Aspartame & Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

100% correct. Aspartame and even Xylitol affect me badly. I used to drink Coke until i decided to drink either Coke lite or Coke Zero to try and avoid sugar and fizzy drinks totally. However, i encountered various different and aggrevated symptoms with the latter drinks which contained Aspartame. I have stopped Coke and all other related soft drinks and can say that i am much better off without them. Various preservatives and colourants in fruit juices etc also effect me badly of which i have to avoid. Most of the juices you buy boxed do not contain any of those harsh chemicals.

La CFS/ME è una patologia terribile, dai sintomi molteplici ed estremamente limitanti.

Mi auguro con tutto il cuore che questa malattia possa ricevere il giusto riconoscimento in ogni nazione del mondo e che i malati siano assistiti e aiutati secondo le loro necessità.

This topic is very interesting. Aspartame is the name of a sweetener made from Aspartate and Phenylalanine. Aspartate is one of the main excitatory amino acids in the central nervous system. The other is glutamate-the chief ingredient in Monosodium glutamate(MSG). MSG has been shown to be neurotoxic based on research dating back to the 1970’s. Aspartate has not been conclusively demonstrated to be toxic, but it is an excicatory amino acid like glutamate and has the theoretical potential to cause excitotoxicity in large doses. What exactly is a large dose? That part is unknown. If you are concerned, you might be wise to avoid it all together.
The comment about mental disorders is actually relevant. The brain exerts a great deal of control over how we perceive pain-some of it is voluntary and some of it is involuntary. Chemicals that may interfere with pain processing could certainly interfere with mood and emotional function as well.

I have been running for 35 years and struggle with aches and pains inconsistent with my healthy lifestyle. I have been diagnosed with depression and believe I also have chronic fatigue syndrome. However, I can say for certain that my health improves with exercise and diet.

Years ago I quit chewing Care-Free gum with aspartame, and unexplained headaches disappeared. Today I avoid anything with aspartame and am on the verge of quitting sodas as well.

The research may be inconclusive, but depression and fatigue are intertwined. I believe some of us are short on dopamine and other healthy chemicals our bodies produce making it all the more important to eat right, rest and exercise.

It doesn’t hurt to laugh a lot, too.

I have had CFS for 19 years. Last fall I started drinking 2 or 3 cans of diet Dr. Pepper each night. By Jan. 2010 my head was aching 24 hrs. a day, and my stomach had sharp pains all the time, and I felt extremely sick. My head felt ’sick’, and it felt like poison was in my arms. I was convinced I had stomach cancer, and didn’t have long to live. Then I found some information on aspartame, and quit drinking it. All those symptoms rapidly vanished. It was poisonous to me.

Woodrow C Monte, PhD, Emiritus Prof. Nutrition gives many PDFs of reseach — methanol (11% of aspartame) puts formaldehyde into brain and body — multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, cancers, birth defects, headaches: Rich Murray 2010.05.13
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.htm
Thursday, May 13, 2010
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1601

[ Other formaldehyde sources include alcohol drinks and
tobacco and wood smoke, while adequate folic acid levels protect most people. ]

Be careful! Aspartame is now being marketed under a different name. Read more about the history and the name change to AminoSweet here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/028151_aspartame_sweeteners.html

I truly believe that aspartame was part of what triggered CFS is my body. There are other factors for sure, but aspartame shouldn’t be part of any human’s consumption.

What about Splenda?
Any info on that being bad for us as well?

I cut sugar out of my diet completely, (except for natural fruits, etc), and use splenda in my morning coffee for 3 years now.

I have lost weight by doing this, but can’t tell if its affecting my FMS at all.

Any thoughts?
~Lisa

Even very small amounts of Aspartame gave me dreadful migraine-like headaches, so I avoid it as much as possible and use saccharine or Splenda. (Splenda is made from sugar, by the way) Now it has no effect on my husband at all, but both of us have trouble with any of the artificial sweetenres which end in “tol” (e.g., mannito, xylotol) Those tend to really aggravate my irritable bowel syndrome.

The brand names do change so you have to really read the ingredients panels on things.

Also, many Low-sugar food have higher amounts of fat in them (to compensate for the loss of sweetness)

I find that three things really aggravate two of my most annoying fibro symptoms: dizziness and IBS. One of those things is carbonation in beverages (I only drank full sugar type, and up to 3 cans per week), Splenda (I stopped using the one packet / day in my morning decaf tea and was much less dizzy) and caffeine (even a small amount early in the day messes with my sleep, and makes me dizzy.) These were small changes for me because I used such little amounts, but had a huge impact on how I felt. I never could use Aspertame due to immediate IBS symptoms. I knnnow it’s not a scientific study – but it works for me.

No I haven’t cut aspartame from my diet. I’ve seen no real research that says aspartame actually does anything detrimental. Research that says something may happen isn’t research. I may push you out in the street in front of a car. Research can prove that statement is true. I’m physically capable of doing it. But I won’t, and I probably can’t because I don’t know where you live and have never met you and have no reason to do it. You have to watch research carefully and see what it really says. Perhaps aspartame is the worse thing in the world for you, but nobody’s proven it. Everytime society comes out with a new and better whatever, somebody cries doom & destruction. I will presonally wait until either I have a bad reaction that I can prove was from ingesting aspartame, or scientific proof shows me it causes bad effects in other people and why it does that.

If aspartame doesn’t agree with you, by all means don’t eat it. I don’t like turnip greens. I don’t eat them. But to assume that because something does not agree with you it does not agree with everybody is false reasoning. Some people do well with aspartame. Many people thrive eating turnip greens. Perhaps using peanuts for an example would be good. some people die when they are exposed to peanuts. That does not mean peanuts are bad for everybody, just bad for those people who are allergic.

But I actually prefer Splenda, so the question is moot. And for those who think Splenda is as bad as aspartame, well my argument is the same. Prove it, then I’ll listen. Until then I think the dangers of diabetes beat the dangers of artificial sweeteners any day.

I eliminated aspartame a number of years ago and saw no marked changes in FM/ME/CFS symptoms. I also eliminated sucralose and can’t say that I’ve noticed any changes from that, either. To be safe, however, I have switched almost exclusively to stevia, which is an all natural sweetner. I have to admit, though, that I still crave a sugar-free soda on a rare occasion!=^)

Michelle, there is a sugar free soda made with stevia. It’s called Zevia. Some of the flavors taste a bit interesting, but most are really good.

Years ago – maybe 20 years ago – I was at a picnic or something and had 2 diet sodas (I rarely drink sodas as I generally don’t like them, with the possible exception of cream soda), and I got a headache afterward. I attributed the headache to the aspartame in the sodas and to this day I can smell aspartame a mile away. One time 3 or 4 years ago I stopped in at a fast food place (which I also rarely do) and got an ice tea from the soda dispenser. I could taste the aspartame right away and asked one of the workers about it, but they didn’t know, but I think it must have had aspartame in it. Now I have a little herb garden, which includes stevia, and I make a syrup from it (water and stevia) and freeze it as ice cubes. So I try to use that instead of sugar, but I’m still experimenting with it. It’s green, though, which might not always be desirable in some foods.

Yep, I have to agree! I had cut out diet coke from my diet when I passed a kidney stone and was told that soft drinks could be a culprit. I recently started drinking them again and began feeling awful. So, back to water and natural juice for me!

Luckily this in a no brainer for me. I am actively allergic to the stuff. I drink it and mouth breaks out in ulcers.

Several years ago I switched from Aspartame to Splenda and the Splenda was worse. It has its own issues. I went without both for awhile and then got hooked on Aspartame sodas again. Now I am trying to at least reduce my consumption to an occasional one and maybe even quit altogether. No matter what though, I’ll still have the disease and still struggle with so many issues normal people breeze thru every day.

I used to consume a lot of aspartame. I read an article about how it breaks down in the body and I decided not to use it anymore. In 2 weeks time I noticed that I was not hurting as much as I used to. It was very noticeable. I convinced my husband to stop using it ( he drank a lot of diet coke). He does not have fibromyalgia but he had a lot of shoulder pain. He also noticed that his pain went away. This is bad stuff for anyone, I make sure my kids don’t ingest it either.

There was a time in my life that my Dr.s thought that I was taking strokes & or had M.S. After cleaning out my kitchen cupboards I found ice tea drink mixes that I (at the time) was largely consuming. Just out of interest I read the ingredients. It listed Aspatame as the sweetener. I also remembered that the yogurt that I prefered at he time was also sweetened by Aspartame. As I researched the internet for Aspartame I learned that if you have Fibromyalgia the side affects from Aspartame are crippling. The side affects that I noticed were huge. During the time of my Aspartame consumption I pulled into my driveway & unloaded my grocerys only to have forgotten my baby. Over an hour later I couldn’t figure out where she was. My heart sunk when I realized that she had been left in the car. Luckily it happened in the evening & the windows were 1/2 way down. Now I avoid Aspartame like it’s the plague. My Dr.s no longer feel that I have M.S. or that I have taken any strokes.

I never consumed a lot of Aspartame, because from the start it gave me a headache, every single time I tried it. At the time I was disappointed. Looks like maybe that was lucky – I knew what the culprit was.

i used to be addicted to drinking diet coke…i would say i drank it with both lunch and dinner if it was available and i would drink it on and off through the day. i started having all of these bad pains in my knees, so bad that i went to the doctor for it. they gave me a CAT scan and couldn’t figure out where the pain was coming from. so i was back to square one. i thought about it and came to the conclusion that i should start to try adjusting things in my diet to see if that could be the problem since there was nothing visibly wrong with my knees. the first thing i gave up was the diet coke. believe it or not, within 2 days ALL pain in my knees was gone. GONE. i completely gave up drinking anything with aspartame since then…and guess what…no more problems. that stuff is poison! don’t put it into your body and NEVER give it to your kids!!!!

I can’t use artificial sweetners anymore. I have experienced migraines, body aches, memory problems and spasms, strong and painful spasms. If you are using artificial sweetners and also suffering from any pain or memory problem, try going without it for a while to see if you notice a difference. I understand that some people may feel that their diabetes outweigh the other risk and that may be true but even some of the pain you feel may be coming from diabetes is actually coming from the sweetners. I have had to switch from soda and punch to water. I am trying to find ways of making beverages that won’t harm me. For those people who feel it doesn’t affect you, that is wonderful but just be careful because some people that are now suffering from FMS didn’t have any symptoms until consuming a low calorie diet pack full of artificial sweetners and now they will suffer for the rest of their lives. Just be watchful and careful in your daily food and drink consumption!

I stopped using aspartame several years ago when my doctor warned me of some of their side effects.I had to go to health food store to buy stevia back then.Has just been on the market in grocery stores recently.She also approved of Endulzante or Splenda which they now use in some drinks and foods.I just wish the food industries would use more of those sweeteners and leave out the aspartame! I have had fibro -diagnosed for 2 years,Before that the pain was all in my head!

I have a friend who goes into noticeable depression after consuming aspartame.

after he figured this out he stayed away from it. Then one time noticed that a soda he had been able to drink, he went into the depression. they had changed the sweetener to aspartame.

so it’s good to always check the ingredients of a product even if you have been eating/drinking it a lot.

Aspartame is one hundred percent the cause of my Fibromyalgia. I got sick immediately after my first ingestion of aspartame in the mid 80’s at a diner. Deathly sick, it hit every organ system in my body. I have permanent eye problems from it, neurological problems, central nervous system problems. The list goes on. It was the aspartame. Once it has done its damage, it is permanent damage in many cases. Cutting it out of the diet will not give you back the health it took away. It is a poison that can and will trigger Fibromyalgia and many other diseases.

After having a particularly bad weekend, I did some research on PubMed to see if there was ANYTHING I could do to try to help my fibromyalgia. Basically, the only thing I thought looked interesting was the elimination of glutamate (MSG) and/or aspartame. (Other diet changes that had no effect were vitamins, vegetarianism, veganism and more.) The glutamate and aspartame theory was only a hypothesis-no definitive studies have been done. Don’t believe everything you read-there are a TON of whacky, way-out-there, unsupported anti-aspartame sites that are over the top. The studies that are there are anecdotal and/or extremely small (one had 2 the other 4 patients) and all of those patients were purposely taking aspartame for some reason. For fibro patients, the basic theory is that fibro is caused by an overly excited immune system and that aspartame and glutamine (MSG) can excite the immune system. I, a TAB cola lover (yes, they still make TAB), decided to try to give up aspartame (I don’t have a problem with MSG, but avoided it anyway). Nothing. Nada. Nil. Not a damn thing. So there MAY be a subset of fibro patients who are sensitive to aspartame, but I, unfortunately, am not one of them.

I read about a study indicating an increased risk of stroke from diet coke (American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference earlier this year). It was correlational, so the cause is uncertain, but that was enough to make me quit aspartame. A lot of us with FMS have hypercoagulation disorders which implies a potential increased stroke risk, and I am one. My Mom and several of her relatives had strokes as well, so I want to reduce my risk where I can. I was a heavy Diet Coke drinker. I quit 2 months ago and since I am doing several things to improve my diet it is hard to say how much that helped me, but I think it has reduced my symptoms quite a lot.

I quit aspartame a few months ago after years of heavy use. Last week I decided to drink a Diet Coke. Within a short time I went into a severe flare up which has not resolved yet. I can’t be 100% sure it was the drink, but it seems like it was, and I wont be making that choice again.

I have definitely noticed a relationship between my use of aspartame and an increase in fibromyalgia symptoms.

I have definitely noticed a relationship between my use of aspartame and an increase in fibromyalgia symptoms.

I was diagnosed with FM about 14 years ago but had symptoms prior to that which were diagnosed as non-specific arthritis (in my 20s).

Hi everyone. I googled fibromyalgia and aspartame and came across this post. Thanks for all your comments. I was diagnosed in 1993. I drank Pepsi for years (a glass or two a day) and then switched to Diet about 5 years ago as I didn’t want to consume so much sugar. Then I was hearing about the link between aspartame and fibro so began to think that I should switch back, which I did a year and a half ago – no change whatsoever (except in my weight – gained some). I haven’t noticed one iota of difference. In face, this last year hasn’t been a great one for me with my fibro. So this personal research proved that aspartame doesn’t seem to make a difference for me.

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia a year ago. I have always been a heavy diet soda drinker, and in the last couple of years have been drinking almost 4 liters a day of aspartame-sweetened diet soda. As a part of my switch to a vegan, whole foods diet I cut off the diet soda cold turkey four days ago. I got what I assume is a caffeine-restriction headache within 12 hours that hasn’t left yet and within 24 hours had a flare of my FMS which also hasn’t ended yet. I plan to keep off the aspartame but hope the symptoms die off soon, as they’re affecting my ability to work. Has anyone else experienced a flare when going *off* aspartame?

I know the comment is way old, but Alice’s comment where “the danger of diabetes beats the danger of artificial sweeteners any day” is a tad hypocritical… You’re claiming that consuming sugar directly causes diabetes when that is not proven either. But it’s okay for you to believe those unproven suggestions but not that a CHEMICAL might not be very good for you?

…

Um, okay!

It’s a great idea to be skeptical, but the way you worded that comment sounds like you just have a hate against sugar.

I decided several months ago to ‘give up soda pop.’ I use to drink 12 ounces of Diet Coke on a daily basis. After giving up diet drinks, I gradually noticed that my Fibromyalgia symptoms vanished!! I suffered from Fibromyalgia for over 14 years!!! I am so very convinced that Aspartame is a neurotoxin and I am so happy that my Fibromyalgia has vanished!!