Personal experience proves to me that Aspartame is dangerous. I’ll try to be brief with my story. I use Aspartame rarely or never. December 1995 I stayed with my parents for 4 days and used their Equal in my coffee. I was using – conservative estimate – at least 6 packs/day in coffee. They also served fruit salad sweetened with Equal which we ate at two meals, and I drank a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke.
While I was there I experienced unusual and extreme irritability, which felt totally irrational and uncontrollable. I had to lock myself in the bathroom to “get a grip”. I could not listen to music or I felt like I would explode. I told a friend about it, because it was so strange.
January 1996 I bought a box of Equal to try to lose weight. Using Equal in my coffee, I immediately became depressed, then irrationally irritable, full of uncontrollable rage, trouble breathing, anxiety, shaky, panic attacks. It only took 4 days before I realized something was definitely going on. The feelings were as intense and uncontrollable and irrational as the ones I had at my parents’ house. Then it clicked, and I thought of the Equal. I don’t know why. I immediately searched the NET for NutraSweet, found the articles about its toxicity, the symptoms, and the case histories. Not only did it validate my symptoms, but it suddenly started sounding like my mom’s problem, too. Of course I quit using the Equal immediately and I feel fine now.