Below is my personal story about aspartame poisoning

Let me first start off by giving everyone a little personal history about myself. I am 6 feet tall and have been heavy all my life. At present I am 249 lbs. I guess the weight comes from liking to eat, and liking my Pepsi. I am presently 47 yrs old. Approximately 4 years ago, in 1993, my employer, Lockheed Martin, during a yearly routine physical, told me I was "dumping" sugar in my urine. So off to the doctor I went. The tests the doctor had performed confirmed I had type II Diabetes. They told me that I could control it by diet. So, being scared and concerned, I switched to using Equal in my coffee (about 4 cups a day), and I started using Diet Pepsi, about 3 cans a day. What followed was nothing short of a nightmare.

At NO time did I associate my medical symptoms with my use of aspartame. For the next 3 years, I had daily headaches. I always passed these off as "sleeping on my pillow wrong", as I like to sleep with my pillow between my head and upper arm, on my side. I also had severe heartburn. So much so that I would consume the largest bottle of Rolaids in 3 weeks. This I thought to be related to the fact that I "like to eat", and I also liked spicy foods.

My wife now tells me that she and my mother also noticed my moods changing for the worse. My son did too I guess. I was cranky almost all the time. I kept telling my wife it was from "lack of sex". We came very near divorce. After about two and one half years, I also started experiencing severe insomnia. I was a zombie at work. I would only get 2-hrs sleep every night. My memory went to pot quickly. I would forget the simplest things, and forget trying to remember anyone's name. During this time, my eyesight went bad also, VERY quickly!. My family doesn't have a history of eyesight problems at such early ages. Both parents didn't wear glasses until real late forties or early fifties. I, on the other had need them at age 43. It seemed that one-week I was fine, the boom, bifocals. I lost 55 lbs. initially, and since I had always been heavy, everyone in the family was pleased, including myself. I was the biggest salesman for aspartame there could ever be.

Then, quite mysteriously, 15 lbs. came back quickly, with no change in diet. It happened in a matter of weeks. By now, I had purchased a blood glucose machine, to monitor my sugar, and to say the least, it was ALL over the place. I was also having regular check-ups and blood tests by the doctor. My cholesterol levels skyrocketed. Now I was on medication for it, and my sugar. My whole physical and mental well being seemed to be falling apart. If it wasn't for my family, I think suicide would have been my next step. Although we never discussed it, I just couldn't do that to my family, but the thought crossed my mind several times.

Finally about 8 months ago, I started having dizzy spells. They were very mild at first, but grew more frequent, and more severe. I went to the doctor again, worried that the years of abuse of my body, and produced a clogged artery in my neck, thereby causing the dizziness. More tests were performed, and the doctor gave me the "I don't know" answer for the cause of the dizzy spells. He said it was vertigo, and prescribed more medication. He also scheduled me for a "fasting blood test", whereby I wasn't suppose to eat anything after 6 PM the night before. The next morning, no headache, and no vertigo. Great...just when I was going to have a blood test to help find the problem, I felt great! So, I mixed my thermos of coffee, laced with 3 packages of Equal, got in the truck, and went to the lab for my blood test. After bleeding for the vampires, I headed off to work, drinking my coffee. When I got to work, about 20 mins later, I had a dizzy spell. One so bad that my boss caught me and stopped me from falling over backwards. That is when the light bulb came on. I started to think what I had done to cause this spell, and realized the ONLY thing was to drink coffee........Sweetened with aspartame.?! I immediately searched the internet, and stumbled upon Mark Gold's sight and Mary Stoddard's sight. Something way back in my mind remembered some sort of controversy about aspartame, a long while back. After reading for an hour or so, I said to myself "I'll bet THIS is what is causing my problems". All my symptoms were listed in these sights, and I was convinced that aspartame was the culprit.

For 7 months now, I have been off the aspartame, and I feel great. ALL of my problems have gone away, except my diabetes, which is now controlled by 5mg medication. My eyesight and my memory have improved, but I fear they are permanently and irreversibly damaged. BUT...ALL the headaches and heartburn, bad moods and anxiety attacks are GONE...TOTALLY. Except when my teenage son gets under my skin...aha....like all teens.

I had one event in the 7 months to re-confirm the cause. While out fishing in my boat with a friend, I ran out of ice water to drink. Here in Florida, in the summer time, everyone drinks a lot of fluids because of the heat and humidity. So, I drank 1 Diet Coke of my friends. I figured it wouldn't hurt....WRONG!!! That night I couldn't read the text on my computer....even WITH my glasses, and the next morning...I had a 4 Advil headache......like none I've never had. Bet I'll never knowingly consume aspartame again!!!! I now have decided that I will not rest until aspartame is banned from the American diet. END OF STORY!!!!