My Assumption Was Correct
I am allergic to Nutrasweet. There was a period of time where I was getting up to six migraines a week and living on toxic doses of Imitrex to combat them. Once, I went to work with a migraine (a normal occurrence back then), but my district manager had not seen me in that state. I was green and looked like death warmed over. She later heard me vomiting in the bathroom and then I was able to cope. Talk about instant 'you are Iron Woman' respect!
Not that much later, Nurse Giggles (my sister) suggested I try cutting out Nutrasweet, as she'd determined it was her migraine trigger. I was a heavy duty diet soda drinker, stopped cold turkey and went from about FIVE migraines a week to maybe 5 or 6 a year. Hmmm. After that, I avoided anything with Aspartame, but the inadvertent consumption would trigger one.
As Splenda became more popular, I made it a point to avoid it, since I wasn't sure exactly whether the process to make artificial sweeteners was what I had an issue with, or just the chemical composition of aspartame. My use was limited to one beverage at a time.
Recently, I switched from drinking more soda than normal to unsweetened tea and water. Yes, again. This time, it is sticking better with me. In my desk at work and at home, I have various Stevia packets, which I usually toss a few in my bag to use as I dine out.
Alas, yesterday, I had none. Ed and I had lunch and a long conversation with friends at Panera. They've got this tasty Acai berry tea, of which I partook of quite a few glasses. I used Splenda. In total, 6 packets in the span of three hours.
Guess who had a migraine?
Nothing else I consumed is a known trigger for me. That was the only modification to my diet yesterday. Sooooo, I guess I need to be more diligent about those stevia packets, because Splenda is doing what I always suspected it might, in large enough quantities.
That said, it took ten years to find this out, so I guess it was good to tread cautiously!
Not that much later, Nurse Giggles (my sister) suggested I try cutting out Nutrasweet, as she'd determined it was her migraine trigger. I was a heavy duty diet soda drinker, stopped cold turkey and went from about FIVE migraines a week to maybe 5 or 6 a year. Hmmm. After that, I avoided anything with Aspartame, but the inadvertent consumption would trigger one.
As Splenda became more popular, I made it a point to avoid it, since I wasn't sure exactly whether the process to make artificial sweeteners was what I had an issue with, or just the chemical composition of aspartame. My use was limited to one beverage at a time.
Recently, I switched from drinking more soda than normal to unsweetened tea and water. Yes, again. This time, it is sticking better with me. In my desk at work and at home, I have various Stevia packets, which I usually toss a few in my bag to use as I dine out.
Alas, yesterday, I had none. Ed and I had lunch and a long conversation with friends at Panera. They've got this tasty Acai berry tea, of which I partook of quite a few glasses. I used Splenda. In total, 6 packets in the span of three hours.
Guess who had a migraine?
Nothing else I consumed is a known trigger for me. That was the only modification to my diet yesterday. Sooooo, I guess I need to be more diligent about those stevia packets, because Splenda is doing what I always suspected it might, in large enough quantities.
That said, it took ten years to find this out, so I guess it was good to tread cautiously!
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