My Aspartame Horror Story

I'd like to start off by saying I understand many people will not agree with what I'm about to say.  The artificial sweetener industry wants you to believe their lies so you'll continue to buy their products.  As a victim of this industry I cannot stay quiet.

To properly tell my story, we have to talk about the reason artificial sweeteners exist in the first place, and that is sugar.  A popular example of this is soda and diet soda.  I believe they are one of the most detrimental things you can put in your body.  This isn't coming from a place of judgement.  My desire is to help you understand how harmful soda, diet soda, and artificial sweeteners can be by sharing the horrific things I've gone through.  These experiences led me to make the decision to never consume soda and artificial sweeteners ever again.

Growing up, my mother never kept soda in our home, so my sister and I rarely drank it.  I'll never forget going to a sleepover when I was 12 and drinking several sodas.  Since my body wasn't used to the foreign chemicals and high amounts of sugar, it freaked out.  I was jittery, anxious, and hyper.  After that wore off, I felt so sick I promised myself I'd never drink it again and I've kept that promise.

A few years later at a doctor's visit, I learned more about what soda does to our bodies.  The pediatrician told my mom the second leading cause of childhood obesity in America is soda.  Hearing that and remembering my past experience made my distaste for these drinks even stronger.  It breaks my heart to see people, especially children, consuming such a toxic substance regularly. Why are there not more people outraged by the horrific symptoms this product is causing?

We’ve all see the advertisements for these drinks showing healthy looking celebrities indulging in them.  This is deceiving because there is absolutely nothing healthy about soda.  This brings us back to sugar.  It’s something we know isn’t the best thing for our bodies.  In order to “correct” the problems it causes, substitutions have been created to supposedly provide a similar sugary taste without the negative effects.  These substitutions go by many names like sucralose (Splenda), saccharin (Sweet 'N Low), and aspartame (Equal and NutraSweet).  Many people believe they’re choosing the healthier option by drinking the diet versions of the sodas they like, but the diet varieties are worse than the originals.  Creating a chemical substitute for something that occurs in nature causes even worse problems to arise.  Diet soda companies claim that by drinking this sugar free version you will avoid health problems and lose weight.  On page 54 of her book, The Beauty Detox Foods, Kimberly Snyder, C.N. explains why the opposite is true.  "Despite the fact that it has zero calories, studies have shown that aspartame can actually induce weight".

This brings me to my personal horror story with the artificial sweetener called aspartame.  It wrecks me to know this stuff is allowed on the market because I ignorantly suffered as a result of consuming it.  Diet soda is not the only source of concern.  I had vowed to never drink any type of soda ever again, so I thought I was safe.  But the other main products containing these toxic sweeteners are gum and mints.  I grew up in the 90's so I remember when the gum and mints display in grocery stores had the real sugar versions.  Gradually, commercial brands switched to sugar free, and most people, including myself, believed this was the healthier choice.  We never stopped to wonder how the taste stayed sweet without the presence of sugar, and from what I've observed, most people don't care.

I don't know how long I was consuming aspartame before the side effects set in.  I was 13 when I had the first attack.  My mom, sister, and I were at the mall shopping for school clothes.  I was in a dressing room when I started to feel strange.  I was light headed, dizzy, and my vision was impaired.  At first, I thought it was the lights above the dressing room messing with my eyes.  I walked out of the store to try to calm myself down but the symptoms persisted.  There was a flashing spot moving over my vision that prevented me from seeing out of one of my eyes.  I described this to my mom and she called my doctor while we headed home. 

Thankfully, the pediatrician knew what was going on because she had the same experience before.  Her advice was for me to get into bed in a dark room, close my eyes, and take ibuprofen.  The flashing spot moved from one eye to the next before disappearing and then the migraine came.  My doctor said by taking ibuprofen right when the flashing starts you can get ahead of the migraine and prevent pain.  I had several attacks like this over the next two years.  I didn't know what else to do so I just dealt with them whenever they happened.  I had one on Thanksgiving when I was supposed to be spending time with family.  I remember closing my eyes as my mom and other family members surrounded me.  Their talking and praying was a comfort and distraction when my vision was impaired for the thirty minutes it took for the spot to go away.  I remember testing myself by looking at the digital clock on my nightstand, waiting to be able to see the full set of numbers.  But mostly, I remember the fear.  

Finally, my mom stumbled upon an article online about how artificial sweeteners have been known to cause these types of symptoms. We did some research and learned the different names these sweeteners go by. We checked my gum and mints and found aspartame in both.  Upon further research, we discovered aspartame has been linked to causing not only migraines, but neurological problems such as seizures.   "Aspartame is an excitotoxin, which is a toxic substance that in high concentrations may stimulate nerve cells so much that they are damaged or killed"(p. 54 of The Beauty Detox Foods by Kimberly Snyder, C.N.).  

I was so relieved to find an answer.  I immediately threw away the packs of gum and mints, never to consume them again.  Today I still chew gum and mints daily.  I use a brand called Spry that is sweetened with xylitol, a natural sugar alcohol.  I've learned to check the labels on everything I put in my body to make sure there is no chance I'll ingest aspartame or any other artificial sweetener.  I've had no other problems with visual migraines since I stopped consuming fake sugar.  Just because you're not experiencing side effects like I did doesn't mean your body isn't being poisoned.  My hope is that more people become aware of this danger so they can protect themselves from these health issues.  I'd ultimately like to see these products off the market so they can no longer cause the devastating afflictions proven to occur with regular consumption.