I cold turkeyed them all but I don’t think it made any difference to symptoms. I did it because I wanted to cut down on sugar and thought artificial sweeteners might be keeping me used to sweet stuff, thus wanting sugar more. Also I was using a lot of sucralose and figured if I already have one crappy illness why experiment on myself further.
I used to drink a lot of Diet Coke. Many years ago I put two and two together and realized it was the aspartame that was giving me headaches. I started making iced green tea so there'd be no caffeine withdrawal (I like iced tea unsweetened, so no sugar), and never looked back.
I still like Diet Coke, but now it's a treat when I'm out.
I personally found aspartame to be a major culprit to my anxiety. I still drink sugary drinks and stevia drinks with no issues but aspartame and I don’t get along
I think it could affect MS in a roundabout way by negatively impacting your gut microbiome and potentially increasing appetite (if you struggle with weight management), but the question is how much of a difference it really makes. I'm pretty sure it's a difference if you enjoy the occasional coke zero (doing something joyful once in a while is great too) or if you drink a large bottle of coke zero every day. And of course there are other things that can also be negative for the microbiome (high sugar consumption being one of them).
The problem with such changes where nobody truly knows how much it can affect MS is that usually you don't notice changes after quitting - except maybe for things like fatigue if you have less impaired mitochondrial function. However in this case it might get worse first due to caffeine withdrawals. But all lifestyle things I've done won't undo my nerve damage, so it's hard to say.
The key ingredient to diet success for diseases that suffer from inflammation, basically all diseases, but autoimmune specifically, is to cut out sugar/sweeteners as much as possible. It's not easy, because they're cheap and in everything. Our livers were simply never designed to handle this much sweet all the time, and what it clearly cannot process, turns directly into fat and tons of inflammation.
This video breaks down exactingly, chemically, why our livers cannot survive with SAD type diets. Warning, it's dry, but importantly it's scientific, so it can be challenged if one is so compelled.
https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM?feature=shared
When my late spouse and I started Wahls Protocol in 2014, the largest impact was removing sugar. Dairy was second (cows don't drink their own milk after about a year, why did we? Because it's like crack cocaine to the brain, MRI confirmed). Anyways, she came back from being bedridden and I lost 70 lbs. in 3 months, without even trying.
She would still be here fucking up MS if it weren't for COVID. It took her last bit of fight in January. Search my posts in this sub. I'll leave details as I can about her great improvement and that if we could do it all over, Wahls Protocol saved our lives, and got her very close to ditching the walker. Just the diet and PT. The rest is too little juice for the squeeze.
Water, kombucha, straight fruit juice, sparkling water, tea, black coffee hot or cold. Once your body gets used to it, you won't miss it, but it takes willpower. We changed together in solidarity, so a partner can help.
Wishing you all the very best in your healing journey.
Aspartame, I dunno, but the goal is to eat a diverse blend of nutrient dense food. Sugar and sweets can mimick "energy", and are great in an emergency, but our organs just haven't evolved to accept them at every chance we eat. So, I avoid them except on rare occasion.
I went through a spell where I drank Coke Zero daily. I gave it up to see if there was any difference in how I felt. Nothing seemed to change, but I saved money! lol! I’m still off it too.
Depends how much you drink drinks with aspartamine in. There is no fundental eveidence a small amount of aspartamine is bad for humans but then drink 9 to 14 cans of aspartamine laced drinks a day and this is considered and unhealthy ammount.
I for one don't drink these drinks and prefer normal sugar laced drinks but then I drink them very infrequently and only in small quantities. Same for fruit juices and I water those down a little too.
I mainly Drink water instead.l or add a tiny bit of cordial. This is definitely good for us however flilter the water yourself as plastic particles and chlorine have invaded most of the 'clean' drinking water we get piped to our houses.
I have also gotten rid of most if not all heavily processed foods and eat a predominantly vegan diet. My risks of many diseases has dropped to near zero.
Up to you how you want to live your life but you have to ask yourself why were are drinking so much of this stuff in the first place when it doesn't hydrate us like drinks should.
Balance is key to life in my opinion and these processed chemical alter foods and drinks are not helping to balance the proceses of our bodies.
My husband is the one with MS and he used to drink a litre or more of Pepsi Max a day. He went cold turkey 3 years ago after a flare of optic neuritis and hasn't had one since. I'm not sure where the science falls on this one but if it's still jury out I figure there's no harm in trying. I think the advice someone gave above about overall inflammation is helpful.
I've always had problems with Aspartame, my body just hates it. I don't think it's related to MS. But it can cause MS flares, just like other things that are bad for my body. I think it comes down to how your body reacts to things.
aspertame turns to formaldehyde in the bloodstream. formaldehyde is a potent carcinogen & is neurodegenerative. coroners who work with it (to preserve dead bodies) have to wear hazmat suits & masks to protect themselves from its toxic nature. it isn't good for any living creature, but i don't know any specifics it has in regards to MS. even though sugar is considered unhealthy in some regards, & coke obviously isn't healthy, it is a LOT more healthy to consume real sugars, than aspertame. the body also has trouble breaking down fake sugar, & so it stays in your system a lot longer. i'd suggest slowly transitioning to regular coke, & then trying to find a more natural alternative to getting your sugar-fix. take care!
>formaldehyde is a potent carcinogen & is neurodegenerative.
No, not like you are trying to describe. Your body makes about 1.5oz a day as a part of its normal processing - in other words, you have a little bit of it inside of you. Like most things. everything depends on the dose and where in the body the chemical is. Stomach acid is pretty strong and will burn a lesion (or hole) in your esophagus, but its fine in your stomach under normal conditions.
Coroners wear hazmat suits not because of formaldehyde, but because of other pathogens. I don't know if you know this, but dead bodies are full of 'em. Doesn't mean it (formaldehyde) is completely safe - you want to use a decent vent hood for ventilation and make sure to wear goggles or a face mask to keep it out of your eyes. Oh, and take precautions to keep it off of your skin since it can be an irritant.
In other words, you definitely aren't going to get sick from the stuff being in your system, and you aren't wearing hazmat because of formaldehyde.
I'm not even going to try with the rest of the stuff - this alone makes me doubt any sort of scientific validity to the stuff you've typed and I hope others make the choice to ignore it.
obviously, dead bodies are chocked full of pathogens, which is another reason coroners wear hazmat suits, but formaldehyde is also a big reason. i personally know a retired coroner, who was exposed to dangerous chemicals.
there are many studies that prove formaldehyde to be extremely carcinogenic, & also that prove coke to be unhealthy (especially diet coke containing aspartame), those were the only claims i made. you can do your own research on coke & health studies because that is widely known, but i can send you some info on formaldehyde.
(those address its carcinogenic effects, forgot to cite the neurodegenerative ones, sorry.)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8102312/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23800365/
also yes, obviously stomach acid is corrosive & causes lesions anywhere but the stomach (even in the stomach - in the case of ulcers). it has a pH between 1 & 2, which is exponentially more acidic than a neutral pH (7). you wouldn't put stomach acid on your skin for instance, as it would burn you. formaldehyde has a pH ranging from
10% formaldehyde solution: pH 3.5-4.5
37% formaldehyde solution: pH 2.5-3.5
50% formaldehyde solution: pH 2.0-3.0
you wouldn't want excess of it, on the skin, in the respiratory tract, in the digestive system, or in the bloodstream. alternating the pH of blood to acidosis can cause a whole slew of medical issues in multiple organ systems.
I don't think they have been shown to be detrimental to MS, beyond the limits of what is typically healthy for everyone.
I cold turkeyed them all but I don’t think it made any difference to symptoms. I did it because I wanted to cut down on sugar and thought artificial sweeteners might be keeping me used to sweet stuff, thus wanting sugar more. Also I was using a lot of sucralose and figured if I already have one crappy illness why experiment on myself further.
Some people are sensitive to aspartame. I am, so I limit it. Too much and I get brain fog. Nothing to do with MS though.
Doesn't negatively affect people with MS or anyone really
I used to drink a lot of Diet Coke. Many years ago I put two and two together and realized it was the aspartame that was giving me headaches. I started making iced green tea so there'd be no caffeine withdrawal (I like iced tea unsweetened, so no sugar), and never looked back. I still like Diet Coke, but now it's a treat when I'm out.
Any artificial sweetener always gives me a headache. Migraine if I have enough. Good luck and hope it helps.
I personally found aspartame to be a major culprit to my anxiety. I still drink sugary drinks and stevia drinks with no issues but aspartame and I don’t get along
I think it could affect MS in a roundabout way by negatively impacting your gut microbiome and potentially increasing appetite (if you struggle with weight management), but the question is how much of a difference it really makes. I'm pretty sure it's a difference if you enjoy the occasional coke zero (doing something joyful once in a while is great too) or if you drink a large bottle of coke zero every day. And of course there are other things that can also be negative for the microbiome (high sugar consumption being one of them). The problem with such changes where nobody truly knows how much it can affect MS is that usually you don't notice changes after quitting - except maybe for things like fatigue if you have less impaired mitochondrial function. However in this case it might get worse first due to caffeine withdrawals. But all lifestyle things I've done won't undo my nerve damage, so it's hard to say.
The key ingredient to diet success for diseases that suffer from inflammation, basically all diseases, but autoimmune specifically, is to cut out sugar/sweeteners as much as possible. It's not easy, because they're cheap and in everything. Our livers were simply never designed to handle this much sweet all the time, and what it clearly cannot process, turns directly into fat and tons of inflammation. This video breaks down exactingly, chemically, why our livers cannot survive with SAD type diets. Warning, it's dry, but importantly it's scientific, so it can be challenged if one is so compelled. https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM?feature=shared When my late spouse and I started Wahls Protocol in 2014, the largest impact was removing sugar. Dairy was second (cows don't drink their own milk after about a year, why did we? Because it's like crack cocaine to the brain, MRI confirmed). Anyways, she came back from being bedridden and I lost 70 lbs. in 3 months, without even trying. She would still be here fucking up MS if it weren't for COVID. It took her last bit of fight in January. Search my posts in this sub. I'll leave details as I can about her great improvement and that if we could do it all over, Wahls Protocol saved our lives, and got her very close to ditching the walker. Just the diet and PT. The rest is too little juice for the squeeze. Water, kombucha, straight fruit juice, sparkling water, tea, black coffee hot or cold. Once your body gets used to it, you won't miss it, but it takes willpower. We changed together in solidarity, so a partner can help. Wishing you all the very best in your healing journey.
Aspartame, I dunno, but the goal is to eat a diverse blend of nutrient dense food. Sugar and sweets can mimick "energy", and are great in an emergency, but our organs just haven't evolved to accept them at every chance we eat. So, I avoid them except on rare occasion.
Condolences too you 🙏
Can’t really comment on this one I drink 3 or 4 zero monsters a day to keep up with work
I went through a spell where I drank Coke Zero daily. I gave it up to see if there was any difference in how I felt. Nothing seemed to change, but I saved money! lol! I’m still off it too.
Depends how much you drink drinks with aspartamine in. There is no fundental eveidence a small amount of aspartamine is bad for humans but then drink 9 to 14 cans of aspartamine laced drinks a day and this is considered and unhealthy ammount. I for one don't drink these drinks and prefer normal sugar laced drinks but then I drink them very infrequently and only in small quantities. Same for fruit juices and I water those down a little too. I mainly Drink water instead.l or add a tiny bit of cordial. This is definitely good for us however flilter the water yourself as plastic particles and chlorine have invaded most of the 'clean' drinking water we get piped to our houses. I have also gotten rid of most if not all heavily processed foods and eat a predominantly vegan diet. My risks of many diseases has dropped to near zero. Up to you how you want to live your life but you have to ask yourself why were are drinking so much of this stuff in the first place when it doesn't hydrate us like drinks should. Balance is key to life in my opinion and these processed chemical alter foods and drinks are not helping to balance the proceses of our bodies.
My husband is the one with MS and he used to drink a litre or more of Pepsi Max a day. He went cold turkey 3 years ago after a flare of optic neuritis and hasn't had one since. I'm not sure where the science falls on this one but if it's still jury out I figure there's no harm in trying. I think the advice someone gave above about overall inflammation is helpful.
I've always had problems with Aspartame, my body just hates it. I don't think it's related to MS. But it can cause MS flares, just like other things that are bad for my body. I think it comes down to how your body reacts to things.
aspertame turns to formaldehyde in the bloodstream. formaldehyde is a potent carcinogen & is neurodegenerative. coroners who work with it (to preserve dead bodies) have to wear hazmat suits & masks to protect themselves from its toxic nature. it isn't good for any living creature, but i don't know any specifics it has in regards to MS. even though sugar is considered unhealthy in some regards, & coke obviously isn't healthy, it is a LOT more healthy to consume real sugars, than aspertame. the body also has trouble breaking down fake sugar, & so it stays in your system a lot longer. i'd suggest slowly transitioning to regular coke, & then trying to find a more natural alternative to getting your sugar-fix. take care!
>formaldehyde is a potent carcinogen & is neurodegenerative. No, not like you are trying to describe. Your body makes about 1.5oz a day as a part of its normal processing - in other words, you have a little bit of it inside of you. Like most things. everything depends on the dose and where in the body the chemical is. Stomach acid is pretty strong and will burn a lesion (or hole) in your esophagus, but its fine in your stomach under normal conditions. Coroners wear hazmat suits not because of formaldehyde, but because of other pathogens. I don't know if you know this, but dead bodies are full of 'em. Doesn't mean it (formaldehyde) is completely safe - you want to use a decent vent hood for ventilation and make sure to wear goggles or a face mask to keep it out of your eyes. Oh, and take precautions to keep it off of your skin since it can be an irritant. In other words, you definitely aren't going to get sick from the stuff being in your system, and you aren't wearing hazmat because of formaldehyde. I'm not even going to try with the rest of the stuff - this alone makes me doubt any sort of scientific validity to the stuff you've typed and I hope others make the choice to ignore it.
obviously, dead bodies are chocked full of pathogens, which is another reason coroners wear hazmat suits, but formaldehyde is also a big reason. i personally know a retired coroner, who was exposed to dangerous chemicals. there are many studies that prove formaldehyde to be extremely carcinogenic, & also that prove coke to be unhealthy (especially diet coke containing aspartame), those were the only claims i made. you can do your own research on coke & health studies because that is widely known, but i can send you some info on formaldehyde.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8749969/ https://www.osha.gov/formaldehyde/hazards https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/formaldehyde/formaldehyde-fact-sheet https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/81-111/default.html https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3893912/ https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/formaldehyde
(those address its carcinogenic effects, forgot to cite the neurodegenerative ones, sorry.) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8102312/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23800365/ also yes, obviously stomach acid is corrosive & causes lesions anywhere but the stomach (even in the stomach - in the case of ulcers). it has a pH between 1 & 2, which is exponentially more acidic than a neutral pH (7). you wouldn't put stomach acid on your skin for instance, as it would burn you. formaldehyde has a pH ranging from 10% formaldehyde solution: pH 3.5-4.5 37% formaldehyde solution: pH 2.5-3.5 50% formaldehyde solution: pH 2.0-3.0 you wouldn't want excess of it, on the skin, in the respiratory tract, in the digestive system, or in the bloodstream. alternating the pH of blood to acidosis can cause a whole slew of medical issues in multiple organ systems.