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My story is very long and I honestly doubt I can remember everything I
should tell you. I will try to make this short and if I leave out
something or can help you in any way please email me. I was a NutraSweet
user for 12 years. I can't remember exactly when my troubles started. I
have always had allergies and thought that was my problem. I can
remember as far back as 5 years. I was playing softball and had to quit
because of fatigue, dizziness. And vision. I started having all kinds of
problems. I have been treated for early menopause--depression and mental
(all in your head). I would have this I called the spell. About 4 times
a year mostly in the winter I would get this flu like thing. The best
way for me to explain it is -I felt like I had the worse case of flu-
had taken an over-dose of Nyquil and then gone to work. After spending
most of my life savings on doctors I went through this fed up stage. I
didn't go back to the doctor for sometime. In the summer of 97 I hit
rock bottom. I could not remember a simple thing like where I worked
that day. My fingers went numb. It was hard to even sign my name. I got
so mean and hateful I am surprised I even have a friend. The spell
started happenings more often. I could not get out of bed. I would make
myself go to work. That was the only time I was up, but I could not
sleep. I would sleep about 20 minutes then be wide-awake. My body was so
cold and it hurt to touch the mattress. In Jan. 98 I decided to try the
doctors again. I knew something was wrong and something had to be done.
If I didn't do something either this was gong to kill me or I was. I did
not want to live like this any longer. I gave myself 3 months of really
trying to figure this out - if I didn't know by then I was checking out.
I went to a chiropractor. I did acupuncture. I did get some relief, but
no answers. I started keeping notes. My symptoms would be different each
day. I went for blood test. The day of my doctors app. to find out my
blood work I took along a 6-page report of all my notes. It took me 3
days to get in order because I could not write or remember how to spell
the simplest words. My blood work came back good. My doctor agreed
something was wrong so she put me on paxil. I was to report back to her
in 6 weeks. Let me tell you I had enough going on without adding the
side affects of paxil. My friend helped me do research on all kind of
illnesses. We narrowed it down to me having most of the symptoms of
chronic fatigue syndrome. At the time I did not have access to the
Internet and some friends copied info about CFS and sent it to me.
Going through the papers I noticed alot of cases CFS were mis-diagnosed.
I started reading all these terrible stories that people had with
NutraSweet.
From that moment I have not had one bit of that poison. Within days my
vision had improved. The joint and muscle pain eased up. My 24-hour
headache was gone. Within 2 weeks I noticed a lot of improvements. I
decided to go off the paxil because I needed to see if it was the no
NutraSweet or the paxil that was making me better. I spent all my free
time on the Internet gathering as much info as possible. I copied
everything I could and when I returned to all my doctors I gave them
copies. I was surprised to learn that not a one of them had heard of
this. Well, they no longer use the stuff and are telling all their
patients about it.. They now have the proof. They watched me slip into a
walking corpse and come out of it like Kramer. After 8 months I sill
have a bad memory day ever once in awhile. My joint pain eased up to a
flare and Is pretty much gone have yet to gain full control of the
writing thing, but I practice writing everyday just like we did in
school. I have not had a headache in gosh, don't remember when. My
responsibility now is to educate people.
April 12, 1999 I am now 1 year Aspartame free..I don't know for sure,
but I think I still have a bad day from time to time. But then again
anytime I feel bad I blame it on Aspartame no matter what has caused it |
