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I was diagnosed with severe RA in August 98 - the illness has spread to every joint in my body within three months. After twelve months on steroids from my GP - and during this time I was considering joint aputation or suicide - I saw an RA specialist. My prescription was changed from Prednislone (steroids) to Methatrexate in September 99. Five weeks into the therapy I was brain dead, excessively tired and nausious 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 - recommended by a colleague - I came across the damning effects of aspartame. The 92 side effects - which listed 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! I thought I'd give it a go and removed aspartame from my diet. For two weeks I craved anything sweet (since 1986 I had chewed my way through at least one packet of Wrigleys Extra 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 for most of the early part of 1999, and it's only over the past couple of months that I have begun to get my life back - using an exclsion/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. I omitted wheat and milk from my diet and became incredibly ill after only 4 days - experiencing brain fog, hunger, nausia, excessive tiredness and joint pain. I can only conclude that these products are now toxic to my system, and I will have to exclude them gradually to minimise the effect of the withdrawl symptoms. After removing aspartame from my family's diet, my children (aged 20 and 22) now complain of hives and ultra sensitivity to body creams. For anyone suffering from a chronic illness, I would suggest that you try eliminating aspartame from you diet, expect horrendous side effects from the enviroment and the food you are ingesting, then try elimintating certain foods and additives to find out what you have become sensitive to. I have almost got my life back together. I still have slight joint pain, but as the weeks go by this is subsiding. |