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Aspartame - A Lifesaving Discovery
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For eleven of the fifteen years that I used Equal
(aspartame) in my coffee 21 of 21 clueless doctors only misdiagnosed and improperly medicated me for my
ever-increasing number and types of evermore crippling and painful medical conditions.
Using, at maximum, the "allowable daily intake" (ADI) for
a child (one third that of an adult) my problems began with arthritis-like pains and physical
limitations. However, none of the expensive medications solved the "problem". Those pains became
so bad that by 1992 (when I discovered I had terminal prostate cancer) I spent $17,000 for an addition to the
back of my home that would house a new $5,500 medical grade Jacuzzi. For the next three years soaking from
2-5 times a day, at up to 108 degree F, kept me "operational" and able to work. By late 1995 my case of
tinnitus (ringing in the ears that causes balance problems) made it unsafe to continue using the Jacuzzi.
Indeed... by that time the benefits of a 20 minute soak at 108 degrees F lasted only until I cooled
down.
Early in 1996 I visited a rheumatologist for a "second
opinion". After reviewing my CAT, bone and MRI scans and the results of his own tests he commented that the
other 20 doctors seemed to have been incompetent because my minimal type of arthritis could not possibly
cause my types and levels of debilitating pains. So he promptly misdiagnosed me for Fibromyalgia. When
those powerful (and expensive) medications didn't work he misdiagnosed me for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome... but
those meds didn't work, either.
Finally, his last misdiagnosis was that perhaps I was
imagining all of this so he gave me a script for Prozac.
This powerful drug turned me every which way but loose
over a weekend of taking the pills. I researched Prozac on an Internet Drug Database and discovered it was
for depression and "head" problems. I was NOT imagining my problems... nor was I crazy! At that point I gave
up on the US medical system and resorted to extensive searches on the fledging Internet for something,
anything to tell me why I seem to be the first person on earth to be dying form "terminal"
arthritis.
At that time my problems were:
- What seemed to be terminal (crippling) arthritis and
getting worse
- numb-tingling hands and feet
- combination carpal-tunnel/tennis-elbows that made my
arms almost useless
- Fibromyalgia-like hot spots (all over)
- chronic-fatigue like exhaustion
- sleeplessness
- memory loss
- depression (and getting worse)
- a few short blackouts (just long enough to fall down
stairs)
- vision problems (and getting worse)
- bouts of what I called burning heels that made walking
impossible
- shooting-stabbing pains in my legs (I was later told
this could have been misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis).
- tinnitus
[Next: Desperation strikes....]
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