Have you had side effects from using Splenda?

[NanceXToo]

I've been using Splenda on and off for a few years now- whenever I'm following a weight loss plan. (Including for the past nearly three months again).

 

A few things recently led me to look it up last night though and I found a SCARY long list of complaints of all sorts of side effects that a lot of people had from it.

 

Like a ridiculously long list.

 

Hair loss, memory loss, joint pain, stomach pain, sleeplessness, leg cramps, indigestion problems, bad headaches, dizziness, anxiety, skin rashes, mood swings, abdominal cramps, fatigue, heartburn, itchiness, having a hard time concentrating... and those are only the ones I remember, it went on and on.

 

There have been a few things that have matched issues I've been having, that had me doing an Internet search to begin with, that led me to thinking oh wow maybe it's the Splenda...

 

I'm going to cut Splenda out of my diet today (no more of the sweetener packets, no more diet sodas that use it etc) and see if I notice those particular symptoms improving. (A lot of people said a lot of their symptoms went away within a couple of days to a couple of weeks -depending on symptoms- of stopping all use of Splenda).

 

I'm just wondering if anyone here has had any bad experiences with it though.

[Lolly]

Joint pain. Awful joint pain. I know for certain it is from artificial sweeteners, any of them. In-taking regular sugar gives me no problems. A couple of diet sodas and the pain comes back. When I figured out what was causing it, I could hardly hold a glass in my hand. when I stopped the chemical assault, it was completely gone within a week.

 

As an aside, I am also pretty sure that artificial sweeteners messed up my metabolism and caused me to gain weight that I cannot get rid of now. I was extremely trim when I started using them. (Dh cannot stand regular soda and preferred to be "healthy" with other foods.) Within a year, I had become accustomed to the taste and started gaining weight with no real lifestyle changes. It could just be age, but I'm not so certain!

[beaners]

I've never had a problem with it, but I don't eat too many things that contain it. I'm also not very sensitive to the dietary things that other people are.

 

However, my husband can't touch the stuff. A few years ago when splenda was just starting to get popular, he mentioned how it made him sick. He's seriously lactose intolerant. The regular artificial sweeteners like aspartame affect him almost as strongly as milk. I didn't believe him the first time he told me that splenda did it too, but I do now. I think that people with more "delicate" systems are more likely to have trouble with it. I know a couple people with diabetes who use it by the pound without any apparent issues though. On second thought, most of them have at least a few other health problems already, so any side effects could just as easily be attributed to something else.

 

Diet soda makes me hungry, and I can't stomach the taste, so I don't drink it. I will drink regular soda here and there. I know a few people who live like they are rock stars, who won't touch diet soda "because that stuff will kill you."

[delaney]

You know now that you say it I was having issues with hair loss and now it is growing back in and we stopped using Splenda awhile ago! Maybe that was it? I also noticed that my one DD was losing a lot of hair and she has these little bangs like an inch long growing in now! We were using it in Koolaid to reduce the sugar intake and stickiness when spilled:auto: please no flames!

I guess plain old sugar is the best thing. I will take the lousy 15 calories per coffee mug in the morning..okay well 45 since I have 3 cups. Oh and the foggy brain thing as well! I thought I was losing it for awhile!

[NanceXToo]

You know now that you say it I was having issues with hair loss and now it is growing back in and we stopped using Splenda awhile ago! Maybe that was it? I also noticed that my one DD was losing a lot of hair and she has these little bangs like an inch long growing in now! We were using it in Koolaid to reduce the sugar intake and stickiness when spilled:auto: please no flames!

I guess plain old sugar is the best thing. I will take the lousy 15 calories per coffee mug in the morning..okay well 45 since I have 3 cups. Oh and the foggy brain thing as well! I thought I was losing it for awhile!

 

Hair thinning and more of my hair coming out when I brush it, shower etc was one of the things that was really starting to concern me lately. It just looks, I don't know, THINNER on top these days. I was starting to wonder if it had something to do with my thyroid...but now I'm wondering if it has to do with Splenda. Ugh.

 

As well as being a bit more forgetful lately. You know, going into a room and going "uh, why am I here again?"

 

Woke up with leg cramps a few times at night.

 

Not sleeping so great, but feeling tired.

 

A slight crampy feeling sometimes.

 

And lately in the past couple of weeks this pain in my side, which I think has been coming after drinking diet soda. It was awful last night and lasted a few hours and it's been coming and going over the past couple of weeks especially.

 

Probably a couple of other things too and every single one of them showed up on the long list of complaints about Splenda side effects.

 

It is scary!

 

I hope cutting it out of my diet makes a difference for me!

[Heather in AL]

I had several of those symptoms and quit diet sodas and avoided other foods with aspartame in them and the majority of my symptoms went away.

 

My story: I used to drink about two cans of diet coke each day, sometimes more on the weekends and I bought foods with aspartame in them. I began getting bad headaches (migraines, I suspect) several time a week. The treatment for headaches? Excedrin and.... caffeine. So.... more Diet Cokes. The headaches got worse over time (I'm talking 5-6 years here of Diet Coke drinking). After an episode of a 5 day severe headache, I thought of my neighbor who has migraines triggered by chocolate. So, I hit the internet.

 

In searching for headache/migraine triggers, I kept coming across sites with lists of side effects (many included Splenda, too). The symptom list was unreal... headaches, fatigue, hair loss, memory loss, memory FOG, sleeplessness, dizziness, mystery skin rashes, and on and on. I also found testimonies.... many many testimonies.... people who had headaches & went off the Aspartame who felt better within days, people who had diagnoses of Lupus, MS, and other illnesses who got much, much better after stopping Aspartame. Granted, there were people who were drinking a 12pack of Diet Coke per day, so their levels would probably be higher than mine, but still.... I felt I was on to something. So I stopped. The second day of being Aspartame-free and my then-6-day-headache was gone. It simply vanished; it didn't ease off. Coincidence? Maybe. But, this happened in Jan almost three years ago and while I've had headaches (due to pressure changes in the weather), I've not had one even CLOSE to what I was having before. And they have never lasted more than a day.

 

Also, since stopping Aspartame, I found that I'm sleeping better, my hair isn't falling out the way it was, my skin ailments cleared up, and most importantly, my *brain fog* is gone!! I thought that was a by-product of homeschooling and being overwhelmed so I didn't question it.

 

After about two months of feeling better, I drank the diet stuff again for a few days.... I wound up with a two day headache. :glare: I stopped drinking it at the onset of the headache and tossed out the rest of the diet coke.

 

I'm convinced by my own trials that it was the Aspartame. I try to avoid it (and all other artificial sweeteners) at all costs. I try to eat things with real sugar in them, and if the sugar is too high that I cringe, then I do think twice about eating it.

 

What's scary is I read that Aspartame & Splenda don't have to be listed as an ingredient if it's in minute amounts. Like in gum that isn't sugar-free~it's still in there. :glare: A friend of mine can't chew any gum at all because she is so sensitive to those artificial sweeteners.

 

So, that's my story. My dh isn't affected by it, and my mother isn't affected by it. I am. We're all different in the way we process foods, so if you think it's worth a trial 'separation', then give it a shot.

 

As an aside, I've been following your weight-loss story and want to congratulate you. I hope you find out what you're looking for wrg the Splenda and any symptoms you are having.

Edited November 16, 2010 by Heather in AL
changed a few words. :)

[Jann in TX]

I avoid ALL artificial sweeteners now.

 

I racked up over $1,000,000 in medical bills due to aspartame.

 

If I find myself craving sweets then I cut back my sugar/weak carb intake and substitute Stevia for sugar in my tea and up my protein intake.

 

Aspartame (Equal) and Splenda are both toxins. The body ABSORBS them and stores them in your fat reserves... these toxins are NOT 'eliminated'. When you use your fat reserves these toxins are released again--and can cause all sorts of auto-immune issues.

 

It is not a matter of "IF" they will eventually bother you it is more of a matter of "WHEN"...

 

I used Equal for a few years before my symptoms of formaldehyde poisoning were evident... I became ill within a few minutes of trying Splenda the FIRST time.

 

Sugar has never made me ill. I know people who refuse to eat 'sugar'--but chow down on baked potatoes???

 

My 8yo dd knows to read labels and ask questions... many of her friends' moms prefer to limit their children's intake of sugar by substituting Splenda or Aspartame. Last year at school a parent (with good intentions) brought cookies made with Splenda to share with dd's class at a Christmas Party). Luckily the parent bragged about it to the teacher--who immediately REFUSED to let her serve them to the class... it was a pretty good 'stink' but the majority of parents sided with the teacher (including me). It is up to the individual parents to decide if they want to serve this 'stuff' to their OWN children... I just prefer to have a choice in the matter.

[Mommyfaithe]

I've been using Splenda on and off for a few years now- whenever I'm following a weight loss plan. (Including for the past nearly three months again).

 

A few things recently led me to look it up last night though and I found a SCARY long list of complaints of all sorts of side effects that a lot of people had from it.

 

Like a ridiculously long list.

 

Hair loss, memory loss, joint pain, stomach pain, sleeplessness, leg cramps, indigestion problems, bad headaches, dizziness, anxiety, skin rashes, mood swings, abdominal cramps, fatigue, heartburn, itchiness, having a hard time concentrating... and those are only the ones I remember, it went on and on.

 

There have been a few things that have matched issues I've been having, that had me doing an Internet search to begin with, that led me to thinking oh wow maybe it's the Splenda...

 

I'm going to cut Splenda out of my diet today (no more of the sweetener packets, no more diet sodas that use it etc) and see if I notice those particular symptoms improving. (A lot of people said a lot of their symptoms went away within a couple of days to a couple of weeks -depending on symptoms- of stopping all use of Splenda).

 

I'm just wondering if anyone here has had any bad experiences with it though.

 

My oldest dd has a horrible reaction to Splenda...including your list...but worst of all she gets covered in hives...and passes out. Splenda is made with chlorine and she has a terrible allergy to chlorine as well...

 

To answer your question...yes...My dd has had terrible experiences with splenda.

 

Faithe

[Jennifer3141]

All the artificial sweeteners give everyone in my family gas. We never use them. Period.

[mothergooseof4]

In my case, I had a lot of those symptoms and they were related to my thyroid, some mild adrenal fatigue, and hypoglycemia.

 

But, there is a young girl, probably 5 or 6 at the time, whose hair began to fall out. When it became concerning to the mother, she took her to the doctor and a long list of tests were ran. It took several months and by then all of her hair was gone. I mean slick bald. The docs finally determined that it was from Splenda use. The mom used it as their primary sweetener in drinks, baked goods, etc.

 

The docs told the mom that Splenda is poison and no one should ever use it. And, the little girl will never grow her hair back. That was about 4 or 5 years ago and this poor little girl is still bald as any man that shaves his head. But, she is amazing, laughs it off, and refuses to wear a wig because it is hot.

[LittleIzumi]

It gives me stomach cramps :ack2: even in small amounts. I wish they would label everything with Splenda in it so I wouldn't have to discover it by getting random cramps/nasty taste.

Edited November 14, 2010 by LittleIzumi

[Ellie]

Nope. :)

[Crissy]

I don't use artificial sweetners, but my mom and my sister both drank a significant quantity of Crystal Light for a time. They were also using Splenda in other drinks and a variety of recipes.

My sister had heart palpitations, headaches, dizziness and stomach issues. Mom had all of those plus fainting spells. She was passing out sometimes twice a day.

All of the above stopped for both of them when they quit using Splenda.

[Plink]

Splenda messes up my ability to taste anything properly for the next few days - everything tastes sweet, even meat. It is disgusting.

 

My sister LOST HER EYESIGHT for a year after drinking 1 diet soda per day. Her doctors blame it on Nutrasweet reacting within her neurological system. It finally came back, but she lost a full year of school in the mean time. Too creepy!

[Crimson Wife]

I don't use it very often, but I've never had any side effects. I don't use aspartame (Nutrasweet/Equal) at all because I took a neuroscience class in college & the professor presented scary evidence about damage to the hippocampus.

[Mejane]

Plenty of folks I know have had symptoms of everything from MS to fibromyalgia to dementia while ingesting either aspartame or sucralose.

 

I'd much rather have a bit of sugar than eat that poison. :tongue_smilie:

 

ETA: I do think a lot depends on how much you ingest. The folks I mentioned consumed huge amounts per day.

Edited November 14, 2010 by Mejane

[Michelle in AL]

Dd gets bad abdominal pain from it and won't touch it. She noticed it on her own after drinking/eating several different products that contained it.

[Doodle]

Splenda has been our sweetener of choice for several years now. I have noticed any particular issues that I would think are side effects as a result of using Splenda. However, I'm going to switch to sugar and see what happens.

[Vicki]

We've used Splenda for years. I even ordered from Canada before you could buy it here.

I've never noticed any side effects and I never get sick. I am sensitive to sugar; memory problems, headaches and a rash.

God bless,

Vicki

[gardening momma]

My dad (and many people on his side of the family) reacts to artificial sweeteners (aspartame, saccharine, etc) but not to sucralose (Splenda).

[The Girls' Mom]

All of the artificial sweeteners will give me migraines, but it seems to need to build up in my system a bit. I can drink a coke zero once in a blue moon and generally be fine. If I drink one every few days, I'll start getting migraines.

[dirty ethel rackham]

buzzing teeth is one that really stands out. My teeth feel like I have a vibrator on them. It is bizaar. I also feel just crummy for a couple days after consuming this stuff.

[FO4UR]

I used to drink diet soda - aspartame. I had *extreme* fatigue. I chalked it up to being a mom of 3 dc under the ages of 4, and then 5, and then 6....just a few months ago I decided to take all fake sweeteners out of my diet and I feel tons better.

 

I had headaches, kidney-aches, joint pain, irritability, and I was just.always.always.always tired.

 

I won't let my dc ingest the stuff...even most children's vitamins have aspartame.:glare:

[G5052]

Food goes uh...right through me within an hour or two, and then I have hours of horrible cramps. Quite memorable.

 

Nutrasweet is not as bad, but if I get a lot of it, it is horrible until it is OUT.

 

I've learned to be very cautious at the dessert table at potlucks because Splenda and Nutrasweet can creep in anywhere.

[Parrothead]

My dh and my dad cannot have aspartame. Since they can't have aspartame they don't have splenda as a precaution.

[grace'smom]

Oh my goodness! My hair has been thinning as well and I've been taking all these vitamins thinking I must be deficient in something- but I started using splenda in the past year due to a low carb diet I went on. I was thinking I might be having some sort of hormonal issue but maybe it's the splenda. I'm definitely going to cut it out and hope my hair either grows back in or at least stops falling out.

 

I guess I'm going to have to give up sweets the hard way- by really giving them up, LOL.

[In the Rain]

Splenda causes me incredible abdominal discomfort. I am very careful to avoid sucralose and aspartame. Once I had the symptoms at a friend's house and was puzzled. It turned out that her tortillas were "low carb" and contained sucralose. :001_huh:

[Lightly Salted]

it triggers migraines for me

[Cinder]

Dh used Splenda products after being diagnosed pre-diabetic. He recently cut out most of it (still chews sugarless gum) and has noticed less joint pain. He also sleeps better at night and feels generally more alert.

 

Cinder

[SquirrellyMama]

No problems.

[mom2jjka]

I get horrible 'ice pick' headaches when I drink Coke Zero (which is sweetened with Splenda). I'm fine with regular diet Coke though.

[Alphabetika]

My dh and oldest dd get terrible headaches if they have anything with Splenda in it.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I am another one who cannot use aspartame (over $60,000 in medical costs). I did a detox earlier this year but am still suffering the consequences of the stored aspartame when I lose weight.

 

I have cut out all artificial sweeteners because I am nervous about how my body will react.

[mathnerd]

I did not read all the other posts, but I am here to tell you to stop taking Splenda or any other artificial sweetener that contains aspartame and stevia (though natural, you can google the bad things that can happen when you take stevia). I read about all the bad stuff that aspartame does to you and switched tp using Splenda in 2004. That whole year I lost almost all my hair and had severe stomach cramps and my stomach used to make loud and embarrassing noises all day long - my doctor diagnosed it as Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I read about the after effects of Splenda and stopped it and the IBS went away overnight and my hair grew back in a few months.

Aspartame is an artificially created chemical and Sucralose is made from sugar that is modified at a molecular level so that the body does not recognize it as sugar and hence will not digest it. Both are not good things to put inside your body and these are the main chemicals in Spenda and Equal.

My boss drinks Diet pepsi all day long instead of water or any other beverage. He is 35 and one day he was diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and he now walks around with a walker - my own theory is that the long term consumption of "diet" drinks with aspartame led up to this condition in an otherwise healthy, young man who looked to be in the prime of his life just last year.

I recently was asked by my doctor to chew gum because I had an inner ear blockage and chewing might help with the blockage. I could not find a single pack of bubblegum at CVS or Walgreens that did not say "Light" or "Lite" - which is code name for aspartame or splenda - the ingredients listed were sucralose or aspartame. I finally found some "gum balls" for kids made from real sugar.

Please eat real sugar in moderation or completely cut it out of your diet. Do not drink "diet" drinks containing sucralose or aspartame. In the long run, there will be health problems associated with them.

[dirty ethel rackham]

My teeth tingle and I get headaches.  I try not to use artificial sweeteners at all, but I can't seem to kick my 1 can of Diet Pepsi a day. 

[FriedClams]

Not Splenda - but I did have an issue once with Diet Coke. I was a HEAVY DC drinker. Loved it. I drank a lot of it. One day driving home from bible study I had an ocular migraine. I've never had a migraine in my life. It scared the life out of me. My field of vision started to dramatically narrow... blinding headache... I have not consumed any known artificial sweetener since that day. For me, I'd wanted to quit (and had a few times) but that was the day.

[momto2Cs]

What about using stevia instead? Artifical sugars scare me.