During the past few years I became somewhat “addicted” to Breath-Saver mints. I typically ate 4 or 5 a day, and bought big packages of them at Costco. I also drank four or five diet Pepsis a week.
Symptoms came on gradually, and I never made the connection to Aspartame. They included attacks of gastritis, extremely painful episodes that woke me up at night. Doctor prescribed Prevacid which helped, but I had never before had such painful stomach troubles. I am 53 years old.
I also seemed to suffer more from headaches, depression, and fatigue.
About a year ago I began having severe joint and tendon pain in my shoulder. Popping and grating sensation whenever I moved my arm in certain ways. Went to physical therapy, didn’t help.
Had an MRI which showed tendonitis but no joint deterioration. I became unable to sleep on my right side. Chiropractor could not help. Cortisone shots did not help. I work at a desk, and some days were so bad I could hardly function. Took lots of Advil. Certain activities such as bicycle riding and running aggravated the pain and I had to stop doing them.
A couple months ago I somehow began to wonder about Aspartame and researched it on the internet, and quickly found your informative website. After reading many of the articles you have posted, as well as other people’s experiences, I decided to completely stop my Aspartame consumption. It has had amazing results after fairly short time.
My shoulder pain is 90% abated, hardly noticeable now. I stopped having gastritis attacks.
Other symptoms have improved.
I am convinced I was being poisoned by Aspartame. I do not pretend to understand the physiology of how it was affecting my shoulder, but if Aspartame did not cause the condition, it apparently made it much worse.
My chiropractor was very interested in my experience, and is mentioning it to many of his other patients. He finds my recovery fairly remarkable.
Thank you for your good work in informing the public about this harmful product.