Splenda Allergy

Absolutely - i overdosed on splenda when it first came out. I had never found a sweetener I liked, so this was a god-send - i thought of it as "free" and used it liberally. Like 40+ packets a day Moderatsion has never been my strong suit.

After a few months, I started experiencing all kinds of symptoms... joint pain, brain fog really bad, sore "spots" all over, tired beyond belief, etc. My doctor pushed a fibromyalgia diagnosis on me. He did some basic tests anyway (though he declared I had fibro before that). He very clearly gave me a "name" so I had something to google and could see there was really no treatments. Eventually I tried a few drugs, desperate.

I was browsing online one night looking up my symptoms for the umpteenth time (still didnt believe that "fibromyalgia" was legit for me... it is an exclusionary diagnosis, and we didnt really exclude anything!) and found a website with splenda side-effects and darn if almost every symptoms wasnt there. I cut it out and after 2 months I was almost 100% back to normal.

Of course, I was an idiot for taking so much, so I cant say "splenda is bad" - anything could cause issues if you overdose. I avoided it for a few years, and now I use it in very mild moderation rotated in with a few other sweeteners, always aware of my cumulative daily amounts!

I have also found similar issues with other food parts and sweeteners... A friend diagnosed with lupus had almost 100% symptom relief when eliminating gluten. She may still have lupus, but her symptoms are MUCH better now. Another friend had a fibro diagnosis as well and found significant symptom relief from eliminating her all day long diet soda (with nutrasweet/aspartame). May not be true for everyone, but certainly worth experimenting!

I found that nutrasweet/aspartame makes my legs ache and knees hurt. I confirmed this several times - I had a huge diet mtn dew habit (6-12 cans a day) for years. I could barely walk, and even had a handicap parking pass. On quitting for a few months, my legs got so much better they were "normal" for the first time I could remember. I didnt tie it together until one day I drank a can of diet mtn dew (just because I was out and it was convenient) - and that night was in pain and had a hard time walking. Took a day or two to get better. I caught on and played a few times and sure enough - that was it! I also discovered that something in diet RED mtn dew is actually worse for me.

I also tried stevia... This is touted as "natural" (well, so is arsenic...) and pushed for diabetics because it doesnt raise blood sugar. Well, for some people it is even better - it lowers blood sugar! Great for diabetics! Terrible for hypoglycemics! I drank it in my tea for about a month, experiencing daily near-blackouts and dizziness before I realized the tea was doing it. Switched to splenda in it for a few days and no dizziness! Got a meter and experimented... my "normal" BG is about 70 and maybe 80-90 after eating. When dizzy from tea, it dropped to 40. So no more stevia for me!

I have tried monk fruit and so far no issues, but I am leary of relying on any one sweetener anymore, so I rotate it with a few others. I also learned stevia in cooked foods that have carbs are ok for me (carbs bring BG back up), just not in 0 calorie type drinks!

I guess my lesson is moderation and observation and experimentation! Doctors havent always caught on, and not everyone is sensitive to these or in the same way!