I am a 62 year old Caucasian male who retired as a deputy sheriff in 1997 and who became an artist. Everything in my life was going very well health wise until about three years ago when my personal physician diagnosed me with Diabetes. From day one he advised me to use diet foods and drinks such as “Diet Cokes and others” as I would have to stay away from the consumption of regular sugar. I didn’t much like the taste of diet drinks or diet foods but he scared me enough about my diabetes condition that I switched to only diet foods. I began my diabetes life with oral medications of Glucophage and Avandia. A couple of years later I had continued to gain weight and I was falling apart. I had occasional headaches that I couldn’t explain as I never had them before. All of my joints ached constantly especially my knees and hands. I thought I had arthritis and the diabetes was taking hold of my health in a very negative way.
Early on I started with a condition under both arms and in the groin that I considered to be “Jock itch”. I started using Cortisone 10 creams and if I used that at least every other day the condition could be controlled and if not, the sores were very raw and bloody and boy did it burn. I continued to use the cortisone up until recently. Also about that time I developed a thick scaling in the scalp and around the ears that I thought might just be eczema or worse and I used Head and Shoulders shampoo but it didn’t control it. My lower legs and feet were swelling and I could no longer wear my favorite cow boy boots and most of the time I had to wear soft slippers.
Traveling became almost impossible. Besides all of these problems I had frequent urination problems and rarely got more than two hours of sleep at a time. I was becoming more and more irritable round my wife. My Doctor during this period of time was totally exasperated with me as I couldn’t control my blood sugar levels and I continued to gain weight and by this time I was up to 320 pounds.
About a year ago my Doctor put my on insulin in an effort to control the blood sugar levels. He started me out on low doses at first but with 3 months I was up to using 65 units of 70/30 Humulin in the AM and 60 units in the PM. Sometimes I would test in the morning and I would be 105 and sometimes I would be 205. I was not eating very much at all but I could never convince him of that. By this time I was developing so many physical problems that I couldn’t keep track of them all. In the morning for the first few minutes my vision was blurry as if I had a film coating over my eyes but then it would gradually disappear. I started having ringing or hissing in my ears that wouldn’t go away. Every morning I would run hot water over my hands so that I could close them. My knuckles were swollen and again I blamed it on arthritis. I blamed everything on my age and diabetes. If I got down on my hands and knees to do something I was unable to get back up without crawling over to the wall or some furniture.
One day as I was driving my 84 year old mother to her dialysis appointment I began questioning her about any illnesses I might have had while growing up. “I never took you boys to the Doctor while you were growing up other than for broken bones.” My brothers and I were very active living in the country. Our diet in those days was meat, potato’s, fresh vegetables, fruit and homemade bread and fresh milk.
My Mother then said, “you are worse off than me” to which I replied “He doesn’t know what all is wrong with me as all my blood tests are O.K. and everything. I’m at my wits end. I was getting real depressed and even contemplated ending it all. My whole life I had been very healthy and real strong and now I was as weak as could be. I then started reading books and surfing the internet. After a few weeks I found “Dorway”. Long story short, I cleaned out my pantry and kitchen of all the sugar free Jell-O, pudding, No sugar added Ice-cream, sugar free cookies and Diet Drinks that contained Aspartame.
Within 3 days I noticed some improvement. Within 2 weeks I felt like a thirty year old again. I could drop down and do about 5 pushups and wanted to go walking around the farm. My knees completely cleared up and the head aches went away. With the help of using Aloe Vera Gel in my scalp and in my shower soap my skin condition cleared up 90 percent. I have not had one bit of under arm and groin rash since I quit using Aspartame products. Did I mention that I also had been writing a book on my computer but I was unable to concentrate on spelling even the most simple of words until I got off that darn poison? I’m back to writing again. I’m now starting up in my metal shop which I stopped doing nine months ago.
Now here’s the good part. I went in to see my Doctor about six weeks ago about a cyst on my inner thigh that may or may not be related to Aspartame use. Anyway he had already given up on me regarding my Diabetes condition and scheduled me to see a Diabetic Specialist for the 17th of this month. I had gain 18 pounds on the last visit with him and my blood sugar levels were still out of control.
He asked me in general conversation, “well how you been doing”. I said “Great, never been better”
By the way Doctor do you still use sugar free food and drinks? Sure, I drink diet Pepsi, to which I replied, Well Doc you might consider giving them up. You see Doc, I’ve had Aspartame toxins in me since you first advised me to use them three years ago. Besides feeling great now, my blood sugar levels have come down to about 95 in the morning and about 110 in the PM and besides did you notice what my weight is today compared to three weeks ago. He checked his Nurses notes and said you are down considerably. About 20 pounds. I replied, yeh Doctor and I don’t even crave anything sweet any more. Hmm, very interesting, let me know how you’re improving. He didn’t have a clue about Aspartame. I then took the new prescription and went to my trusted Pharmacist who didn’t have a clue about the effects of Aspartame either.
Then it hit me, the medical profession doesn’t have a clue about food additives not even Aspartame. By the way I also told my Doctor that probably a third of his patients probably have Aspartame poisoning and he never knew it. To that he didn’t have a response.
I’m now reading everything I can get my hands on regarding Aspartame. I’ve gotten three Diabetic friends off any thing sugar free or diet.
If you don’t remember the sixties very well there was a saying back then. “Power to the People”.
If I had my way there wouldn’t be a congressman or Senator serving one more term unless he got on the band wagon and helped all of us victims of this terrible injustice. We need to get literature out just before election time so any one would know how to vote responsibly. This is the only way we can get enough people educated. “I’M WONDERING, WHAT MORE CAN I DO”. Should I mail all my sugar free drinks back to where they came from? No body and I mean nobody is so big and powerful that they can’t be crippled legally. Forget your scientists and their truthful results as that hasn’t worked and never will. Hit them where it hurts. You have to ask yourself one more question. If the movement to educated people like me is having any success then how come this ol’ cowboy had to go through three years of living hell before I accidently “stumbled” across all the good word that you are putting out?
I’m not going to apologize for the length of this e-mail because it all had to be said. I’m just an average guy who fought for his country and did everything asked of me only to be poisoned by my own country the good ol’ U.S. of A.