Case IX-J-3
A 61-year-old personnel director began drinking diet colas at the age of 59, and consumed up to one liter daily. His platelet count declined to 54,000/cu mm thereafter. He also became concerned over "forgetting to perform things for which I was responsible." Other complaints included "double vision," severe sensitivity to light, headache, dizziness, two convulsions, "fits without convulsions," marked sleepiness during the day, insomnia, slurred speech, and a nonspecific rash. Extensive studies failed to uncover a major medical problem.
His symptoms improved within 10 weeks after avoiding aspartame, although some problems with vision, memory, sleep and "concentration" persisted. There was an immediate exacerbation during one retest trial. After avoiding all aspartame products, the platelet count had increased to 75,000/cu mm at the time of his subsequent correspondence.
A registered nurse developed hypertension and a platelet count under 30,000 during her third pregnancy. Neither of these features had been noted in previous pregnancies. She began using diet colas after the birth of her second child. Other symptoms included severe headache, depression, loss of hair, and symptomatic reactive hypoglycemia.
Case IX-J-5
A 41-year-old woman consumed diet cola for 14 years. She experienced many symptoms of aspartame disease for three years, including headache, visual problems, severe aching of the joints, numbness of the left hand, and easy agitation. Her white blood cell count was only 460 (normal 4000-10,000), for which no other cause could be determined.
B. Lymph Node Enlargement
Enlargement of the lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy) occurred in several aspartame reactors without the finding of another convincing cause. This featured differed from the striking salivary gland enlargement in other with aspartame reactors (Chapter IX-D).
Representative Case Reports
Case IX-J-7
A mortgage broker began drinking diet cola in January 1995. She developed markedly enlarged glands in the neck ("the size of golf balls") one year later, along with a constant sore throat. These features persisted despite considerable doctoring. Subsequent symptoms included blurred vision, migraine headaches, severe joint and muscle pains, constant diarrhea with bloody stools, ringing in the ears, palpitations, night sweats, "a tongue as black as leather," a 30-pound weight gain, and "incapacitating" chronic fatigue. Various suggested diagnoses - including carbon monoxide poisoning, fibromyalgia, lupus erythematosus, and Epstein-Barr infection - could not be confirmed.
The patient was "absolutely in shock" on learning about aspartame disease. Improvement proved gratifying after discontinuing aspartame products. The tongue returned to a normal healthy pink state. The enlarged glands in her neck decreased within several months.
Case IX-J-8
A 44-year-old loan officer experienced headache, drowsiness, hyperactivity, severe tingling, irritability, personality changes, palpitations, a recent elevation of blood pressure, abdominal pain, itching, hives, other rashes, marked frequency of urine, and joint pains. These symptoms were provoked "immediately" on three retesting trials with aspartame products.
His son had aspartame disease. It was primarily evidenced as "noncancerous lumps under the arms" and a rash.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
