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I began attending Weight Watchers in January of 1986, and at that time began consuming aspartame. That was the year I had my first "simple partial seizure." Of course I didn't know what was happening at the time. I called them "fear attacks" for many years because they felt like a surge of fear running through my body and lasting only for about 10 seconds--a feeling you would get if you suddenly realized someone was behind you with an upraised dagger in their hand. At first they were very infrequent, perhaps one or two a year, but over the years they became more and more frequent. I also started menopause (I was 42 at the time) and thought the attacks were related to hormonal imbalance or something. I was put on premarin and provera but they didn't help the problem.
Then in 1996 I had a generalized nocturnal seizure (grand mal seizure while I was sleeping). At the time I was under a lot of stress, so I thought that had something to do with it. However, my neurologist disagreed that stress alone could cause a seizure. Also at that time, though, I was trying to lose weight and eating a lot more products with aspartame. The doctor ran all the usual tests (MRI, EEG, blood tests, etc.) but the cause was inconclusive (meaning I didn't have any brain tumor or such). It was then that I was told I had temporal lobe epilepsy and that my "fear attacks" were simple partial seizures (SPS). I was put on Dilantin, which seemed to control the seizures. Of course at the same time I decided to eat healthy.
Eventually, I slipped back into my old eating habits and started having the simple partial seizures again. The doctor tried me on several other medications to try to control them: Tegretol, Depakote, etc. I was taking lots of medication but I was still having the seizures. The medication that agreed with my body the best was Dilantin, so that's the one I remained on, but I also was put on another supplemental one called Topamax. For about the last year (prior to quitting aspartame) I had one or two simple partial seizures per day.
Well, a friend emailed the Nancy Markle letter and after I read it I was very hopeful that this was the answer to my problem. I discontinued all products with aspartame and didn't have a single seizure for a solid week. However, that was at the same time I was being started on Topamax so it was impossible for me to know for sure the reason the seizures stopped.
Then my daughter game me the article, "A Web of Deceit," which was in Time Magazine. I was very disappointed, but I had faith in Time Magazine and started eating aspartame products again. I figured it was the new medication and not the lack of aspartame in my system that was helping me. Guess what? I started having seizures again.
I discussed the situation with my daughter and she suggested I go off aspartame again, which I did.
I discontinued eating aspartame-laced produces on 3/10/99. I visited my neurologist a couple days afterwards and told her about this. She was skeptical but said by all means, I should go off the aspartame if I thought it was causing my seizures. However, she was not convinced and said there would be articles in scientific and medical journals if what I was saying was true. She also said I could go off my medication if the seizures stopped. I discontinued the Dilantin right away and the Topamax and few days later (you're supposed to go off seizure medication gradually).
I went a couple of days without seizures and then started a detox program of supplements (antioxidants, liver cleansers, etc.) and fasting. It was as if the dam had broken. I began having 6 to 7 SPS a day for about three days. However, I believe this was due to my liver and other cells giving up the stored chemicals (Formaldehyde, etc.) left over from the aspartame. Gradually the SPS eased off and finally stopped altogether for 17 days. I then had one more SPS on 4/12/99 and again on 4/14/99. At that time I was only 35 days into the 60-day detox process, so even though having the seizures was a disappointment, I guess it was to be expected. The toxins will probably remain in my cells to some degree for quite a while. But I know I am finally breaking free of this disease and epilepsy will no longer be in my vocabulary. Aspartame poisoning is what caused the seizures and nothing else.
I'm an activist now and on a campaign to inform everyone I know about the dangers of aspartame. It is a deadly chemical and ruins lives.
Phyllis (NoASPforme@aol.com)
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