If You Have Fibromyalgia or CFS-Avoid NutraSweet

The Health Dangers of NutraSweet-Fibromyalgia and Aspartame

Aspartame can be found in most diet sodas and in other artificially sweetened food products. Commonly known as NutraSweet or Equal, it is broken down by the body into methanol and formaldehyde. 

Toxic levels of methanol are linked to systemic lupus and now Alzheimer’s disease. 

Methanol toxicity can cause depression, brain fog, mood changes, insomnia, seizures, and similar symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis. 

As for formaldehyde, it is grouped into the same class of drugs as cyanide and arsenic.

An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic." They recommend a limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA limit.

When the temperature of aspartame exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in the product is turned into formaldehyde and then into formic acid. Formic acid is the poison contained in the sting of a fire ant.

There are over 92 documented symptoms from the use of aspartame.

Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death. A few of the 90 different documented symptoms listed in the report as being caused by aspartame include: Headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain.

Could Aspartame be contributing to your fibromyalgia or CFS symptoms?

One common complaint of persons suffering from the effect of aspartame is memory loss. Ironically, in 1987, G.D. Searle, the manufacturer of aspartame, undertook a search for a drug to combat memory loss caused by excitatory amino acid damage.

One expert, Dr. Olney, a professor in the department of psychiatry, School of Medicine, Washington University, a neuroscientist and researcher, and one of the world's foremost authorities on excitotoxins. (He informed Searle in 1971 that aspartic acid caused holes in the brains of mice.)

For more information about the dangers ofAspartame see Aspartame Sweetpoison, written by author Dr. Janet Starr Hull.

Gluten, Low Thyroid and Fibromyalgia

Gluten Intake May Trigger Low Thyroid Function and Lead to Fibromyalgia

I find that 40-50% of my fibromyalga and CFS patients are suffering with low thyroid function. Many of these patients are plagued with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Gluten sensitivity has been implicated in contributing to Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism.

Several studies now show the link between gluten sensitivity and Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism. 

Gluten sensitivity (also known as "gluten intolerance") (GS) belongs to a spectrum of disorders in which gluten has an adverse effect on the body. It can be defined as a non-allergic and non-autoimmune condition in which the consumption of gluten can lead to symptoms similar to those observed in celiac disease.

Symptoms of gluten sensitivity include bloating, abdominal discomfort, pain or diarrhea; or it may present with a variety of symptoms including headaches and migraines, lethargy and tiredness, attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity, autism and schizophrenia, muscular disturbances as well as bone and joint pain.

Hashimoto's thyroiditis is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the United States. It is named after the first doctor who described this condition, Dr. Hakaru Hashimoto, in 1912. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is a condition caused by inflammation of the thyroid gland. It is an autoimmune disease, which means that the body inappropriately attacks the thyroid gland--as if it was foreign tissue.

Symptoms of Hashimoto's thyroididitis include anxiety, depression, fatigue, high cholesterol, weight gain, poor immune function, hair loss, cold hands and feet, and constipation.

According thyroid specialist, Dr. Datis Kharrazian, author of “Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests Are Normal?” it’s rare to find a person with Hashimoto’s who doesn’t have some degree of gluten sensitivity or full-blown celiac disease.

Celiac disease is defined generally as an autoimmune response to intestinal tissues upon gluten exposure, as well as overall activation of the immune system.

The list of inflammation-induced symptoms brought on by a gluten sensitivity goes on and depends upon the person’s genetic makeup. Needless to say such systemic inflammation also flares up an autoimmune condition.

Experience shows a gluten-free diet is a must

Dr. Kharrazian writes that “Hashimoto’s patients fall somewhere between gluten sensitivity and celiac disease.  Nevertheless, almost all patients with Hashimoto’s improve on a strict gluten-free diet, even if they do not fit the established criteria of celiac disease. By strict I mean you are 100 percent gluten-free.”

Regular Gluten Testing is Often Inaccurate

Part of the problem with negative gluten antibody tests is improper testing. The general gluten antibody test conducted by most labs today is only testing a small portion of the gluten protein, alpha-gliadin.

In reality, an individual can have an immune response to various parts of the gluten protein, including omega-gliadin, gamma-gliadin, wheat germ agglutinin, and deamidated gliadin.

Both the scientific and clinical evidence linking gluten with Hashimoto’s and autoimmune disease in general is too powerful and abundant to ignore. A strict gluten-free diet is the first and most important step to managing your Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Stress

The majority of patients report some preceding moderate to serious physical stress (such as a chronic viral infection) or emotional event (often an episode of depression or chronic mental stress). Some experts theorize that such events, especially in people with certain neurological and genetic abnormalities, may overwhelm a person’s ability to regulate her own homeostatic self-regulating systems. I believe there is a great deal of truth to this idea (though admitting so may not endear me to those who believe that CFS is the result entirely of an infectious agent). I do believe that infectious agents can and do trigger CFS, but stress and infection go hand in hand. Stress weakens the body’s immune system, and an overtaxed immune system is quite stressful.

HPA-Axis Dysfunction 

Some researchers are investigating abnormalities in CFS patients of the brain system known as the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. This system produces or regulates hormones and brain chemicals that control important functions, including sleep, response to stress, and depression. It’s our self-regulating, homeostatic system. The HPA axis is a major part of the neuroendocrine system, which controls reactions to stress. It regulates various body processes such as digestion, the immune system, and metabolism, and it’s generally suppressed in CFS patients.

Low Cortisol Levels 

A number of studies on CFS patients have observed deficiencies in cortisol levels, a stress hormone produced in the hypothalamus. Cortisol suppresses inflammation, increases stamina, boosts mental and physical energy, and coordinates cellular immune activation. Cortisol deficiency may be why CFS patients consistently demonstrate a severely compromised resiliency to stress. (Although stress is commonly thought of as resulting from emotional or psychological causes, certain infections may cause severe unrelenting internal biochemical stress.) As a diagnostic marker for CFS, however, individual cortisol levels aren’t useful. 

Typically, the altered cortisol levels noted in CFS cases fall within the accepted range of normal, and only the average between cases and controls reveals a distinction.

Oxidative Stress 

Some of the symptoms of CFS, such as impaired cognition, may result from brain abnormalities. Several studies have reported significantly more abnormalities on MRI among CFS subjects relative to controls. Other studies have revealed lesions within the brains of CFS patients, and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scanning has repeatedly demonstrated a decrease of blood flow in the brain. In one study, decreased regional cerebral blood flow throughout the brain was observed in 80% of CFS patients! These observations may explain the “brain fog,” poor mental clarity, and fatigue associated with CFS. They might also demonstrate CFS’s association with oxidative (free radical) stress. Oxidative stress is a general term used to describe the level of damage to a cell, tissue, or organ caused by the reactive oxygen species (ROS) These very small, highly reactive molecules can affect any cell or system, including the brain. Most ROS come from normal internal bodily reactions, but external sources include first- and secondhand cigaret smoke, environmental pollutants, excess alcohol, asbestos, ionizing radiation, and bacterial, fungal, or viral infections. Supporting this oxidative-stress theory is the fact that antioxidant therapy has been proven helpful in the treatment of CFS. In one study involving CFS patients who required bed rest following mild exercise, 80% were deficient in Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a potent antioxidant. After three months of supplementing with 100 mg. of CoQ10, 90% of the patients had a reduction or disappearance of clinically measured symptoms, and 85% had decreased post-exercise fatigue. 

You can read more about CFS on my www.treatingandbeating.com site.