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Concerned about aspartame?

donnellysdogs

donnellysdogs

Master
Messages
13,233
Location
Northampton
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
People that can't listen to other people's opinions.
People that can't say sorry.
Have been to my consultant today who has lived with me in chronic pain for a long time with muscle pain and undergoing EMG tests, neuropathy, myopathy, rheumatology, fibromyalgia.

After todays visit and learning from hubby and I that my aspartame intolerance should have been noted in 2003 - she is taking note to ask other diabetics now showing similar pains in muscles about giving up sweeteners etc... She could not believe the difference in me.

I wonder how many other people with muscle pains like I did put it down to statins and not sweeteners or preservatives.

I also suffered what I can only describe as pain in heart which went instantly after stopping all statins. I do believe they contributed badly to this as ut disappeared after stopping.

There is no test for aspartame, sorbitol, preservative damage... Other than avoiding it. It took about 2-3 weeks for the pains to minimise completely.
 
@donnellysdogs that's a good point. It's so long since I had anything with aspartame in it that I had forgotten the pain and stiffness and shooting pains caused by it. I've never taken statins so I know it wasn't those causing my pains. I gave up sweeteners first (which helped a lot) and then drastically reduced my consumption of carbs.
 
I'm going to try to stop using sweeteners as I can't get rid of the pain in my feet despite long term tight control.
 
VinnyJames said:
I'm going to try to stop using sweeteners as I can't get rid of the pain in my feet despite long term tight control.
Click to expand...

I had long term tight control too...

My consultant yesterday was staggered in the difference with me in 3 months since I last saw her.

She is now going to talk to patients about aspartame too. So hopefully stop others going down the route of chronic unexplainable pain...

I now have eliminated any sweeteners and chemical preservatives from my diet. (Some E numbers can't be avoided) but I will only have a product with an E number if it is less than 300 and no more than two Enumbers in it...
 
zand said:
@donnellysdogs that's a good point. It's so long since I had anything with aspartame in it that I had forgotten the pain and stiffness and shooting pains caused by it. I've never taken statins so I know it wasn't those causing my pains. I gave up sweeteners first (which helped a lot) and then drastically reduced my consumption of carbs.
Click to expand...

Last night I had fish n chips from a shop- one off rare holiday food. Small chips and cod in batter. Taken with a glass of flax and chia seeds in a small amount of juice.

Something - whether the high carbs (this is 3 times my normal daily total in this one meal) or the oil they used to fry?? Something caused me to have chronic pain again last night in my legs. Nothing was different to my normal days besides this..

I can say it is categorically sweeteners and preservatives as we had a year living in a caravan where we lived totally on fresh food and drinks... No room to store anything....(besides clothes! And our golden retriever)...everything was fresh. I was free of pain for that one year and just could not fathom out the reason why...
 
Three days ago I stopped Ace K and Xylitol, and lo and behold my weird headaches and mild chest flutters following tea or coffee disappeared, even if I increased the number of mugs a day;-)
Just have a glug of double cream instead, yummy:-)
 
MosheBenYehuda said:
Three days ago I stopped Ace K and Xylitol, and lo and behold my weird headaches and mild chest flutters following tea or coffee disappeared, even if I increased the number of mugs a day;-)
Just have a glug of double cream instead, yummy:-)
Click to expand...

It is amazing that it isn't just aspartame that can cause these affects.. Mine is ALL sweeteners.... and just like Sunny Delight was taken off UK shelves due to the E numbers in it.. It is amazing that our bodies can react so badly to certain substances.

I am glad to hear (in a sense) that you may have found a cause... Please keep us informed...
 
donnellysdogs said:
It is amazing that it isn't just aspartame that can cause these affects.. Mine is ALL sweeteners.... and just like Sunny Delight was taken off UK shelves due to the E numbers in it.. It is amazing that our bodies can react so badly to certain substances.

I am glad to hear (in a sense) that you may have found a cause... Please keep us informed...
Click to expand...
I sure will, but so far so good. It takes, in my case, some time to get adjusted after half a century of sugary beverages to the real taste of tea, coffee etc.
The one sweetener I still have is sucralose, for as much as it is mixed in Lidl's Light Cranberry Juice Drink, which I have to use along with Cranberry tablets to keep myself clear of UTIs caused by Dapagliflozine (Forxiga). But the bit of sweetener in the juice doesn't seem to cause major side effects, so far.
I used sucralose massively in the past, but it caused excessive dry mouth, so I've been left with quite a few boxes:-)
Take care DsDs :-D
 
marymeg7 said:
Just been reading up about Splenda 'Sugar Blend' and wondering if I should try cooking with it after drooling over the recipes on diabeticgoodbaking.com. site. Tried the basic Splenda a long time ago but couldn't take to it. Anyone got any thoughts on it please?

Mary
Click to expand...
Hi MM7, never heard of it, and since I guess it to be a blend with sugar, it's off limits for me;-)
 
marymeg7 said:
Just been reading up about Splenda 'Sugar Blend' and wondering if I should try cooking with it after drooling over the recipes on diabeticgoodbaking.com. site. Tried the basic Splenda a long time ago but couldn't take to it. Anyone got any thoughts on it please?

Mary
Click to expand...
Do the recipes really need sweetening??

For recipes saying sweetener nowadays I may add nothing or just a 1/4 tspoon honey..
 
donnellysdogs said:
Have been to my consultant today who has lived with me in chronic pain for a long time with muscle pain and undergoing EMG tests, neuropathy, myopathy, rheumatology, fibromyalgia.

After todays visit and learning from hubby and I that my aspartame intolerance should have been noted in 2003 - she is taking note to ask other diabetics now showing similar pains in muscles about giving up sweeteners etc... She could not believe the difference in me.

I wonder how many other people with muscle pains like I did put it down to statins and not sweeteners or preservatives.

I also suffered what I can only describe as pain in heart which went instantly after stopping all statins. I do believe they contributed badly to this as ut disappeared after stopping.

There is no test for aspartame, sorbitol, preservative damage... Other than avoiding it. It took about 2-3 weeks for the pains to minimise completely.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you're aware that G.D. Searle, the inventors of Aspartame, had failed to get FDA approval for several years on the trot. Reagan became president, got rid of the director of the FDA, put his mate in and it got approval the following year.
It doesn't prove anything, but you would need to look at why it failed to get approval previously.
When I first started to live in High Wycombe (late '70s), I shared a house with three people who worked for GD Searle (UK Headquarters in HW) and used to tell an amusing story of how it was a food additive, for cattle, and somebody noticed the sweet taste in the air and hence pursued the idea of using it as a sweetener. I think they'd used a little poetic license, but they wouldn't touch the stuff, maybe they knew something after all.
 
I don't think its just aspartame though.. Look at all the children now being diagnosed with ADHD and behavioural problems.
I know about Sunny D because a friend of mine's child was having horrendous behavioural problems. We went through what the child was eating snd drinking.. It was exceptionally good.. The child ate every veg and every salad item possible and everything was natural except the Sunny D. Then we looked at the ingredients and eliminated it completely. That child totally changed...completely..

From this I am convinced its not just aspartame. From myself too.. I really didn't think that a twice yearly bottle of drambuiee with the diet coke was literally making me so horrendously ill. Same with chewing gum everyday.. Honestly I never thought just how serious these food "additives" could adversely affect health.

Shame I've suffered for 20 years and 12 years from a medical person not informing me or going on my notes but I am determined that others should not go through the same **** as me...I can't go back so living and learning all the time.... At least I am now anle to live!!
 
I used to work in HW for Searle and there are lots of stories - some still relevant and true.
Horse urine is still used as well as maggots.
I was reading elsewhere that 100 years ago the first line management guidance for diabetes was excercise!
 
VinnyJames said:
I used to work in HW for Searle and there are lots of stories - some still relevant and true.
Horse urine is still used as well as maggots.
I was reading elsewhere that 100 years ago the first line management guidance for diabetes was excercise!
Click to expand...
My gosh, horse urine and maggots for what :-/
 
VinnyJames said:
I used to work in HW for Searle and there are lots of stories - some still relevant and true.
Click to expand...
Small world, my wife (also ex Searle) and I still meet up with the guys from ChemDev every year, since their redundancies in '85 (if my memory serves me well). We have a good laugh at how these days we talk about knees, hips, shoulders and elbows, most of played a lot of sport in those days and a paying a bit for it now.
 
I think I need to make a bigger effort to find an aspartame free gum - they tend to be super expensive though. I don't eat a lot of it else I end up with warning symptoms of migraine, but I still have a lot of tendon/muscle pain and can't help but wonder if I'm making it worse for myself with continued consumption of the stuff. Grrrrrrr!
 
Indy51 said:
I think horse urine (more specifically mare's urine) is used for female replacement hormones.
Maggots are used for wound cleaning - they efficiently remove necrotic tissue.
Plus leeches are still used for blood flow in microsurgery.
Click to expand...
Oh, ok, I knew bits about that, I just thought to have something to do aspartame ;-)
 
Indy51 said:
I think I need to make a bigger effort to find an aspartame free gum - they tend to be super expensive though. I don't eat a lot of it else I end up with warning symptoms of migraine, but I still have a lot of tendon/muscle pain and can't help but wonder if I'm making it worse for myself with continued consumption of the stuff. Grrrrrrr!
Click to expand...
Hi Indy51,
I just checked for you the ingredients of Lidl's "Jet gum" Menthol and Eucalyptus Sugar Free chewing gum, and it doesn't have any aspartame. It has: sorbitol, isomalt, xylitol, maltitol, sucralose as sweeteners. They have several flavours, none to my knowledge has aspartame, but check the ingredients. The prices are lowest you can get, also they package in bigger handy resealable puches besides the usual 10 packages.
Hope it helps :-)
 
MosheBenYehuda said:
Hi Indy51,
I just checked for you the ingredients of Lidl's "Jet gum" Menthol and Eucalyptus Sugar Free chewing gum, and it doesn't have any aspartame. It has: sorbitol, isomalt, xylitol, maltitol, sucralose as sweeteners. They have several flavours, none to my knowledge has aspartame, but check the ingredients. The prices are lowest you can get, also they package in bigger handy resealable puches besides the usual 10 packages.
Hope it helps :)
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, we don't have Lidl in Western Australia. I guess I need to do some checking online.
 
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