Hypothetical Question for those who Believe in Aspartame Poisoning

[Macrina]

Let's say you have 2-4 diet sodas daily for 2 years, and then you quit. And let's say your 25 pounds overweight and start losing weight quickly (like 2 pounds a week) and you start experiencing a variety of weird symptoms that no doctor can find any explanation for. Since aspartame is supposedly stored in fat cells do you think the unexplainable symptoms could be explained by aspartame poisoning as a result of fat being burned so quickly? :bigear:

Edited June 23, 2010 by Macrina

[Once Again]

Yes, I'd say that it's a real possibility.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

Well I have heard of various other toxins stored in fat cells and crazy things happening when that person started losing weight and burning up those cells, SO, yes, I could see that as a possibility.

[lisamarie]

Now you have me intrigued. I drink 2 cans of dt soda a day and keep thinking I should knock the caffeine habit. What sorts of symptoms are you talking about?

[eternalknot]

Sounds like your body is detoxing, whether from aspartame or something else, due to the sudden fat loss.

 

Whatever it is, congratulations and good luck on your journey towards better health!

[DesertDweller]

I'm not sure. I have symptoms when I drink Aspertame. I found when I quit drinking it they went away. Not the other way around.

 

I do know that artificial sweetners can have the same effect on your appetite as regular sugar. People usually think that by drinking diet sodas they're doing themselves a favor, but instead, it can cause your body to still have cravings and a desire to snack on sugary foods just like sugar does.

 

I have read that weight loss can cause a change in hormones. I seem to remember reading that estrogen is stored in our fat cells and is released into the body when losing weight. I would be more inclined to think that is the culprit instead of Aspertame.

[JMDRAD]

I usually don't post on this board but your remark about aspartame poisoning caught my attention. Here's my story: Nearly two years ago I became pregnant and started having intense headaches. Nothing would take care of the pain. I figured out that my daily diet cokes were causing them. I immediately quit using all artificial sweeteners including splenda. I started drinking a lot of water and unsweetened ice tea. Within days my headaches stopped. Within two weeks my panic attacks stopped, my irritability and anxiousness were gone. I felt like a new person. When a situation came I was able to think and reason rather than react.

 

I know that not everybody has issues with aspartame but it is like a drug to me. I actually had a diet coke two days ago for the first time to see what would happen. I started craving them and became very agitated and shaky.

 

Good luck with your research!

[Parrothead]

Yes, be careful with weight loss and exercise. The toxins are being released back into your system. It will take a while for the toxins stored in your fat cells to dissipate. Drink lots and lots of water while exercising.

 

Detoxing can be a very long process, but it will be so worth it.

[DesertDweller]

I usually don't post on this board but your remark about aspartame poisoning caught my attention. Here's my story: Nearly two years ago I became pregnant and started having intense headaches. Nothing would take care of the pain. I figured out that my daily diet cokes were causing them. I immediately quit using all artificial sweeteners including splenda. I started drinking a lot of water and unsweetened ice tea. Within days my headaches stopped. Within two weeks my panic attacks stopped, my irritability and anxiousness were gone. I felt like a new person. When a situation came I was able to think and reason rather than react.

 

I know that not everybody has issues with aspartame but it is like a drug to me. I actually had a diet coke two days ago for the first time to see what would happen. I started craving them and became very agitated and shaky.

 

Good luck with your research!

 

I drank diet coke for years. As I got older, I found myself with headaches, breast pain, memory loss, and diarrhea whenever I consumed too much. The memory loss really through me for a loop. It was like my mind just skipped for a milli-second. I also would go to introduce someone that I knew well and forget their name.

 

I finally made the connection and quit. Now, I avoid it at all costs. I can tell a huge difference.

 

No, it doesn't effect everyone, but it sure does me. I have a few symptoms if I drink too much caffiene as well and have to be careful to limit myself to a cup or two of coffee. Other than that, I usually stay away from that too.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Um - I don't know why someone wouldn't believe in Aspartame poisoning. Aspartame poisoning is not like the Easter bunny or the Great pumpkin - it is not something to be believed in; it is very real. I was diagnosed with this three weeks ago and it has been a highly problematic, extremely painful thing to have. I spent 8 weeks visiting 3 different specialists and had many tests and procedures in order to determine what the problem was. It is easy to diagnose once the doctors are on the right track. A hair analysis will show the levels of toxins and give a timeline for the amount of toxins in your system. Some insurance companies pay for the analysis, some don't.

 

My toxicity levels were reached within weeks of my starting Aspartame. I have never been a diet soda drinker but I began drinking Crystal Light earlier this year. I became sick with symptoms about two months later.

 

Aspartame toxicity is tied to the body's ability to process phenylalanine, the same thing being tested for with the PKU blood test for infants.

 

I am on day 17 of my detox. I have been informed that as I lose weight my symptoms might return since the Aspartame that has been stored in my body will be released. I am praying that since I only consumed the Aspartame for about three months I won't have too much stored.---

[lisamarie]

http://www.ehow.com/about_5246134_symptoms-aspartame-poisoning.html

 

Well this puts a new light on some of the issues I've been having over this past year. My dr blamed all of my symptoms on a vit D deficiency, but taking mega doses of vit D didn't make them go away.

[Satori]

Well I just did that. I lost some weight and gave up diet sodas, and went to a strict detox retreat. I definitely had symptoms. I was very cold all the time and felt like my skin was sweating out toxic stuff (or doing something weird anyway). My tongue in the mornings was coated with an icky residue.

 

I drank a lot of water, took milk thistle supplement and ate only leafy greens and vegetables for almost a month.

[Macrina]

Now you have me intrigued. I drink 2 cans of dt soda a day and keep thinking I should knock the caffeine habit. What sorts of symptoms are you talking about?

 

The most distressing one is breathlessness- not with activity. Just whenever. Most noticeable when I am sedentary actually. Before I understood it is caused me anxiety and I hyperventilated two times. I don't have a history of anxiety or panic so it was really upsetting for me. I've been seeing a therapist just for "maintainance" and she said my symptoms do not seem anxiety based. I just have this almost constant feeling like a can't get a full breath. Also get this times where I want to yawn insistently, but the yawns are "stuck". Most of the bothersome symptoms are repository based. Got an EKG, did a 24 holter monitor, saw a cardiologist, got a chest extra, don't have asthma. I've had 4 dr's say I am 100% healthy. I have some high thyroid antibodies but I am not hyper or hypo and my mono spot test came back positive, but I don't have any mono symptoms.

 

My disturbing symptoms SEEM to be worse on days I work out and the days I eat less.....making me think about fat burning and de-toxing.

[LizzyBee]

Um - I don't know why someone wouldn't believe in Aspartame poisoning. Aspartame poisoning is not like the Easter bunny or the Great pumpkin - it is not something to be believed in; it is very real.

 

When I lived in Baltimore, I went to the same church as a UMD science professor who was involved in the aspartame testing leading up to FDA approval. She won't use aspartame because it is a neurotoxin, and she says it should never have been approved. OTOH, saccharin comes with a warning label, but she says that the carcinogen in saccharin was benzoyl, and the process was changed to use very little benzoyl, so iho saccharin is perfectly safe. Ironic.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

When I lived in Baltimore, I went to the same church as a UMD science professor who was involved in the aspartame testing leading up to FDA approval. She won't use aspartame because it is a neurotoxin, and she says it should never have been approved. OTOH, saccharin comes with a warning label, but she says that the carcinogen in saccharin was benzoyl, and the process was changed to use very little benzoyl, so iho saccharin is perfectly safe. Ironic.

 

Wow - so no aspartame but yes to saccharin. Crazy.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Thanks for this thread. I wonder if this could be part of my problem.

 

I've decided to go with Eat to Live so only real foods for me as of Saturday. Why we went back to junk is beyond me anyway.

[Corraleno]

When I lived in Baltimore, I went to the same church as a UMD science professor who was involved in the aspartame testing leading up to FDA approval. She won't use aspartame because it is a neurotoxin, and she says it should never have been approved. OTOH, saccharin comes with a warning label, but she says that the carcinogen in saccharin was benzoyl, and the process was changed to use very little benzoyl, so iho saccharin is perfectly safe. Ironic.

Aspartame was approved during the brief tenure of FDA director Arthur Hayes Jr, who over-ruled the FDA's own scientists (who are pretty corporate-friendly to begin with). He eventually resigned from the FDA under allegations of impropriety, and was later hired as a consultant to the PR firm that represented Searle — the manufacturer of aspartame. The CEO of Searle at the time the FDA was heavily pressured to approve it, over the objections of FDA scientists, was Donald Rumsfeld — who just happened to be part of the transition team who recommended Arthur Hayes Jr as head of the FDA.

 

Funny how that works.

 

Jackie

[Frontier Mom]

I have never been officially diagnosed, but I noticed numbness in my fingers and toes, along with memory loss at times. I started jotting down the things I ate and did until I narrowed it down to the artificial sweetners. If I do use a sweetner, I use Sweet N Low because it doesn't affect me the same. I rarely use this though so I'm not really worried about the levels one would have to consume it to cause cancer.

 

I do drink Coke Zero occassionally but notice the numbness comes back if I drink it very often. I just stay away from it because that can't be a good thing.

[Mejane]

When I lived in Baltimore, I went to the same church as a UMD science professor who was involved in the aspartame testing leading up to FDA approval. She won't use aspartame because it is a neurotoxin, and she says it should never have been approved.

 

A friend of mine used to drink four diet big gulp sodas a day, and started having all kinds of crazy symptoms. Her doctor thought she might have multiple sclerosis. She stopped drinking the soda after investigating chemicals and her symptoms went away. Miraculous.

[iammommy]

I had very bad nutrasweet poisoning. That was the sickest I had ever been. I had facial numbness and tingling, numbness and tingling down my arm and in my head, dizziness,blurred vision, I felt unsteady when I walked as well. I went to a VERY mainstream neuro who did a neuro exam, told me it was normal, then asked how much diet coke I drank each day. Well, it was almost 2 liters a day. He explained how many young, healthy patients he sees with nutrasweet poisoning. He told me to stop consuming ANYTHING with aspartame and I would feel better in 6 months. Well, it took over a year for my symptoms to disappear. Now, even if I have a very rare stick of gum with aspartame, I get symptoms. It's BAD stuff. My neuro also did a cautionary brain MRI just because I had so many symptoms and it was normal.

 

But I never had an increase in symptoms after stopping aspartame. It got progressively better. Healso said that Splenda will eventually be found to cause problems in some people as well. I thiink he said not neuro problems, but immune problems. Sooo, very little Splenda here as well.

 

Nan

[FloridaLisa]

The most distressing one is breathlessness- not with activity. Just whenever. Most noticeable when I am sedentary actually. Before I understood it is caused me anxiety and I hyperventilated two times. I don't have a history of anxiety or panic so it was really upsetting for me. I've been seeing a therapist just for "maintainance" and she said my symptoms do not seem anxiety based. I just have this almost constant feeling like a can't get a full breath. Also get this times where I want to yawn insistently, but the yawns are "stuck".

 

***

 

My disturbing symptoms SEEM to be worse on days I work out and the days I eat less.....making me think about fat burning and de-toxing.

 

I stopped drinking diet coke cold turkey about 2 1/2 weeks ago (based on a thread here). These have been my exact symptoms! I thought I was stressed out, but perhaps it's a symptom of the aspertame. I have to take lots of deep breaths and yawn alot to get past what feels like very shallow breathing.

 

Lisa

[Macrina]

I stopped drinking diet coke cold turkey about 2 1/2 weeks ago (based on a thread here). These have been my exact symptoms! I thought I was stressed out, but perhaps it's a symptom of the aspertame. I have to take lots of deep breaths and yawn alot to get past what feels like very shallow breathing.

 

Lisa

 

Fascinating! Nice to know I am not alone! Is it worse at other times? Like when you eat?

[lisamarie]

Wow! I go through phases where I do the exact same thing with the yawning all. the. time. I feel like I am shallow breathing. I thought I was just weird.

 

I am on day 2 of no dt. pepsi. Yesterday I had a major headache by the evening and I just wanted to drink a pop to make it go away. But I took some tylenol and sucked it up. Today so far so good. I am chugging water like crazy to try to flush my system out. According to my online research, the headaches should go away within 1-5 days. I'm hoping to fall on the 1 day side of the scale.:tongue_smilie:

 

So do you think it's just the aspartame or is the caffeine bad, too? I was thinking about trying to drink caffeinated tea but maybe I should just cut out both at the same time.