Aspartame and splenda

[GingerR]

I would like to know if aspartame and/or splenda cause fibro to get worse temporarily. I have heard from a friend with fibro that it causes her to have pain fairly quickly. I am not good at figuring out the effects of things I eat or drink. Any help with this?

 

[LivetoErr]

Personally, Aspartame and Splenda have no effect on me. A year ago, at the urging of several friends, I cut out artificial sugars. I did it cold turkey which, was a feat, in itself, considering I drank at least 4 cans and/or bottles plus a large fountain pop a day. Everyone swore it would make me feel so much better but, I found no change in how I felt. It would have been really nice to have a solid reason to not drink pop but nothing changed. A couple of weeks ago I started having the occasional pop and it didn't harm me. I never stopped missing the taste of diet coke so I am finding the occasional one helps me from slipping back into drinking it in excess.

Personally, I think they're like everything else. Some people are sensitive to them and others are not. Everyone needs to find out for themselves how it effects their system and go from there. I know some people are against using artificial sugars but, I'm not. If Aspartame is going to give me Cancer, I'll never know because I'm at risk for it to begin with.

 

[MEgersheim]

I, along with a few other friends who suffer from migraines, have notices that artificial sugars are a definite trigger. I do not know about pain, but migraines, which many of us with Fibro do suffer from, artificial sweeteners do make a difference. I have cut them out all together. At first it made an enormous difference. Of course, now I am struggling with medications anyway.
And, as LivetoErr said, everyone is different and responds to things in a different way. Give it a shot and see what happens!
Best of luck to you.

 

[wahmbrenda]

I haven't had any effects from using these. I'm T2 diabetic and don't drink any warm drinks so I love my soda. These are the only way s that I can drink my sodas so have completely switched over to them. I also use them in all my baking. Doesn't seem to bother me at all.

 

[LivetoErr]

wahmbrenda,

Do you not drink warm drinks for a reason? I don't drink them either. Even though, I get really cold when I drink cold drinks I prefer being cold over being hot. If I drink something hot, I get flushed. I start to sweat all over and feel like I'm having a hot flash. It's so uncomfortable, I don't normally have anything hot. I had a hot coffee the other day because the place we were in was really cold. My mom looked at me and asked why sweat was running down my face. I finally got to say to her, "now you know why I let hot drinks cool down before I drink them". She knew I didn't like them but never got to see why, until then. I'm just curious because, I wonder what's going on that I can handle cold stuff better even though I suffer from Raynauds.

 

[wahmbrenda]

LivetoErr that's an interesting reaction to warm drinks. I wonder if others have experienced that. Personally, I just don't like them so I don't drink them LOL

 

[1sweed]

I never experienced that but I do as a general rule like cold drinks better than hot, except on really cold winter days. Are you old enough for change of life experiences? It could be the way one of your medications effects you, like an odd side affect.

 

[Irish]

I would like to know if aspartame and/or splenda cause fibro to get worse temporarily. I have heard from a friend with fibro that it causes her to have pain fairly quickly. I am not good at figuring out the effects of things I eat or drink. Any help with this?

A someone who does drink a lot of diet soda, I do notice that when I increase my intake that I do get more aches and pains than I normally would. I've been getting this a lot since the Christmas holidays when I been drinking more soda to mix with my drinks.

 

[Sharon]

I stopped all artificial sweeteners months ago. Personally, it has not seemed to make one bit of difference. I also went gluten-free but have since gone back as that didn't make any appreciable difference either.

 

[msnova74]

I cannot use either as they make my pain much worse. I typically use agave syrup

 

[Indianagal]

Not to alarm anyone but I heard about 6 months ago that anything that has aspartame in it is bad for you. It is like a poison. At that time I had been drinking diet sodas, sugar free ice tea and using artificial sweeteners. I recently started going for physical therapy and the director of the PT and I talked about this issue. She did some investigating on it and told me she believes aspartame can cause fibro and make it worse. She suggested I have a total body cleanse....she believes it would be very beneficial. I used products with aspartame in it for several years, have been totally off it for over 6 months. I am going to get something to take for a body cleanse to see if it does improve my symptoms.

 

[Jenny Heart]

I've read that aspartame can cause everything from brain tumors to seizures. If that is true, then, it makes sense it could cause pain in the body. Go online and look up the risk of drinking diet sodas, and you'll be shocked in what you find out about the sweetener aspartame. I don't drink sodas with this sweetener in it any more. I drink soda that has Stevie in it as a sweetener. Stevie is all natural! I choose natural over artificial any day.

 

[wander_n_wonder]

Yeah, I agree that splenda kind of worsens symptoms of fibromyalgia. They say it is because of the aspartame content. Overall, Splenda is also considered an unhealthy sweetener. There are better options out there such as Stevia which is more natural. When my friend stopped using Splenda, she noticed less symptoms.

 

[Trellum]

Hi there, Ginger! May I ask why you are still consuming aspartame? That thing is awful for your health, that sweetener has been forbidden in several European countries already. There are far better options in the market that don't cause any kind of side effect, for example sweeteners with 'Stevia''. Those sweeteners are great, there are several brands, but they are made with a herb that is very sweet. It's like the other sweeteners, but is actually way more natural than Splenda and Aspartame.

 

[Hedonologist]

Personally I noticed that aspartame was a temporary cure. Which probably led me to self medicating and consuming 0.5 to 1 litre of diet coke a day for 5 years. In the end, I think that chronic consumption was probably a contributing factor. Withdrawal was terrible but now it's a lot better. I no longer get muscle spasms at least.