Aspartame Withdrawal?

[mountainsoft]

That’s an interesting rhythm strip, mountainsoft. I assume you are under the care of a cardiologist? How often does the cardiologist check your heart rhythm? Does he/she understand how you feel when the PACs go on for awhile, beyond just feeling anxious? Hearing a patient describe “feeling like I’m dying” would get the attention of any physician, I would think.

Unfortunately, we have Kaiser HMO and can't see a specialist without a referral. So far none of the docs I've seen so far consider it serious enough to refer me. I'm hoping to press the issue more at my appointment next week. If I still can't get a referral, we will probably switch insurance companies when we retire in a few months.

They generally check my rhythm at every appointment, which has been every month or two this year. I also send PDF's of my home ECG monitor to my doc often.

Yeah, I've mentioned I feel like I'm dying, but since the tests all come back fine other than the premature beats, they don't seem concerned. I haven't died this year, so I guess they're correct so far. But it's certainly miserable to live with.

 

[Charlotte]

I sympathize… I used to get about 5000 premature beats per day and was told something similar. “It won’t kill you, it’s not dangerous, stop worrying”, etc. “that’s only 5% of your heartbeats in a typical day, we usually don’t intervene until it’s 20%”.

But… my EP listened when I explained all the symptoms it caused. He did say that some people can have 5000 premature beats a day and not even notice. Others (like me and you?) suffer all sorts of trouble. I had to stop driving for about 4 months because I was so lightheaded.

I now take flecainide and a calcium channel blocker (diltiazem) to keep the premature beats at a manageable level. I also have PSVT and those meds help with that too.

Over the years, I’ve had to ask them to up the dosage a couple times, just to keep my heart fairly steady. My EP says that’s normal, my arrhythmia usually worsen with age. At some point, I will look into ablation, although there’s no guarantee they will find the spots that cause the mis-beats.

 

[swakyaby]

Unfortunately, we have Kaiser HMO and can't see a specialist without a referral.

Ah, that is a problem. A primary care doc has limited time and resources to address your cardiac rhythm issues. It’s possible even a cardiologist might be dismissive of your symptoms, but unlikely. The ones I’ve met are very very good. It’s one reason I have elected to pay a bit more for a ppo-type insurance instead of an HMO. No gate-keeper to keep me away from specialists, but I do check to make sure they have a contract with my particular health plan.

 

[pacergal]

Unfortunately, we have Kaiser HMO and can't see a specialist without a referral. So far none of the docs I've seen so far consider it serious enough to refer me. I'm hoping to press the issue more at my appointment next week. If I still can't get a referral, we will probably switch insurance companies when we retire in a few months.

They generally check my rhythm at every appointment, which has been every month or two this year. I also send PDF's of my home ECG monitor to my doc often.

Yeah, I've mentioned I feel like I'm dying, but since the tests all come back fine other than the premature beats, they don't seem concerned. I haven't died this year, so I guess they're correct so far. But it's certainly miserable to live with.

I am sorry you are experiencing this. We also have Kaiser, and have never had a problem getting a referral from our PCP.
When you see your PCP next week, I would really press for a referral to a cardiologist and definitely explain exactly how you feel when the PVCs happen.
You are your best advocate! "What would it hurt to have a referral, and it would help me understand my condition and ease my anxiety" or similar, might be a good statement.
Best wishes for good health to you.

 

[mountainsoft]

I am sorry you are experiencing this. We also have Kaiser, and have never had a problem getting a referral from our PCP.
When you see your PCP next week, I would really press for a referral to a cardiologist and definitely explain exactly how you feel when the PVCs happen.

I know I shouldn't, but I have felt hesitant to ask for a referral. It's like telling my PCP you're not good enough. Silly, I know.

 

[slowsaver]

You aren't taking any vitamin-D supplements, are you? Just a shot in the dark. I was having similar problems when I was taking a lot of vitamin-D, and the problem went away when I stopped (after about a month, since fat soluble vitamins like 'D' take time to get out of the system).

 

[samcat]

I stopped drinking diet coke six weeks ago this Monday (I had the flu for all of Thanksgiving week and haven't had a diet coke since the Sunday prior). Not really because of aspartame but because it is my slippery slope. Diet coke leads to all sorts of other bad things I shouldn't eat like sweets!

I miss it every day. Every single day. Even after six weeks. When I go to lunch, I am sad because all I order is water. I don't like flavored waters, coffee...I suppose I could drink tea. I get up in the morning and know that I can't look forward to it. Not that I know what it is to be an alcoholic but I kind of have an inkling.

I also have PVCs but nothing extreme recently. I was nine months pregnant with our first son 27 years ago and had PVCs for a week straight. Too much pressure on my blood/organs/etc. I told my mom about it after spending half the night in the ER/Labor & Delivery to make sure everything was okay and there was silence and then she said she has them, too. She didn't tell me because she didn't want to worry me when I was pregnant.

Now they seem to happen when I'm stressed. I wore a heart monitor for two weeks and all they detected was the PVCs.

 

[mountainsoft]

You aren't taking any vitamin-D supplements, are you? Just a shot in the dark. I was having similar problems when I was taking a lot of vitamin-D, and the problem went away when I stopped (after about a month, since fat soluble vitamins like 'D' take time to get out of the system).

Yes, I take D3 but quit for about three weeks. All seemed good at first, then I had a major flare up again and started taking meds again. Didn't seem to make a difference either way.

I started taking Magnesium lately and it seems to help but not completely successful at stopping the PAC's. Doc just increased my Diltiazem dosage, so we'll see what effect that has if any.

 

[mountainsoft]

Now they seem to happen when I'm stressed.

Yeah, I've heard stress and anxiety can trigger them, though I wasn't anxious until my heart started beating weird. I try to ignore them but that's not always easy when they flare up badly.

 

[samcat]

Yeah, I've heard stress and anxiety can trigger them, though I wasn't anxious until my heart started beating weird. I try to ignore them but that's not always easy when they flare up badly.

When I was pregnant, I laid on the couch and waited for the next one and started counting...they actually were making me sick to my stomach. My husband was gone all evening and when he came home, I told him what was going on and we went to the hospital for six hours!

It was quite scary as I had no idea what was going on.

 

[Sweetlip]

I have had a different experience with aspartame.

Like so many others, I lived on Coca Cola for most of my youth and then, as I aged, I decided to take the 'healthy" alternative and drink Diet Coke or Pepsi, mostly the latter as the taste is not quite so harsh as Coke's is.

By my mid 50s, I was prescribed statins to lower my cholesterol and subsequently suffered lots of quite severe muscle pain in the legs, especially first thing in the mornings. I became aware that muscle pain is often cited as a side effect of taking statins, albeit my doctor looked at me stony faced when I asked about it.

However, my naturopath daughter-in-law assured me that it was a known side effect and that I should take CoQ10 tablets for it. This is the only natural remedy advice of hers that I have ever taken but, lo and behold, the beneficial effect was almost immediate. The muscle pains mostly went away but over a few years started to return, albeit not to the same extreme level as prior to my taking CoQ10 tablets.

Then, about four years ago, I caught the flu shortly after Christmas and was laid low for about three weeks. When I get the flu, I get it really bad. During that time, my wife did our basic shopping but I could not ask her to carry home the dozens of bottles of Pepsi Max, viz sweetened with Aspartame, that I usually drink gallons of. So my supplies of aspartame sweetened Pepsi ran out and I was forced to drink (gasp!) tap water during that time. Unbelievably to me at the time, after having no aspartame sweetened Pepsi for a bit over two weeks, my severe leg pains disappeared.

So I put two and two together and wondered it there was a correlation between my drinking aspartame flavoured Pepsi and my severe leg pains. So I went "cold turkey" in ceasing to drink aspartame sweetened anything. A while after that, I ceased taking CoQ10 tablets and the muscle pains did not return. That was seriously amazing!

So, over the past four years, I have drunk nothing other than unflavoured soda water which is really good with lots of ice as I live in a warm part of Australia (such that I have never seen snow in my my life), plus a couple of cups of double strength coffee every day.

I subsequently mentioned my experience with my doctor and his response was simply to say, "Yes. That aspartame is not good for you," with a little knowing chuckle.

For what it is worth, that is the experience of this septuagenarian with aspartame.

 

[smickey]

I used to drink a litre of diet coke daily for a few years back in the 90’s. At the time I had no ailments or health conditions whatsoever. However, I suddenly developed an inexplicable rash on both legs from the knee down. Searching for answers, I thought maybe it was from the knee pads I wore while playing hockey?? I eventually determined that this was not the cause. I also started encountering frequent neurological symptoms (light headed, brain fog, headaches) and urinary issues (which resulted in my temporary grounding as a military pilot). I underwent extensive tests for the above-mentioned symptoms, but the results were normal. I became suspicious of diet coke, so I researched aspartame. What I discovered was alarming, particularly the controversy associated with the FDA approval of aspartame, which is worthy of its own thread. When billions of dollars are at stake, well, you know the rest. I also discovered numerous aspartame-dedicated forums that were filled with complaints of nasty ailments/symptoms. All to say that I stopped drinking diet coke and my ailments disappeared. Was it coincidence, or some other ingredient in the diet coke besides aspartame, or something different altogether? I’ll never know, but I have never consumed aspartame again.

 

[arcyallen]

mountainsoft, are you consuming "a lot" of anything else on a daily basis? 2L of anything but water is a lot. It doesn't necessarily make it bad, but it's a lot. If you're serious about figuring this out, consider eliminating ALL non-water beverages for a couple weeks. Most of us could eat and drink a lot better than we do. There could be something else that's triggering your issues, or a combination of something elses.

If you still had issues after those two weeks, you could then cut down your food consumption to super plain foods for two weeks. You'd likely either have a good idea that something you're consuming was causing the problem, or not. The positive side effect to doing these experiments is you may find you feel better, period. We all get so used to feeling crummy from the things we eat and drink that we forget that our bodies are a LOT happier not eating and drinking the typical things.

 

[slowsaver]

Yes, I take D3 but quit for about three weeks. All seemed good at first, then I had a major flare up again and started taking meds again. Didn't seem to make a difference either way.

I would just check that your d3 intake is not OVER the recommended amounts. Some people think that if a little is good, then more is better (and some supplement companies sell mega-doses of vitamin-D). But there are studies (such as this one: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circ.124.suppl_21.A14699) that show Vitamin D Excess Is Significantly Associated with Risk of Atrial Fibrillation. If you reduce your vitamin-D intake, then you'll need to wait at least a month for it to clear out of your body to see results. Given your flare-ups, I would not think there is just *one* thing contributing to afib. Good luck.

 

[badatmath]

I can't speak to any medical stuff but I can say I drink probably that much soda. Diet Rite Pure Zero no caffeine, sugar, or salt. Sucralose is the sweetner. How much sodium are you getting via the soda? I would think that could be something to consider.

 

[mountainsoft]

I would just check that your d3 intake is not OVER the recommended amounts.

My D levels were around 24 when I had it tested last year, and doc told me to take 1000IU at the time. I was planning to reduce that anyway once this bottle is gone. I see the RDA is only 600IU for adults, and I'm sure I get some of that from food.

 

[mountainsoft]

mountainsoft, are you consuming "a lot" of anything else on a daily basis?

Not really, we ate a fairly wide variety of foods, lots of vegetables, with minimal red meat. The soda intake is the one thing I drank a lot of routinely on a daily basis.

For the last few weeks I have been drinking black tea, brewed at home and sweetened with stevia. I do splurge on a can or two of Zevia brand stevia sodas every now and then.

I honestly can't tell what, if anything, is making much of a difference as I have changed lots of variables at the same time (eliminate aspartame, taking magnesium, increased diltiazem, etc.). But, I figure it's got to be healthier in any case.

 

[euro]

My D levels were around 24 when I had it tested last year, and doc told me to take 1000IU at the time. I was planning to reduce that anyway once this bottle is gone. I see the RDA is only 600IU for adults, and I'm sure I get some of that from food.

You should have your D levels tested again before you reduce your dose. 24ng/mL is actually a VERY low number. You should shoot for 50-80ng/mL and it is actually very unlikely that 1000 units a day will have brought your levels up to that. My guess is that you should probably INCREASE the amount, not reduce, but another test will tell you for sure.
It is true that too much vitamin D is not good either, but you don't need to worry until you are well past 100ng/mL