I am 26 years old and I have never had a serious medical condition in my life. Recently, I began having blackouts, feeling rather run down, and I was having frequent mood swings. I consider myself to be in excellent physical condition and watch my diet religiously.
Not very long ago, I was taken to the hospital while having one of my supposed seizures, or blackouts. I tend to stray away from “seizure” because as soon as the word is brought up you are labeled epileptic. While at the hospital, I was put through all of the usual tests when someone is said to have had a seizure. The tests, C-T scan, MRI, and ECG, did not reveal any obvious problems. So, for lack of anything better, my brilliant (Hahh!!) neurologist diagnosed me with epilepsy. At the same time I was also having problems with my blood sugar being too low. He didn’t even try to link either of my two problems together into a feasible diagnosis. You can understand that I was feeling angry, depressed, and thoroughly confused.
It wasn’t a week after I had been released from the hospital and I had another “seizure”. My girlfriend and I thought back through the events of the prior days and nothing seemed irregular. While in the hospital my physician placed me on Dilantin, an anti-convulsive medication, and it was supposed to alleviate my problem. Obviously it wasn’t working. My girlfriend and I then began thinking of anything that we had changed in our lifestyles in the last six months since these problems occurred.
We found an article on the adverse effects of NutraSweet and became very curious. Then we discovered it. With our efforts of keeping a strict diet I began consuming large amounts of Crystal Light. I liked the powdered drink mix because by the package I just assumed it was flavored water. I never drank any diet sodas so I really never encountered NutraSweet to a very high degree. Soon I was consuming 6-10 gallons a week along with my normal water intake. I did not experience any immediate problems; at least we don’t think so. Then came the problems that I have discussed. Since then I have found a doctor that believes in my reaction to Aspartame, and has discontinued my medication. I am now trying to restore my life to the way it was before my NutraSweet problem. Due to my seizures, my driver’s license has been suspended for six months.