AOL/General Health Discussions/Nutrasweet Subject: Serious side effects Date: 23 Jul 1997 01:32:50 EDT I had a very bad experience with Nutrasweet--it caused severe headaches, visual disturbances, hemispheric numbness and parasthesias in my face and head (one side only). It took me quite a while (and a complete neurologic work-up) to figure out for sure if it was the aspartame--but when I figured it out and tried Nutrasweet by itself I knew for sure. I felt really terrible while using it. I think it is a dangerous chemical--and have since read that there have been convulsions and deaths from using it. I won't touch it ever again--nor do I want my children, or grandchildren consuming it. [Followup] AOL/General Health Discussions/NutraSweet Subject: I have Mastocytosis and Nutrasweet is poison Date: 23 Jul 1997 01:53:17 EDT I have mastocytosis, mast cell disorder--due to to the degranulation of mast cells in my blood and in various organs, I have weakness, parasthesias, fatigue, pain, facial swelling, respiratory problems, hypersensitivities (looks like severe allergy) to food additives--and NUTRASWEET IS the VERY WORST, followed closely by sensitivity to MSG. Both these chemicals trigger mast cell degranulation for me, which if severe enough, leads to anaphylactic shock. If I do not treat the shock symptoms immediately I could die rather quickly. I also have had severe neurologic problems from these chemicals which mimic stroke. I hate Nutrasweet and the companies which are putting it into the food chain. We are going to have millions of people so ill they will have to live in nursing homes before they are old--if we do not get the POISONS out of our food chain, starting with aspartame, and monosodium glutamate. ----------------- Subject: Re: Alzheimers/NutraPoison Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 16:48:12 -0600 (MDT) To: xxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx I think the people who have immediate reactions are indeed "lucky". I had a friend who drank several NutraPoison sodas every day. She developed severe, debilitating headaches but never made the connection to the NutraPoison. Over the course of a year she spent thousands of dollars on specialists and tests (she even had a brain scan). Spent hundreds of dollars on different kinds of drugs to alleviate the headaches, all to no avail. Someone mentioned to her that NutraPoison has been known to cause headaches, so she decided to stop ingesting it. Her headaches stopped 2 days later. A couple weeks later she tried drinking one soda and got a horrible headache. She then became an anti-NutraPoison activist, trying to warn others. Too bad I didn't listen. She told me she started doing research on how dangerous it was and practically begged me to get off it, but I just didn't want to listen. I kept saying that it was only bad for certain people, but I "obviously" didn't have any problems with it, so I kept on drinking it. I wish I had had a severe reaction so I would have realized how damaging it is. I kept drinking it for years, thinking all along that I just wasn't "allergic" to it. My family and friends were all worried about my NutraPoison intake, but I kept telling them it was certainly safer than sugar. Finally I decided to try to stop drinking it for awhile to see if there was anything in what people were telling me. After being free of NutraPoison for 2 weeks I noticed that I wasn't tired in the morning anymore (didn't need caffeine to wake me up), I stopped craving sweets, I lost weight, and I felt better. A few weeks later I decided to try it again. I had muscle aches, joint pain, and I almost threw up. It tasted like poison. I used to actually crave the taste, but now it just tastes like the poison that it is. > It converts to > formaldehyde even in the retina of the eye and has caused enough blindness > that in l986 the FDA was petitioned to ban aspartame for this reason. > It ravages every organ in the body. I just found out (at only 43) that I have glaucoma, even though I don't have any risk factors. Perhaps its from my years of drinking NutraPoison? > Also, the wood alcohol in aspartame literally destroys the immune system. > Would you get up each morning and take a little pill that you knew little > by little would breakdown your immune system? I also got MCS, FM and CFS while drinking NutraPoison. My liver simply doesn't do phase II detox anymore. Maybe NutraPoison didn't directly cause these illnesses, but I do know that it added to my total toxic load. > I can think of no redeeming value for NutraSweet except a good rat poison. I think I remember reading somewhere that given a choice, rats won't eat NutraSweet (or maybe it was cockroaches?) so it may not even make a good rat poison. > No redeeming value does NutraSweet have. It is addicting and it makes > billions for Monsanto. I'm sorry to say that for years I helped support Monsanto with my NutraPoison habit. I cringe at the thought today. I can't believe I wouldn't listen to all those who were trying to help me. ----------------- Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 14:24:11 +0100 (BST) To: xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: re: toxic reaction to aspertame The following is my brief account of recent experiences of a toxic reaction to aspertame and/or acesulfame k. I had never heard of aspartame (or acesulfame k) and recently suffered my first ever panic attack. More than anything else I could not understand why or how this could possibly happen to me since I am very fit and a reasonably calm person who performs well under stress. Then, thanks to reading an account on the internet, mentioning aspartame, I did an analysis of recent changes in my diet. To my surprise and horror I discovered that I had been taking some chewable vitamin C tablets (purchased at Boots the Chemist here in the U.K.) which contained both aspartame and acesulfame k. I had consumed 35 tablets at the rate of one a day. I was immediately convinced that this was the source of the problem since my usual diet never includes anything containing artificial sweeteners or other artificial substances and I have always kept a close watch on my diet. Of course, I stopped taking these tablets and within days my symptoms changed dramatically. I had suffered palpitations and tightness across my chest and the bridge of my nose, and my anxiety level was extreme. After stopping the tablets the palpitations came less often and were less profound and my anxiety dropped considerably. As the days have gone by I have felt continually better. I cannot believe that this wretched substance is out there in so many products just waiting for the next unsuspecting victim. It really is time for the big food giants to admit that aspartame, acesulfame k and products like them, are not fit for human consumption. If aspartame can do this to me (and it really was one of the most harrowing and nightmarish periods of my life) then what is it doing to our children. Here in the UK more and more children are suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome... How do the scientists know that this is not a side effect of the consumption of aspartame in diet coke and other products? Clearly, there is more to aspartame and acesulfame k than we are being allowed to know. Many people's experiences are more tragic than mine and if it were not for the access to information via the internet I may never have known what the source of my problem was. ----------------- Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 23:20:59 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Thank you so much! After reading your web page, I have finally figured out why I have been feeling so weird. Mood swings, panic attacks, heart palpitations, chest pains, and since I have cut out aspartme and any other artificial sweetners, I feel like a new person. You never hear anything about this in the media, and the only reason I figured it out is because I am a vegetarian, excercise like a banchee, drink tons of water, take vitamins, am 5'6 and weigh 112 pounds, and Diet Drinks were my only vice. I feel like a totally new person after cutting them out of my diet. Thanks for you information! ----------------- To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 19:44:47 -0500 Subject: Aspartame I found your name & address on Internet today. I wanted to share my experience. Several years ago I started drinking a lot of Diet Coke. Gradually I began to feel tired all the time. I am a librarian and by noon every day all I wanted to do was sit at my desk and close my eyes or stare into space. Not only was I tired, my back hurt all the time. And it was like my brain was in a fog. I was in my early 40's at that time and had decided I would never be able to learn much of anything new. Then one day I was reading magazine at my desk because I was to tired to work. I don't remember what magazine - only that is was a woman's magazine. There was an article about nutrasweet possibly causing loss of brain power. (That might not have been exactly how it was worded) I decided right then to quit drinking diet Coke and see what would happen. It only took about a week and it was like the fog lifted from my brain. And gradually my energy came back. And my back quit hurting all the time. Now I can work all day with out excessive fatigue. And I have learned how to use a computer - something I might not have wanted to try a few years ago. I did not realize I had Aspertame Disease. I did not even know there was such a thing until my mother taped a radio program about it. I recognized my systems from among the many! I have not drank diet drinks in over years five years. I plan to tell others about the danger of aspartame. ----------------- AOL/General Health Discussions/Nutrasweet Subject: Re: Blah, blah, blah Date: 20 Jul 1997 06:56:34 EDT I feel I must repond here. i have been having problems craving diet foods like diet pop and iced tea that contained nutra sweet. However, at the time I did not realize it, was sick, and the doctor brought it to my attention! I quit consuming it just to see if it made a difference and it did! I have a problem with the seratonin and dopamine neurotransmitters. Noone will ever convince me otherwise. My family saw the change in me and they even voluntarily cut it out of their diet! ----------------- AOL/General Health Discussions/NutraSweet Subject: Re: Nutrasweet Date: 13 Jul 1997 16:40:07 EDT Nutrasweet! Bah, I hate to even see the word. It made my life so miserable for 10 years. I thought when it came out it was the best thing that ever happened. I could drink all the pop I wanted with nutrasweet. I got daily migraines. Had every kind of medical test to try and figure out what was causing the migraines. Finally when the headaches were coming 4 times a day and I was banging my head against the wall because I was so frustrated, I started taking a look at what I was eating. The first thing I stopped was pop, mainly because there wasn't any, and noticed that I DIDN'T GET A DAILY HEADACHE!! I hadn't had a migraine in a very long time, UNTIL today. So the only thing I had eaten was a container of yogurt and sure enough, there was nutrasweet in it. I haven't allowed nutrasweet in the house in 2 years and here I'm the one that brought it in with the yogurt. Have to pay more attention to labels!! ----------------- Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 16:23:27 -0500 Subject: Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Questionnaire To: xxxx@xxxx.xxx Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Questionnaire Please fill in and return to ACSN - PO Box 780634 Dallas TX75378 or EMAIL to ACSN Founder: marystod@airmail.net [and CC -- mgold@holisticmed.com] (Please feel free to attach a letter with more details, preferrably typed. Thank you.) Age_29_ Sex: M City______Edmonton_____________State__Alberta___________ Medical problems that you believe are caused from using aspartame: Headaches, fatigue, memory loss, weight fluctuations Why do you believe aspartame caused these problems? I had several instances that I stopped using aspartame for a 1 or few weeks. I notice that the symptoms went away after I stopped. My short term memory improved, the headaches went away, I was no longer fatigued and my weight stopped fluctuating. Although the headaches and fatigue may have been caused by the caffiene in the beverages. Did the symptoms go away when you stopped using the products? Yes Did you see a Doctor about symptoms? No Did Doctor think it related to aspartame? Did you report your symptoms to the FDA (Food & Drug Admin.) or any other group? No What specific products(s) containing aspartame were you consuming when you experienced these symptoms? Diet Coke On the average, what quantity were you consuming (how often, how much each time, etc.) 2 litres of Diet Coke each day How long had you been consuming these products before you experienced the symptoms? unknown FOR THOSE CONCERNED ABOUT WEIGHT: Did you begin using products with aspartame when you began a restricted calorie diet? yes Did you use aspartame products only for some of your meals to save calories? no Did aspartame seem to help you lose weight at first? no What were the long term weight loss effects of using aspartame. No effect. The calories saved by drinking aspartame were made up by eating too much of other things. ----------------- Doomed to a life of diabetic misery Date Tue, 09 Sep 1997 17:28:47 -0600 Newsgroups soc.support.fat-acceptance .... I can't even use sugar substitutes because saccharine makes me gag and NutraSweet gives me headaches and diarrhea. .... ----------------- Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: little history I started taking the contraceptive pill when I was 17/18. Took Ovranette, a combined estrogen/progestogen on and off until I was 30. I smoke, so when I hit 30 I tried a progestogen only pill. It made me bleed continously, so I stopped taking it. Started taking Mercilon in 1991. I had always had heavy, painful periods, bad cramps in my lower back and down the fronts of my thighs, as well as bad depression for 2 weeks out of every 4. Being on the pill relieved these symptoms. After about two years on Mercilon, I started getting cramps again with the monthly bleed, this didn't bother me too much. The actual bleeding was really reduced, only a really tiny amount. Two years ago, in July '95, I was on the week off, and was due a bleed. I started to feel quite ill, no fever, just queasy and tired, then I got bad back cramps for 5 days, then a very small bleed just one showing of blood, and then the cramps turned into a really bad pain on the left hand side of my back, just above my hip. It wasn't movement related, I felt like I had the 'flu, and after a few days went to the doctor. I don't and didn't have good doctor, just one I went to for the pill prescription. She gave me some anti inflammatories and sent me home to bed. The pain didn't go away, so I went back to her. She sent me for a back XRay. That night, I had really severe diarreah and cramps in my stomach every 20 minutes, with blood in the diarreah. I called the doctor at 8.00 am, and my husband went and picked up some lomitol (anti-spasmodic). That stopped the cramps and diarreah. I went for the XRay, no problem with my back. She took a urine sample and a stool sample. She sent me to a physiotherapist. The physio said it wasn't muscular or skeletal. She suggested some kind of pelvic inflammatory problem. The doctor found blood in the urine, sent me for an ultrasound. No problem. Sent me for an IVP - she insisted that it must be my kidneys - no problem with IVP, noted some small areas of opacity on my pelvis (rear), kidneys just fine. The doctor was really horrible, so I decided not to see her again. She wouldn't believe me when I said it was gynae. She refused to send me to a gynaecologist. Went to another doctor who agreed I should see a gynaecologist. Saw the gynaecologist who said there was nothing wrong with me, and it must be my kidneys. Doctor sent me to a urologist. Urologist was the only doctor I met during this entire business who listened to what I said. As he asked me questions, I heard his questions and my own answers - by this time I had been sick, with constant diarroreah and pain for nearly 3 months. I was also severely run down. As we talked I realised there was something I could do to help a bit, which was to start taking a multi vitamin! He said that he didn't think it was urological, but he'd do a cystoscapy just in case. Did it, no problems. Sent me for a CAT scan, because he suspected something ovarian. No result, other than a retroverted uterus. I got the really bad, flu like sickness and back pain a second time after a bleed, couldn't get out of bed. I stopped taking the pill. The sickness passed after about 10 days, and I got a bit better. Diarreah didn't stop. Went to another gynaecologist who did a laparoscopy. Had suspected possible endometriosis. None found. Only result of note, the retroverted uterus. I started going to the physio for pelvic strengthening excercises, the bad pain came back with the next period. Went to the gynaecologist again, with letter from the physio, he put me onto depo-provera to stop the cycles. In between all this, there would be days when suddenly, my back would be okay. I also saw another 3 back specialists, who insisted that my back was fine, and that where the pain was was not back pain. Anyway, went on the provera in Dec 95. OK for about 2 weeks, then back came the pain - lower back, particularly left side, above hip. Pain not worse with movement or position. No actual position helped to alleviate it. In late January I started a bleed, with cramping and back pain - this went on for 2 and half weeks. The gynaecologist was away and his replacement was the first gynae I'd been to see, and I never wanted to set eyes on her again!! So when he came back, decided I would be better on 8 week shots rather than 12 week shots. In addition to the back pain, I now had one in my groin, like elastic being pulled from the front. Diarreah had begun to settle down, and I didn't have the sickness any more. I stayed on the provera until Dec 96. No improvement with the pain, still having 6 weekly bleeds, and bad cramps continually. Back cramps, like when menstruating. The last bleed I had was in the middle of Nov. 96. Between the middle of Nov. and two weeks ago, I had no bleeding, but frequent back cramps and pain. In Mid February and again in Mid June, I had terrible PMS. Sore breasts, which I never used to get, weepy, cramping, back pain. I started on the Atkins diet six weeks ago. Two weeks into the plan, and just after the induction phase, I had some chinese food. I got back cramps. I realised I hadn't had them for two weeks, thought about it and realised that a lot of the time when I had cramps it was after having chinese food. MSG!! The following week I felt a stirring in my uterus as the pain moved from the lower to the middle back - sort of a rising upwards - got the usual menstrual constipation, followed by some bleeding, for 6 days! not terribly heavy, but real bleeding. No cramps. Some back pain, but not too bad, and no sickness afterwards. Whilst I was researching low carbohydrate stuff on the net, some of the articles mentioned Aspartame. I used to drink gallons of the stuff. Three days before the period started, I stopped taking any at all. I don't know if that's long enough to make a difference. My back is quite good now, I'm getting some disk pain - like when I walk the sciatic nerve is getting upset, so it feels like my back is trying to put itself back to normal. I have some pain still in my groin, but it's discomfort rather than pain. I think I have mixture of several different allergies. I've been lactose intolerant for years, and totally allergic to full fat milk since I was 3 or 4 years old. Right now, I think I have to let my body clear out all the stuff that was poison to me, like gluten, and get my hormones into some sort of balance as well. I think it will be a while, but I feel well, and can cope with the pain a lot better, particularly when it feels like "good" pain, repairing rather than damaging - ----------------- AOL/General Health Discussions/Nutrasweet Subject: Re: Nutrasweet Date: 08 Jul 1997 11:13:36 EDT I would get sleepy after drinking a Slice when Nutrasweet first came out. I just wanted to close my eyes and put my head down on my desk. I was getting plenty of sleep and couldn't ask for a more interesting job but I attributed it to fatigue because Nutrasweet was touted as having no side effects. The last straw came when I drank a diet Coke on an empty stomach and later that day (but after I had dinner), I experienced a strobe effect as though my brain were clicking on and off. It was very frightening and I quit Nutrasweet cold turkey. I didn't experience any more sleepiness at work until I was in my ninth month of pregnancy. I really like pop so I sip it in a juice glass if I've had my limit for the day. ----------------- Homeopathy Mailing List Re: Diet Coke proving!! Mon, 7 Jul 1997 17:42:41 +0000 I can vouch for those symptoms!! I tried to drink diet coke for about a month and had much the same results (along with blinding headaches) - and can vouch for the mental state it would put you in. To say the least not only do I stay away from any nutrasweet product - but keep it from my children as well. Sugar may not be the best - but it is definatly better than the effects of diet products. ----------------- Subject: Help at last... please read Date: 1997/09/13 Newsgroups: alt.support.tinnitus On 07-11-97 I received information on the fact that aspartame(Nutrasweet/Equal) could cause tinnitus by destroying the central nervous system. I had been a large user of diet sodas which contain aspartame.I figured I had nothing to lose by switching to plain water. The results were not immediate but took approx. 2 months. I can now honestly say that my tinnitus has been greatly reduced and completely gone much of the time. ----------------- Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 To: xxxx@xxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Case History In 1985 I was a marine stationed at Quantico Va. I drank nutra sweet. I was an analyst and I had to use my brain power to make it thru the day. I noticed that when I drank nutra sweet I would have trouble remembering. It took awhile to figure it out. I was lucky. I quit drinking diet soda and my memory power returned. I told few people about this. some did not believe me. I did so I never drank the stuff again. Now 12 years later you have explained to me what that was all about. I was lucky. ----------------- Forwarded message: Subj: Re: Recall of aspertame !!! Date: 97-10-03 01:44:19 EDT To: mfriedman@oc.fda.gov (head of the fda) It is an emergency that you find the strength as a man to recall such a deadly substance as aspertame.. I always thought that I would first get my message through to FDA to remove sodium benzoate from food and drugs..WE BLEED SEVERELY WITH THIS PRESERVATIVE...NOT TO MENTION THE HEADACHES THAT MY SON ALWAYS HAD PRIOR TO A BAD HEMORRHAGE... However; the fact that I haven't had success in being heard for sodium benzoate, perhaps you will consider the severe reactions we have had to Nutrasweet...headaches, blurred vision, dull ache in head days following severe headache and poor focus with eyesight during the days following...nausea, etc. The MOST IMPORTANT THING I WANT YOU TO KNOW IS THE TERRIBLE THINGS MY BROTHER HAS BEEN THROUGH SINCE THE 80'S WITH A DIET COKE ADDICTION...I FIRST COMPLAINED TO FDA IN '85 AND '86, only to be told there was only information about short-term memory loss related to aspertame...nothing about addiction, depression..vision problems..personality changes..or anything else...I was told that FDA would need at least 10 years to study the effects of aspartame.... Following the refusal of FDA to listen to my complaints for both my brother and my family...I knew I had to get someone to listen to me since my brother displayed such Diet Coke addiction that I feared for his life...I found a name back then...Dr. Louis Elsas, Prof of Pediatrics at Emory University...I communicated with him by telephone...he wrote to me...and I felt better once I had found someone who believed me...I knew he was the doctor so talked about at that time in the 80's as the one who was warning pregnant women to avoid aspartame to protect their babies brains and to keep it from babies after birth at least until the babies were 6 months old...he had seen brain damage from the substance in babies in these age groups...he told me that at that time (late 80's) someone in Washington was tracking Nutrasweet Victims....It was a little encouraging to find someone who didn't think I was crazy to believe in a Diet Coke addiction... It would be too lengthy to try to explain all that aspartame DID TO MY BROTHER...but I feel better knowing how hard I worked to convince my family and his doctor of his addiction to aspartame...I feel even better now that he is off Nutrasweet products... especially happy that his psychiatrist is weening him off all the big time medications he was on for symptoms that had gotten so out of had with increased use of aspartame...TO WATCH SUCH AN INTELLIGENT COLLEGE GRADUATE GO DOWN THE TUBES AND LOSE MORE THAN A DECADE OF HIS LIFE IS PAINFUL...BUT THANK GOD HE IS ONE OF THE FORTUNATE ONES WHO STILL HAS A LIFE !!! WE FEEL IT WILL TAKE SOMEONE WITH A REAL CONSCIENCE, NOT A NEED FOR GREED OR PRESTIGE WITH ASPERTAME MAKERS, TO STEP UP TO THE MIKE AND ANNOUNCE THE RECALL OF THIS DEADLY NEUROTOXIN...If anyone backing Nutrasweet thinks the whole public can be changed into believing that aspartame is safe...let me share with you the answer I got from an ATTORNEY concerning aspertame safety....We were at a wedding 2 weeks ago...I speak with him often since we were on a cancer board together years ago...I know of his love for flying, so I asked him about his knowledge concerning the aspertame "unsafety" at high elevations...His answer was that Nutrasweet is no longer allowed in his home...he said once he determined that Nutrasweet made him depressed and made his wife's moods bad, he banned it from his house quite some time back....Now maybe you can see that many people are intelligent enough to make healthy decisions for themselves...BUT WHAT ABOUT OUR KIDS AND OUR GRANDKIDS... WASHINGTON NEEDS TO WAKE UP AND FEED OUR KIDS BETTER FOODS (LESS NUGGETS, HOT DOGS, JELLO, CHOC MILK, INSTANT POTATOES, ETC)..THEY NEED SOME REAL HOMECOOKED AND FRESH FOODS, FREE OF UNNECESSARY ADDITIVES, AND CERTAINLY ASPERTAME SHOULD BE BANNED FROM ALL FOODS AND DRUGS, FIRST AND FOREMOST THOSE WE PUT IN FRONT OF OUR KIDS...LET'S GIVE THEIR BRAINS A CHANCE... PLEASE STAND WITH THE PEOPLE WHO CRY OUT FOR YOUR HELP IN GETTING THIS DEADLY NEUROTOXIN OFF THE MARKET...RECALL IT PLEASE. ----------------- Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 00:47:28 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspertame Posioning Thanks for your work on this subject. I was suffering dizziness and memory loss for many months that was getting progressively worse. I had all kinds of medical tests including an MRI and ear tests for balance problems. All results were negative. I decided to search the net for answers and found the Aspertame Awareness Network. After reading their information and yours I stopped drinking Diet Pepsi and my symptoms have been greatly reduced (90%) after 5 weeks of quiting. I am forwarding this information to my ENT. He is very interested in this work, he had not heard of this controversy. Thanks for your hard work and please let me know if anyone would like to file a class action suit against these bandits. ----------------- AOL/General Health/Nutrasweet Subject: Re: More Information Date: Sun, Sep 28, 1997 11:38 PM Just to add one more adverse reaction to your file; I don't touch nutrasweet or any preprocessed foods, for that matter. I have never mentioned my reaction to any doctor manily because they would probably lock me up. Nutrasweet gives me a feeling of not being where I am. I feel like I'm watching a movie. I'm sitting there, but, I'm not there, Feel like I'm looking through people. I have no ambition to do anything, I know whats going on around me ,but I don't care. It also makes my stomach feel really strange. Does this make any sense to you? Crazy, Huh!. It also makes me think, and react differently than I normaly would. Thanks for the space. ----------------- Date: Sat, 13 Sep 1997 17:53:59 -0400 Sender: New Diet Revolution List Subject: Re: Artificial Sweeteners Question I quit And after reading that about the apartame I'm glad I did so! I think i't's been over a week and I don't seem to get the intense headaches I use too during my cycle. I grew up on equal I'm 29 now so i've been using it as long as it's been around. Not any more. I just wish that a safe alternative would be available in the U.S. I use stevia now and a little sweet & Low but I would love to be able to have some of the stuff that we make here in the states , but sell in other countries ( would that be clymates andsplenda?) Anyway I'm glad I stopped using the aspartame ( and I was a die hard user) ----------------- Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 01:47:21 -0700 To: xxxxx@xxxxx.xxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame I have had a brief, but distinct experience with Nutra-Sweet that I would like to share. You may include it in reports to appropriate agencies. Two summers ago I experimented with drinking one or two diet Seven-Up sodas perhaps three to four days a week. I don't believe I ever drank more than six to eight sodas a week. Normally I don't have anything "artificial" in my diet, but I wanted something sweet tasting and didn't want the sugar intake. Within a month I began to notice increasingly numbness and tingling in my hands. This concerned me because I work with my hands a lot. I wondered what I had done to cause this. The only difference I could think of was the Aspartame intake, so I stopped all intake of it. Within another month the symptoms had vanished completely! I am grateful to have noticed this sooner rather than later and to have been able to stop these problems before they got more serious. xxxxxxx xxxxxxx, L.Ac. ----------------- Date: Fri, 04 Apr 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: THANK YOU! I've always known I had problems with anything with Nutrasweet in it, and I finally convinced my family of it, but most people look at me like I'm crazy when I refuse a diet cola... Now when they tell me it's all in my head, I can send them here and they can read this for themselves! Thanks so much! I've learned to avoid it like the plague after several bouts of almost crippling headaches immediately after drinking a diet cola, and itching for several days after I got even the slightest amount.... I'm allergic to so many things though, I thought it was just another weird quirk of being me. Now I know I'm not the only one with problems with it. Again, THANK YOU! ----------------- Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 02:46:45 PST Subject: [FIT-L] Re[2]: [FIT-L] Aspartame To: FIT-L@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU I can't back this up with a source, but I used to eat & drink a lot of this stuff, and got a lot of terrible-need- to-lie-down headaches. One time, as I was lying down with one of these headaches (about 6-7 years ago when I was living in Austin, TX), I picked up the paper and read an article about aspertame, and how it has been proven to cause migraines, seizures, and a bunch of other symptoms that I can't recall today. So I quit nutrasweet and never had another headache like that again. Since then, (and as I said, I can't remember where I read this) I have read a couple of times that the good ole USA is one of the only countries in which aspartame is not considered a poison. It does not pass the USDA's standards, and the only reason that it is everywhere is that there is SOOOOOO much money to be made on this stuff, they went ahead and approved it anyways. Attack if you will, but I really believe that there's at least an element of truth in this. I know way too many people who have adverse reactions to think it's harmless. ----------------- Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 To: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx Subject: Another case I have been using diet products (Soda and gum) for years. I swore by aspartame for the longest time - until I realized that every time I chew a "nutrasweet gum" i.e. - Ice Breakers, my throat starts to close up and I feel like I am choking. Every time I drink Diet Snapple, my throat feels very uncomfortable. I have also had irregualr heartbeats - the doctors can't attribute it to anything. Any possible link. ----------------- Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 To: xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Mission Possible Branch? My husband [Bill] and I have read the information you sent to him. I have pulled some information off the internet. .... Because of the information we received from and through you, we both no longer use anything with aspartame. Bill, has better control over his sugar ( he is diabetic) and his memory has improved. ----------------- Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 15:48:54 EDT Subject: [FIT-L] Aspartame To: FIT-L@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU I used to guzzle diet soft drinks (I've since elimanited them completely from my diet.) with aspartame and I noticed when I drank them I'd start gobbling food also. Anytime I drank/ate something with aspartame in it, I wanted more and more to eat. I thought it was just me but since then I've heard from many people that aspartame suppossedly triggers your appetite. ----------------- Re: meds and memory loss/aspartane Date Sun, 28 Sep 1997 17:53:49 -0700 Newsgroups alt.support.depression.manic,soc.support.depression.manic Maybe this is just coincidence, but I gave up everything "diet" months ago. This topic is very timely because it made me realize that for "years" I have been complaining about poor cognitive functionality and memory loss to my pdoc. We blamed it on everything from the meds to depression, which we all know definitely does cause a certain degree of both memory loss and cognitive functioning. However, I can say that my functionality has much improved over the past months, as has my memory. Granted my depression is improved, never gone, but improved and I am on fewer meds than I have been on in a long time, but maybe there is something to this. I've personally always been convinced that aspartane, especially, did something unpleasant to the way I felt. ----------------- Re: Depression and NutraSweet ( aspartame ) Date 3 Oct 1997 11:35:09 GMT Newsgroups alt.support.depression I used to call Diet Coke "PMS in a can" because it weirded me out instantly, but that's the only thing ever to have such a noticeably relational effect. It it were Aspartame, wouldn't half the world be sobbing??? ----------------- Re: OT:migraines Date Sat, 27 Sep 1997 01:27:22 -0400 Newsgroups rec.crafts.textiles.needlework I have cut two things out of my diet which triggered migraines for me: Nutrasweet and caffine. I also take a preventative once a day and what a world of difference it has made in my life !! ------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 19:40:06 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Natural Nutrition #105 - Special Issue - Aspartame I have waited a respectable amount of time to send this post, to be sure what I am about to report to you is in fact, accurate. I am now satisfied that I have enough facts to do so. After reading the special issue report on Aspartame, I decided that since I had already been without the additive for 10 days prior, because of a diet plan I was trying out (that I since abandoned), I would continue to refrain from aspartame and see if there was any credence to this information. You see, I was diagnosed with FMS in 1992, suffered horribly from hip joint pain and morning immobility. Being a hypoglycemic since childhood, artificial sweetners were always a part of my diet - a substantial part. Because I am an advocate for complementary medicine and nutritional healing, I gave this bulletin very serious consideration. At the same time I gave up aspartame, I also started Physical Therapy, as my hip joints and lumbar area of my back had become so immobile, I could no longer toilet properly. Now, I'm a senior in school for Occupational Therapy - there is nothing that can set an OT reeling more than the loss of an Activity of Daily Living - trust me on this. After 4 weeks of therapy, I saw little change, but some. Magically, in the 5th week, which corresponded to a little over 6 weeks without aspartame, something magical happened. A rapid progression that I know from my training as an OT, is not something that occurs in therapy - progressions in therapy are usually slow and steady. Having a scientific mind, I decided to be my own test subject and I completely discontinued the Physical Therapy, but continued to avoid aspartame. Guess what - it's now been 8 weeks without the dreaded chemical and I (and those around me) am happy to report that I am pain-free, mobile and feel better than I have in as many years as I can remember. Almost all of the signs of the FMS and joint immobility are gone. I am working on regaining my muscle tone, now that I have proven my theory to me. Needless to say, my husband is thrilled to have his wife back, and is telling everyone he knows and meets of my story - in his words - he lost his wife to something as stupid as diet soda and all of the doctors and health practitioners could not help. It was his sharing the post about the Nutrition Newsletter with me that ultimately led to my recovery. xxxxxxx, and xxxxx, and xxxx - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I am grateful for the service you provide and will continue to spread the word. Anyone with questions that wishes to address me directly may do so at: andrea_keil@juno.com. [continued] Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Attention All Dieters - Important Info About Aspartame >I have been experiencing unexplained joint pain for the past couple of >years. No one can figure out what's causing it....are you saying this >could be the result of >Nutrasweet??? >Curious...and a little frightened, Absolutely. Take the challenge - no aspartame for 60 days. I can't tell you what it feels like to have my life back! ------------------ Re: The Bitterest Sweet Date Tue, 15 Jul 1997 07:39:41 -0500 Newsgroups sci.med.nursing being an avid fan of diet drinks (I drank the first diet drink as a kid...diet rite cola, moved to diet dr. pepper, and then to tab and diet coke, I can speak the truth........LISTEN TO THIS WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had to quit secondary to arthralgias, memory problems, massive edema problems, arrhythmias, etc. I also started having problems at higher altitudes due to aspartane. I drank a 32oz-1liter/day maximum only on days I worked. I quit and my problems have resolved 100%. It took 6 months, but it was worth it. ------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:15:41 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Another Aspartame Testimonial I am 49 years old and first experienced disorientation/confusion spells while at work starting in 1986. I had always drank other soft drinks and only began drinking diet coke in 1986 when my company replaced our other drink machines with Coke machines. These disorientation spells progressed in frequency and severity when, in 1990 I suffered a grand-mal seizure at work after drinking 2 diet cokes and a chocolate candy bar. I suffered another grand-mal seizure in 1991 and have had 8-10 grand-mals since that time experiencing spells of severe disorientation almost regularly every 3-4 weeks. The most recent experience was this prior weekend after attending a party in which I drank 5-6 diet cokes - much more than my usual 1 or 2. This grand-mal resulted in my heart stopping and quitting breathing. Had I not been in the company of my girlfriend who is an RN, I am sure I would be dead right now. I have been on dilantin, tegretol, felbatol and after this weekend's experience my neurologist plans to put me on lamictal since none of these medications have been able to eliminate my disorientation spells which I have continued to experience at least monthly. I was alerted to aspartame in 1994 by a co-worker who provided me several articles which I found alarming. I quit drinking diet cokes for about one year and experienced no grand-mals and only one or two minor disorientation spells. I guess I resumed drinking diet cokes as I either forgot their potential impact or didn't really believe the connection. I DO NOW !! I can't believe the volume of testimonials on the Web. I accidentally hit print and went through all my paper stock. I find it very gratifying that people are taking the time to share their experiences on the Internet. I have had every test known to mankind, numerous times. These included MRI's, CT, EEG, blood, blood and more blood. Cysternogram (?) to check for infection of the brain fluid and proper flow. NOTHING turned up in any of these tests. All very, very frustrating as I have always been very active and this condition was becoming debilitating. I had also experienced grand-mals over the pacific on the way to Hawaii vacationing as well as numerous other vacations that ended in a 911 call. My family has no history "anywhere" of epilepsy and I have found it very trying to be labeled with this stigma. I have also lost one job as a result of excessive absences when I experienced 3-consecutive grand-mals toward the end of a 2-week vacation. My childred are petrified for me to visit them at school (embarassment I guess) as they witnessed one of my grand-mals while dining out. Irealize now there is ONE COMMON ELEMENT - DIET COKE !!! For some reason, the other diet drinks don't affect me as severely. Is it possible that diet coke has a higher concentration of Nutrasweet ?? I DON'T GET IT ! IT SEEMS THIS PROBLEM COULD BE EASILY VERIFIED WITH A CONTROLLED TEST. SURFING THE INTERNET, I SUSPECT THERE WOULD BE PLENTY OF VOLUNTEERS OR SUBJECTS. I CERTAINLY WOULD VOLUNTEER. ALSO....HOW ABOUT A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT ??? IF THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY CAN EVENTUALLY BE DEFEATED, I SUSPECT THE MAKERS OF NUTRASWEET COULD AS WELL.!!!!!! What is this drug doing to our children who are being weened on it ? What will the effects be on them when they get older ?? Hopefully all this documentation will still be around for evidence of negligence on the part of the NutraSweet makers and those food/drink companies that have elected it as the food additive of choice. I personally plan to post warning posters on all Coke machines at work and anywhere else I can as I feel this has had such an adverse affect on my life that I am going to take this as a personal vendetta. I AM PISSED !!!! My quality of life has suffered for 10 years +. I KNOW it is directly attributed to aspartame as I can demonstrate its effects. HELLO FDA - ANYBODY HOME ??? OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK !!!! [followup] Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 16:25:57 -0700 To: xxxxx@xxxx.xxxx.xxx Subject: Asparatme Settlements ?? By the way, I quit drinking Diet Coke on September 2nd this year after suffering a "Status Epilepticus" (as in "dead") and immediately my seizure, disorientation spells, chronic fatigue, migraines, sore muscles and joints all went away completely ! This was the only change in my diet and prior to that time I had been experiencing seizures, disorientation every 2-3 weeks at a minimum. Also, my "woman-friend" is an RN and has witnessed my condition, seizures etc. for the past 1 and 1/2 years. She also was the one who administered CPR after my September 2nd incident. She has also kept a very detailed log during this time (as I find out) which has come in very handy at this point. ------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: What a difference quiting Aspartame has made!! My name is xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx. I am 28 years old and started drinking Diet Coke back in 1990 after a friend convinced me that the sugar content in normal coke was bad for me. Earlier this year (Jan-Feb) while surfing the net I stumbled across the article on your home page entitled "The Bitter Truth About Artificial Sweetners". As I was "addicted" to diet coke and consuming around 1-2 litres a day, I was absolutely horrified to read about the dangers of aspartame. I was so shocked I gave up the stuff that day and have not had another drop since. Prior to stopping,I suffered from alot of the symptoms mentioned in the article - terrible muscle spasms, vertigo, dizziness, nausea, depression, slurred speach etc. Within 7 days of stopping, most of the above symptoms had disappeared and to date I have not had any recurrences of these. There is no doubt in my mind that aspartame causes the ailments mentioned in the article. As I live in Australia, I would like to know if there is an action group here that I can offer my assistance too. If not I will continue to warn those that I come into contact with. It is an absolute crime that this substance has been offered to an unsuspecting and ill-informed public. It must be stopped. ------------------ Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Overwhelming Thanks! I am writing to thank you for your crusade against nutrasweet. I am a type 1 diabetic for 25 years now. I received my first article from you by accident, as I was a member of the email users list for xxxxxx xxxxx when your article accidently got posted to all of us last year. I wish I could say I followed your advice at the time, but I chose instead to believe the "other side", and thought you were simply a reactionary (very sorry). I did lay off nutrasweet for about a week just for laughs at the time because I was starting an exercise program, and wanted to rid my body of all artificial stuff. However, when my blood sugars improved, I attributed it to the exercise. Eventually, I added the nutrasweet back into my diet, nothing too much, just a diet snapple here and there - maybe 3 a week. And my blood sugars were no longer quite as good, and I began having what I refer to as "knock-down, drag-out hypoglycemic reactions. I just thought I needed to do more exercise! Last December, I was told by a dietician that nutrasweet was perfectly safe, and I just went wild eating it in everything and upping my snapple intake to two or more a day. Who knew? Well, my blood sugars went from difficult to horrible. My appetite was running rampant, I was waking up with 500 blood sugars and going to be with lows of 35-40. I was depressed and angry all the time. No one could figure out what was wrong with me. I didn't want to have sex with my husband and I even began having hot flashes (I'm 36). Some minor tingling, which I have always passed off as "just one of those diabetic things", which never was more than just a minor sensation, was getting worse. I was gaining weight, feeling uncoordinated and spacey, like I always had a hangover, and felt like death. One day, I was looking up menopause in my medical advisor, and happened by the section on multiple sclerosis. I read the symptoms and it sounded just like me, with all the tingling and stuff. I panicked, then I remembered your email from a year and a half ago that talked about nutrasweet possibly causing MS-like symptoms, and decided to give up nutrasweet to see if it would help. The next day, my blood sugars were perfect, and I re-read the article and saw that nutrasweet has been implicated in swinging sugars!! My blood sugars have been perfect for almost two weeks now. It is uncanny. I am so beside myself with glee I can hardly stand it. I have energy, my vision is better, my constipation is gone, I can think far more clearly, my stamina has improved, and I want to live life again. My blood sugar meter average has dropped from 200 to 165 in the time span of 10 days, and still falling. It is once again easy to correct low blood sugars, and they are very minor occurances now. My insulin dosage has gon efrom 30 to 17 total units per day. I have, simply put, been reborn. A chemistry teacher in my diabetes support group says it is true that aspartame converts to formaldehyde and methanol in the body. A very respected neurologist where I work (I work at a research institute within a medical center) said that she had a patient who was having seizures and eating lots of nutrasweet. As you can guess, the seizures stopped when nutrsweet was eliminated from his diet. I am telling everyone about this. I have forwarded the info to my diabetes educator at the University of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. She theorizes that if the nutrasweet was the culprit, it may have caused a mimicking of gastropherisis (delayed emptying of injested foods), which in turn caused my swinging sugars. A research tech also told me she systematically eliminated foods from her diet to find out what was causing her constipation and severe abdominal pains. Her search was over when she tested the nutrasweet. I am going to fill out one of the action report forms. Is there any other way I can help in this effort? I don't even know if you respond to emails, but I just wanted to add my testimony to the growing list of nutrasweet recoveries. Deep thanks and God bless you. ------------------ Subj: Thank-you Date: 97-06-09 18:06:24 EDT To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Thanks so much for the information you sent. I was off aspartame for awhile and was so much better that I started using it again. I am in big trouble right now with dizziness, memory, and ms symptoms. It is frightening what it does when it gets above 86 degrees. I have left cases in my garage before. I am unloading my Montsanto stock as fast as i can. My husband has taken all the info to the nurses at the radiology department. They can't believe it. My hubby specializes in mammography. I'd love to do some research asking ladies with diagnosed breast cancer how much aspartame they have in their normal diets. I bet there is a huge connection. Course all these symptoms can come from so many things. The proof is when you improve by being totally off the darn stuff. Then you know. Thank-you, thank-you for your knowledge and sharing. ------------------ To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Answer to Aspartame Questionnaire Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 15:42:05 -0500 Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Questionnaire Name_xxxxxx xxxxxxx____________________________________________ Age_23___ Sex: Female Medical problems that you believe are caused from using aspartame: Every single time that I eat or drink something that contains aspartame I get very dizzy, and very strong headaches to the point of being unable to leave my bed. When I get like this I can't even move my head nor stand due to the extreme pain. Why do you believe aspartame caused these problems? I don't know for sure, but I truly believe in all of the papers I've read about the toxic and poisonous effects of aspartame. When I first read "The Sweet Poison" I opened my eyes, and began to identify with some of the symptoms. Did the symptoms go away when you stopped using the products? Yes, definitely, but it takes time: once I took a free sample of "I can't believe it's yogurt" on Friday, and I was sick the whole weekend, I wasn't feeling OK until next Tuesday. Did you see a Doctor about symptoms? No, at that time I didn't think I was sick because of the aspartame, I thought it wasn't important. Did Doctor think it related to aspartame? Later on, I did consult a physician, I told her about the symptoms I experience every time that I take aspartame and about the time that I took some vitamins with a Scooby Doo shape (originally meant for kids) that contained phenylalanine and that caused me to get sick, again with dizziness and headaches. She said that phenylalanine was a substance that my body had difficulty to methabolize it or synthetize, and that it was hazardous for all people, but that some of them show the symptoms more quickly than others. Did you report your symptoms to the FDA (Food & Drug Admin.) or any other group? No, I live in Mexico, and I think that here, there isn't much information about these issues. What specific products(s) containing aspartame were you consuming when you experienced these symptoms? "I can't believe it's yogurt" vanilla yogurt Scooby-Doo shaped supplement vitamins (for kids) Diet Coke On the average, what quantity were you consuming (how often, how much each time, etc.) They were very low doses, for instance the yogurt was just a free sample (just one in my life); I took about 3 tablets of the phenylalanine vitamins; and one Diet Coke was just enough to give me a headache. I've taken I think about six diet cokes in my entire life, and I learned that I shouldn't take no more. How long had you been consuming these products before you experienced the symptoms? I noticed the symptoms immediately. ------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 13:13:35 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Welcome Back To Life, Aspartame Free I wanted to write to let you know that I have now been completely off of aspartame for one month and I can feel the results! First, for two years I have had fibromyalgia-like symptoms. I hurt all over. Shoulders, legs, back, neck ankles, all were painful most of the time. I had chronic insomnia and could hardly sleep at night. My vision was getting worse all of the time. In the single month that I eliminated aspartame, I feel 100% better. I don't hurt. The carpal tunnel in my wrist and shoulder has finally subsided. My memory seems to be improving. I have more energy and I don't get as hungry. I found that I was drinking 3-4 diet Cokes everyday. Fortunately, I did not use Equal in my tea or coffee. I use either sugar or sweet n low. I don't know much about saccharin testing but I cannot believe that it is as bad as aspartame. I am going to get some stevia and try that. I have made copies of some of the articles and sent them to a number of people who have also "sworn off" of aspartame. Obviously the FDA does not care one bit about product safety. If a company is as big as Monsanto, they can market any kind of poison they please without a whimper from the FDA. And, it appears that Congress is powerless to stop them. Or, that Congress is too busy with their "in-fighting" to do anything for the people who voted them into office. .... ------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 06:48:46 -0700 Sender: Low Carb Diabetes Support List Subject: Re: New to List I, too, suffered severly from neuropathy. My feet would hurt so badly at night that my husband had to rub them. I work on my feet all day and they were either numb or hurting. I would elevate them every night and my doctor recommended pepper cream. The cream was terribly expensive so I never bought it. Through research, I started to wonder if nutrasweet was my demon. Sure enough....I went of ALL nutrasweet and artificial sweetners. Within one month.....I could make a fist again and I have NO pain whatsoever in my feet, legs or hands. My fingers were to the stage that they would buckle on me. NO MORE!!!! It would be worth a try for you. ------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 15:19:55 -0400 Subject: toxicity review To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx The summer is over and I missed it thanks to aspartame. This is my toxicity reaction summary. It started on Father's Day June 9th. My husband and I went out for breakfast. In the middle of the meal and "out of nowhere" I felt like I was fainting. I was so shocked by this sudden onset, I went to the restroom and splashed cold water on my face trying to regain my composure. I felt weak the rest of that day. A few days later I had another fainting spell at work only this time it was worse - accompanied by rapid heart beat and shortness of breath. I left work saying I didn't feel well. I thought I had too much caffeine and if I went home for a while it would pass. It didn't. In fact it got worse - to the point I called 911. I thought I was having a heart attack. My resting heart rate was 120. They gave me 02 and my heart rate came down to 80. I declined a ride to the hospital still thinking it would pass. I then started having nighttime tremors/panic disorder. I would wake up in the middle of the night with a dry mouth and then the tremors would start. At one point I think I had a seizure becuase I was shaking so badly. Then on the fourth of July - I was in the emergency room with the same symptoms. They ran all kinds of test, EEG, Thyroid - all fine. The only thing abnormal was my blood count. Hemoglobin was 11 and the red cells were small. I was diagnosed with iron-defiency anemia. Told to get off my vegetarian diet and eat some red meat! Great advice from a doctor huh? Followed up with a visit to my doctor. She was surprised that my blood count was 11, she expected it to be 5 or 8, normal is 15. I started taking a prescription for iron. Well the night tremors and shortness of breath continued. I kept calling my doctor and she thought I might be having panic disorder as a result of the anemia so I started taking Valium and Prozac. This helped the nighttime panic attacks. I started researching Prozac and Seratonin and this is what led me to you. Thank goodness someone is watching out for us! I had developed a bad chewing gum habit. Chewing 1 large pack of Extra surgarfree gum daily. I stopped this immediately and here it is Sept. and I am finally staring to sleep and feel like a normal person! I am no longer taking Prozac or Valium but switched an herbal remedy called St. John's Wort. I'm convinced the aspartame destroyed the Serotonin level in my brain and destroyed my blood. I don't drink or smoke and had been in perfect health prior to this. I am schedculed to have a complete blood count done this month with a test for Ferritin. Is there any blood test for aspartame toxicity? Why not? How should I approach my doctor? Everyone thinks I got sick because of my vegetarian diet. I know it's not so. I probably consume more iron than the average carnivore! What happened to summer? [more information] Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 12:50:45 -0400 Subject: toxicity review reply To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx i have not ingested asp since july 10, no caffeine or alcohol either. trying to eat pure foods as much as possible. lots of orange juice, fresh fruits, organic garden vegetables. now i am watching msg intake as well. To tell you the truth i'm afraid to eat in a restaurant. ------------------ Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 09:23:04 -0700 To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: NutraSweet I need some questions answered. I have a 14 year old son, xxxxxx, who has been having what the doctors are calling optical migranes. At the age of 11 years old xxxxxx was diagnosis as hypoglycemia. I was a mother who never believed in letting her kids to eat or drink anything with NutraSweet in it until xxxxxx became hypoglycemic. Since then he has drank Diet pops. Since January 1997 he has been having problems that he loses his peripheral vision. The first time he lost it for around 20 minutes and then when his vision came back his lips went numb. (He got a headache after his vision returned, it lasted through out that day.) I took him to the doctors and he sent us to an opthomoligist. He then a through check of his eyes and said everything look good and healthy. He thought that he may have had an optical migrane. He said he may never have another one but if he did he would like an CAT scan ran. In March he had another episode. This time it lasted 20 minutes and the headache lasted for two days. I called the doctor and he had a CAT scan ran. The test came back normal. Still they feel that it is just an optical migrane. If it happens again he will see an pediatric neurologist. In April he had another episode, this one lasted 10 minutes and the headache lasted two days. He was set up to see the neurologist. The neurologist said he felt that it was just optical migranes. That he should just take an extra strenght Tylenol and a benadryl then sleep. He also said he would set up a EEG to be ran to make sure he is not having seizures or mini strokes. Five days after seeing the neurologist he have another episode. This time it lasted 45 minutes with no periphial vision and during this time his tongue on the right side and his right thumb went numb. I panic and took him into emergency. The checked him and refered to his neurologist. They both decide that it was an optical migrane. (this headache lasted for one and a half days.) He is set up for May 12 to have an EEG ran. What I am wondering is if he is toxic from the NutraSweet? Has anyone had this symtoms? I am trying everything. I told xxxxxx he is not to eat or drink anything that has anything with NutraSweet in it for two weeks. [more information] Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 09:56:39 -0700 To: xxxxxx Subject: NutraSweet Thank you for all the information you sent to me. xxxxxx had his EEG ran yesterday, everything came back normal. The only thing he saw was that he had two irregular heartbeats. But he felt this is someting that he will outgrow. While reading some of the information I see that maybe the NutrSweet can be causing this. We are going to eliminate this from his diet for the next 60 days, to see if this is his cause. Again, I thank you for the information and if there is anymore you can send me please do. [update] Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 13:50:06 -0700 To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Nutrasweet Just an update on how xxxxxx is doing. I last e-mailed you in May. Since then xxxxxx has had nothing with aspartame in it and he has had no problems. Everthing seems to be going good. I would like to thank you for all the information you sent me and I have passed it on to alot of people. Please let me know if there is any new information. Please pass on xxxxxx's symptoms and reactions so other people may be aware of what aspartame can do to your body. [update] Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 08:05:25 -0700 To: xxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: resent information Hi. I am writing in regards to my resent letters to you about my son Brent. Since we have ellimated Nutra Sweet from xxxxx's diet he has only had one episode of a migrane, it could have been from he started taking vitamins which I am not sure if they had apartame in them. ------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 22:59:49 -0700 Sender: Thyroid Subject: Re: Aspartame --adverse reaction I had looked at several of the Internet references on Aspartame recently, but about a year ago I had also become aware of a report (or reports) regarding airline pilots losing their licenses because of problems with aspartame. It took a while for them to figure out what was causing the problem. Personally, I cannot tolerate aspartame at all. It causes confusion, memory loss, and other nasty reactions. The last time knocked me out for almost 2 weeks. .... How I got it the last time was a fast-food establishment had their hoses crossed -- the diet cola was hooked to the regular cola faucet. This is the second time that has happened -- at different chains. And the kids they have working their are have not lived long enough to realize that people can die from this stuff if they have a bad reaction. The first time this happened, I realized that the cola tasted like "diet" instead of like regular. I asked them to check and sure enough the hoses were crossed, and they fixed it. This last time, it was hot, I was dehydrated, my husband was in the car suffering, so I didn't ask them to check the hoses -- I just drank it -- and suffered the consequences for almost 2 weeks. Never again! ------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Jul 1997 22:16:21 -0500 To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: NutraSweet & UTIs Have read through part of your NutraSweet web page with great interest. I used to regularly consume 2-3 cans Diet soda/day. I also used to live with urinary tract infections averaging one/month. I work in a medical lab and these are confirmed infections by routine urinalysis and culture. Two years ago I had a terrible UTI, and had been having some resistance to antibiotics by this time. I had to go to California for a meeting, so I trudged onward with antibiotics and my soda. When I arrived in my hotel room, I went to get a pop and found out it was $1.50/can. On grounds of principal, I couldn't buy it. I recovered from my UTI, bought a soda and was ill by the afternoon. After doing some of my own cause and effect, I figured it was the soda and thought maybe it was carbonated beverages. SO NO MORE SODA FOR ME!. It took awhile to pinpoint the NutraSweet, but I have been free of urinary tract infections for 2 years and you can't believe the relief! I tell everyone I know who has a UTI, to stop the diet drinks if they take them. Thanks for your web site. ------------------ Re: Astrology Testing Farce Date Sun, 13 Jul 1997 00:45:51 +1100 Newsgroups alt.astrology,sci.skeptic,alt.paranet.metaphysics,alt.astrology. asian,alt.divination,alt.consciousness,alt.consciousness.mysticism,alt.paranet. channeling,alt.paranet.metaphysics,alt.paranet.psi,alt.metaphysics.lightwork,al t.religion.course-miracle,talk.religion.newage,alt.paranormal,alt.metaphysics.a-a-bailey .... I had incredible stomach pains for about two years. They seem to have stopped since I stopped drinking diet drinks. Aspartame (Nutrasweet) is another story though (hint - don't go near the stuff!). .... ------------------ Re: Aspartame(was Healthy Fast Food) Date Fri, 25 Jul 1997 02:13:27 GMT Newsgroups misc.consumers I do get headaches from it -- I have occasional severe headaches (basically, migraines) and I found that consuming aspartame either started or promoted an attack. And it makes me a bit dizzy, too. :( .... ------------------ To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: the dark side of aspartame Date: Thu, 7 Aug 1997 21:49:10 -0600 I had been drinking aspartame in diet coke/coffee/crystal light and eating it in snack foods for about six years and began to have chronic urinary tract infections - at least two major episodes per year for three years. Medical professionals blamed it on caffeine. So I gave up all caffeine which, of course, decreased my aspartame intake, which caused my symptoms to improve slighty. However, even without caffeine, I was still having infections. My friend who is a nurse suggested that artificial sweeteners can cause bladder irritation. Because I love coffee and coke, and was hoping caffeine was not the cause, I gave up all aspartame, in foods and drinks. For one year I had no infections while continuing to enjoy about 1 cup of coffee and 1 coke per day (my usual intake). Everything was going along well when all of the sudden, I had an infection. While I'm wondering what could have happened (was it really caffeine after all?) I started looking at the foods and drinks I had recently purchased. Although I am fastidious about checking labels, I had missed a very small label on the corner of a box of Fiber One cereal. It did indeed contain aspartame and it only took eating a small bowl of cereal three days in a row to cause a major urinary tract infection. I have had no reactions for three years since that last episode, and I can enjoy as much coffee and coke as I like as long as I do not ingest aspartame in any amount. I will not even chew a stick of gum that contains aspartame. I also noticed, about a year after I stopped ingesting aspartame that I felt more alert. I hope this information is helpful. I would be interested in working towards having aspartame pulled by the FDA (even if that hope is slim). Luckily, as a health educator, I have the opportunity to increase awareness of the dangers of aspartame. ------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Aug 1997 To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: If You Want To Get Fat NutraSweet Is Where Its At! I have found your site very informative and helpfull. I have now been off Nutrasweet containing products for approx 3 months and I have found this very benificial. The symptoms that I had been experiencing after 10 years or more ingestion of aspartame are begining to subside. One of the problems I have is that after 10 years of dieting I am now 54lbs heavier than when I started!! I read somewhere that the methonal is stored in the fat and I'm worried that my symptoms will continue as I loose weight and re-release the accumulated poisons back into my system. Do you know of any source of information on the storage of the poison in the human body? ------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Aug 1997 12:21:51 PDT To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Questionnaire Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Questionnaire Name: xxxxxx xxxxxxx Age: 29 Sex: Female Medical problems that you believe are caused from using aspartame: Migraines, memory loss, weight gain, rash all over body. Why do you believe aspartame caused these problems? Because whenever I would eat or drink something with Nutrasweet in them within 30 minutes I would get a horrible migraine and my skin would turn red. I also felt really "strange", almost like I was drugged. Did the symptoms go away when you stopped using the products? Yes! Completely. I have not had anything with aspartame in it for 5 years now. I avoid it like the plague. Did you see a Doctor about symptoms? Yes. Did Doctor think it related to aspartame? He thought it was unlikely. I disagreed because the symptoms disappeared when I stopped using aspartame and would reoccur when I accidentally did. Did you report your symptoms to the FDA (Food & Drug Admin.) or any other group? No, because I didn't think my symptoms were that profound.... (compared to others with seizures and the like). What specific products(s) containing aspartame were you consuming when you experienced these symptoms? Diet Rite sodas and Crystal Light drinks mostly. And chewing gum. On the average, what quantity were you consuming (how often, how much each time, etc.) I would have roughly two sodas a day, and 2 servings of Crystal Light. How long had you been consuming these products before you experienced the symptoms? Only a few days. FOR THOSE CONCERNED ABOUT WEIGHT: Did you begin using products with aspartame when you began a restricted calorie diet? Yes, I did. Did you use aspartame products only for some of your meals to save calories? No, I never didn't eat. Did aspartame seem to help you lose weight at first? Yes, at first I lost 20 lbs. What were the long term weight loss effects of using aspartame. I started retaining huge amounts of water and my face always had a puffy look to it, while using those products. It wasn't until I realized that consuming anything with aspartame in it was causing me problems, that I stopped and then was able to regain my health. Now I tell everyone that it's poison. I have a friend who was in an accident many years ago and suffered brain damage. She has seizures often, and seem to have them more frequently when she consumes anything with aspartame. I've tried to get her off of the products, but she said she's addicted. ------------------ Date: 2 Dec 1996 11:20:34 -0600 To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: How Are you? Yes, I'm doing much better since I swore off NutraSweet! Most people I know can't believe I quit drinking diet coke. They've always known me to carry a can or bottle of it around with me. That was part of my image: long blond hair, Ray-bans, and a can of Diet Coke. I have been waking up feeling rested. I'm not as achy. I'm not as tired. I don't crave sweets anymore. I haven't lost any weight, but that's probably because I drink a lot of Coke Classic now. I don't NEED a coke first thing every morning now like I did a Diet coke. I used to get headaches if I didn't have my Diet Coke within an hour or two after waking up. Now I can go all day without a coke and not have any problems. I kept telling myself it was caffeine withdrawals, but if it's not happening now, that can't be the case. I drink as much caffeine now as before, only now my caffeine is Nutra-Sweet free! My son's behavior problems are improving now that he's off NutraSweet and mostly off artificial colors. He's working better in school, and he's doing really well at learning to read and to add and subtract. He seems to be sleeping better now, too. Now when he climbs up onto my lap it's not painful like it used to be. Uncomfortable, yes, since he's 50-something pounds! But not painful. My vision is improving and so is my memory. I've been working full-time for more than 6 months, and I just completed a quarter of college full-time as well, making two B's and an A. I'm still prone to depression; in fact, I've been depressed lately. But my bouts are not as bad as they've been in the past. Before when I'd get depressed, I couldn't drag myself out of bed or have enough interest to do housework. I'd sit around eating brownies by the panful and Ben and Jerry's by the pint. Now, I can still get my day-to-day work accomplished if I'm depressed, just not as quickly and efficiently. I think when I start taking my anti-depressants again, they may actually work since I'm not constantly depleting my seratonin levels and counteracting the effects of the medicine with aspartame. I'm working on losing the weight I've gained in the past couple of years (some 40 or 50 lbs--thank you Diet Coke, Duncan Hines, and Ben and Jerry!), and I think I might have a fighting chance now that aspartame isn't tricking my body and brain. I honestly can't believe how my taste buds react to sweets now. Thanksgiving day I ate pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie for dessert instead of reaching for the chocolate cake and chess pie. I couldn't even bring myself to taste the chocolate dishes! That is so unlike me! I remember when I was younger I used to crave salty foods and protein, like ham slices or something. That's what I've been craving again lately. That and healthy foods like salads and vegetables. Amazing! Incidentally, I decided to drink a Diet Coke about a month ago just to see what it tasted like and made me feel like after a couple of months without it. Blech! That tasted nasty! Made me feel funny, too. Gave me a headache. Funny how I could come up with all sorts of explanations for symptoms instead of facing the truth that I was poisoning myself. I talked to a woman at church a couple of weeks ago who was puzzled why she had been feeling bad lately. I found out she had just started drinking Diet Coke about a month earlier. She had been drinking only water before. I asked her if she felt like she'd been beaten with a baseball bat every morning when she woke up, if she felt like she hadn't slept a wink, if her kids were finishing her sentences for her, if her vision was a bit blurry, if she'd been craving sweets lately, if she got headaches more frequently especially if she'd missed her morning cup of diet coke, and if her muscles hurt when her kids climbed up onto her lap. She answered yes to all those symptoms, most of which she hadn't really thought about or noticed until I brought it up! I told her my story and gave her the info I got from you, and she said she'd quit drinking it and see how she felt. I haven't talked to her in about a month, but I should see her soon and I'll ask if she's doing better. Thank you so much for helping spread the word. I probably would've kept drinking the stuff until I killed myself if it hadn't been for you and your crew. If I can help, I'd be glad to. I'd like to have an even better success story for you 6 months from now since I feel better physically and better about myself after getting off the poison. I feel like I can accomplish more of my goals now! My depression and achy body won't get the best of me anymore! Hey, if I can work 43 hours a week and take 3 college courses and make a 3.33 average while being a single mom of a kindergartener, I think there's probably even more that I can do! ------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Thanks for your story Thank you kindly. And thank you for your great work against the deadly genetically engineered drug aspartame. We all owe you a debt of gratitude. I had my own aspartame story also. I was having lots of problems concentrating and thinking clearly for over two years. I was drinking a half gallon of Diet Coke most days. I had no idea!! I never would have suspected that stuff as the cause had it none been for your work. Now they want to screw up the rest of the food supply. I gave up aspartame almost a year ago and I do feel much better. Now I also am avoiding the other genetically engineered foods. ------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Aug 1997 18:26:50 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: ASPARTAME Thank you for your quick and informative answer. I am a seven year drinker of DIET PEPSI and just quit drinking that poison 45 days ago, and I can not believe how great I feel. I am only 56, and my doctors and friends told me that it was old age creeping in. Well, they were wrong! I FEEL GREAT!! If I can do anything other than just get the word out let me know. ------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Sep 97 07:32:21 -0400 Subject: Reaction To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx I have had arythmia and severe headaches from aspartame. In my teen years I consumed quite a bit of NutraSweet. Eventually, my family realized that the "heart palpitations" may be connected and I stopped consuming it. In my early 20s I decided to try it again. Same thing. After just a small amount, I was again experiencing the arythmia and severe headaches. I get a headache almost immediately after consuming as little as four ounces of a nutra-sweet laced product. I've never believed in activism, but since I started studying NutraSweet, I've been interested in spreading the word. Especially to the people who are risking their children's lives. ------------------ Re: NutraSweet Date 7 Sep 1997 05:18:49 GMT Newsgroups alt.med.fibromyalgia I still wonder why nutrasweet is allowed to be on the market. I no longer touch anything that has it in it. When I was drinking the diet soda with nutrasweet I started having serious memory lapses and my short term to long term memory transfer ability was debilitated. Even though I haven't touched nutrasweet in 5 years I still feel that I haven't regained my full memory back. I know some of my memory trouble is due to "fog" but "fog" can't cause everything. ------------------ [aspartame and other stuff] Subj: Re: Preservative ALLERGY?? Date: 97-06-22 21:19:04 EDT To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Thank you so much for your report on Aspartame.... I am 47, female, and I truly feel that aspartame has been a big part of my problem along with MSG, cheese, and caffeine. I have given up all of these for the past 40 days and my symptoms have improved by 85% I would guess. I had all the tests like you - over seven months......and they said they also felt I was beginning with seizures - the partial kind. I hadn't lost conciousness yet but was feeling close to it.......that diagnosis just didn't sit well - it didn't feel right, you know what I mean? They put me on anti-seizure medicine (Neurontin) for 3 months... to see if my symptoms would go away.... (I was still using Nutrasweet alot) the medicine didn't phase one symptom.......then they put me on Inderal thinking it was a migraine type problem - migraine equivalents they called it - but Inderal didn't phase my symptoms either - plus I gained weight !! I got so disgusted I tried the avoidance of migraine trigger foods - a list my sister sent to me thru E-Mail. Nutrasweet was on the list. As I said in a few weeks my symptoms were so much improved I couldn't believe it!! How long does it take for that chemical to get completely out of your system? I suspect it might take a while - what do you think? ------------------ Re: Betty's info on eye problems in diabetics using aspartame (NutraSweet) Date 21 Jun 1997 04:20:00 GMT Newsgroups misc.health.diabetes .... There have been questions about aspartame since it's inception. I've recently stopped ingesting it and to me it's quite noticeable that I feel better. No headaches or memory lapses which could have come from it. ------------------ To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Questionnaire Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 14:02:58 -0500 Name___xxxxx xxxxxxxx__________________________________________ Age_32__ Sex: _F Medical problems that you believe are caused from using aspartame: I get violent headaches when I consume aspartame Why do you believe aspartame caused these problems? Because I don't get that kind of headache when I don't consume aspartame. Did the symptoms go away when you stopped using the products? Yes. I noticed this in 1991. I would have a diet sprite with lunch, and along about 1:30 or 2:00, I would get a pounding headache. I mentioned it to someone I worked with, and since he is extremely sensitive to aspartame, he mentioned that I might be having a reaction. I had been out of the country for a couple of years and hadn't had any aspartame before. Did you see a Doctor about symptoms? No, they went away when I stopped drinking the diet pop. Did Doctor think it related to aspartame? Did you report your symptoms to the FDA (Food & Drug Admin.) or any other group? No, I didn't know there was any recording going on. What specific products(s) containing aspartame were you consuming when you experienced these symptoms? Diet pop. That was about it. I'm not a candy or gum person. On the average, what quantity were you consuming (how often, how much each time, etc.) One can of pop with lunch, maybe one later in the afternoon. How long had you been consuming these products before you experienced the symptoms? As previously stated, I had been out of the country for some time. Nutrasweet was being introduced when I left. When I came back, everything was Nutrasweet. I noticed the headaches right away after I started consuming large quantities of it. FOR THOSE CONCERNED ABOUT WEIGHT: Did you begin using products with aspartame when you began a restricted calorie diet? Sort of. I grew up drinking diet pop, so regular sugar tastes too strong to me. Did you use aspartame products only for some of your meals to save calories? Yes, just pop. Did aspartame seem to help you lose weight at first? I didn't consume enough to notice any difference. What were the long term weight loss effects of using aspartame. At the time, learning to eat properly was more important than weight loss, so I didn't focus on losing weight. FOR THOSE WITH DIABETES: Any trouble controlling blood sugar while using aspartame? I'm hypoglycemic rather than diabetic. After drinking a diet pop, it seemed my blood sugar levels dropped dramatically. Did using products affect the types of food you selected to eat? How? Yes, my bg levels were low, so I'd crave something to eat. Sweet things looked more attractive. Did aspartame affect your desire for sweet tasting food or drink? increase ------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Jul 1997 00:16:20 -0700 To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspertame I discovered a few years back that aspertame gives me migraines. I am very careful about what I purchase and read all suspect labels. Aspertame shows up in the darndest places! The other day I bought some Welch's juice bars. They were labeled 'No sugar added'. For some stupid reason, I did not search for the dreaded nutrisweet on the label. I thought that 'no sugar added' meant they were naturally sweet. I ate one. Now I am on day 3 of a aspertame headache. I threw the rest of the headache bars in the garbage. I'm not sure how to contact Welch's about this misleading label. I'm sure that an upstanding company like Welch's would not knowingly mislead the public. :-o I just read on your page that aspertame can hurt the optic nerve. My mother has been using Nutri Sweet for 20 years and now she is almost blind. She has had glaucoma for all this time, but has been using eye drops and her pressure has been under control. Her eye doctor says that her blindness is caused by optic nerve damage due to the glaucoma. I'm sure Nutri Sweet hasn't helped. ------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 10:43:55 +0100 To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Artificial Sweetneters My wife is so sensitive to any artificial sweetener that any amount no matter how small causes a severe reaction. Even one drop of Diet Coke will make her sick for days. A gulp of diet soda is so deadly to her that it requires an immediate ambulance ride to the hospital. You should know that these sweeteners are used in many things you don't realize. Toothpaste for example. Last year she discovered by accident that her toothpaste had aspartane in it and she was being poisoned by it on a daily basis. We check every single thing she consumes but outside of the United States this is difficult because of the lack of labeling laws. England is especially bad. Last week while trying to buy off the shelf cough medicine, the pharmacist had to call each manufacturer to check what they contained. We found that every single brand on the shelf contained artificial sweeteners except one. Just a few days later she was almost poisoned again by a Sangria drink she ordered at a restrurant -- the lemonade in the drink was made with artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. Because of her I've become more informed of how these sweeteners work and I can hardly believe it. They can only be described as mind altering drugs. The war on drugs should begin with artificial sweeteners. In summary, beware. This dangerious stuff is not just in soda -- it's in all kinds of seemingly innocient stuff you buy at pharmacies and elsewhere. ------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Aspartame and It's Effects My mother and I both have been a victim of aspartame. Are you aware it's almost impossible to get children's vitamins or yoghurt without it? My mother broke out in a terrible rash up and down her arms like hives that remained on her for a month after the aspartame was discontinued. I got intense headaches. It was awful. This is not a case history, but just a comment. ------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 23:57:12 -0500 Subject: Re: Persistent Sore Throat To: ALLERGY@postal.tamu.edu The beginning of my allergy discovery began this way. After reviewing my medical bills for insurance reimbursement, I noticed that I had lost my voice and had either an ear or sinus infection every month since I moved to California from the Pacific Northwest. Allergy tests by one doctor showed I was slightly allergic to dust. Another doctor's test showed I was negative to everything. He suggested I look into eliminating milk from my diet. What I now understand two years later is that I was causing my own damage through preservatives. When I moved to California and began my long (1-1.5 hour) commutes, I drank a lot of soft drinks especially diet with Nutrasweet. I also am a lazy cook and ate a lot of preprepared foods. I wish I understood then that additives in my diet were the problem. I wouldn't be on such a restricted diet today if I or the doctors could have seen the real issue. By the way, the moment I cut out preservative from my diet, I felt remarkably healthy and energetic. I have not had a sore throat from nasal drip since. ------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jul 1997 20:46:25 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Nutrasweet I've noticed over the past few years that after using Equal for several months, I will have serious pains in the stomach area. The first time I went to a MD who fully examined me and told me to use Zantec, to no avail. I then started to omit various foods, etc and found that whe I eliminated nutasweet for a week the pain went away. After a call to the company, without any meaningful comment by them, I then started using Equal after a month or so without difficulty for about a year. When the same pains started again I at once stopped using nutrasweet and the pain disappeared almost at once. After the past eight months of usage, again, I today began the same pain and have stopped neutrasweet. If I am correct that the source of the pain is neutrasweet (Equal) the pain should stop in a day or so. [update] Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 16:05:54 -0400 To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Nutrasweet > Did the stomach pain disappear? Yes it did. I did what I had done before and that was to stay off Equal for a few weeks and went bacj to sugar and at times the pink stuff. ------------------ To: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame review after 75 days Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 14:26:43 -0400 I have been Aspartame, caffeine, and sugar-free for about 75 days now. When I went off these three items on April 30, my main complaints were: shaky handwriting and tremblor of hands; flickering lights in the outer field of vision and joint pain. These have disappeared almost completely. I have not gone back to Aspartame at all, but I have begun to drink regular coffee without suffering any ill effects, except one day when I overdid the caffeine bit by having about six cups. Then the shaky handwriting and the flickering lights were back. While I am happy to be rid of most symptoms, I cannot really say that all of the good effects were solely due to quitting Aspartame. Thanks anyway for the information. Maybe we all consume too much caffeine, also. If that is true, then the coffee and softdrink industry will really be mad! ------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Aug 1997 17:35:41 -0500 Sender: New Diet Revolution List ) I do get really tired. ------------------ Re: aspartame (was: caramel) Date Sat, 06 Sep 1997 11:01:31 -0700 Newsgroups alt.folklore.herbs I'd like to add my .02 to Sandy's post. NutraSweet (aspartame) is also dangerous for people with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Most doctors will tell hypoglycemics to stay away from sugar, but mine never mentioned aspartame. If I eat or drink *anything* containing aspartame, my blood sugar plummets and I get a horrible migraine. It's even worse than eating a sugary snack. I read a few months ago that the reason for this is that it "tricks" your body into thinking it's had sugar (because of the sweetness), but the "energy" (calories) of sugar aren't even there to temporarily raise the blood sugar before it lowers the sugar in the blood. Now, when I get cravings for something sweet, I make tea and add stevia. I've never had an unfavorable reaction from it. ------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 11:17:49 -0500 Sender: Paleolithic Eating Support List Subject: Re: Fw: aspartame info (Long) Great letter...I was "hooked" on diet Coke...I mean I liked it better then regular! I drank it morning ...noon...and night! What a gimik...you can have all you want...and no calories. I was also experiencing panic attacks. When the first letter hit the list....I stopped drinking it! Thank you all !!! I (knock on wood) haven't had a panic attack in over a week...:) I never gave in totally to my panic so I haven't been house bound....but it so much more pleasant when I don't have to experience them at all!!!!!!!! ------------------