I was a victim! I loved COKE! For years I would drink three to five sodas per day. When I began to gain weight I switched to diet cola, which at that time was not sweetened with aspartame. I didn’t care for the taste, but it didn’t bother me physically, and I ignored the warnings that the sweetener at that time was known to cause cancer. I was skeptical like many, and I did not necessarily believe it would hurt me. I drank diet pop coke for several years before they switched to aspartame. I didn’t even pay attention to when they switched, never had a reason to care. Sometime around the years 82-83, I began symptoms that progressively became worse.
The best I can describe my symptoms is that they appeared to be affecting the secretions in my body. I went to my doctor to have tests run, and he said I was fine. He could not find a yeast infection or any problem that could cause my continuous and extreme vaginal itch. He found no reason for my headaches, and itchy dry skin. He asked me if I had a change in diet, and I said NO! I was eating and drinking the same things I had for years. I never once suspected Diet coke during this time.
Symptoms persisted and became worse. My eyes watered with a thick film, My vision was becoming impaired, and I was afraid I was losing my sight. I went to an ophthalmologist who said my eyes were fine! My ears filled with wax and tingled constantly. A repeat visit to my doctor showed nothing wrong. He suspects an allergy or stress. He knows I am not one to complain.
I went to a gynecologist because the vaginal itching and discharge seem to be increasing, intercourse became painful. He could find nothing wrong with me. No infection, NOTHING! My abdominal and stomach area soon became so painful that I was forced to walk slowly. I couldn’t jump, run, or sit in a chair without pain. Every trip to the doctor indicated nothing wrong. My husband began to wonder if I was becoming what they called a hypochondriac. But, I am in pain, this is real! If this is an allergy, I need to find out what it is.
Months past, and I don’t believe I would have ever figured it out, without the help of two girls I worked with. I overheard one girl talking about having a symptom of extreme vaginal itching so bad that she couldn’t wear jeans anymore, and she only wore skirts.
I talked with her and found out that her doctors could not find any-thing wrong with her either. She did not have all my symptoms, but we were sure we were on to a mutually shared allergy.
A few weeks went by and we casually shared with another co-worker our symptoms and our futile attempt to find out what the allergy could be. After hearing our symptoms of extreme vaginal itching, she too remembered having it on occasions, and so bad that she would scratch until she bled. She said it was not constant like ours, but intense. and that if it ever happened again she would report to us the food she had taken in prior to it. Weeks later she came to us and reported she had the symptoms again. One night, she had a usual meal at a restaurant, and at home she had a glass of Crystal Light lemon drink in the afternoon, and that evening the extreme itching occurred. She tried it again a week later and it did the same thing. When we compared notes we found out that: She never drank soda pop of any kind and only recently purchased the can of Crystal Light; drinking it occasionally.
Our other co-worker was a soda queen like me, only worse; she said she drank five to ten diet sodas a day. WE DID NOT WANT TO BELIEVE IT WAS OUR DIET DRINK! But in our desperation to find out what was wrong with us, we gave up our diet drink for 2 weeks. In two weeks my itching decreased, My friends hadn’t decreased of any significance. She was skeptical. We stayed off of it for two more weeks. My vaginal itch was only faint. It was enough to convince me that I’d found the culprit of my allergy. I had questions that needed to be answered. We were not the only ones at work, who drank diet pop, and some drank as much or more than me, yet they did not have negative symptoms. My question is: Would they become ill, from drinking aspartame sodas, without having physically negative symptoms?
I went to my doctor who told me that our bodies are made up of chemicals, our foods are chemicals, and that aspartame is a chemical, even if it is a natural sweetener. He explained that the chemicals in my body are different from many others, as well as being similar to some. He said chemicals have reactions to other chemicals, and because aspartame affects my body physically, others may not have the same symptoms. He couldn’t tell me if they were in danger.
My life changed for the good after that. I eventually returned to my old healthy self. It took a year for my vision to return to normal. The itchy watery eyes cleared in four to five months. It took a year for my ears to stop tingling. The ear secretions ended in four to five months. It took a full two years before I could run or jog again, without pain in my abdomen. I’ll never forget what I’ve been through, and I’m thankful that I was one of the lucky ones who found out soon enough, before becoming irreversibly ill. Noone seemed to know about aspartame problems back then, and It was several years later that I noticed aspartame free ads for diet foods. It’s been 20 years since it’s been found that aspartame is bad for you, and many doctors know its bad for you, through their patients. Those of us who had early warnings through symptoms are the lucky ones. It’s the ones without symptoms that worry me. They will find out too late, if they don’t stop ingesting aspartame. Yes, it saddens me to know that after 20 years, this aspartame is still on the market. Good Luck on your endeavor! You have my support! Lori7nty7@wmconnect.com