True Stories: Lyn
"I was diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid arthritis and within three months the illness has spread to every joint in my body. After twelve months on steroids from my GP - and during this time I was considering joint amputation or suicide - I saw an RA specialist. My prescription was changed from Prednislone (steroids) to Methatrexate. Five weeks into the therapy I was brain dead, excessively tired and nauseous for at least five days out of seven - not good as I manage an IT department and need my brain functioning at full capacity.
After searching the web for food additives I came across the damning effects of aspartame which included joint pain. I thought no... I have more than 'joint pain' - I would be reduced to tears on a Friday afternoon when driving home from work - my feet and hands did not want to control the car, the pain was unbearable!
But, I thought I'd give it a go and removed aspartame from my diet. For two weeks I craved anything sweet (for years I had chewed my way through at least one packet of sugar free gum, and drunk at least 0.5 litres of non-diet lemonade on a daily basis.).
I don't want to go into too many details, but I was incredibly ill and it's only over the past couple of months that I have begun to get my life back - using an exclusion/rechallenge diet.
I have found that I am now sensitive to all man-made additives and can only eat organic foods - even tap water has to be filtered. "