Artificial Sweeteners and Their Serious Side Effects

Aspartame is toxic poison it just be banned. Class action is needed.

I am new here, I found info on aspartame, this stuff needs to be banned. My child had been drinking these sugar free bubble drinks for a month or more now, more than he should have. He started having serous sickness. It mimicked severe anxiety and ocd type tics. I don't know how else to explain it. I have been horrified. Everyday the last 2 weeks trying to understand what it is and why. I finally put it together. When I looked at the back of the box on these carbonated water drinks it's all aspartame. The symptoms made it all clear. This stuff is toxic poison. I am considering filing a law suit.

Thanks for making me aware that my discoid lupus came after chewing gum for about a year….. grrrr.

I also inadvertently ate a large amount of food with MSG in it once. The killer sick headache came on & sat on me like a 'ton of bricks'! That's when I reviewed the ingredient list ... then looked MSG up online, & found an article telling me that the pain I was experiencing would last for several days! Then I read all the things MSG causes, & learned that it restricts blood flow. I knew that MSM improves blood flow, so I took a reasonably sized dose of MSM w/ water ... and an hour later, that 'ton of bricks' melted into oblivion!!!

I had years of sickness all the symptoms I had. Finally found out what was causing it. Been off Aspartame for 2 years. I drink veg smoothies in the morning and lots of water. I have been drinking some diet Pepsi because they took out the Aspartame was doing good then I started the symptoms again but this time it is worse. Doctors couldn't figure it out. I don't know if I will survive this. I looked at the Pepsi bottle and it said Aspartame. I never heard they were changing it back. I can't drink one swallow of aspartame and here I didn't know I was drinking it. They are killing people. It has got to stop.

Here's my experience with Aspartame use. I drank 3 diet cokes a day for over 10 years. I began having pain behind my eyes, blood sugar crashes, tingling in my fingers, flashes of light in my eyes, with worse vision. I had a blood test and there was nothing unsual. After reading about Diet Cokes and Aspartame I quit all diet drinks, that was a month ago. I had 2 weeks of horrible withdrawal finally all the bad symptoms are now gone. Its all about Sales and making money with no regard for consumers it seems with Aspartame. I will NEVER drink a Diet drink again.

I'm a 61 year old wife, mother, and grandmother. I've been on a very successful weight loss program this year losing 35 lbs. my goal being 40 lbs. I stick to all natural as best to my knowledge. About 3 months ago I was introduced to these small tubular packets of powder and bottles of water enhancer drops. They were so convenient I didn't bother looking at the ingredient label. About 4 weeks ago I noticed slight pain in my upper body. This pain progressed to the point I couldn't lift my arms. I went to my doctor yesterday and he was completely puzzled. He's secluded me for an MRI. After leaving his office I stopped by a local store and the cashier told me the same thing happened to her dad when he started drinking Diet COKE. She said he stooped the cokes and the symptoms went away. To make a long story shorter, I've been off the artificial sweetener just over 24 and the pain is "GONE"!!! I've called the doctor, canceled the MRI and thanking God for sending me to that little cashier with the answer to my problem!!

Folks read your labels and pay attention to what you put in your mouth...

I may be going through the same thing. Did you guys feel cold and clammy, jumpy, and did you feel tired, with a racing heart? Thanks!

My web search of high fructose corn syrup says that by an artificial chemical process, the molecules of glucose and fructose become separated. Fructose goes straight to the liver, which causes excess fat production, called lipogenesis. This leads to fatty liver, which leads to diabetes. I have both. The web is a wonderful research tool, but you have to give thought to how you make your information request to get to the best sites. Search deeply. And use your common sense.

Aspartame:

I never ate yogurt but tried the fat free/low fat. Pretty soon I was ordering 2 cases per week. Then would also buy gogurt. I ate nothing else. I would even eat them in my sleep. I went from 135 lbs to 230lbs in about a year. I stopped buying it and even with no exercise and a small amount of protein I lost 110lbs in 6 months. The addiction is real.

Hi everyone, just to let you know of my experience with aspartane.....I like a cigarette every now and again and have a fear of bad breath, so I was eating 2 boxes of eclipse mints a day for years.........my symptoms well that's epic in itself. They thought I had diabetes, virtigo, numbness of left side of my face affecting top lip, gums and teeth, under my eye, etc. etc. etc. I don't think I need to go on, but I'm not well.......HELP......I frequently go to the chiro, and have constant acupuncture; any other suggestions?

I drank Crystal Light exclusively for about 3 years and the more I drank it the more I wanted. I drank about 10 glasses a day. When I saw a video about Aspartame including some of the symptoms of it (like severe joint pain) I quit cold turkey. My knees used to hurt so badly that when I stood up I couldn't walk right away. I had to stand for a few seconds before I could walk, and I was in my early 40's! My vision had also diminished significantly during those 3 years, etc. I decided to quit all at once and I never thought I'd have immediate and disturbing and scary side effects from stopping. My hands and fingers felt like they were extremely swollen and I couldn't close them. I couldn't do normal things like grasp a zipper or even had problems picking up and changing my young kids. I had vertigo so badly that I could not get up and had to call my husband to come home from work. I had severe anxiety an nausea. I never ever go to the doctor, but during that first week off Aspartame I went to the doctor (I think they thought I was crazy) and the ER. These symptoms have never before or sense ever happened to me. I was "coming off of" the chemical Aspartame and it was slamming my body.

Yeah. I will scream "bloody murder" against Aspartame and what ever other name they are hiding it under now. These criminals put this garbage in to the food supply just like these criminals put fluoride into the water supply. It is a forced medication of the population.

I think people should have what want. If people want this kind thing, they ought to have it. But, I have seen and read enough about it, and I am satisfied with people's whose writing I have read.

All one man has to do is get on the internet and do a quick You tube video search on this and look for a reputable man such as Russell Blaylock and see what he says about this chemical.

I have read Dr. Russell Blaylock's report on it and that is enough for me. But then there's the Mercola's writings, and although he has his own agenda selling his products what he says still matches and confirms Blaylock's writings.

Blaylock says it is a 'excito-neuro-toxin' just like MSG is a 'excito-neuro-toxin'. It looks like a stealth forced medication of human beings who can not distinguish between their left hand from their right hand just like the book of Jonah tells us.

Here is a really interesting link to read about aspartame. It is hard to believe there are still people out there saying it is safe to ingest! http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/jan03/012203/02p-0317_emc-000199.txt

@Chip: Thanx for your Aspartame testimony, maybe it will help prevent others from the (over) consumption of this man-made ingredient. IMHO, since not all aspartame users experience the severity you have, admits several or many factors which combine and contribute to a degree of sensitivity to the chemical. Zinc, Molybdenum, and Niacin deficiency can cause the incomplete detoxification of the wood alcohol in Asp; liver disease could also be a big factor in this case.

In alternative medicine, like you experienced at the chiro, the emphasis is placed on addressing the underlying causes of the specific disease and through health promoting diet & supplements, and many unconventional remedies seek a cure. So there's this psychological aspect of focusing one's attention from the gruesome details (like you reported) of the disease and fallowing bad side effects, to one of solutions and cures. This web-site is a local (worldwide actually, but local virtually) testimony of people who have endured the same type situation you did until they got introduced to alt med. I am one of these neglected folks.

There are effective protocols for improving brain health (search by disease and also Nootropic supplements). I have listed several common nutrients and herbs which improve brain health here on E.C. somewhere. From where you are now, there could be two phases of treatment to improve your condition: Beginner and advanced. Any improvement would be nice to see, since you have such advanced condition.

I am writing because I am a victim of aspartame poisoning. One of the main reasons I now live in Costa Rica is that I was crippled enough by Aspartame that I could no longer work.

My story starts in September 2001, when I had a MRI of the brain due to an ear injury. It showed that my brain was intact. Then I fast forward to February 2004, the first Saturday of that month I had 6 instances or vertigo, something I had never had before.

By the end of the month the episodes of vertigo had morphed into what became constant symptoms. About 4 seconds of numbness in my left cheek, followed by 15 seconds of loss of all muscular control of my right side (this incuded word slurring) then about 25 seconds of hot flashed up and down my left arm. By the beginning of March these "episodes" were happening about 30 times a day.

I saw numerous Doctors and no one knew what they were. By May they were happening about 75 times a day. Then about the middle of May I developed an excrutiating pain in my neck. I was taking 2 percosets just to sleep at night. In desparation I went to a chiropractor, he was the husband of a friend of mine. He spent more time going over my history and symptoms then all of the doctor I had seen up to that time. He told me that he might be able to help my neck but he did not have a clue about the "episodes" I was experiencing.

The last Thursday of the month I went in for my first adjustment. Before he started he showed me a can of diet coke and went over the ingrediants. (I had told him earlier that I was drinking over a six pack a day. My office was next to a Sam's Club and I would get a 25 oz. cup of Diet Coke to go with lunch and fill it back up to sip at work during the afternoon, then drink one or two cans at home at night. ) Anyway, he was very anti-aspartame and convinced me to give up Diet Coke on the spot. By Saturday the pain in the neck was gone and the frequency of the episodes were way down. I had my last episode on June 14th. The only sysmptom I had left was the thumb and adjacent 2 fingers on my right hand were numb. (Later MRI's showed a large (1.6CM lesion) on my spinal cord in my neck, it was covered in scar tissue.)

I had several MRI's trying to figure out what the problem was. Doctors told me that I had many small lesions in my brain and that much of my cerebullum had been destrioyed. On the urging of a West Palm Beach Neurosurgon I saw a Neurologist at the University of Miami and she declared that I had MS. I tryed to explain that I thought it was the Aspartame, but she would not listen. She tried to get me to take one of the MS Disease Modifying Drugs, but I refused. At this point my medical insurance would no longer pay for me to go to Miami, so I returned to a Neurologist I had already seen in West Palm.

Over the next 5 years I would get annual MRI's and saw several more Neurologists, they all would look at the latest MRI and declare that the damage showed that I had MS. Over this time I started to have lot of other neurological symptoms. I could not easily pee, my right leg became very weak, as did my right arm. In December 2010 I retired and moved to Costa Rica, however I would periodically returnm to the U.S. to see a Doctor.

In December 2012, after I had turned 65, I went to see a Doctor at the Cleveland Clinic. She looked at my latest MRI and tried to get me to take one of the MS Disease modifying drugs. I refused and she said that if I got another MRI she would see if anyone at the Cleveland Clinic could come up with a different recommendation. I again explained that I thought Aspartame caused my problem in 2004. She would not listen.

In April 2013 I finally had a complete set of head, neck and spine MRI's at the Cleveland Clinic's high res machine. The neurologist looked at them but also compared them to everty MRI (I had the copies) which I had had done since 2004. She was blown away because the damage that was shown in 2004 was identical to the damage shown on the latest set of MRI's. As a result she declared that I had MS type damage but I did not have MS. She said that MS was a progressive disease and the to have no progression for 9 years meant I did not have MS. I asked about the fact that I had more symptoms now then I had in 2004, and she explained that nerve damage was like that. Damage would occur then the symptoms would show up much later.

I apologize for the many typos, but I can not use my right hand and hunt and peck with my left. I think the neurologist concurred that it was aspartame poisoning, but she said that because she was with the Cleveland Clinic that she had to follow the FDA's stance that Aspartame is safe. I do not believe so.

In closing, I was the Commanding Officer for 2 different nuclear submarines. I credit Admiral Rickover with teaching me to not accept the pat answers but to always get to the root cause. I think that Aspartame caused my symptoms. Over the last 2 years I have not gotten better, but I have not gotten worse either. I truely thank Dr. Quartel, the Chiropractor, who convinced me to give up Aspartame.

If there are any question I will be glad to answer, until they get too much. My email is cjosliniiiatyahoo.com.

I'm a chronic gum chewer and Coke Zero drinker or I can now say I WAS since I kicked those a few days ago. I'm having muscle twitches and extreme fatigue so far. After reading the above comments I guess I can expect to feel that for the next 55 days? Great! It will be worth it though. After only 5 days I haven't needed to sleep with my humidifier and my husband said I haven't snored the last two nights! I'm looking forward to feeling better and better each day. For those looking for healthier alternatives to make detoxing from aspartame easier I have switched from Orbit gum to Pr gum which is aspartame free. I switched to Zevia diet soda which is sweetened with stevia and it is better than I thought it would be. Amazon offers a rainbow pack where they send a case that includes 2 cans of every flavor they offer. I now use monk fruit sweetener to sweeten my coffee in the morning. The only other sugar free item I used sometimes was sugar free maple syrup. From now on I will just use regular maple syrup. This has made my transition easier even though the detox side effects have been rough. Reading the posts here was very helpful as I thought I was getting some form of facial bells palsy with the muscle twitches on one side of my chin! ?! Crazy that one chemical can reek havoc on your system and the FDA allows it. I will be filing a complaint as well.

I just found out about this website a week ago. Some of the stuff seems pretty far fetched but some hits the nail on the head. This being one that I truely believe. I quit smoking about 3 yrs ago and started chewing gum to get over that habit, so now thats my habit mainly cause I feel I have sour breath. I am going to try the peroxide mouth wash method to remedy that. But back to my point I have been chewing the crap out of gum with aspertame in it and have been trying to cut down/stop and noticed that I have been getting some of these symptoms but most people have wrote about diet soda but havent read much about it being in gum, I guess the amount in the gum could cause the same effects?. Hopefully I kick this habit and these side effects roll out with the habit.

I suffered from a reaction to Splenda a couple of years ago after drinking a lot of Crystal Light and stayed away from it until recently. I thought if I used just a little in my coffee it would be ok. Well, it took only a couple days before it sent me into a tailspin that I am still trying to get out of. It's been about 2.5 weeks and I went to urgent care yesterday because I thought my blood pressure was out of wack. It was elevated to 49/85..not severe but it was there. I nearly passed out while driving last week. Had to pull over and breathe. I could barely make it to my car yesterday and thats the reason for the stop at urgent care. The Dr. didn't know what to think and out of no other ideas suggested a CAT scan. Well, I'm trying to detox and he gave a mild BP medicine (diuretic) and see if it stops. But I am experiencing periodic flushes in my head, light headedness, panic attack feelings, sharp throbs in different areas of my head. Last evening my arms, back and legs had shooting pains. I woke up this morning feeling wonderful. Then about an hour ago I drank a small amount of Vitamin Water Zero and began having that flushed feeling again. I don't want to panic, but I also don't want to end up in an ambulance. This is very un-nerving. Don't mess around with the artificial sweetners, they are all bad. Use good old fashioned sugar, just less of it.

It's been reported that the big champion MS promoter Michael J. Fox was once awarded a truck-load of diet cola for doing a commercial for the manufacturer way back in the day when he was in good health, which really helped launch the Aspartame - MS connection. This observation has been disputed and I haven't researched it, but have little doubt because the profit industry always does the cover-ups and MJF seems to intentionally indulge and exaggerate his condition while on camera. MJF associates have reported this while saying he's just fine most-times.

This site has been a Godsend to me over the past week. About a week ago, I began worrying that the muscle spasms and difficulty swallowing I had been having was related to MS. The next day, I went from drinking 5-6 diet cokes a day to drinking 1. I have been a very heavy diet coke drinker for many years. The next day, I began having even more symptoms. I began having heart palpitations, shakes, dizziness, insomnia, etc. I plan to stop the diet coke altogether later this week and I am scared to death I will have more symptoms. I feel I need to do it though, otherwise I really will make myself sick.

Aspartame was created and introduced by G D Searle. Monsanto may have become later involved, but it was brought to the FDA and to market by G D Searle.

http://www.rense.com/general33/legal.htm to get the info

After consuming multiple two liter bottles of diet coke daily for 30 years, it was suggested to me that my pain symptoms could be aspartame poisoning. I quit dc within a day and for a while everything was improving... My mind was clearer, the pins and needles in my face are gone, I could stand longer, and I could go on. However, two weeks into detox and I am having serious muscle spasms, confusion, and red ant sting after effects in my legs. I must say that my desire for real food is coming back. I do have two questions: 1) Are there any recommendations besides a good multiple vitamin and 2) how long does withdrawal take?

Regarding falsified letters "proving" the opposite of the letter is true, did you know some people will deliberately write these and the same group will prove them wrong to make people believe everything it says is wrong? Its a tactic to try to brainwash people. Like the letter might say its a fact that nutrasweet has caused 1000 cases of brain cancer. Fact is no it hsan't but that doesn't mean it's good for you but the group that puts that letter out will be the same group using different names that will come out and refute it and thus try to get you to believe it's perfectly safe. It's just a big ugly scam.

Got noro and drank nothing but diet vernors for 2 days. About a week later saw a sale for diet sprite "zero" so got 3 bottles. Waiting on neck surgery and my neck suddenly for no apparent reason "went out" on me to the tune of 2 er trips in one day and a cortesone shot and still hurts. Saw a post on this site that someone else has neck issue flared bc of sweetener. never again.

Small instestinal bacteria overgrowth, SIBO my doctor suggested no lactose, no grains no sugar no sugar substitues because it is unnatural and the body doesn't recognize it. Do this is for a year for full recovery. Don't eat between meals because it doesn't allow the body to time clear the toxins and bacteria build up sip Grapefruit seed extract in water, heavy does of vitamin c and alkalize.

I am 65 years old. As a senior we all normally feel aches and pains. When I was young I always drank a diet soda and coffee with sweetner, no pain, no issues.

Now that I am older, if I have my 1 cup of decaf daily with aspartame, I have extreme body pain all over, a Dr would classify that as fibromyalgia. I drink no diet soda at all. So, I stopped adding any kind of artificial sweetners to my coffee and its a miracle- no more all over pain. My advice: be in tune with your body and an advocate for yourself.

Dietdude, I agree on your stance. The natural health community needs to avoid subjective interpretations and emotional indulgences concerning "possible" food additives dangers. If we go too far in the careful direction we get labeled fanatics. But problems of objectivity remain; and they remain because, typically, physicians do not monitor or evaluate individual tendencies or proclivities, or symptoms in regards to the use of additives and "artificials". The medical/pharmaceutical industry keeps our symptoms in the category of "psychological" "allergies" and treats symptoms w/ prescription meds, while protecting the food industry. So we consumers are really in a jam; and the only safe course is individual awareness.

A few weeks ago I admitted myself in ER for extreme exhaustion and got billed as "good-to-go" but see family doc ASAP. I knew my condition had worsened from "chronic fatigue" to "extreme exhaustion" w/ rapid loss of muscle tissue, so I searched "wasting syndrome" and knew that my existing problems of detoxifying alcohols was the culprit. I had been using an herbal tincture extracted in alcohol and let it vaporize in fresh-brewed coffee for daily enemas. Evidently the short duration of steaming was not enough to rid the alcohol and I was suffering from metabolic acidosis. I discontinued the culprit and recovered quite rapidly. Fast forward a few weeks and tried an amino acid product w/ added Xylitol for sweetener and BAM I went down immediately. I supplement zinc and niacin to help in alcohol detox but this isn't enough so I began the coenzymated form of niacin NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) yesterday to help restore my alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme function. I have drunk an occasional diet dr pepper w/ less side effects; sucralose gives headaches, salivation, and impotence.

So, heredity and personal history (preexisting conditions) influence our disposition to additives. As for Aspartame, all babies born in the USA are screened for phenyleukuria, the gene responsible to metabolize phenylalanine an amino acid member of Aspartame that is absent in a small % of population. When it comes to the sugar alcohols like Aspartame, Sucralose, Xylitol, Sorbitol, etc. It all comes down to individual enzyme activity. If either of the enzymes alcohol dehyrogenase or aldehyde dehydrogenase is taxed or malfunctioning there can be serious consequences. It is reported in scientific literature that these two enzymes have varying degrees of activity in the population. Some people can "drink like sailors" while others can't even have a diet cola. So we each have to monitor our own symptoms carefully. As for prevention of alcohol related illnesses I recommend supplementing niacinamide, riboflavin, zinc, and molybdenum in particular, in addition to a good multi vit/min daily to help rid the body of harmful metabolic waste, and for people like myself who don't respond to the regular nutritionals, coenzymated forms will be necessary.

It's a little difficult to take an article seriously that is screaming bloody murder about a sweetener that is consumed on a daily basis by MILLIONS of people with no noticeable side effects. While I agree some people clearly have a reaction to Aspartame, I've been drinking diet cola since I was 11 (I'm now 37) in quantities you wouldn't believe and I've never noticed ANY of the side effects listed in this raving and ranting article. My IQ is at least 138 and somehow I managed to get my honors degree in engineering without my brain exploding due to Asparatame "destroying my neurosystem".

Honestly, I think you'd have more luck convincing people about the potential dangers of artificial sweeteners if you toned it down a bit instead of telling people they're going to die if they continue to drink Diet Coke or Pepsi. It's not doing your argument any good. I know I quit reading halfway through it. It's just too much for someone that drinks the stuff daily with no noticeable side effects to even remotely start to buy into. I'm sure there have been some people that have had bad reactions to it, but a LOT of people have died from eating peanuts. That doesn't make all peanuts bad.

Worse yet, you lump ALL sweeteners into this argument. Sucralose is so new, I haven't seen any reliable studies on it yet. Saccharin was NEVER proven to cause cancer in anything but a rat (I've used it in tea products since I was about 5 and again no noticeable effects) and that was only when the rat was fed 5x it's body weight in Saccharin. No human would ever take that much in and because it doesn't stay in the body, it's not addictive.

Finally, you overlook the most glaring horrible truth there is. The alternative (short of giving up anything sweet forever) is SUGAR. And sugar causes everything from obesity (and not indirectly by creating 'cravings for carbs'... Pure nonsense in my opinion as well; it keeps me from wanting more actual sugar) to diabetes over time by decreasing resistance to insulin in large quantities. Diabetes can kill you just as dead as any artificial sweetener and it's virtually guaranteed by middle age if you eat nothing but sweets your entire life (it also rots your teeth which no artificial sweetener does).

Wow! I love reading other's experiences and realizing all these symptoms I have been telling my husband about are REAL. I quit diet coke (over 20-year habit) right after Christmas 2011 and am almost one-month DC-free! I have had shakes, muscle spasms, twitching, and extreme moodiness. I also feel like I have had some depression, but this seems to be brought on by the stress of worrying that I have a chronic illness such as Parkinsons or ALS. Thank you all for sharing your experiences. It helps to know others are going through the same thing. I will never drink another diet coke in my life!!

Nancy Markle or is it Betty Martini??? People beware of this woman.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/teaching_backgrounders/internet/decon_web_pages.cfm

I also experienced "Splenda withdrawals" which felt similar to hypoglycemia. I was so sick I thought I might have Type I diabetes even though I am in my 30's. The symptoms were really severe for at least 2 days and it took about a week before I felt somewhat normal. I was scared to eat because every time I did I felt groggy and flushed and shortly afterwards I would feel light-headed and anxious just as if my blood sugar had crashed. I had severe lower back pain, anxiety and photophobia and would wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat and severe anxiety. It was very scary and I'm posting so that maybe I can provide peace of mind for someone else going through this.

I was eating the packaged Splenda every day which includes sucralose and maltodextrim. I believe the sucralose gave me SIBO (I had little burps constantly immediately after eating and steatorrhea and my vitamin D was low even though I supplement with cod liver oil every day) and the maltodextrim was probably masking the signs that I had absorption problems by providing a constant source of sugar to my brain (I noticed the flushed feeling with the packaged Stevia as well which also contains maltodextrim as a filler).

While on the Splenda, I gradually developed severe brain fog. The whole process was very insidious because I didn't notice any effects immediately after eating Splenda so I believe my side effects were a result of SIBO since sucralose has been shown to kill off 50% of the good bacteria in your intestine (which would make sense if bad bacteria are using the undigested sucralose as a food source and then killing the good bacteria).

I drank lots of water, acidophilus and some apple cider vinegar to try to restore my gut flora. One good thing to come of this, is that I discovered I have mild Asperger's syndrome which the Splenda probably exacerbated. I was definitely a different version of myself on Splenda.

A lot of products have it, but the gums are most troubling to me since it is consumed in great quantity by young people!