migraines and artificial sweetener...

[grindmonkeh]

I just learned yesterday, after fighting migraines, dizziness, and memory problems over the past several months, that ASPERTAME has been reported to trigger migraines, dizziness, and memory problems in certain people. I'm surprised that I've never heard this. I started drinking Diet Dr. Pepper instead of regular Mountain Dew in mid-May, and made other dietary changes that lead up to a 20+ pound weight loss. In June I switched to Diet Mountain Dew, and by the end of June I began having terrible headaches and disorientation on an almost daily basis. My Doctor ENCOURAGED me to drink more Diet Mountain Dew with the logic that the caffeine would help, and with the additional stress and other variables (like a blood-pressure spike) I never suspected that an artificial sweetener could be the root of this evil. Of course this could be all entirely coincidental, but I'll trade diet soda to rid of these migraines in an instant.

SO HOPEFULLY...my misery has been aspartame poisoning and it will go away soon.

Now...from researching (THE INTERNETS!) I have found a lot of controversy on this subject. Every report seems to be THE legitimate report, and there are just as many "Does not!" as there are "Does too!" articles. I'd like to find out myself.

Today is the first day without diet soda and day one of nothing but an initial dose of coffee in the a.m. followed by water.

If anyone knows anything of this topic, PLEASE do tell.

Comments

[brokn2pieces.livejournal.com]

my sis quit drinking diet so regularly because of headaches and she claims it helped her. related? who knows. she believes it was

[grindbastard.livejournal.com]

All I can say at this point is that I HOPE it is related. I'd love to return to relative normality.

I've read a lot of genuine reports like hers.

[linguafranca.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I personally haven't noticed any correlation between diet pop and my headaches, but triggers are a little different for everyone. I just discovered that alcohol does it for me now. :(

[grindbastard.livejournal.com]

Booze seems to help...and even hangovers feel better than my daily headaches.

[traballenguas.livejournal.com]

Everyone is different. See if it works for you. Some people have no food alergies, some people die from them. I hope it clears up.

[gloomchen.livejournal.com]

It takes a lot of consumption to trigger aspartame poisoning. The only legitimately recognized cases that I know of involve people who drink a minimum of a 12-pack of diet soda a day, every day.

Even still, some people are more sensitive to chemicals in general than others. There may be other factors making one big pile of crap in your system.

[grindbastard.livejournal.com]

That's the trick...sorting out what is legitimate. There is a lot of conflicting "truth" about it. My aspartame intake does coincide with when my problems started, so after a couple of weeks I'll know if it's a factor in my case.

[traballenguas.livejournal.com]

GAH! I don't know anything about it, but that sucks. I hope it clears up.

If coffee isn't doing it for you, try to get a hold of some Yerba Maté:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mat%C3%A9

Very bitter, but great once you get used to it. Picks you up plenty, too.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I've heard of those side effects for aspartame but you're the first person I've 'known' to actually experience them. Someone else posted about aspartame recently: http://ajjones.livejournal.com/420106.html
I've just generally avoided the stuff since I didn't like the taste anyway (though of the diet sodas, diet Mt. Dew had been the least disgusting to me). Congratulations on the weight loss.