I’m a New Zealander that has recently moved to pursue my accounting career. I have had severe reactions to Aspartame over the past 6 years (since I was 21 years old) and have always wanted to contact an authority to let them know of my reaction but was unsure about who to contact. I have just been doing some research on the internet as I have recently bumped into an old friend who also has severe reactions to Aspartame; this prompted me to do some investigating re how many people this effects and to what severity.
I have accidently ingested Aspartame twice since my initial reaction – as I was unsure about what caused it until I narrowed it down to Diet Coke (and Equal). The reactions I have had have been severe and life threatening and combine seizure, tachycardia, heart arrhythmia, sudden drop in blood pressure, chills, vomiting, nausea, dizziness, surreal feeling, shock, severe sleepiness/drowsiness following attack, as well as headaches, inflammation and fatigue.
I on constant guard when eating any processed food as I feel that I may not be lucky enough to survive the next reaction. I would like to know if it is compulsory for food manufacturers to label any products containing Aspartame. I avoid any sweet food that I have not made myself from raw ingredients but would like to be able to eat out more.
Prior to these reactions I had no history of bad health or any health problems and had no food or chemical allergies. Since the reactions I have become quite sensitive to some chemicals, things like petrol.