----------------- Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 06:20:01 EST To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Final submission - Symptoms complete This is a very accurate account of my life on aspartame. Seems to me that anyone who is using aspartame and having problems could find correlations with their symptoms as I did with mine. I connected dates with employment and events that I was certain of dates and that is how I have develped this list of symptoms. Symptoms of Aspartame Poisoning Actual Case History Seizures and Convulsions - First grand mal nocturnal seizure was 01/96, then: 03/25/97, 03/29/97, 04/29/95, 10/25/9 (two during the night), 01/05/98. Dizziness & Tremors - Severe dizziness and unbalance at my mother and father's 40th Aedding Anniversay mass--brother caught me from falling (that was 1990). Intermittent unbalance and dizziness from 1993 to 1997. The symptoms disappeard afer April 1997 after completley quitting the ingestion of Nutra Sweet. Severe Headaches - Yes - For 15 years I thought I had sinus headaches. Generalized in the post-surgical area on the left side of my head. Occasionally, the headaches would involve either my whole head, my frontal region or just the left side. Headaches severity subsided after April 1997. Became intense after that, but completely went away after January 25, 1998 to the present. Memory Loss - Yes - very noticable in 1994-1997, especially when I worked for an attorney's office Disappeared after April 1997. Slurred speech - Yes - very noticable in 1994 - 1997, especially when I worked for an attorney's office. Disappeard after April 1997. Confusion - Yes-occasonally since 1993 -- totally disappeard after April 1997 Numbness or Tingling of Extremities - Yes--occasional - totally disappeared after January 25, 1998. Chronic Fatigue - Yes--very noticeable from 1993 to 1997. Still lingered after that but not as severe. Most severe when working in the Attorney's office. Subsided after April 1997, but totally disappeared after January 1998. Depression - Occasionally down, but not extreme--seems to be gone also since January 25, 1998 Insomnia - Severe since 1993. Severe up until January 1998. Very infrequent now. Irritability - Yes--I blamed it on the career change from 1993. But I still was irritable doing what I loved doing for a living--being an artist. I didn't understand. Some still lingers, but a noticeable positive change since January 25, 1998 after quitting the creamer. Panic Attacks - Yes - severe at night upon awakening and right before I would have a grand mal seizure. It was so much improved since April 1997, but still present until January 25, 1998--once I quit the creamer, this symptom has occured one time without the threat of a seizure. Marked Personality Changes - Yes--most noticebly withdrawn (so one family member noticed) and didn't feel like I fit in since 1993 - the career change into being a full-time artist in 1997 helped improved that, but I still knew something wasn't completely right. My shyness was to a greater degree. I feel like I am the person I once was before 1993, but I am still very shy and intimidated at times, but all of that seems to be better since January 25, 1998. Phobias - YES--extreme---afraid of going to sleep because I thought I would die during a seizure. After January 25, 1998, that symptom completely disappeared. Rapid Heart Beat & Tachycardia - YES--very extreme at different times since 1993. This symptom didn't disappear after April 1997. It got so severe at times, I was over 120 BPM, and my blood pressure was very high. This symptom completely disappeared after January 25, 1998. Asthmatic Reactions - Yes--in the form of sneezing and apparent sinus congestion. Would wake up sneezing, and discolored drainage from my nose was present most of the day. Sneezing very infrequent since January 25, 1998. No change in this symptom after April 1997. Still severe up until January 25, 1998. Now moderate drainage remains. Chest Pains - yes-- off and on since 1993 - Completely disappeared after January 25, 1998. Hypertension High - First noticed March 1997 - 144/96. Only one time was it critically high, and that was in October 1997 - 168/102. It has been low since January 25, 1998 - 120/84. Nausea or Vomiting - Yes-only nausea - Usually accompanied the low blood sugar reactions I seemed to have during different time throughout the year of 1997. My first clue should have been years ago when I tried Diet Pepsi--I got nauseated right away and didn't know why. Diet Pepsi is the only product that gave me immediate nausea. Diarrhea - Yes--very noticable after a meal, but not frequent. First noticed in early 1997. .... Blood Sugar Control Problems - Yes--severe, even though I am not a diabetic. Approx. 4 times during 1997, I had severe low blood sugar reactions where I would start shaking and have to stop and get some sugar in me. Craving for Food - Yes--always wanted something, but never knew what I craved. Mostly since 1993. Since January 25, 1998, I have not had cravings. Now changing over non-processed foods. Weight Gain - Yes - 30lbs in the last 3 years. I never ate that much and rarely snack, but my body just gained the weight which was and still is impossible to lose until I detox my body from the formaldahyde I feel. Hair Loss (Baldness) or Thinning of Hair - Thinning of my hair has been very noticeable since 1995. [snip lots of symptoms: severe infections, itching, burning urination, excessive thirst, etc.] Joint Pains - Yes---As far back as 1993, I remember having joint pain every day and feeling like I was "old" at the age of 42. Since January 25, 1998, that all disappeared unless I eat something that contains MSG or hidden NutraSweet. My immediate reaction to those things is first sneezing, not feeling well and joint pain the next day. April 1997 was a significant time for me, because after 3 grand mal nocturnal seizures in less than 45 days, I completely quit ingesting nutra sweet in all foods and beverage. Throughout 1997 and as late as January 5, 1998, I had nocturnal grand mal seizures after not ingesting nutra sweet for all those months. That led me to believe that there was a real physical problem present OR it led me to believe that I was still ingesting nutra sweet unknowingly. The only thing I was still ingesting that DID NOT state anywhere on the container was the Nestle's French Vanilla Creamer. Afer completely quitting that on January 25, 1998 (I had enjoyed it since 1993), most all of my symptoms immediately disappeared and I have not been having any seizure activity. Though it is too early to tell, I have a hunch that the creamer does have nutra sweet in it, even though the company denies that it does. ----------------- Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: ASPARTAME -- PROOFS OF HARM Unfortunately, my own husband, Ken, was one of them. Late last summer he was having a bad headache located mostly on one side of his head. He went into the Univ. of Utah Medical Center for an MRI. They discovered a mass, more like a brain lesion. The Dr., who first examined him up in Payson (a town located between us here in Price, and closer to Provo) is a specialist in those sorts of problems, and recommended the MRI. .... Anyway, Ken cut out drinking the diet Coke, or anything at all which contained Aspartame or other artificial sweeteners. His headaches soon stopped, and when he went back for another MRI in early Feb. everything was clear,--no more brain lesion, or beginning of a tumor or whatever it was. When I contacted the Dr. again by E-mail about a month ago, he said that several of his other patients, who had also stopped drinking any diet sodas, had all of their similar problems cleared up, too. There are several other articles which I posted last fall, perhaps when you were away from the List. Among them was one describing how Japan had banned all Aspartame for the last 10 years or longer. STEVIA is being used instead, and Japan is now cultivating the sweet-leaved bushes there. ----------------- To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame---Nutrasweet Date: Sunday, March 22, 1998 10:37 PM Had to send in my personal experience before stumbling off to bed.... I did have neurological symptoms that I feel were the result of consuming sugarfree desserts and drinks sweetened with aspartame. I had muscle tremors that made it feel like we were having an earthquake when I was trying to go to sleep at night. Since I completely stopped consuming any of these products the last 5 years I have had no shaking sensations... My son gets zero of these products. I noticed that when I ate desserts sweetened with aspartame the tremors returned. I think the stuff is VERY questionable. ----------------- Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 23:48:33 GMT To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspertame Adverse Reaction I would like to add my own story to that of the growing list of people who have suffered adverse reactions to aspertame. My story is actually an old one. Back when the cola companies first started putting nutrasweet in their drinks I decided that it was a good time to begin the use of artificial sweetners. Up until then I had avoided diet sodas because I didn't like the taste of sacharin. Well, I came home with my first can of diet Coke. I drank it with dinner - around 7 p.m. At around 10 p.m. as I lay down beside my husband to go to sleep I bagan to feel strange. It felt as if electricity was building up in my limbs and the next thing we knew I was having seisures in both arms and both legs. My limbs jerked around uncontrollably. My head swung from left to right as I lay on the bed. My husband was very upset; so was I. The seisures continued intermitantly for two hours, lessening with intensity as the time went by. I told my husband that I thought it had to be the soda doing it to me because I'd never had any kind of seizure in my life. Needless to say I did not have any more of the Diet Coke. I allowed a month to pass. During that time my husband waited to see if the seizures would reoccur. They did not. I, was convinced that it was the aspertame; he was not convinced. As an experiment, after one month had passed, I purchased a diet-Pepsi. I drank it in the presence of my husband one Saturday afternoon. The adverse reaction proceeded just as it had the month prior with the diet-Coke. After wating a few months I tried diet 7-UP. I really did want to lose weight without giving up sodas. Again, the same reaction as the first two instances. ----------------- Subject: Re: Do you drink crystal light? Date: 27 Mar 1998 12:58:40 GMT Newsgroups: alt.med.fibromyalgia >NO!!! I sure don't! I did when it first came out(I was in about 10th >grade),and it made me very sick. I was using it in everything-"Diet >coke" "Extra" gum "Equal",etc..... Finally my doctor figured out that >I was most definitely allergic to it. It gave me intense >headaches,blurred vision,balance problems(which was very embarrassing as >a member of a dance company!) and many other problems which I can't >remember now due to the "fog" in my head! Anyway, I abruptly stopped >using it and felt much better immediately. I avoid it now for those >reasons, but I don't entirly trust it as "safe" either. That's my >personal opinion. I'm not a person that trusts chemicals much,drugs, or >altered food. So that's my 2cents! I don't use anything with Nutrasweet either - soon after it came out, I tried it and twice got quite sick from it. Once waas a headache, body aches and the other time, it made me throw up! So I think I'm allergic to it. We just don't *know* longterm what the affects of that are. I discourage my hubby/kids from having lots of the stuff too. Real sugar has been around a long time, so we know more about that! I really don't like soda/pop at all - don't like the bubbles. I'm still on my apple cider trend adn thinking that the FMS might be causing that. As long as the store keeps carrying it - every half gallon I wonder if that'll be the last, but they still have it, so I'm thankful for that!! ----------------- To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Questionairre Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 16:13:00 -0600 Medical problems that you believe are caused from using aspartame: I have experienced severe abdominal pain, bloating, feeling of being tremendously full all of the time even though I would hardly eat. Pain to the point of not being able to bend over. Regurgitation of food. I would become tremendously gassy. Why do you feel aspartame caused these problems? Because this went on for over one year. I thought I had a food allergy. I slowly began to eliminate foods that I felt could be causing it. I eventually had eliminated almost everything. It was by accident that I did not consume any asparatame one weekend, and felt better than I had in over a year. I thought it could be it, and completely stopped consuming it. I have not had one symptom since. Did the symptoms go away when you stopped using hte products? Yes, 100%. Did you see a doctor about symptoms? Yes, they ran numerous tests. Sent me to a digestive healthcare clinic. Put me on medications that required me to take up to 12 pills a day. I am not one to take medication, so I continued to attempt to figure it out on my own. Did Doctor think it was related to aspartame? No, I did mention it one time, but he did not feel that was it. Did you report your symptoms to the FDA or any other group? No, I have read a lot about affects of aspartame since I was so sick, but did not know where to report to. Specific products I was consuming: Crystal Light approx. a pitcher a day NutraSweet in every cup of coffee I would drink (2-Cups/Day) Trident ( I would chew a lot of gum) (1/2 pack/Day) Equal - on my cereal in the morning (1-Bowl / day) Sugar-Free Jolly Ranchers Sugar-Free Frozen Yogurt (1-Cup per day) I have since found other products (ie. gum) that is not sugar-free but contains asparatame yet. I look at every label now. I probably started experiencing these symptoms soon after using the products. I am very health conscious, so I began adding more to my diet over time. The symptoms definitely got worse overtime. I have consumed on occasion without my knowledge, small amounts since I have given it up. I can tell immediately, that my body cannot tolerate it. I am so against the use of it since I became knowledgeable of it making me so miserable for so long. I would just cry because I was so uncomfortable at times. It began to interfere in things I would do, I wouldn't go places. I truly believe that this product should not be on the market. I would be interested in any information related to my experience that you might have. ----------------- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 08:38:43 -0500 Newsgroups: alt.support.diet Subject: Re: Nutrsweet Lies hi...i read your post and thought id tell you my story the short version.I drank 5-6 16oz of diet soda a day im small 100lbs (not anymore but i was)ive been doing this for atleast 3yrs.anyway about 8 months ago i got ill dizzy,weakened immune system trouble swollowing,tired etc...drs couldnt find anything so i took it into my own hands i was havind tachycardia so i gave up caffiene still drank diet sprite nothing well time went by and tuesday i gave up nutrasweet well can i tell you my dizziness thats been plaguing me day and night is almost gone of course my immune sys. is still shot but i heard it can take 60 days to detox im taking detox herbs to speed it along this cant be coincidense.just wanted to tell you my story (as you can tell by my spelling my fog has not tottally lifted yet) ----------------- Subject: Re: xxxxxxxxxx approved in U.S.! To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 21:03:22 -0800 Newsgroups: alt.support.diet I don't know about Nutrasweet being bad for every one, but I know that it makes me deathly ill. Headaches, sick to my stomach, really raunchy taste. But I am one of those that just can't stomach it. My mom has been using saccharine and aspartame for years and she is just fine. ... When I was 16 my step mom told me that I had to drink it, and told me it was a matter of taste and sat me down and made me drink a 6 pack of diet Pepsi...I ended up in the hospital with gastric distress, that was the last time I willingly drank it. One sip and I am wanting to heave. ----------------- To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: aspartame problems Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 18:46:06 -0600 I am a 37-year-old teacher, who has always been in good health. .... I eat healthy foods, but I have one bad habit. I began drinking Dt. Coke three years ago, and I am up to two 20 oz. Diet Cokes per day. I don't drink coffee or tea, so my Dt. Coke habit began as a want for caffeine. I switched to caffeine-free Dt. Coke after one year of the regular diet kind. Unfortunately, about six months ago, I began having terrible headaches. I would go to sleep with one, and wake up with one. I didn't seem to have any organic reason why I was having them. Everyone seemed to think they were stress related, BUT I really felt happy - my career and colleagues are great, my husband and kids are fantastic, our money situation is better than ever -- why would I be stressed? On a hunch, I gave up pop. Within 10 days, my headaches went away. After being headache-free for a few weeks, and I guess, finding it hard to believe that pop could cause problems, I went back to drinking caffeine-free Diet Coke. Then three weeks ago, I began to have light flashes occur in my eyes. I thought it was our fluorescent lights we have in our classroom, which seem to shine brighter on dark, dreary days, and the reflection off of the dozens of mostly white papers I grade on a daily basis. My eyes need a rest, I thought. Then it happened two more times, once when I was at home. When the flashes occur, I can't see in the center of my eyes, only around the edges, and the flashes are as bright as photographic bulbs. I have a check-up next month, so I thought I'd bring it up then, since otherwise I was O.K. It was strange, too, and I didn't want anyone to think I was hallucinating, etc., etc. This week, I have had constant heart palpitations. These frighten me, enough that I mentioned it to family members and even a colleague of mine. I have no pain -- just frequent heart "fluttering." I have read enough to know these symptoms are related to certain health problems (and my brother is a doctor, which helps!) I have no thyroid problems and my blood sugar level is fine. I have a doctor's appointment in a few days, but, being a teacher, I'm naturally curious. So I thought about my lifestyle (I don't smoke, drink, or do drugs), my eating habits, etc., and looked for excesses. Dt. Coke, of course! I followed a hunch and did a search on "aspartame." I'm going cold turkey on the Dt. Coke. I'll let you know when or if the palpitations stop, or if another cause is found. I would have never thought that diet soda could be toxic. I guess I'll find out first hand if my fears are correct. Why hasn't this been brought out before? I'm beginning to feel like a victim. [update] To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 20:19:27 -0600 I stopped using all products containing aspartame on February 11, 1998, after suspecting caffeine-free Dt. Coke was making me sick. I drank some as a "test" on Friday, February 20, and got really sick. I also tried tea (not herbal) on Feb. 25 to see if it triggered anything. It didn't affect me. Still thinking it a coincidence, I tried caffeine-free Dt. Coke again on March 9th, but only four sips. Yikes! Was that a bad decision! I'm just glad I have strong willpower, because I feel now that I was addicted to Dt. Coke. This and the fact that it has made me so sick, has frightened me enough to give it up for good, plus other aspartame-containing products. I've never drank alcohol or tried any addicting drugs, but I feel that Dt. Coke is as addictive and dangerous. I'm telling everyone I know to be careful of what they eat and drink. My colleagues cannot believe this has happened to active me. I still have some heart palpitations now which occur randomly (not specifically after exercise or eating, they just occur in an irregular pattern) even though I am now on 200 mg. Lopressor per day. My memory is improving slightly, although I think I may be compensating for my problem somewhat (more lists, sticky notes to myself, etc.). The sensitivity to light, and light flashes have stopped so far. My doctors want to do another thyroid scan next week. I'll update you. Thanks for the information! I'm glad there are people out there who care! ----------------- Subject: [LC] aspartame dangers Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 19:32:11 -0800 Mailing List: LOWCARB-LIST@maelstrom.stjohns.edu > If you do some searching on nutra sweet you will find many articles > detailing the side effects of aspartame including increased risk of > brain tumors, and numerous other health problems resulting from > methanol and formaldehyde released during digestion of nutra sweet > or aspartame. Last year, I developed Bells Palsy (I did recover) and then I got Shingles. both of these have to do with nerves and run along the path of nerves. You only get shingles when extremely run down such as the elderly or cancer patients. I was 36 years old. this scared the s?&* out of me. I started doing some research and discovered all the "BAD" things nutrasweet can do. It can mimic MS which both Bells and shingles are symptoms of. I did have an MRI which ruled MS out. I stopped it cold turkey. .... I was drinking gallons of diet iced tea a week. enough. Never again! I also felt like a cloud had been lifted off of my brain within a few days of stopping it. ----------------- Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 14:31:19 -0500 (EST) To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: You're a victim of mass poisoning I am SO angry.... I and my 10 year old son have been off of this since August and almost all my symptoms are gone! He no longer has asthma and now no longer needs to wear glasses!!!! I don't have to wear glasses either!!!! But those are minor. I have been using Nutra Sweet for at least 7 or 8 years!!! I had gained weight! I now only weigh 118-120 (I am 5ft 2in), I have been up to around 200 lbs, and using this to LOSE!!!! I had Endometreosis and Menstrual problems...Had a Hysterectomy at 24, developed Hyperglycemia and so increased the Aspartame intake. Soon after I started having bladder and bowel problems. Had a colonoscopy...to examine my insides and bladder surgery to diagnose. I was told to have Chronic Spastic Colon Problems, and that I no longer had a bladder lining...a condition called Interstistial Cystitis. The symptoms are blood in the urine...pain...and no infection. I have been treated for all of the above for 7 years. They only worsened. Then about 4 years ago I started have major muscle problems. I was constantly in a fog, and falling down and running into things. My legs would give out while I was walking. My knees could not hold me up. At this time I only weighed about 145 lbs. Finally, I was pre- diagnosed with MS. I was sent to a Nuerologist for extensive tests. Including a spinal tap and MRI and Brain electrode testing. MS was not the problem. My muscle Spasms in my back got so bad that I was bed ridden and having to be carried to the bathroom. The pain was almost unbearable. I was then diagnosed with Fibromyalgia by 3 separate Drs. My memory loss became a joke to the whole family. And I use to sit down and feel like I was in a well looking out into the world...a sort of sur-real feeling. I was lossing hair, and having allergy problems, and constantly in pain in my abdomin and back. I finally decided to get healthy and started "working out". I ended up in the hospital for heart palpatations and chest pain. I would have tremors that no one could control. I was told they were panic attacks, but over what, I would ask? I would be asleep and wake up in tremors! Someone mentioned this info to me, and so I cut down on the aspartame, just because I was willing to try anything. I joined a weight loss class called weigh down. She said that your body basically metabolizes everything natural and to just try to eat "Real" food and not the diet foods with artifical fat and sweetners. This would allow your body to work natuarally. I started this in June. I finally quite all nutrasweet in August. By December I am almost totally well. I am no longer in pain and not in need of ANY medication except for hormones for the hysterectomy. I am 32 now. This has made me so angry! I am warning everyone, and intend to contact my insurance company....since they have helped me foot the bills. No one can however give me back the quality of life I lost during the last few years. Nor can they make up for all the pain and the tests I had to endure. I feel betrayed, and yet I am so glad that there is information out now before it is too late. I am thankful my son is off of this stuff, and I pray he will be ok in the future. Thank you for all you are doing. Let me know what I can do to help. ----------------- CompuServe Natural Medicine Forum, Corner Juice Bar[1] Re: Aspartame: Nutrapoison? Mon, Dec 15, 1997, 8:20 PM Message # 274332 I was intrigued by the posting for the conference Aspartame:Nutrapoison??, unfortunatly I was unable to make it. However, I have had personal experiences with aspartame that I would like to share. About 10 years ago my grandmother became ill and the illness progressed until it became so violent that it forced her to the emergency room. It began with flu like symptoms and progressed to the point of effecting her vital signs with boughts of extreme stomach illness. At the time of her hospitalization they were unaware of the cause of her illness because the symptoms disappeared shortly after her hospitalization. The correlation was drawn to aspartame when family members brought in "diet Ginger Ale" and the illness returned. At this time they determined that she was "allergic" to it. I had assumed at this point that it was not harmful to everybody, just her because of some rejection by her body. I myself was unaware of its negative side affects until recently when I had to seek several forms of treatment for debilitating migraines. It wasn't until a mere coincidence that my eye doctor warned me that the cause may be aspartame. I immediately stopped consuming diet soda and have been migraine- free for 8 months!! I have grave concerns however, because I have seen several primary care doctors and not one of them warned me of the possible aspartame/migraine correlation. Is there anyway that this information can be educated to the public, especially the physicians? ----------------- Date: Fri, 06 Feb 1998 15:54:15 -0500 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Aspartame + Epileptic Seizures My little girl was seven when she started to experience problems. She is a tubbly little thing - it runs in our family and always has. When I was expecting her I stuck to low call drinks and food. As she grew so did her wieght and one day I had a call from the school nurse about it. She referred us to a hospital dietician and the diet sheet told us to switch to low call drinks and low call foods. I followed all of this with gusto and got some artifiical sweetner as well. Within a short space of time she started to be not so well. Somethimes she was not with it and sometimes she would look real bad. She started to have funny turns and would lose the muscle power to one side of her face and loose her speech. Eventually she had a full blown fit that was very bad indeed. When all your information arrived it prompted much discussion. My eldest child told me that my daughter loved the artificial sweetner and if may back was turned she would help herself to a couple of spoonfuls at breakfast time. She always had her fits in the late morning! EEG's and Brain Scans produced no sign of any problems but she was and still is diagnosed as Epileptic. They gave her medication but it did not seem to have much effect. My daughter was pale with dark circles under her eyes and a blue tinge to her lips. She did not seem to be with it and she became breathless very easily yet they could not find anything wrong!! Life was awful but then xxxxx xxxxx Asked a question on the Net about this subject and you replied. When I read all the information you sent I was horrified. I threw out any and everything that had Aspartame in it. Three weeks late I was looking at a healthy alert child with vivacious bright eyes, rosy cheeks and red lips. She has never had a fit since and needless to say she now avoids anything with Aspartame in it. My daughter felt the improvement so much that she is convinced that this awful substance caused her problems. She has only ever been on a low dose of seizure controlling drug and we are finding it very hard to get the medical authorities to recognise that there is a realy high probability that this was the cause. Our family are convinced of it because we saw no improvement for some time after she started on medication but a wonderful improvement when we started the no Aspartame regime. Im sorry to have taken so long to let you know the outcome of your efforts. I have just gone on the net and the first thing I did was look you up. I just wanted to let you know that you have restored peace of mind for my daughter and myself and that I support your campaign to the full. Once again thank you so very much. [Update] Date: Sun, 08 Feb 1998 19:42:57 -0500 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Aspartame + Epileptic Seizures Thanks for your note and all of the information - You will never understand just how grateful I am for the trouble you took on that one night to send that information. I suffered post traumatic stress syndrome for two years after my daughter had her first fit and I am so convinced that we have the cause that I can now sleep at night. My eldest child has just had an eeg and guess what? it is showing irregularities - I feel so guilty because I used to drink this stuff when I was pregnant because I was always being nagged about my weight. I refuse to buy anything with it in and I now write letters of complaint to all those manufacturers who insist on putting this rubbish into non low cal products ie. normal orjage drinks etc. We only have mineral water and fruit juice in our house and I take every opportunity I can to recount our story to whoever will listen. As a result our local schools no longer give the children anything with Aspartame. So many people on this Island now are aware of the dangers of this substance. I will keep fighting the good fight and will continue to do battle with our local hospital - can you believe it? THEY ACTUALLY GAVE ME A DIET SHEET FOR MY DAUGHTER WHICH STATED THAT I SHOULD GIVE HER LOW CAL PRJODUCTS!! .... ----------------- Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: I took the test! Aspartame On Jan 1, 1998, I quit eating anything that had Aspartame in it. It used to be an important part of my diet since I have always been horizontally gifted. My first recollection of Aspartame was when Tab was removed from the market and replaced it with Diet Coke. (Who even remembers how long ago that was?) Since I have quit Aspartame I have noticed that my headaches have gone, my memory has improved and I think my current food management plan is successful because aspartame is no longer part of my diet. .... ----------------- Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 06:07:05 GMT To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame My story? I was drinking a lot of Ribena light (a reduced sugar blackcurrant drink) and using a lot of low sugar chewing gum in January this year. I started getting severe heart rhythm abnormalities (known as "ectopic" beats) which have stopped since I removed all Aspartame products from my diet. I feel I have a duty to let more people know about this poison. Do you have an info pack you can send? Is Monsanto likely to take legal action (or have they done so) against people campaigning against Aspartame? I'd be interested to take this one to court... ----------------- Subject: Re: [EARTHSAVE] Weight gain and aspartame Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 10:55:11 -0600 Mailing List: EARTHSAVE@maelstrom.stjohns.edu I don't know whether Aspartame weight gain was psychological or actual. I do know that I developed increasing headaches and vision problems due to Aspartame which I stopped consuming over a year ago. In its place, I simply changed my diet. That change did not mean drinking sugared Pepsi instead of Diet Pepsi. It meant changing from junk food diet drinks to a more natural diet without any added sweetener. I stopped consuming soft drinks, tea or cofee, and drank herbal teas that did not need sweetener, Mountain Valley Water (which I use for all cooking and beverages, even for my pets) . I've returned to eating fresh fruits and fresh fruit juices or shakes and avoiding anything with sugar or artificial sweeteners. Since I've stopped using Nutraseet, my vision is becoming better and the headaches have seized. In fact, I can now see with eye glasses that I used 6 years ago. Whereas, when I used Equal, I was contantly getting new prescriptions. Since I rarely buy food at the grocery store, the food I am able to buy is not yet contaminated with artifical ingredients. And, although I've had a weight problem for years, it is not due to buying natural food, but rather what I had eaten while also consuming Equal. I'm losing weight now. In the last two weeks, I've lost about 8 pounds. ----------------- To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Nutrasweet Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 15:37:16 EST I just read your long article on Nutrasweet. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which I attribute to chemical/pestacide poisoning which altered my immune system so that I was susceptable to the yet to be discovered virus that causes CFS. That's my educated guess after over a year of "internet study and research". Nevertheless I do have a Nutrasweet story. When Nutrasweet first came on the market in the '80s, I was drinking Diet Pepsi with nutrasweet and noticed migraine headaches were increasing in frequency and severity. On mother's day 1987 I had such a severe migraine that I thought it was a stroke. I was in my 30's so you can imagine how worried I was. I had a CT scan at the Wellington Regional Medical Center in West Palm Beach, and it was negative for a stroke, so they gave me some pain medication and sent me home. I have never had nutrasweet since then, and have been a fanatic about keeping my young children off of it. As the years have gone by, whenever I read something negative about nutrasweet, I am not surprised. It is sickening that most children's medicine has nutrasweet in it. It is a crying shame that you and others have been/are going through such hell, and ill health. All because of corporate greed on the part of Searle. ----------------- Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 20:51:36 CST To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re[2]: sendme: brain-cancer Yes, I got the information I wanted. Yes, I am a victim and I have known that for over 10 years now. However, I was unaware of the awareness groups as well as the other major side effects. As a child, I was misdiagnosed with hypoglycemia due to vertigo I experienced due to aspartame in diet soda. I was only 11 and they put me on a low sugar diet, meaning I actually consumed more NutraSweet and the dizziness continued. I finally lied to the Dr. because I was sick of appointments and being treated like a freak. I said they had stopped and went back to eating normal. After I stopped consuming NutraSweet, the dizziness stopped. ----------------- Subject: Re: Nasty lil toxin Date: 1998/03/16 Newsgroups: soc.singles.moderated Yup. Both with having side-effects and with digging through long list of ingredients to make sure that something I'm going to eat doesn't have aspertame in it. (A good indicator is if it warns phenylketinurics (sp) not to eat this.) My side effects varied. From food and sodas, I get nasty, nasty headaches. I really think it's had a negative effect on my memory, too. For awhile I tried to do the SlimFast thing, and the powdered mix gave me the most bizzare sensations--like I was kinda drunk but with a serious caffeine buzz. My insides just quaked and I could feel my blood rushing through my veins with each pump of my heart. After the second "meal", I stopped. (Note, though, that the pre-mixed, canned stuff doesn't have aspertame, just the powdered mix.) I even get headaches now from breathmints or chewing gum that has aspertame in it. My suggestion for you (if you have to beware the stuff) is to avoid anything that has the word "lite" in it. Nine times out of ten, it'll have nutrasweet in it. You'll have to learn how to diet without using those products. (Which sucks rocks if you want my opinion, but, what else can you do??) ----------------- Subject: Re: please help Date: 7 Mar 98 16:15:54 GMT Newsgroups: sci.med I suffered for about a year with what my doctor thought was some kind of "chronic mono" or "chronic fatigue symdrom." In addition to fatigue, I had extreme difficulty concentrating, and felt like I never came completely awake all day. It turned out that my symptoms were caused by aspartame when I switched to diet soda, and went away within 48 hours of ceasing to drink it. The suggestion that it might be the diet soda came from a coworker, and I never expected it to turn out to actually be the cause. ----------------- http://www.wdworkshop.com/wdwd_frm.htm Re: Diet cokes SODAPHOBIA Date: 06 Mar 1998 Time: 23:51:39 xxxxxxx, You may be skeptical of the research and comments made on that particular web site - and sometimes I am also skeptical of everyone who always seems to want to be suspicious of EVERYTHING - BUT - I truly believe that aspartame is a bad thing for me.- and I no longer use it in any way, shape or form, nor do I allow anyone in my family to use it! I began drinking diet coke about 2 years ago - because i wanted to save some calories - even tho it tasted awful - i got used to it and really enjoyed it - then about 1 year ago i began having horrible headaches, foggy thinking even optical migraines (lost my vision for short periods of time) I never, never had a migraine or foggy thinking before - anyhow, did a lot of reading up on aspartame - and decided to give up my diet coke - this wasnt easy - i craved it - 3 different occassions i have tried some diet coke and all three times within an hour or so i developed a sever migraine and/or the foggy brain thing! that's all the research i need to know i will stay away from it forever!! sorry so long - but thought you might be interested in hearing from an "average woman" not a crazed person out to find bad in everything Praise the Lord for the wonderful things He has done in my life through WDW!! In His Love ----------------- Subject: Re: Ginea Pig Volunteers Wanted Date: 2 Apr 1998 12:09:55 GMT Newsgroups: alt.support.mult-sclerosis Thats a great idea, xxxxxx. I for one can vouch that aspartame played a major part in some of my health problems. I was a heavy user in that I don't really like hot drinks and I lived on Diet Cola. I actually felt it took a few months to wean myself off it. I missed it a lot. And an extra point, some chewing gum and sweets contain aspartame as well. I found mints that I never knew were sugar free and they had aspartame. So check the labels on stuff as well. ----------------- Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 14:02:44 -0500 To: aspartame Did anyone use alot of > this before CFS? Not before but after in attempt to lose all the weight lying in bed created. I got major urinary pain, but the urologist couldn't find anything. He even did a biopsy, because my bladder was covered with red spots like the beginning of lesions. He said, "It's going to turn out to be an allergy, I bet, but to what, I have no idea." By process of elimination, I discovered it was NutraSweet. No symptoms since. ----------------- Subject: Off Nutrasweet for two months.... Date: 26 Feb 1998 16:46:32 GMT Newsgroups: alt.support.inter-cystitis I had an epiphany about nutrasweet and quit using it two months ago and guess what? the tiny flareups i had a night are gone, gone, gone. not a twinge. just want to let you-all know... i observe all the other nutritional no-nos but couldn't say goodbye to nutrasweet. i have replaced it with the herb STEVIA which research shows to actually balance blood sugar, not wreck it! and i lost five pounds...wow. ----------------- Subject: Re: effects of aspartame? Date: 2 Mar 1998 16:20:42 GMT Newsgroups: rec.drugs.smart :Does this stuff give you somewhat of a mental block? :I'm hypoglycemic and i can't have anything with a lot of sugar in it.. :Around last october i started drinking lots of Sparkling soda, ice cream, :candy..etc. sweetened with aspartame.. and the last few months i've :been kinda.. blank.. unable to come up with new ideas and stuff, and :just bored. The same thing happened to me. I also after several months began to get slight dizzy spells. 3 or 4 days after stopping, I felt brighter, less bored, and the dizzy spells vanished completely. Now I use Sweet&Low with no ill effects. Unfortunately there's no ice-cream with S&L instead of sugar, so once in a while I indulge a little. It's still better than using aspertame. ----------------- To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 23:05:22 EDT Dear Dr. Friedman: My beloved wife Kelli died last month. She was 37 years old. She left behind an 8 year old daughter. Kelli died of a brain tumor. She was a heavy user of Aspartame. On a typical day, she would consume between 6 - 12 cans of diet cola. I used to joke to her that she drank so much diet Pepsi, that she should cut out the middleman and have them deliver the stuff right to our house. Her use of Aspartame did not end with diet cola. She consumed it in many products every day. Like most women, she was obsessed with watching her weight. I have heard representatives from Monsanto claim that the product is the most widely tested and safest product on the market. It's not a coincidence that the studies they quote to support their claim were funded by Monsanto. There are so many doctors and scientists who are questioning the safety of Aspartame, that it is time the FDA took action. I'm not a scientist, and don't claim to understand all of the studies. However, it seems to me that when you can find a direct correlation between the introduction of Aspartame into the market and a sharp rise in the number of brain tumors, it's more than a coincidence. It needs to be investigated. Lives are at stake here! I do realize that it's too late to bring Kelli back. I can't tell you the hell we went through for the past three and a half years. Her illness took a toll on our entire family. We will suffer from her loss for the rest of our lives. Dr. Friedman, please have the courage to stand up against Monsanto and the other big business interests trying to hide the facts. Get Aspartame off the market! ----------------- Subject: Re: Aspartame question... Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 08:13:20 -0700 Mailing List: ATKINS-NEW@maelstrom.stjohns.edu >Has anyone else on this list experienced headaches or a feeling that your eyes >were going to pop out of their sockets at night (when you're trying to go to >sleep). This latter symptom has happened to me twice and it doesn't hurt but >it is extremely uncomfortable and makes me feel like I have to hold my eyes in >w/ my hands! I toss and turn and can't go to sleep when this occurs. Very >strange! I had the same problem. At one point I was consuming either two glass or diet soda or copious amounts of powered drink formulas, all laced with aspartame. The headaches got so bad that it took two aspirins, twice during different time of the night, just to get a decent night's sleep! Finally, I researched the matter on the Net and found PLENTY of reports about the same thing. I immediately quit ANY drink, mixture, or envelope containing Aspartame or Nutra-Sweet. The headaches stopped and haven't returned. That's all the proof I need! As for Stevia, don't give up! Go to Web and look of "Paul on Sweetners" at http://www.split.com/fat/sweet.htm. ----------------- To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Aspartame Poisoning Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 02:48:38 EST I am off this poison and feel much better. However, my friends son is 37 and has been rushed to the hosp. twice now for severe chest pains and was just told that it is not a heart problem. He drinks too much diet soda. Hve you heard of Aspartame causing heart pain? I told my friend to tell her son to speak to the DR. about this. I understand he drinks at least 5 cans a day to control his weight. ----------------- Subject: Re: Other days off ......{was:NOT AGAIN!} Date: Wed, 01 Apr 1998 14:11:49 -0800 Newsgroups: alt.support.childfree > Not everyone has the option of "take a water pill and a couple of > advil" - I was originally put on the Pill because I had to spend the > first 48 hours of each period _in bed_ with what my gyn basically > considered labor pains while I bled through a "super" tampon and an > "overnight" super-maxi in an hour, passed huge clots, spent hours in > the bathroom with vomiting and diarrhea, fainted when I stood up. Boy, did this bring back horrible memories. I went through very similar months while I was in high school. What a nightmare! It turned out that it was my body's recation to aspartame (nutrasweet) and Diet Coke had just come out. ----------------- http://wdworkshop.com/_wdwd/00002f6f.htm Re: Daily Headaches Date: 28 Jan 1998 Time: 15:12:30 I am wondering how Cindy's cat scan turned out. I know she didn't mention anything about Nutra Sweet, but for those who did, I also have had an experience with it and it was most unpleasant. It was about 8-10 years ago. I had been drinking diet soda for a good while when I started having these spells. The closest thing I can think that they would be like is a stroke. I would start to get a headache, then become dizzy or light headed and pretty quickly too. Then my speech wouldn't cooperate with me. I could think of someone's name and see their face, but not say their name and I felt slurry too. I also would have pain in my left arm. I know this sounds crazy, but I experienced it. I stopped drinking diet things and it stopped. I don't have that happen anymore. I have to give God the credit for me being able to find out what it was. It had to be His hand and I sure do thank Him for it!! When I read these other posts about the Nutra Sweet, I thought I would share. Hope it is of some help to someone. ----------------- Subject: Re: Nutrasweet Date: 13 Jan 1998 23:43:03 GMT Newsgroups: alt.med.fibromyalgia Hi, I also do not have concrete info on nutrasweet. I know for me I get horrible headaches, extra foggy, and horrible pains in my stomach with any artificial sweetener. I finally talked my husband to try not drinking diet pop for one month. I just figured all his weird symptoms----rash on face at all times, constant sinus nasal drip, and bad breath had to be connected. Well, one week off of diet soda and it all went away. He has not had any diet pop for over a year now. I do not believe that putting that chemical in your body is good for you. ----------------- Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998 01:53:27 -0500 Newsgroups: alt.med.cfs Subject: Re: MED: other: chat Aspartame Unfortunately - tis the truth. I have a HUGE file on this stuff - BAD NewS! Avoid it like a STD! I fouled up back in the hot summer of 92, and was consuming a 24 pack of diet pop a week - tried to give up coffee - what a dope! After about 6 weeks of the diet pop - I found myself going down hill and it was only the beginig of July - This was NOT supposed to happen to PWC's at that time of the year.... the downward spiral is due here mid November - not mid July. I quit the diet pop, and within a couple of weeks was BACK to the level of activity I was accustomed to that April, May and early June. It you want a copy of the aspartame file let me know back channel - but I warn you - it is HUGE, VERY HUGE, HUMONGOUES even - really - it is one big blighter! Best wishes for an improvement once you quit poisoning yourself with EQUAL, (AKA - Aspartame)!!! ----------------- Re: MED: Aspartame Date Fri, 2 Jan 1998 14:12:21 -0500 Newsgroups alt.med.cfs I know from personal experience that aspartame, nutrasweet etc. gives me horrible, and I mean dreadful, migraines. Aspartame also stimulates appetite, I don't know where I read this, but I have read it in a paper or somthing. I have heard anecdotal that when aspartame heats up, it can become toxic to your body (like when the truck delivering bottles of diet Coke gets hot). I have also heard, on some tv program that it is causing serious eye problems. I will never touch the stuff again. ----------------- Date: Tue, 2 Jun 98 17:33 BST-1 Subject: Aspartame... the BAD news! To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx I'm 42, male, in reasonable general health (if slightly over weight) and run a small computer company near Oxford, U.K. I switched to Aspartame-based sweeteners in tea and coffee several years ago. Over the past 9 months I've been suffering from bouts of diarrhoea on an approximately twice-weekly basis usually without any apparent cause. Over the past two months these had been getting more severe with bouts lasting several days. Unpleasant and uncomfortable but not accompanied by vomiting or feeling really lousy as one might normally expect from food poisoning or a stomach bug. I tried various modification of diet (already having excluded almost all prepared foods in favour of a low-fat diet of fresh fruit, vegetables, chicken and fish) and exercise which made little difference Three weeks ago I read 'Aspartame... the BAD news!' and decided to stop using artificial sweeteners or products containing them. Here in the UK this was a pelleted and Granular sweetener marketed as 'Canderel' plus the occasional diet Pepsi or diet Lilt. I did this just as an experiment (I'm a bit of a cynic about 'Internet Scares' I'm afraid!). The diarrhoea stopped within a day and hasn't (fingers crossed!) returned. Bowel motions are now more normal than they have been for many months. I still have some digestive problems; I hope these will improve as the effects of Aspartame on my system dissipate and that there is little or no permanent damage. .... ----------------- Subject: Re: Anybody take this? Date: 16 May 1998 19:56:48 GMT Newsgroups: alt.support.mult-sclerosis I cut that garbage out of my diet in December. I found the dizzy spells I was getting have almost disapeared! I never heard of swelling as a side effect of apspartame, but I wouldn't doubt it! Dizzy spells, headaches, stomach problems. . .and now edema. That stuff is poison. ----------------- Subject: Re: ASPARTAME? Date: 09 May 1998 13:55:16 GMT Newsgroups: alt.med.fibromyalgia My own experience with aspartame (Nutrasweet) is that is gives me screaming headaches. Several years ago when I was dieting and constantly complaining of headaches, my neighbor (a nurse with an epileptic son who was also affected by aspartame) suggested that I eliminate the diet pop I was drinking . Lo and behold, that particular type of headache disappeared. ----------------- Subject: Re: Anybody take this? Date: 16 May 1998 07:24:43 GMT Newsgroups: alt.support.mult-sclerosis I found this spring that my feet were swelling for the first time in my life. My internist suggested I walk more (this during the rainy spring we are having in NYC--rain makes my legs feel like each one is encased in a 75-pound concrete block). I followed his advice, but the swelling persisted. Then I found the cause: diet colas with Nutrasweet, which I had just begun to drink. As soon as eliminated them, the edema (swelling) disappeared. I later read that aspartame (Nutrasweet and Equal) causes foot edema in some people. ----------------- Subject: headaches, non-migraine Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 09:51:06 -0800 Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs Aspertame (a.k.a. nutrisweet) gives me unbearable headaches -- it started slowly, and built up with my use of any diet substances containing aspartame. Within the first month after it was introduced, the insides of my elbows and the backs of my knees would be speckled with bruises if I had anything with aspartame in it, even one stick of gum. Needless to say, I do not use anything with aspartame!! ----------------- Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 17:59:06 +0530 Newsgroups: alt.support.diet Subject: Nutrasweet...my experiences I have struggled with weight all my life and I have tried most every type of diet out there. I have found that I have one really big problem with Nutrasweet. Every time that I use it, I get really bad migraine headaches. I have tried lots of different products containing it and they all have the same effect. I have family and friends that have the same problems with it. I know that if something gives you a bad side effect such as headache then it can't be that good for you! ----------------- To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: l-phenylaline ? Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 17:57:47 -0500 xxxxx, this is very interesting to me. I react badly to aspartame/NutraSweet. It makes me feel (mentally) something like a combination of caffeine overdose and a "fever delirium." High-speed, jumbled thoughts, with (physically) twitchy nerves and jerks... the mental part is similar to a "moderate" Anxiety episode. Any thoughts on this? ----------------- Subject: Re: Aspertame...??? Date: 1998/03/21 Newsgroups: alt.sport.weightlifting I lived for the best part of a year with an allergy no doctor could explain,a skin crawling and sometimes pins and needle itch you would not believe.I went everywhere to find the problem,I was told to just accept it and get on with life.I was taking antihistamines which made me drowsy and apathetic. I had lived away from home for years and the trouble started soon after moving back. My mother was putting EQUAL (a artificial sweetener)in my tea. My father had some put in his tea by accident and he got the symptoms. It took me a few days without Aspartame and antihistamines but the problem slowly went away.FREE AT LAST. ----------------- Subject: Re: Aspartame and MS Date: 26 Mar 1998 11:59:25 GMT Newsgroups: alt.support.mult-sclerosis Aha, panic attacks. Mine are gone (fingers crossed) and I gave up aspartame about three months ago. I'd been taking it in Diet Coke for a good few years. Don't miss it one bit. ----------------- Subject: Re: Nasty lil toxin Date: 12 Mar 1998 21:55:49 -0500 Newsgroups: soc.singles.moderated A headache? What I got was a technicolor headache with vision impairment and a feeling that I was going to die, die, die, and an emergency trip to the doctor. *Just* a migraine. (and now there's olestra) ----------------- Subject: Re: Melatonin (was sleep) Date: 25 Mar 1998 05:14:06 -0000 Newsgroups: alt.support.menopause I've had two classic migraines, including aura, both triggered by aspartame. Bleah. I now occasionally have a sinus headache morph into a migraine, less severe than the aspartame ones. ----------------- Subject: [LC] MSG/Aspertame ... long Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 09:53:47 -0800 Mailing List: LOWCARB-LIST@maelstrom.stjohns.edu [i] .... Ok, now to aspertame. While surfing the net about MSG, I ran across a site about aspertame and it's affects. Yeah, I've read that there are lots of controversy over this product, and I don't want to start anything with anyone about it, but I'm just going to state what this product does to ME and how it affects my life. In addition to all those nasty side effects *dizziness, brain fog, blacking out,* (I have experienced these effects personally) I have also found that the maltodextrin used as the filler for aspertame converts to MSG when ingested. SOOO, with that in mind, it is very frustring to also find that Sugar Twin (and the guy from the Stevia page has told me that the free sample that he is sending me) has that as it's first ingredient also. .... ----------------- Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 19:39:29 -0500 (EST) To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: RE: Headaches and aspartame Thanks for your email. I have been meaning to write to you. My wife has been off aspartame for approximately two months and has noticed a significant reduction in her headaches. The few that she still gets are much less severe. There was a definite change immediately after she stopped using the aspartame. The list of alternate sweeteners was also very helpful. It will take a while before all of the aspartame is out of her system. I am sure she will continue to improve. We'll keep in touch. ----------------- Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 15:32:18 -0700 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: re:aspartame I just received your story and was amazed. My husband drinks at least a 6-pack of diet pepsi a day and has no effects. However, since I quit nursing our son I felt free to again drink caffeine and started to drink diet pepsi. I didn't drink it every day and also drank regular pepsi. After a few weeks I noticed I started to get headaches, had trouble focusing my eyes and was getting dizzy. I at first thought that it was from the caffeine since I hadn't had much for a couple of years. I then noticed I only got symptoms after drinking diet pepsi. I wondered why but didn't think much of it, I just quit drinking it. Now I know why and it scares me because my husband and I have both allowed our 2 year old son drink small amounts of diet pepsi. Not to mention other drinks and foods containing aspartame. ----------------- Subject: Re: Aspartame Poisoning Date: 1998/02/25 Newsgroups: alt.support.eating-disord Nutrasweet has Aspartame in it, and Aspartame< thins out the lining in the blood vessels. For those who suffer from frequent headaches or from migraine headaches, this can become a serious problem, as the thinning of the blood vessel lining will produce higher levels of pressure in the blood vessels - especially those in the brain. I suffer from Migraines, and I'm Hypoglycemic. It took a couple of years to figure out why I was getting headaches after meals, et al. Fortunately, I did the research and consulted my doctor before I ended up blowing a blood vessel. ----------------- Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 17:23:15 -0400 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Problems with nutrasweet Dear xxxx, how in the world do we get the word out about the harmful effects of aspartame? I have had many symptoms for over a year now and I am doing better since I stopped using this poison. The national news media won't touch it , do you have and ideas? I am telling everyone I know and I am making copies of info off the net for anyone who will read it. Please advise, and thanks for all that you do on this issue. ----------------- CompuServe Natural Medicine Forum, Corner Juice Bar[1] Re: Aspartame test Date: Tue, Dec 16, 1997, 3:11 PM Message # 274430 About 10 years ago I participated in a double blind study of the effects of Aspartame at Duke University. I was asked to be included because I had complained to the FDA and some medical doctors interested in the substance's side effects. At the time I was previously very healthy, and I was consuming 10-20 ounces of Diet Coke daily. I started having migrane headaches (I didn't know they were migranes until my doctor diagnosed, I had never had them before), confusion, dizziness, memory loss, and I just felt very "old". I was only 25 yrs old at the time. I read an article about the "possible" side effects of aspartame, and it sounded just like me so I wrote to the doctor who wrote the article, explaining my experience. It was several months later that I went to Duke for the study. I was very concerned about the effects of Aspartame and wanted to contribute what I could to the cause, in this case I contributed my body! They checked me out head to toe, inside and out first, then gave me capsules to take each day. Some with Aspartame, some without. Then each day they ran many tests on me again. The results showed that I have an allergy to some chemical in it. I guess it is a common allergy, many people have it, therefore many people can have side effects to Aspartame. I believe this is only one problem with Aspartame, it is very much a poison to our systems, and should be avoided at all costs. Every person who knew me at the time I had the symtoms now avoids Aspartame, they saw what it does to a healthy person. ----------------- Date: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 07:09:40 -0700 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: ASPERTAME/NUTRASWEET STUDY We tried the NO ASPARTAME TEST! Here are two results: A. My brother is a company president, used to drink 4 to 6 cans per day at work, of diet soda. After I forwarded him your info, he quit. Then he thanked me, saying, I used to get KILLER headaches every day, now they are completely gone. B. I myself used to drink 3 to 4 cans per day, thinking it would help me lose weight. I quit and guess what, I LOST WEIGHT. What happened was, my stomach was no longer irritated by aspartame. When I drank diet coke, I would get a caffeine high and also a stomachache. To soothe my stomach, I would eat. Guess what, I have lost about 15 pounds without trying, because my stomach does not ache any more from the aspartame! ----------------- Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 02:04:50 -0500 (EST) To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: personal experience, Mission Possible Finland Hello xxxxx. This is xxxx from xxxxx. I wanted to share a personal experienre concerning aspartame. A couple of weeks ago I bought this rasberry juice concentrate. A week later I started to feel weird. I was tired out of my mind. I had problems with my longvision (it took time to focus my eyes on the object that I was looking at). I thought I was getting something. Then when I reread the label of the concentrate to my astonishment I noticed that it had sugar but it also had aspartame. I poured it down the sink and in a few days time the symptoms disappeared. I failed three of my exams besause of this. I was sitting in the examroom looking at my exampapers. I knew I could do them but somehow I couldn't get my thoughts organized. I think this was due to aspartame I was prepared for the exams so it wasn't because I hadn't read enough. I've known the negative effect of aspartame for a long time but this kind of personal experience is frightening and it motivates me to try more here in xxxxxx. ----------------- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 23:27:54 -0400 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: I am convinced I have been off diet sodas, diet anything with aspartame, for three months now and I can really tell an improvement in how I feel. I have now convinced my great aunt, daughter and several of my daughter's friends to get off the stuff and I no longer have it in my home. My aunt was having the classic symptoms you described and since she has been off it, she has not had a single headache. My daughter was a little reluctant, but being 23 has to be difficult, I think I can remember that far back. The one thing my daughter noticed immediately was the loss of water retention. Her face has now broken out, but mine did too. I told her that I thought it was the toxins coming out because after around 10 days, my face cleared up. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for informing me and others of what this horrible chemical was doing to our bodies. I salute your work and may God's blessings be upon you. ----------------- Subject: Re: Caffeine, Eggs, and Brie Cheese Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 19:27:10 -0800 Mailing List: LC-DIABETES@maelstrom.stjohns.edu I must beg to differ with you. There is something terribly wrong with NutraSweet. I drank lots of Diet Sodas for a long time, and always had terrible migraine headaches. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I went to drs. and then to a Special Chiropractor to fix me up. Nothing worked. Drugs just took the edge off. To no avail. Then one day my very concerned husband said stop drinking diet soda for a while. Guess what. My headaches went away. They have gone completely. When I try to drink something like Crystal Lite, the next day the headache is back with a vengance. ----------------- Date: Fri, 2 Jan 1998 06:58:32 -0500 Newsgroups: alt.med.cfs Subject: Re: MED,CHAT: Aspartame I have found that anything with Nutrasweet (aspartame) I think it's pronounced as/par/tame, gives me a"blow my brains out" headache. I can tolerate one diet coke or anything with Nutrasweet in it, without the headache, then real trouble. It has always made my sister very dizzy and she does not have CFIDS or anything else, Thank God. ----------------- To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 14:48:18 -0500 Appreciate your commitment to aspartame and its inherent problems. I worked for Coca-Cola for 25 years and understand what is happening. With a young family, soft drinks in the house was not a luxury but a necessity. We drank Coke and subsequently Diet Coke as a matte of fact. Sure I was aware of caffeine but as a devoted coffee drinker I certainly had no problems with the caffeine that was part of any Cola drink. I became addicted not only to Coca-Cola but most important Diet Coke. Inherent problems were written off as old age. I did not realize until I started reading articles on aspartame that there could be a problem. I quite drinking Diet Coke and my life changed. ----------------- Subject: insomnia and antioxidants Date: 1998/05/27 Newsgroups: alt.support.sleep-disorder .... For instance, MSG and Nutrasweet cause insomnia for me. .... ----------------- http://slashdot.org/articles/9806110829247_F.shtml Thursday June 11, @08:53 ... it's sugar free. And aspartime gives me a headache (as well as a bad aftertaste). If it were available w/sugar, I'd definitely buy some. --- Thursday June 11, @09:08 Finally, I don't have to worry about getting confused while popping Altoids and Vivarin and chewing the Vivarin...believe me, it's not an experience you want...I'd order a case if they came with sugar...Aspartame makes me nauseous... --- Thursday June 11, @09:56 These mints look promising but for two things. A) They're sugar-free. Aspartame is legalized poison. B) They couldnt possibly be as strong as Altoids. --- Thursday June 11, @11:44 Aspartame gives me severe migranes (about the only way I ever experience them!). Damn shame about these neato mints- I guess I won't be buying them any time soon. .... It's this witches' brew of poisons that actually tastes "sweet", not Aspartame itself. It's amazing what the FDA will approve for public consumption, isn't it? --- Thursday June 11, @12:07 I too suffer 12 hour migraine headaches after drinking a single diet soda. The first time it happed was after staying up all night playing "Empire" on the VAX-750 at Interactiv Graphic Systems back in 1984. When the sun came up, I got up from the ADM-3 terminal and raided the fridge for something to drink. The only choice was "Diet Dr. Pepper." I guzzled the 12 ounce can and started to drive home from Woodland Hills, California to Northridge, California. About five miles down the road I started to experience the worst headache of my life. I thought that I was going to die. But I made it home alive. I simply cannot believe that Aspartame is legal! Yet it is. --- Thursday June 11, @12:33 The engineering students at the university I atteneded would never drink the stuff. They called it "NutriStupid", because they could tell the effect that it had on their mental performance. I never touch it either, and you'll never catch me eating olestra, either. "Anal leakage" just doesn't sound like a pleasant side-effect. --- Thursday June 11, @02:26 Where can I find more information about aspartame and its nasty effects? I've stopped drinking Diet Coke (used to down at least 6 a day) and I feel much better for it, but I'd like a little more information to help my friends quit their "Diet Coke habit". ----------------- Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 20:09:09 EDT To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: aspartame Thank you for the aspartame information. I have migraine headaches when I ingest aspartame thus I try to make certain I do not eat or drink anything with aspartame. ----------------- Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 10:50:19 -0400 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: STAR list and Restores As I originally told you, each morning of my life for approx. 15 years, I consumed an entire pot of coffee with approx. 3-5 packets of NutraSweet or NatraTaste or Equal in each cup per day. Along with a high consumption of fat free yogurts, ice cream, etc. It is true, I craved sweets constantly. Since not using aspartame, I don't even use or want sugar or sweets. I actually don't even drink coffee anymore. My system is so clean, it only wants the purest things. ----------------- Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 16:23:40 EDT To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: I have no problem accessing your site. I just wanted to applaud you for revealing the problems with aspartame. I KNOW I have problems. I would be willing to submit to tests just to prove it. I have replied to several newsgroups about this poison, and hope, as I am sure you do, that I have stopped even one person from using this stuff. It should be labeled with a skull and crossbones, because it is a killer. ----------------- http://wdworkshop.com/_wdwd/00002e91.htm Weigh Down Workshop Encouragement Re: Daily Headaches Email: none given Date: 25 Jan 1998 Concerning your headaches...have you considered a possible allergy to Nutra Sweet? I experienced migraine headaches for many months, often drinking a diet soda when the headache started, thinking the caffeine would help the pain. A friend suggested the headaches might be related to an allergic reaction to Nutra Sweet. Apparently they were. I stopped using it in any form and the headaches stopped. ----------------- Subject: Re: Nutrasweet Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 20:40:28 -0600 Mailing List: ATKINS-NEW@maelstrom.stjohns.edu [i] To my point, in desperation I decided to ditch all discernable forms of nutrasweet, and am amazed at how much more my food cravings have let up (haven't thought about pop tarts all day long!). ----------------- Subject: \Re: Atkins Diet - Feel Sick - HELP Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 14:01:16 -0800 Newsgroups: alt.support.diet The nutrasweet and coffee might also be a problem. They can both be trouble for some people as they are very sensitive to it. I cut out the nutrasweet and went to stevia and I immediately dropped weight. ----------------- Subject: Re: Migrane sufferer Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 17:36:39 -0700 Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine Welcome to the newsgroup! I hope this finds you well. I too have a problem with nutrasweet, but not with my migraines - I break out in a strange rash around my neck from it. ----------------- Subject: Re: caffine Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 14:48:54 -0500 Newsgroups: bit.listserv.autism Whenever we give Nathan a regular soda (not often) he is a super great angel, behaving and sitting and happy. The nutrasweet in diet cokes is BAD and gives an adverse reaction. ----------------- Subject: [LC] equal knocks me out of purple Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 15:33:12 -0400 Mailing List: LOWCARB-LIST@maelstrom.stjohns.edu I had the same problem. My stepmother is a herbologist and acupuncturist and says that the nutrasweet can also stunt your weight loss. I don't have any real scientific evidence to support that, the fact is I lose more when I don't use equal or nutrasweet. Stick to stevia. ----------------- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: tamoxiphen I guess that is the test i am talking about....I don't think it is a problem with me though because I can not take anything with nutri-sweet or anything like nutri-sweet...It gives me severe headaches...So needless to say i stay away from anything like that...Also MSG gives me headaches...So i watch for that also... I am just learning about the milk...i have gone to soy milk... ----------------- Date: Mon, 02 Feb 1998 23:03:18 -0600 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: aspartame/phenylalanine I tried to quit diet Pepsi, cold turkey, and almost died when my metabolism essentially shut down. I was taken to the emergency room at a local hospital, and no one knew what was wrong with me or why I was drifting in and out of a consciousness. I'm now on oral phenylalanine (of my own doing) which miraculously reversed an almost comatose state and brought me back to where I am, now. I'm trying to get off of the phenylalanine as fast as I can; it seems like a horrible drug addiction. I've never taken any "drugs" in my life, but this seems as serious as any drug adiction I've heard of. ----------------- Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 21:58:37 -0400 To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: nutrasweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i to chring at the thought of people drinking/eating stuff with the ingredient known as aspartame............i find it to trigger my headaches...............besides people should realize that it leaves an after taste in their mouths as well...................alot of people still do not understand that nutrasweet is bad stuff especially ones that are prone to seizures too.............it's a chemical that our bodies can do without........the less chemicals the better off our bodies will be...........i'm a very concerned professional(health field)................ ----------------- Subject: Re: Aspertame (Was Re: Caffeine, Eggs, and Brie Cheese) To: xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 17:12:36 -0500 .... I must tell you and others that had it NOT been for the aspertame discussion, *I* would not have found out what was triggering my desire for carbs...it was the diet sodas. There have been topics of discussion that did not affect me either, but I am sure *someone* was helped by reading them! ----------------- Subject: Re: Atkins and diarrhea Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 01:18:19 -0500 Mailing List: ATKINS-NEW@maelstrom.stjohns.edu My gastro doctor told me several years ago that many people have a hard time digesting NutraSweet. At that time I was chewing a lot of sugarless gum (w/ Nutrasweet)....it bloated me and cramped me. When I switched to regular gum (pre-Atkins), I fared much better. ----------------- Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame I wrote you in August. I got off of aspartame on August 22nd. It just sent FDA a message, I hope it got to the right place. I couldn't find what I wanted. It had a comment page that I sent but I think it was for comments for Internet page. Here is what I sent to them: I am sending you notification that I think that aspartame is a very dangerous substance. It is what caused me to have slurred speech, lost most of my reflexes, dizziness, hives, balance and coordination, my heart would pound hard when I would be sitting, I had trouble sleeping, nightmares, I had to have help tying my shoes. I was having a terrible time concentrating. I had to have my daughter do my bills at work. I was tested for all kinds of things. I was checked for stroke, heart trouble, Lupis, Multiple Sclerosis. I had a Cat Scan, and a MRI. I had about $5000 dollars worth of tests, and the Doctors couldn't figure out what was the cause. I have fibromyalgia, and aspartame made it much worse. I have been in terrible pain for years. It took me about 70 days to get aspartame out of my system and now I am in less pain than I have been in for years. All of my symptoms left except one, I am still having difficulty concentrating. Please consider taking this hazard off the market. Since I have been free of aspartame, my husband and many other people have noticed that I am able to do many things that I haven't been able to do in YEARS! I had drank aspartame in diet drinks evetry since it came out. I had no idea that aspartame was what was causing most of my problems until I started doing research on what could cause slurred speech. I don't want anyone to go through what I have been through. I thank God that I found out before it was TOO LATE! ----------------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 18:40:35 -0500 (EST) To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: nutrasweet/hypoglycemia/seizures I am 26 years old and I have never had a serious medical condition in my life. Recently, I began having blackouts, feeling rather run down, and I was having frequent mood swings. I consider myself to be in excellent physical condition and watch my diet religiously. Not very long ago, I was taken to the hospital while having one of my supposed seizures, or blackouts. I tend to stray away from "seizure" because as soon as the word is brought up you are labeled epileptic. While at the hospital, I was put through all of the usual tests when someone is said to have had a seizure. The tests, C-T scan, MRI, and ECG, did not reveal any obvious problems. So, for lack of anything better, my brilliant(Hahh!!) neurologist diagnosed me with epilepsy. At the same time I was also having problems with my blood sugar being too low. He didn't even try to link either of my two problems together into a feasible diagnosis. You can understand that I was feeling angry, depressed, and thoroughly confused. It wasn't a week after I had been released from the hospital and I had another "seizure". My girlfriend and I thought back through the events of the prior days and nothing seemed irregular. While in the hospital my physician placed me on Dilantin, an anti-convulsive medication, and it was supposed to alleviate my problem. Obviously it wasn't working. My girlfriend and I then began thinking of anything that we had changed in our lifestyles in the last six months since these problems occurred. We found an article on the adverse effects of nutrasweet and became very curious. Then we discovered it. With our efforts of keeping a strict diet I began consuming large amounts of Crystal Light. I liked the powdered drink mix because by the package I just assumed it was flavored water. I never drank any diet sodas so I really never encountered Nutrasweet to a very high degree. Soon I was consuming 6-10 gallons a week along with my normal water intake. I did not experience any immediate problems, at least we don't think so. Then came the problems that I have discussed. Since then I have found a doctor that believes in my reaction to Aspartame, and has discontinued my medication. I am now trying to restore my life to the way it was before my Nutrasweet problem. Due to my seizures, my driver's license has been suspended for six months. ----------------- Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Legal Action against Monsanto I have been off aspartame for some time now and I have been under the care of a fine doctor to rid myself of the chemical. My confusion (getting lost on the way home) disappeared as soon as I stopped consuming aspartame. But it is apparent that brain damage has been done, because my memory has been seriously reduced. I have difficulty remembering the names of my students, or any other new information. I am considering a suit against Monsanto and/or the FDA seeking damages, but have not yet consulted an attorney. Are you aware of any law suits by individuals like myself against Monsanto or PepsiCo? I would appreciate any information you have that could be of assistance to me in this effort. Thank you for everyting you have done. If it weren't for you I would still be doing brain damage to myself courtesy of these criminals. ----------------- Date: Tue, 04 Nov 1997 11:07:52 -0500 Subject: Aspartame To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Let me first commend you and your "partners in crime" for the work that you do in reference to aspartame and it's ill effects on the human body. As a sufferer of aspartame poisoning, I feel quite strongly that you and your people may have gone as far as saving my life. At the least, you people are responsible for improving my quality of life by an exponential amount. I was diagnosed with type II diabetes a little over 3 years ago. Like a scared little diabetic, I was concerned for my health enough to make several changes in my lifestyle, to improve my overall health and to try to keep my diabetes under control. I began using Equal in my coffee,(4 cups/day) and I began drinking diet Pepsi, about 4 per day. I tried to use as many products with aspartame as possible. During the next 2 years, I lost 55 lbs, much to the delight of myself, my family, and my doctor. But during these 2 years, my health began to suffer, and I started experiencing many problems that no one, including my doctor, associated with aspartame useage. As a matter of fact, everyone, including myself, thought that most of my problems were my "advancing age" (46 now). The problems I had were as follows; indigestion (used Rolaids like candy), headaches, almost every morning,(used Advil almost everyday). severe mood swings, memory loss (mostly short term), my vision deteriorated, insomnia, and finally vertigo. When I began the dizziness associated with vertigo, I again went to the doctor thinking maybe I had a clogged artery to my brain. My doctor could find absolutely nothing wrong with me. He scheduled me for a "fasting" blood test the next morning. The next morning I took a thermos of coffee sweetened with aspartame in the truck, to drink on the way to work after the blood test. That morning, I felt great...no dizziness and no indigestion. When I got to work, bam...I had a dizzy spell. I thought for a minute as to "what did I do from the time I left the lab, until now?"....it hit me like a ton of bricks....an almost forgotten memory of the controversy over the approval of aspartame. I searched the Web and ended up at your sight. The rest is sort of history. I stopped using aspartame products, and all the symptoms went away, almost immediately, except...I fear my eyes are permanently damaged, and my short term memory has improved, but is a long ways from what a man my age should be experiencing. I am now on a "one man" crusade in work, to educate my fellow workers and friends to the dangers of aspartame. I have been successful with 4 individuals, who are now on the mend, and who also NEVER associated their medical problems with their use of aspartame. ----------------- Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 08:09:41 GMT To: MSLIST-L@techunix.technion.ac.il Subject: Re: Effects of alcohol? Now also Diet Coke I have had more than 1 doctor warn me about nutrasweet. Funny, I don't use it anyway... because my first time ingesting it resulted in hallucinations and the most incredible anxiety I have ever experienced. I ran into my mother's bedroom crying and insisting that my room was haunted. I told her that things were flying around and my digital display on my clock had changed from green to blood red and was dripping. Thing was.... I didn't even know I had had nutrasweet. A friend of mine had made kool-aid with it, and we had gone for a picnic at a fishing peer. I asked her if she had put "anything special" in the kool-aid and she said.... just "equal." I put it in the back of my mind, until one day (about a week later), I hear on the radio that there were people having bad reactions to nutrasweet, including hallucenations. I called the FDA that afternoon. They sent someone over to interview me, and gave me Searle's address (the manufacturer). I sent for more information and FDA reports and such. This was before the internet and before they began putting it into every diet food on the market. What I read about aspartame (nutrasweet) astounded me, and I never touched the stuff again. I got very habitual about reading labels and asking people if what they had given me had aspartame in it. I also made a point of educating people about it, as much as I could. My sister has had a seizure disorder since she was a child. The constantly told her it wasn't epilepsy. Oddly enough, her new neurologist and a second opinion just confirmed that it IS epilepsy. ROTFL (as if we didn't know). Anyway, she had been on her usual "epilepsy" meds for her seizure disorder (that still cracks me up) since she was in 3rd grade. Only one grand mal seizure when she was about 13. We felt that had to do with her getting her period the first time and the hormonal changes affecting her brain. From the time she was 32 or so, she started to have petit mal seizures again. No one could figure out why. Then, one day, about 2 years ago, she revealed to me that it was very common for her to drink 3-5 diet cokes a day. I was so upset. Here she was... just the person who shouldn't be drinking that poison!!!! and now she is having small seizures again? I asked her to promise me that she would quit the diet cokes and drink regular ones for 2 weeks.... just as an experiment. She hasn't touched one since, or had any seizures at all. .... ----------------- To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Aspartame Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 13:14:02 -0400 (EDT) Yes I am off of Aspartame completely!! Have been feeling good. Haven't had any seizures and have been able to cut back on my Dilantin. I am also cutting out caffeine now. Of course my neurologist won't admit that Aspartame has anything to do with seizures, he just laughs when asked that question. But I do know that I didn't have seizures until I was 19 years old, (after I started drinking diet soda) and am not having them now (off of diet sodas and all other Nutrasweet). My CT scan and MRI were both normal and doctors can't explain why I had seizures. EEG did show seizure activity, so I know I was not just crazy. I would be curious to see if my EEG is now improved. But that costs a lot of money, so I guess I'll just enjoy my new and improved lifestyle and keep my fingers crossed. Cutting back on the Dilantin has also given me more energy! ----------------- Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 22:54:11 -0400 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: xxxxxxxx Guestbook I have been plagued with unknown health problems for 3 years. Been to several doctors, had all kinds of tests run, and after the tests confirmed I had nothing wrong, and I was still having seizures, I begin to eliminate foods from my diet, I still had all kinds of problems, such as fatigue, heart palpitations, hypertension, abdominal pain, hair loss, memory loss, vision loss, to name a few, but the seizures were the worst. When I eliminated Equal from my diet 6 weeks ago, I have not had another seizure, and all other ailments except the irregular heart beats have improved. I wish I knew the long range damage of Equal to my body, and I might have a better outlook on life. Do you know a lawyer working on this for the people with damage to their health from Nutrasweet, and where can I contact them. ----------------- Date: Fri, 7 Nov 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Detox update - good news! I just wanted to let you know how I'm feeling after two weeks away from Nutrasweet. You may remember I had spoken to xxxxx xxxxxxx about a non-pharmaceutical for my excruciating insomnia - well, I no longer need one, as I sleep through the night now. The only lifestyle/dietary change I've made is the elimination of aspartame (Diet Pepsi, more specifically). I still consume caffeine every day. I was very concerned about gaining weight, because of my history of eating disorders, but so far, so good. I think I'm eating more, but haven't gained an ounce. The flashing lights in my eyes have settled down, and I can't wait until my retinal specialist examines me Monday - he's skeptical about the aspartame link, but when he sees my improvement, perhaps he'll be more convinced. My kids have noticed changes in my demeanor - I meet them outside when they get off the school bus, rather than them finding me exhaused in bed at 3 p.m. I'm also much clearer in the morning, and not prone to agitation. I'll keep you apprised of my progress along the way, and thank you so much for all the valuable information to which you have directed me. [update] Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Aspartame December 25 marked the last day of my 60-day withdrawal from aspartame, and I just wanted you to hear how things are going. I'm still having an awful lot of vision problems - legally blind. What is now apparent is that this particular part of my affliction my be life-long, because of damage to the optic nerve and retina that is irreparable. My eyesight "waxes and wanes", and the flashing lights sometimes make me feel like going insane! However, on a more positive note, I am sleeping so much better, and I do not feel the rage and ensuing depression I felt when I was using aspartame on a daily basis. My heart has stopped fluttering, my mouth doesn't burn any more, and I feel a little more "there" I have not experienced any more grand mal seizures, either ( you may recall I had four in the period between 1994-1997 with no history of epilepsy, tumors or massive head injuries) Monsanto has used the general population as guinea pigs, as far as I'm concerned. And in light of Fen-phen, Rezulin, and other drugs approved, then abandoned by the FDA, I am a firm believer that the FDA is not qualified to be a regulatory body when it it comes to the public well-being. To me, FDA approval is meaningless - as they say, you can put syrup on it, but that don't make it pancakes! ----------------- Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 16:56:50 +0800 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: allergic to sweetners I found your list of reactions to nutrasweet while searching for something else. I thougt I would let you know i finnally discovered the cause of my terrible itchy skin afer 4 monthes of lotions potions doctors and even a naturopath. No one could help it was only after discussing with someone the possiblity of it being something I was eating that I began a process of elimination. After one week of no I felt better after 2 no more symptoms. So now to loose weight I am exercising more. After reading your list I will now stop all my family having any. ----------------- Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: apertame >im a long haul trucker whos been driving safely for 20 years.last year >i was in a accident caused by a dizzy spell or seizure.i would drink >large amounts of coffee with a aspertame sweetner along with chewing >large amounts of gum containing aspertame.usually 8 to ten packs a >night.i believe my accident was a result of aspertame [updated] Im sorry i just read your last e-mail. I am fine. I dont use aspertame.honestly Im not happy about the lack of awareness about the problems with this piosen. im going to restart looking for a lawyer again in a last ditch attempt to hold them responcable for the dizzy spell that i had.I dont think the law firm Ive got for my workers compensation thinks its worth his time.but I know what happened. i know what i did to stay alert [chew lots and lots of gum with this product.and drink diet sodas .but in the end if it fails at least [thanks to your web sites] i know what caused my dizzy spell and also my wife and kids avoid this poisen to. ----------------- Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame and choking I try not to eat anything, chew gum, or drink anything that contains NutraSweet. A few years ago I realized that sometimes when I chewed gum, I would choke and lose my breath for several seconds, which is VERY scary. It then became apparant that it only happened when chewing gum with NutraSweet in it. I know only one other person that this happens to--we call that kind of gum "choker gum". Do you know why it affects some people that way? I read what you had to say about phenylalanine on the internet. Why isn't it banned?! It's disgusting! ----------------- Subject: Re: Aspartame Date: 1997/12/22 Newsgroups: bit.listserv.autism I also was interested in the aspartame post. I've taken myself off it for years because it caused migraines, irritability, cloudiness in thinking. I used to consume large amounts in college when I was trying to conform to the anorexic body image prevailing at the time. Now I wonder how many people out there are drinking diet Coke while conversing with their shrink! ----------------- Subject: Re: Aspartame Date: 1997/12/22 Newsgroups: bit.listserv.autism Thanks for the info. I took Logan off it totally about a year and a half ago, and his language and "with-it-ness" increased dramatically within a week. Been suffering ffrom depression for a couple of years now. Don't know why I didn't think of it. I am addicted to diet coke. Guess I am now "on the wagon" ----------------- Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Aspartame Poisoning? I have spent much of this afternoon reviewing, with interest, the material on your web site, along with that on the xxxxx web site and that of xxxxx, as well as the xxxxxx Web Site. This was prompted by a several weeks of ongoing severe headaches and throat irritation that had gone unexplained. I had come to the conclusion that perhaps allergies were at play, and started to watch for what brought on the symptoms. The last two evenings, symptoms were brought on severly by the same apparent cause: extra large, fast food Diet Cokes! Over the past 3-4 months, I moved from my prior job to create a startup business. I am a software designer and developer and have spent a great deal of time at home creating a new software program. As a result, my intake of Diet Coke has increased dramitically. However, I did not begin to expect this was a problem until the past two evenings. I have cut out these drinks as of today, and will monitor whether this causes the symtoms to subside. If you would like, I will report back to you after a period of time. Thanks you for your efforts to make this informaiton available. The first site I found was the xxxxx site. I was quite discouraged as I though I had identified the problem. Only when I followed my other search links did I realize the whole truth might not be there. [update] Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Aspartame Poisoning? Thanks for the follow up. Yes, I have sworn off aspartame since my first message on 6/22/97. My symptoms disappeared and have not returned. Frankly I was amazed. This has caused me to look more carefully at other stuff going into my body. Note that I did not give up coffee initially. This was on my list of possible causes also. Much later, I did give it up, but long after (months after) my symtoms had disappeared. ----------------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: NutraSweet victim some very disturbing information on Nutrasweet on the WEB a few months back. After reading the information I stopped drinking Diet Coke and diet sodas immediately. I had been drinking Diet Coke for about four years or so, pretty much on a daily basis (Meaning one or two a day). For about the last two years I had some increasing pain on the inside bone of both elbows. I thought it may have been an old hockey injury. I started to get very concerned when the pain was persistant and seem to be getting worse to the point of having great pain when lifting not so heavy objects. I remembered when I had started drinking diet sodas. That was the only constant variable in my diet in the past years. The pain got to the point of being too severe to ignore. I happened to look up on Nutrasweet on the WEB and found an abundance of negative information. One particular report mentioned that sore joints was one of the symptoms. I have not injested diet sodas since then and am happy to say the pain is 90 % gone. Coincident? Maybe.......I don't think so. I hope that I haven't done anything too irreversable at this time. I did coincidently drink a couple of quarts of freshed squeezed vegetable juice each week during those years. A friend of mine owned a juice store at the time and (like a bar) I would stop in a couple of nights a week for a :drink". During that time (approx. 5 years) I only had the flue once. (note: I am not a health or excersise fanatic) I am sorry about the long winded note, but I thought you might like to hear my story. ----------------- AOL/Allergies, Immune Disorders/Food Allergies Subject: Re: "Diet" Drinks Date: Tue, Dec 23, 1997 9:40 AM However, I have had a different encounter with Nutrasweet and all aspartame- based products. This summer I was diagnosed as not only having asthma/allergies (already knew that) but also chemical sensitivities to phenol & formalin (formaldehyde precursor). In my reading, I found an explanation for the aspartame reaction I had. Once ingested, there is apparently a reaction with aspartame in the intestines which produces formaldehyde. Even a small breath mint with Nutrasweet can make my bronchii inflame to the point where I can't even get enough air to speak. My face turns grey-blue, I get agitated (I usually stay calm during an asthma attack), and I'm exhausted for several days. Once I cut out all Nutrasweet, it stopped. Although you have not run into this extreme, you may want to look into chemical sensitivities. It's possible that you have run into a chemical sensitivity rather than a straight allergic reaction. ----------------- AOL/General Health Discussions/NutraSweet Subject: Help re: PKU sensitivity Date: Tue, Dec 23, 1997 4:05 AM I have had several episodes of sensitivity to Nutrasweet. I try to avoid it but have accidently ingested it in punches that contained diet sodas. It seems to affect my brain function & I feel irritable & edgy. ----------------- Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 Since that day that you wrote me I stopped completely the use of neutrasweet. My intake per day of this molecule was huge. Now, the dizziness is gone I hope that it did not kill too many neuron cells or created any genetic damage. What is very interesting is the participation of Dr. R. Wurtman in this issue. As long as it was politically convenient for him he helped the struggle against the FDA. When he needed approval from them for Redox (another medical disaster), Neutrasweet became O.K. It makes me very angree when he appeared on the CNN after 24 patients already were diagnozed with valve damage and stated that Redox is the safest drug on the market for this purpose. At the same time the damage to the neurns was showed in tissue culture. I am a scientist myself and I know how political and monetary advantages can change their scientific opinion and kill many people. ----------------- Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 21:16:50 -0400 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: aspartame Thank you very much for your time and devotion to this cause. In the first week of August, I was searching for a cause for my mom's neuropathy and abdominal pain. Thanks to your website I have an answer. I can't convince mom's doctors that this is the cause. Most doctors seem to be brain dead. They just think it is normal in diabetics to develop severe abdominal pain. Since I am convinced, I am going full swing into educating the public. I am going to hand out flyers entitled DIET COKE ALMOST KILLED MY MOTHER at the store where mom bought her poison as well as picket the FDA. My parents live about 5 miles from the FDA. I don't want to step on anyones toes. Let me know if you would like to in anyway coordinate my efforts so that I don't go off half-cocked so to speak and do no good! Mom has passed the 60 day mark with little improvement except her arthritic pain is gone and her B/G level is much more stable. She still has severe abdominal pains which is treated by percocet and weak legs. She is using about 1/4 as much insulin. She is confined to a nursing home because it became impossible for my 76 year old father to care for her. I have talked to so many people who are affected by this poison. I rarely consumed it but couldn't understand about 8 months ago feeling very strange every time I ate dinner at my folks. At one time I had to stop my car on the way home because of a rapid heartbeat. Thought I was having a heart attack. While writing this letter, I went outside to talk to a friend, a junk dealer named "Popeye". He told me about getting tunnel vision and convulsions after consuming crystal light at his brother-in-laws house. ----------------- Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: nutrasweet danger I AM xxxx FROM MEXICO CITY, SORRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH, ALL I WANT TO SAY IS, I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING IN THE WEB, FOR THIS POISON CALL ASPARTAME. NOW I KNOW MANY THINGS ABOUT IT, I AM AN HYPOGLUCEMIC PERSON, BUT I ALWAYS REFUSE TO TAKE NUTRASWEET. IF I HAD JUST ONE DIET COKE, I FELT REALLY BAD, CAFFEINE AND NUTRASWEET ARE LIKE A BOMB FOR ME. I AM AN AEROBICS INSTRUCTOR, AND I LOVE TO SEARCH FOR NUTRITION FACTS. WHEN I TOLD MY CLIENTS ABOUT THIS, THEY QUIT TAKING NUTRASWEET, AND BELIVE IT OR NOT NOW THEY IMPROVED, AND NOW THEY CAN FOLLOW THE CLASSES AND THE RUTINES MUCH BETTER. ----------------- Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 16:30:01 -0500 Newsgroups: alt.support.epilepsy Subject: Re: Warning to all with seizure disorders I don't know how it works with seizures but eliminating aspartame from my diet made my migraines go away..from an average of 3-4 month down to none ----------------- Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 20:06:49 -0400 (EDT) To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: So glad you're better When you last wrote I couldn't see any change in my health. Shortly after that, about 80 days after stopping aspartame, I am feeling much better. I may still have seizures, but I'm managing WELL on only 400 mg. dilantin daily. Before even 500 mg every other day was not helping. I hope to decrease the dilantin sometime and see if, by any chance, the seizures are gone. I will do that under my neurologist's direction. Right now, I do not feel like changing anything. Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 00:01:09 -0500 (EST) To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Re: Nutrasweet/seizures Got off Nutrasweet and am MUCH better. Thanks. Letitia ----------------- Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx Subject: Aspartame keeps diabetes out of control This is not very scientific but I wanted to write to you about my mom's experience with aspartame. She takes medication to control her sugar and never is able to get it under control. She also drank lots of diet soda and ate things with nutrasweet, jello, pudding, cookies, etc. The doctor told her to give it up and start taking shots. She decided to find a new doctor. About this same time. (Last April, I think) I got your articles via e-mail after reading about you and immediately called my mom. My dad answered and I told him about it. From that moment on no diet soda etc. And immediately her sugar count began going down and came under control. About 2 months ago she drank Crystal Light for 3 days. Because she had it around for my nephew and she thought what the heck. Well her sugar went sky high, so she stopped. Two weeks ago she had 3 diet root beers in one evening. The next morning, it was sky high again. I think she is now convinced. I wish we could convince my sister to stop (weight problem) and not allow my 3 yr old nephew to drink it. But she said she is cutting down. I did share the recent article with her about it affecting conception, as she is trying to get pregnant again. At least she didn't drink it while pregnant. Thanks for all your information and I hope this helps prove even more what you say. My boyfriend is a pilot and he has quit drinking any diet soda. He never ate foods with it, and he is sharing that info with other pilots. Keep up the good work and have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a Blessed Holiday Season. I hope my story makes sense. I am not a great writer. ----------------- Date: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 11:57:39 -0800 Newsgroups: alt.med.fibromyalgia Subject: Re: Caffeine, aspartame and sugar. Thumper I get a horrible headache and diarrhea from nutrasweet. It took me a long time to trace it back to diet pepsi. I read an article a few years ago that suggested nutrasweet had been linked in some way to some type of neuro problems. I don't remeber if it was brain tumors or strokes. Headaches were a symptom though. It seems to me that saccharin causes bladder cancer in rats. But like you said, the human equivalent was an outrageous amount. I don't recall the human equivalent in the nutrsweet tests. It is probably the same way. ----------------- BiSleep Discussion Forum http://bisleep.medsch.ucla.edu/discussions/clinicalP/messages/msgs00179.html RE: Subject:Nutrasweet & Vitamin B 12 for DSPS I would be interested in the Nutrasweet correlation myself. I have insomnia and a digestive disorder, The digestive problem got lots better when I stopped Nutrasweet products. The insomnia is always worse when my digestive problem is active so . . . I just am very curious. ----------------- Subj: Re: Aspartame and Immune Disorders Date: 97-07-14 23:27:10 EDT To: xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx I have not had aspertame for at least 6 months. I do drink regular sweetened drinks and overall feel better than before, hard to explain, but definitely there is a difference. ----------------- Subject: Re: Aspartame Date: 1997/12/22 Newsgroups: bit.listserv.autism I am allergic to Aspartame (I have CFS or ME) as is my son with autism. We both get a bad sore throat. ----------------- Subject: Re: Skipping Beats Date: 1997/12/18 Newsgroups: sci.med.cardiology Funny you should mention them going away. It seemed to me at the time, that they [the PVCs] occurred sporatically throughout the year. I went through the Holter monitor test and the doctor pretty much said that I didn't have anything to worry about. Since then, I started surfing the web and various other journals in the library. I have all but eliminated the following two chemicals from my diet; phosphoric acid (found in cokes, diet cokes and pretty much any caramel colored soda pop) and nutrasweet (equal, etc). The PVCs rarely occur these days (that was a year and a half ago). I still consume caffeine (2-3 cups per morning) and I exercise moderately 2 to 3 times per week. I am 34 years old and have a history of heart trouble (I was born with a hole in my heart - the hole was repaired but a severe murmur remains to this day). ----------------- Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 23:11:24 -0600 Newsgroups: alt.support.crohns-colitis Subject: Re: Nutrasweet question I was a frequent user of Diet Coke and used Equal for sweetening breakfast cereal. I gave it up about 4 yrs. ago. It seems to aggravate my guts and I have some very frequent, severe headaches. I seldom get the headaches now, but the gut problems come and go (CD for 18 yrs.) ----------------- Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 14:37:05 -0400 Sender: Low Carb Support List Subject: Re: artificial sweetners > I seem to have an intolerance to Nutrisweet whereby I break out all > over when I use much of it. I don't break out, but I have found that if I use more than a couple of packets a day, my gums will bleed. If I stop using it, the bleeding stops. I've decided to switch to stevia. .... ----------------- Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 20:22:46 -0700 Sender: Low Carb Support List Subject: Re: Headaches If I were you I would look to aspartame. It gives me terrible headaches - but it took forever for me to make the connection because they show up during the night after an indulgence and they feel a lot like sinus. I take one feverfew capsule every day now because I believe that the aspartame triggers the migraine type pain. .... ----------------- Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 21:44:53 -0500 Subject: Re: [FIT-L] Aspartame and appetite To: FIT-L@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU I too wrote a couple of postings to this list regarding the same subject. I am an active male, age 50, non-drinker, physical fitness devotee. I quit drinking four to six(average) diet soft drinks per day. I lost ten pounds! -----------------