange tightness in my chest. No pain, just a little knot somewhere around my heart. This was enough for me to simply stay away from these colas. I've had less than 10 of these colas in my life. I had no idea then (and still don't) if anyone else has experienced this. In other words, I didn't drink it thinking that this was a possible symptom. It was a pure observation. ------------------- Re: Hi, new reader, any aspartame-induced like me? Date 17 Jan 1996 00:12:08 GMT Newsgroups alt.support.epilepsy Xxxxxx, well, I was having seizures befoe aspartame came out...but "coincidently" my meds became "less effective" for several years after it hit the market. The I read that aspartame had been known to cause seizures. Dropped the diet drinks and my meds were reduced to a third what they had been! ----------------- Re: NutraSweet Date Wed, 17 Jan 1996 16:08:29 -0800 Newsgroups misc.kids.pregnancy Several people have posted that their doctors told them that NutraSweet was o.k. during pregnancy. I just want to make sure that people know that despite what I've heard in articles and from doctors, some people do not react well to NutraSweet. For example, NutraSweet gives me digestive problems at both ends, and that's when I'm well! I'm not the only one, either...I have several friends (and have met others) whose reactions vary from "bouncing off the walls" to hives (including at least 10 people that I've met with similar problems to mine). A few other are like me in that the body's tolerance goes down with repeated drinks...we don't know if it builds up in our systems or what. I don't even like the taste of NutraSweet anymore because of these troubles. Just in case you think that your child will be able to tolerate it just because you can, I am the *only* one in my immediate family with this trouble. One of my friend's children can tolerate NutraSweet, but she can't. Use your best judgement, but I believe in better safe than sorry. ---------------- RE: Nutrasweet/metabolism HELP! Tue, 16 Jan 96 16:05:00 E Diabetic Mailing List Sorry, I can't help you with research, but I can tell you that I have read Nutrasweet consumed in mass quantities is supposed to affect speech. Also, some people are allergic (?) to it. It gives my sister severe headaches. Hannah -------------- RE: Nutrasweet/metabolism HELP! Tue, 16 Jan 1996 16:27:30 -0500 (EST) Diabetic Mailing List Hi! Nutrasweet can cause severe allergic reaction. My mother swells up like a balloon and she due to anaphylatic (sp?) shock stopped breathing. All of hers sisters have reaction of varying severity. If you want more info, there is a rather huge thread on misc.health.diabetes People were arguing for about a week. So if you can get onto usenet, there is info there. -------------- Re: Depression and Migraines Date Fri, 12 Jan 1996 19:54:59 GMT Newsgroups alt.support.depression i am a migraine sufferer and i've been taking prozac for 2 weeks. i remember one side effect was supposed to be headaches. but so far, i have had not one headache or migraine attack. EXCEPT when i ate some diet pudding with nutra sweet. i recently kicked diet coke/pepsi with nutra sweet. i spent all last summer eating extra strength excedrin like it was candy because i had so many migranes. i have a strong feeling it was the 6-8 diet cokes i was drinking, i slowly weaned myself off of it a few weeks ago and have yet to have the killer migraines i used to get. so to me, i think you can have an even worse headache from eating/drinking nutra sweet, or trying to get off of it. but so far, prozac has not caused any headaches, and i am usually very sensitive to migraine triggers, but as we all know, someone else may have a different reaction to it. [continued in a later post] Re: Nutri-Sweet as Trigger? Date Tue, 23 Apr 1996 06:19:08 GMT Newsgroups alt.support.anxiety-panic .... i for one had lots of mood swings, migraines, anxiety etc when i was on my 6-8 diet cokes a day. it's been over 3 months since i 'quit', and i can't tell you how much better i feel! not to mention not having to buy extra-strength exedrin by bulk for my headaches! -------------- Re: Hi, new reader, any aspartame-induced like me? Date 13 Jan 1996 06:37:07 -0500 Newsgroups alt.support.epilepsy Hi everyone, I'm a new reader. My first seizure experience (3 violent grand mal in 1 hour) came 30 minutes after I first ingested aspartame in a Diet Coke. ------------- Re: Linking child sexual abuse and Fibromyalgia? Date Sat, 13 Jan 1996 12:14:12 -0800 Newsgroups alt.med.fibromyalgia New Topic; Has anyone posted the information about Nutrasweet to this group? I just found out how toxic it is and want to pass the word. My brother just emailed me and said that a rash that he has had on his legs for years that no one could find out what it was or get it to disappear after Rx, is gone after just two weeks off Nutrasweet. Nutrasweet breaks down to formaldahyde, wood alcohol and something called ant sting venum. It also attaches to fat cells - sort of embalms them and doesn't allow them to metabolize. So you gain weight. Since I have been off I am not as hungry and seems to have lost a little weight. -------------- Date: Tue, 30 May 1995 06:21:37 -0400 Sender: Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder Subject: Caffine (was Re: Allergies: intriguing news) .... Avoiding nutra-sweet did make a difference in the stability of my moods and my general disposition.. Avoiding caffine seems to make dexadrine's effect more stable, no unexpected sudden crashes.. no annoying buzz.. not to mention, no more headaches, no more stomach aches or reflux, no more caffine induced diarrhea, no more irregular hearbeats... (and a bunch of other stuff.. that is probably better attributed to the effects of dexadrine.. ) --------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 To: xxxxx@xxxxx.xxxxx Subject: RE: Poisoned by aspartame Personal experience proves to me that ASP is dangerous. I'll try to be brief with my story. I use ASP rarely or never. December 1995 I stayed with my parents for 4 days and used their Equal in my coffee. I was using - conservative estimate - at least 6 packs/day in coffee. They also served fruit salad sweetened with Equal which we ate at two meals, and I drank a 2-liter bottle of diet coke. While I was there I experienced unusual and extreme irritability, which felt totally irrational and uncontrollable. I had to lock myself in the bathroom to "get a grip". I could not listen to music or I felt like I would explode. I told a friend about it, because it was so strange. January 1996 I bought a box of Equal to try to lose weight. Using Equal in my coffee, I immediately became depressed, then irrationally irritable, full of uncontrollable rage, trouble breathing, anxiety, shaky, panic attacks. It only took 4 days before I realized something was definitely going on. The feelings were as intense and uncontrollable and irrational as the ones I had at my parents' house. Then it clicked, and I thought of the Equal. I don't know why. I immediately searched the NET for NutraSweet, found the articles about it's toxicity, the symptoms, the case histories. Not only did it validate my symptoms, but it suddenly started sounding like my mom's problem, too. Of course I quit using the Equal immediately and I feel fine now. ------------------ Re: Dumping Diet Coke & Feelin' Better Date 10 Jan 1996 01:25:40 GMT Newsgroups alt.support.depression Just wanted to report that dumping my Diet Coke addiction (6-8 cokes a day) has really helped me in the fight against depression. Evidence is not conclusive, but, after nearly two weeks, I'm noticing that my mental clarity, mood stability and concentration are improving noticeably. Obviously, I'm tapering off (down to less than 2 a day now) -- to stave off headaches and other withdrawal symptoms. I believe Nutrasweet and Caffeine may have played a role in my clinical depression. However, I'm not about to blame Coca-Cola Co. for my troubles. Instead, I think high dosages or intake of anything can be potentially toxic. Moreover, some substances are toxic for some individuals at even low doses. [continued] Re: Distinguishing ADD from depression? Date 11 Jan 1996 03:29:21 GMT Newsgroups alt.support.depression I'm quitting Diet Coke (after a massive addiction which grew from minor habit to out of control over the past 5 years) and noticing that I feel more centered, stable and focused than I have in a very long time. I won't miss the twitching eyes, memory loss (multiple causes, I'm sure) and other side effects, either. Perhaps I'll enjoy better health, too. God knows I've consumed more than enough asparatame for one human life. Hope this stuff flushes out of my system after awhile. ---------------- Re: are fat-free foods just as good as regular foods? Date 8 Jan 1996 06:51:00 -0500 Newsgroups alt.food.fat-free I do not use sugar substitutes, I just regulate the amount of sugar I use period. I also have found that if I eat Nutrasweet it affects me like a sleeping pill. Every so often I have a craving for ice cream. My favorite is Breyer's, but one time, I decided to go "healthy" and get Healthy Choice. It put me to sleep. I thought it only affected me, so I fed it to my niece and nephew. They knocked out cold. Now if they ask for ice cream at my house, they always ask not to be given the "sleepy ice cream". ---------------- Re: Food Allergies & Arthritis Date Thu, 11 Jan 1996 14:42:00 GMT Newsgroups misc.health.arthritis i just avoid the aspartame ... i don't SEEM to have problems with red meats or nightshade veggies??? everyone's REALLY different i guess. ------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 15:05:56 +1100 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame/NutraPoison To cut a very long story short, it seems as though my persistent headaches have been primarily caused by NutraSweet. Several years ago I was on holiday in Israel and noticed a warning on the cans of Diet Coke. The warning advised not to consume more than a given amount of NutraSweet per week. I contacted the providers of NutraSweet in Australia when I got home, and was told there was absolutely no problem with it. I now realize (after much pain and discomfort) that this is simply not true. I am very concerned that the medical authorities in Australia have put almost no effort into screening out potentially harmful additives such as NutraSweet. ----------------- Re: Aspartame info Date Mon, 1 Jan 1996 19:16:16 -0800 Newsgroups alt.med.fibromyalgia I'm new to the list, but thought I'd chime in on this asparatame stuff. I have interstitial cystitis, and there's no doubt asparatame has a bad effect on those symptoms. So do many other foods, however, so that doesn't mean aspartame is "bad", it's just bad for me. -------------- [Updated Case History] Date: Tue, 26 Dec 1995 16:11:12 -0800 To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxx.xx Subject: Nutrasweet story Since I already figured out the nutrasweet thing I've been off of it for almost a year. Here is my story, you have my permission to use it. I began experiencing migraine headaches in my early 40s. This is quite common with "pre-menopausal" women and is definitely connected to hormone flucutations. My migraines were what's called classic migraines, which begin with an aura that looks like flashing jagged lights in your vision. This lasts about 20 minutes and is then usually followed by the actual headache. At first my headaches would only last about 6 hours and although I had the accompanying photophobia and phonophobia (extreme sensitivity to light and sound), I was not experiencing the nausea that ususally accompanies migraines. I began to get them about twice a month. My diet consisted of 1 - 3 Diet Cokes or Diet Snapples daily. After about a year my headaches got continually worse. Instead of lasting one day they began to last for three days. I was getting them sometimes two or three times a week and I began experiencing the nausea. It finally got to the point where I was so incapacitated by the migraines that it started affecting my job performance, and I had to leave my job. (Stress is a big trigger of migraines, along with food allergies, and my job was really stressing me out). After I left my job I continued to have debilitating migraines. I was still drinking lots of Diet Coke. My doctor attributed this to post-traumatic stress, which I'm sure was partially correct. I also started on a course of herbal therapy, which eventually was successful, but I still got more headaches than I was comfortable with. Then my secretary mentioned that she and her husband had discovered that Diet Coke was giving them headaches. She suggested I stop drinking Diet Coke, which I did. My headaches improved dramatically, but I was away from my "job from hell" and also taking the beneficial herbs. I never thought there was any one factor which was responsible for the improvement, but a combination of all three. I still think this is correct, and I only have one or two headaches per month now, and usually they are not acute. But on two occasions in the last year I have ingested Nutrasweet unknowingly, and both times I developed a killer headache within about 12 hours. This is consistent with migraines caused by food allergies. I have absolutely no doubt that if I ingest even a small quantity of Nutrasweet that I will develop a migraine within a short period of time. I haveno desire to be a human guinea pig, but I am convinced that Nutrasweet played a big role in my migraines, and ingestion of Nutrasweet also serves to exacerbate the other triggers which contribute to migraines. [from ealier email] Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 23:52:31 -0800 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxxx Subject: Nutrasweet .... At any rate, I've heard of lots of people getting migraines from nutrasweet, but it somehow never turns up on the list of food to avoid for migraines. I KNOW this stuff is poison, I'm just waiting for the medical establishment to figure it out. -------------- [Updated Case History] Date: Sat, 28 Oct 1995 17:50:43 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxx@xxx.xxxxx Subject: Re: PCM A good friend of mine (female, age 46) has recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her symptoms include numbness and shooting pains in her feet and legs, particularly upon rising in the morning or after sitting for prolonged periods of time. She is a serious Diet Coke addict...2 or more liters per day, for the last ten years. I remember that at one point you mentioned that aspartame poisoning can be mis-diagnosed as MS. Does this seem like a possibility in this case? I was able to convince my friend to give up all artificially sweetened products for one week. Is one week long enough for her to see improvement or should I get back to work on her? [continued] Date: Mon, 20 Nov 1995 18:24:22 -0500 (EST) To: xxxxx@xxxxx.xxxxx Subject: Re: PCM Thanks for writing! I last spoke to my friend about a week ago and she said that she is doing great and feeling better than she has in years. She says that the pains in her feet and legs disappeared very soon after she stopped drinking Diet Coke. She also had damage to one of her optic nerves and was going blind in that eye. We think that may be related to aspartame as well, based on the information that you sent me. I forgot to ask about her vision when I spoke to her. I expect to see her over Thanksgiving though, so I will give you a full up-date on her condition next week. Thanks for all your help! [continued] Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 14:50:49 -0500 (EST) To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxxxx Subject: Re: PCM Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I meant to write after Thanksgiving but things got a little busy for me. I keep meeting new aspartame victims, though, so I thought this might be a good time to drop you a note. The woman about whom I have written to you is doing better all the time. Her MS symptoms are GONE! She still has a problem with light sensitivity in one of her eyes but that is gradually improving with time. Even during the holidays, she has continued to lose weight since giving up aspartame. She had been severely over-weight for many years and nothing that she did to lose weight worked for her. It is unfortunate that the diet products that she thought would help her lose weight did nothing but make her more unhealthy and obese. I am afraid that many women fall into that same trap. -------------- [Updated Case History] Date: Thu, 31 Aug 1995 23:10:02 -0700 To: xxxxxx@xxxx.xxxx Subject: Articles on Nutrasweet Thank you VERY MUCH for all the articles on Nutrasweet. I have been off Nutrasweet for about 2 weeks now. I am feeling much better and don't get those pounding throbbing headaches very much any more. More brother xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx (who is a D. O.) has been off of Nutrasweet for 3 days now. He has a whole host of wierd symptoms ... Again .. Thank You Thank You Thank You!!! [continued] Date: Sat, 6 Jan 1996 21:53:50 -0500 To: xxxxx@xxx.xx.xx Subject: Nutrisweet Since I last wrote my brother has been off nutrisweet since then. My brothers lupus type of symptoms completely went away. My brother has been a physician for over 10 years .. his doctor (a specialist) who has been treating him has seen the significant difference and wants to write a research paper on this .. my brothers physician has now started prescribing getting off nutrisweet for his other patients. Thank you very much, -------------- Re: Nutrasweet poll Date 3 Jan 1996 21:37:36 GMT Newsgroups sci.med.diseases.lyme I get headaches-the kind where can't move your head or stand bright light. Before my son started treatment it would intensify his seizure activity. He hasn't had a seizure since he began treatement 4 years ago. ----------------- Re: Blinded by NutraSweet (aspartame) Date 4 Jan 1996 03:29:00 GMT Keywords Aspartame poisoning Newsgroups sci.med.vision I am only a physicist, with a private pilot's license, among many other interests. As such, I keep abreast of a great many publications, some of which bear directly on this topic. Many professional pilots have permanently lost their licenses to fly due to Aspartame-induced epilectic seizures and other severe side effects of that poison. ---------------- Date: Sat, 06 Jan 1996 10:59:41 -0600 To: xxxx@xxxx.xxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame I developed CHRONIC stone formation after I switched to artificial sweeteners 3 years ago. I also have spasmodic kidney pain which seems to decrease when my intake of Nutrasweet is reduced. ----------------- Re: NutraSweet (from another greenhorn) Fri, 05 Jan 1996 09:11:00 -0600 Diabetes Mailing List My dad is always riding me about staying away from Nutrasweet because of these reports. I tend not to use it anyway, but primarily because it seems to give me headaches. -------------- Re: Nutrasweet/Pred/Plaquenil Date: Tue, 26 Dec 1995 21:16:16 -0600 To: Lupus-L Mailing List RE: Nutrasweet. I was not so aware of having headaches, but when at Weight Watchers several years ago and downing colas, and WW products full of Nutrasweet my heart was beating irregular and just pounding. I experimented and got off all Nutrasweet and all the heart stuff disappeared. --------------- Date: Mon, 1 Jan 1996 16:13:48 -0600 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxxxx Subject: Happy New Year During the last two months, I have been conducting an informal survey of Aspartame effects. So far, I've gotten twelve individuals to discontinue aspartame intake. Six have experienced marked improvements in health. In one case, in just the past two weeks a friend of mine has reported a lessening of annoying vision problems...and the condition continues to improve. In addition, he tells me he's sleeping much better. He's been enthusiastically spreading the word among others he comes in contact with. ----------------- Re Nutrasweet poll Date 3 Jan 1996 15:38:14 GMT Newsgroups sci.med.diseases.lyme 3 persons in local Wis group (with core of 8-9 persons) noticed adverse response when attention was called to it, and stopped use; 5 or 6 gave it up with going on diet recommended by local naturopath; some others, like me, were already non-users. Lora -------------- Re: Nutra Sweet IS IT HABIT FORMING Date 29 Dec 1995 22:58:32 GMT Newsgroups alt.folklore.herbs I used to drink huge quantities of Diet Coke, probably a six-pack a day, maybe even more than that. The only way that I found to quit was cold- turkey, and switched to drinking distilled water. It was really hard for a few months, but I've found now that if I consume any quantity of Nutra-Sweet at all I get very severely dizzy. -------------- Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 15:09:16 -0400 To: epilepsy-list@calvin.dgbt.doc.ca Subject: Re: [EPILEPSY-LIST:2222] Just venting! Oh yea, while I do not have the seizures, my 8 year old son has them. Boy are there days when the seizures just come and come... and there are no answers. I turn to this list, my wife and my church.. hope for answers. None have ever come. .... So any way, we started the Keto diet in March and his seizures dropped from 50 per week to ess than 10 per month. Antibioitics, aspertene (ie Nutra Sweet), symthopmatic strep -- ALL seemed to increase seizure activity. Double check and make sure you did not *introduce* new foods, over the counter meds, etc. You may also check out some of the things the Keto diet recommends you stay away from. ------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 00:16:33 +1100 To: xxxxxx@xxxx.xxxx Subject: aspartame Hello xxxxxxx, I believe you're collecting anecdotes about aspartame. I'm sending you a copy of a message I posted on Fidonet recently, in reply to a query about Nutrasweet. I have added a sentence here and there as I've sent copies to other people who've mentioned it. I think you will find it interesting. It's been around 3 months now, and I'm beginning to feel human again. Regards, xxxxx From: xxxxx xxxxx To: xxxx xxxxxxx Subj: canker sores XX> Does anyone else get canker sores from eating or drinking things that XX> contain Nutrasweet or chewing sugarfree gum with Nutrasweet? I guess XX> I'm allergic to it. xxx, I don't get canker sores, but I have recently had a nightmare three years from Nutrasweet (aspartame). I stopped sleeping - when I did sleep it was in 90 minute blocks, which had something to do with REM sleep intervals apparently. I might go 3 nights without sleep, then sleep just 90 minutes the 4th night. No matter how tired I was, I couldn't sleep during the day either. As well as being constantly tired, I developed tinnitus, so loud I couldn't hear myself think, and this exacerbated the sleep problem. I had a kind of inner shuddering all the time - like a fridge motor cycling - but this was invisible to others. I had palpitations, hot flushes, cold shivers, I felt like all the nerves in my body jumped every 30 seconds or so. I changed doctors, I saw heart specialists and neurologists, I even had a CT scan. I had weird rashes and broke out in a chicken-pox like skin condition. I'd get loud noises in my head like when my amplifier was malfunctioning. I had excruciating joint pains, and thought I was going down the family road of arthritis much sooner, and it amplified my back and wrist pain and wouldn't let me lie in any position for long when trying to sleep. I read an article about MS and got even more worried, as that sounded like me. I stressed out even more because I began to believe that no-one I saw was competent to diagnose what was wrong with me, or would take me seriously long enough to do so. I'd seen naturopaths - one won my respect for her iridology by telling me about my nerves jumping, without me telling her about it. Her herbs helped a little, but nothing helped me sleep. I tried Reiki and spiritual healing, and slept those nights. I've meditated for years, but in my state it became almost impossible, so I had no way of safely reducing the stress that became worse the longer this went on. Six weeks ago, I decided that I must have changed something vital those three years ago and began working through my memory. Eventually I came to the time when my daughter and I went to Weight Watchers. On WW, a measure of juice, a serving of fruit, something more solid when you're hungry! So instead of juice we started drinking Diet Coke or other diet soft drinks - in a family who seldom used soft drinks of any kind. Never more than one can per day, each. At WW, and on any weight reduction diet I've ever read, the "light" versions are always recommended. I'm not blaming WW, but this was the big change I had made that lost me three years of my life. Six weeks ago I stopped the Nutrasweet and started reading labels - you wouldn't believe how many things contain Nutrasweet! Within two weeks, my symptoms had faded. My sleep is slowly improving - unfortun- ately I'd got into such a disturbed pattern it has to be a slow process. Last week, I found the Tinnitus FAQ on Internet - I wish I'd seen it three years ago, as it mentions Aspartame/Nutrasweet as one of the causes of tinnitus, which was driving me nuts, and might have given me a clue. I don't know what mental block stopped me seeing this glaring anomaly in an otherwise healthy diet, but I did mention it to everyone I saw and they all missed it too. My naturopaths were happy with my diet when I described it - they must have missed my mention of a daily diet soft drink. Coca Cola and soft drinks seem to be such an ingrained part of life these days, I think many of us have a blind spot there. I don't blame the doctors, I don't blame the naturopaths - they didn't know what they were treating as it is so weird, yet I believe it is documented for anyone who wants to search. I've made sure they all know what I found out for myself, for the next time some poor, demented, sleepless, itching, palpitating, shivering and hot flushing, jumping- nerved woman walks into their rooms!!! I'm sure most of them thought I was a raving hypochondriac, as they couldn't find much wrong with me. From blood tests, it appears I am menopausal - after a hysterectomy some years ago it was difficult to tell otherwise - and my most recent doctor and naturopath were inclined to put my symptoms down to the "menopause from hell" after the tests I had were inconclusive, so I'd also spent a fair amount of time trying one type of HRT after another. Without this, I might have woken up to the real reason - aspartame - earlier. -------------- Date: Wed, 20 DEC 1995 19:59:42 GMT Newgroups: rec.org.mensa Subject: Re: M&Ms (no, not Mensans and morons) It's a good thing they put that swirl logo on anything containing it. I view it with the same respect I give the radiation or biological hazard symbol. ----------------- Subject: Nutrasweet Date: Sun, 24 Dec 1995 20:01:16 -0600 To: Lupus-L Mailing List I never drink diet sodas - I'm a Mt Dew kinda gal - the one with caffeine. :) Anyway, several years ago, I went down to Subway to get a soda - they were out of Mt Dew, and I thought that it would be a nice change to have a lemonade - it was that Crystal Light stuff. A little while after drinking it, I got a horrible headache and upset stomach. I didn't attribute it to the lemonade at all. But, after about 2 more times of drinking the stuff and getting a horrilbe headache from it, I drew the conclusion that it was the Nutrasweet that was giving me the headaches. Case closed. I never drink diet stuff at all anymore. It's not worth the headache. ----------------- Subject: (Fwd) more on aspartame/sulpha allergies Date: Fri, 22 Dec 1995 19:31:15 -0600 To: Lupus-L Mailing List Thank you! I happily ingested diet soda for years, then whoomp! there it was in everything--aspartame/Nutrasweet. Within 1/2 hour, flaming headache, nausea, "flu". I can now tell if McD's or whomever mixes up the order with one taste, and avoid the agony. The problem? Family get-togethers--Dad and brother are Type II diabetic, and they all conveniently forget I'm allergic to Nutrasweet. Interesting correlation--Bactrum (sulfa family) does nasty drug-induced flare; even jaws lock up. Thank you again! ----------------- Subject: (Fwd) more on aspartame/sulpha allergies Date: Sun, 24 Dec 1995 14:06:59 -0600 To: Lupus-L Mailing List And here I was thinking I had discovered something truly revolutionary all by my lonesome!! I, too, had gone through numerous tests to find the cause of increasingly severe almost daily migraines. While visiting a friend who is allergic to aspartame I quit drinking diet sodas and the migraines stopped immediately. Why don't doctors know this??????????? (rhetorical question) --------------- Date: 20 DEC 1995 14:38:31 GMT Newgroups: rec.org.mensa Subject: Re: M&Ms (no, not Mensans and morons) My wife gets severe head aches and I have heard similar reports as yours. I personally don't touch the stuff. It comes under the umbrella of the 'Titanic Effect', and it's day has yet to come. -------------- Date: 21 DEC 1995 19:21:56 GMT Newgroups: sci.med.nutrition Subject: Re: Betty B** and Nutrasweet For years I suffered from terrible, debilitating headaches that wouldn't respond to any medication. Acetamenophen, Aspirin, and Ibuprofen were all ineffective in relieving the headaches. I'd get several of these headaches a week. The only thing I could do was to lie down and sleep it off. Several months ago I read some of Betty's and Mark's stuff here on sci.med.nutrition. I decided to eliminate Nutrasweet from my diet. The headaches stopped. A couple weeks ago I was preparing a bowl of cereal and I decided to put in a couple bags of Equal. An hour or so after finishing the cereal, I got one of "those" headaches. That was the last time I used Nutrasweet. That was the last time I had one of "those" headaches (and the only time since getting off Nutrasweet several months ago). Well, that was my own personal TEST. And I'm convinced. --------------- From: MargieJ737@aol.com Date: Thu, 21 Dec 1995 18:57:03 -0500 Message-ID: <951221185456_21048144@emout04.mail.aol.com> To: immune@weber.ucsd.edu Subject: more on aspartame/sulpha allergies I just discovered another wonderous fact about aspartame from my immunologist. Aspartame is processed through the same pathways as sulpha, so if you have a sulpha allergy, guess what? Results are joint pain etc. Needs to say I nixed the aspartame (I get Stevens-Johnson syndrome from sulpha) and my hands and feet are feeling and looking very different. I don't know how different my really affected joints will be but I have a VERY irritable bladder and all a sudden it's behaving itself! And the FDA prides itself on warning labels? -----------------