posted 05-28-2002 12:00 AM            

It just seems odd that there are so many people who have either been diagnosed with possible MS, chronic fatigue and/or fibromyalgia who stopped using aspartame and had almost complete recoveries within a matter of months (sometimes weeks).. Any thoughts on the matter are most welcome..

posted 05-28-2002 12:37 AM            

Not in this house. Nor Msg and other things.

posted 05-28-2002 02:23 AM            

That made some improvement. But things eventually got much worse, until I had the dental amalgams replaced. Since then, I'm now much more suspicious of any toxin or chemical, and I'll never come close to them in any drink or food. My water is even filtered.

posted 05-28-2002 01:04 PM            

Funny you should mention having an adverse reaction after using Splenda.. I tried it a couple of months ago as a substitute for Nutrasweet and it made me feel really, really sick too (not to mention the fact that diet rite tastes icky).. I wonder if we're the only ones??

posted 05-29-2002 02:02 PM            

I did a research paper several years ago on aspartame (available from my FMS site, listed here on the board [somewhere!]). I didn't like it before the paper, but REALLY don't like it afterwards!

I confess that for many years I chewed sugar-free gum, but avoided it in all other ways. Pre-paper, I had a couple of seizures, and aspartame was suggested as one of many culprits causing them. TOTALLY aspartame (and seizure) free now.

Formaldehyde is one of the dread chemicals aspartame converts to when heated. Nice, huh? Just picture all those cans/bottles toasting their toes in all those shipping bays, trucks, docks, around the world! double

------------------
Copper
Let Miracles Replace all Grievances

posted 05-29-2002 04:48 PM            

On the subject of formaldehyde, not only can the heat of storage and shipping convert it, but I guess anything over or around 80º manages to do it too (which includes the human body!! ).. All these years, I thought I was drinking a frosty can of Diet Coke, not becoming an unwitting host for the manufacture of embalming fluid!!

Glad to hear you're aspartame and seizure free!! This is my second day off the nasty stuff and I'm still going strong!! I'm not putting any more poison into my body than I absolutely have to..

posted 05-31-2002 08:20 AM            

Has anyone ever checked out the sweetner called Stevia Extract?
What about it, anyone know?

posted 05-31-2002 10:03 PM            

I've been doing a lot of research lately on the whole aspartame/MSG/FMS connection and everything that I've come across about Stevia (with the exception of the FDA's lack of approval) has been really positive, but I've never tried it, so I don't have any personal experience with it.. From medical articles to natural remedy/health food type sites, they all seem to agree that it's a safe, natural sweetener and should've been approved by the FDA instead of Nutrasweet.. Problem is, I don't know where you'd be able to find it except for maybe health food stores..

posted 06-16-2002 04:01 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Creeping Crud:
I've been reading a lot lately about the toxic effects (some scary stuff) of aspartame (a.k.a. nutrasweet) and just wondered how many of us drink beverages or eat foods with aspartame in them, how much of it we consume and how long we've been using it.. Personally, I drink a little bit less than 2 cans of Diet Coke per day, but I've been drinking diet sodas and using it for 20 years (since they sent out those pretty little harmless looking gumballs)..

It just seems odd that there are so many people who have either been diagnosed with possible MS, chronic fatigue and/or fibromyalgia who stopped using aspartame and had almost complete recoveries within a matter of months (sometimes weeks).. Any thoughts on the matter are most welcome..

Take Care,
Melanie

---

Hi.. I remember those gumballs Bad Monsanto!.. marketing poison to little children. I chewed them and got sick,sick,sick.. a few years later my step mom, convinced that I'd 'get used to it' made me drink about 5 diet pepsi and I ended up in the ER.. yuck.. nasty, nasty, nasty stuff.. I am very much against it and the only reason it's FDA approved is because Monsanto, the company that makes it and markets it has it's hands deep in the pockets of the American governement.
So, MY FM is not caused by nutra sweet, but I bet much of what we see as FM and other diseases IS caused by it. There is gobs and gobs of information about the detrimental effects of it on the internet. Now, on the other hand, IMO *a* contributing factor for me in FM is white sugar, a substance that is just as nasty, really.. Read "Sugar Blues" by Patrick Duffy, among other books that detail what white sugar has done for the people of the world.

So, that's MY two cents
Mitzi

posted 06-16-2002 07:43 PM            

I agree with you. White sugar is bad. Before I linked my fibromyalgia symptoms to my dental amalgams, I started trying to eat healthy. I first eliminated all sweets. I did every healthy thing that I could, just trying to survive, until one day I discovered the link.

To this day, I won't eat those sugary things. It's so gross, what we put in our bodies. I won't even go close to those gooey sugar coated donuts anymore. Yuck!

posted 06-16-2002 08:00 PM            

I'm now 2½ weeks aspartame free.. I also cut out MSG (which, might I add, was a lot more difficult considering all of the products out there with MSG in them - no more Doritos or Stove Top Stuffing or Hidden Valley Ranch dressing or Campbell's Tomato Soup for me).. Considering how small the sacrifice was, I'm feeling remarkably better.. I have more energy than I've had in ages, the fibrofog is starting to lift and I haven't been as dizzy or lightheaded (which are all major improvements in my book)..

It amazes me that something as seemingly inconsequential as drinking diet soda and consuming products laden with MSG might be responsible for the degree of my illness.. Why don't more rheumatologists suggest that their patients with FMS cut out these obviously wicked substances? It would've saved me a lot of trouble and years of feeling subhuman if I hadn't had to do all the research myself..

Sigh.. Oh well.. Just thought I'd fill you all in on my improvement (even if it's destined to be short lived)..