I have been off Aspartame now since 21st February 2003, being close to 5 months now. I think I’m coming back to the normal world which has been the worst nightmare for the past 8 – 9 years at least.
I think I tell you my complete story, as now I realize so many things that have been going on and I couldn’t connect. I hope this information can also help others to get back to a normal functioning brain and life.
The symptoms that have for sure weakened and almost disappeared are:
- heavy confusion
- memory loss and disorder
- chronic fatigue syndrome
- bloated stomach
- diarrhea with cramps in intestines
- strong feelings of panic and fear
- temporary insomnia
- depression
- hip and joint pain
- hair loss
(and all this just by taking 4-8 pieces of chewy V6 a day) – no coke light, no other diet products, nothing alike).
It took though over 3 months before I noticed the real change in my head, not being so heavy anymore and being able to think again and also remember things. I was so far gone that I sometimes could not remember my own address and phone number.
I don’t think it is necessary that I express what I feel towards Monsanto & Co. and all people involved in this, as many others have said it on your website quite clearly.
I am very grateful for having found all information on your site and once again to say – You saved my life and that of many of us. Thank you so much.
My life changed when I was diagnosed for hyper-prolactinemia in early 80ties and as this whole area was quite unexplored (and I had no medical knowledge as to how the human brain functions with its pituitary gland and hypothalamus), I was put on PRAVIDEL (Bromocriptine) and the dose was increased up to 10mg per day. This stuff put me so much off reality – I was just happy to survive a normal working day, and needed 9-10 hours’ sleep to be able to survive at all.
The doctors never found a reason for this hyperprolactinaemia and they could also not explain why, despite high medication intake, the PRL levels would not stay low.
Thinking back now, at that time already I used “Aspartame” chewing gum, maybe not so much – and I did for a period of time use artificial sweetener in my coffee (for maybe 1 year) which could well have been the cause for this disturbance in hormones.
But during the treatment with Bromocriptine, I could not distinguish between the symptoms of the medication and the ones from Aspartame. I was not aware of anything around me.
When I was completely desperate with this medication – and the doctors said I had to take it to the end of my life – there was no alternative (I refused removal of an at the time 6-7 mm large micro adenoma), I decided in 1998 to stop all medication from one day to another, without consulting any med. advice. I could not life any longer with this strong stuff (also used for Parkinson’s disease) being always dizzy and tired, etc. etc.
After over 6 months of heavy withdrawal symptoms you can possible think of, and when that was over, I still remained with a very dizzy head, headaches, bloated stomach, heavy confusion, memory loss, panic attacks, etc., etc., etc. – which I thought would disappear now. The only problem that added to it – I was not drugged up anymore and calmed down. So all these symptoms were extremely strong and I could hardy bear it.
After 1 year, the micro-adenoma had reduced to 1-2 mm (which it still is) but blood tests still indicated high PRL levels messing up of course the estrogen production and all related to it. And up to Feb this year, I have been working my way through this nightmare with all above problems.
The past 2 months have for me been the best ones during the last 10 years minimum. I still have high PRL, but hope that maybe the body can partly recover during the next months – I do not know to what extent the damage is irreversible – headaches GONE, the pain I had since over 10-13 years in my hip is GONE, pain in the points of the fingers GONE, pain in my neck GONE and physical body pain when waking up in the night – ALL GONE.
My eyebrows have not been growing anymore for the past 15 years, and – since 3 months, they start growing back – it is simply amazing. So does my hair – I don’t lose so much anymore, and lots of it grows again I feel energy coming back. And that is great.
During the entire period of PRL problems, I read so many medical books on the functioning of the brain and have acquired quite a knowledge on that.
But I had no reason to mistrust our food industry and all my research in finding out why the hypothalamus is completely in disorder failed due to that. It could have saved me so many years of nightmare.
I have also since Feb this year read the “Excitotoxins – the taste that kills” and others on the subject and have also abandoned any sort of MSG from my food consumption which I find does me a lot of good. I noticed that when having any kind of MSG in the food, I feel very bad for the next few days, very dizzy and tired (not as bad as with Aspartame through)
In order to stay healthy, I have never ever smoked one single cigarette nor drunk one glass of alcohol – and then this discovery. It takes some time to deal with the fact that I poisoned my body over all these years.
I will keep you informed on developments also on the prolactine levels as I know many people (not only women) have this problem – and I get the very frightening feeling that this is also partly done because of the Aspartame. But I can neither prove nor completely judge it right now.I know only that I have never been so stressed that this could have caused it.
Another victim was my sister – dealing with diarrhea and arthritis in her eyes, causing serious infections that can lead up to blindness and we were so strongly trying to find out what causes it. Same for joint pains and bloated stomach.
Since she stopped her 1 glass of sugar free lemonade in March this year, her intestines are back to normal and the eye infection has not reappeared so far.
It is more than admirable what you do for all of us – and there will be many more that will need this info.