Aspartame and Seizures

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The thing I like about Ben Goldacre's book is that it is equally ruthless on both "mainstream" and "alternative" medicine. If you got your holy grail, cure-in-a-bottle from a doctor who got it from a Pharma rep or if you got it from a website, it doesn't matter. You still have to be able and willing to do the investigating yourself and find out if the "science" behind it holds water. There are examples of both good and bad science on both sides.
 
Yes, I feel like one result of my developing epilepsy is that it's reinforced my mistrust of medical "authorities" -- whether mainstream or alternative. I wish I had the ability and the funds and the connections to do research and testing on my own. It's rare, but sometimes the stars align and a single person can actually make something like that happen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz6mZ1NhY4o&feature=youtu.be
 
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I agree with both of you...gotta do the research first...can't just put it into a doctors hands otherwise you'll be on every drug out there. I've never been a big drug person and I don't like taking multiple drugs. Never have. In the past if I started having side effects from the meds I'd just go off it. Lamictal is the only one that I haven't had many side effects from. It's the only med that help's not make the seizures as bad. I still have them just not as bad. I always preferred feeling normal when I didn't have seizures versis feeling drugged all the time so I'd get mad and go off the meds.
 
Edited-- I certainly think it's good to mistrust the medical community (or at least be critical or analytical of it!), but I have a lot of thoughts on that. I can repost what I posted at another time.
 
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A few years ago, my seizures had increased and had become more severe. I'm not sure when my seizures started increasing. When I have what I call a severe type, I fall without a warning. When I come to, I am back on my feet most of the time unless I am injured and can't get up. I have this type of seizure within an hour or so after I have gotten up in the morning. This is the normal time I've always had this type of seizures and it has always been a mystery to me but then they were more frequently than normal. I had been having this kind every day for a year or more. I had been trying to figure out why they had increased. The only thing that was different was, I had been drinking Diet Coke for lunch every day for a year or more. When I would go out to eat for lunch, I would have Diet Coke then also a refill and if I had lunch at home, I would have Diet Coke also. I can't take the normal dosage of any medications because I am so sensitive to them. It is like my body stores them up rather than flushing them out. I checked online and found that aspartame increased others seizures. I decided then that I would try doing without Diet Coke and see how I did. The Diet Coke had been with caffeine so I substituted Diet coke with coffee. This way, I would still get the caffeine and I wouldn't be wondering if it was the lack of Aspartame or the lack of caffeine. That has been a year ago and I'm still drinking my coffee and doing without Aspartame. My seizures have gone from having one a day where I would fall to hardly any at all and that is the only thing that is different. It has most certainly made a difference with me.
 
I'm so happy to hear that Kathy. I'm hoping that will be the case with me. I drink a regular soda in the morning then tea for the rest of the day. Gotta have the caffeine. There is defiantly a connection between the two. Even if it doesn't work with me I still will never get any thing that contains aspartame. The last seizures I had were the beginning of February and I have gone 60 days before without having one so I'll probably wait 6 months before I try to go of the meds. I can have up to 10 absence seizures in one day, sometimes into the second day then I'm good for awhile. Sometimes I have grand mals and some times I have petit mals. Thank goodness I didn't have them on a daily basis like you did. It's almost like it would build up in my system. That's my theory anyway.
 
Thank you donding. Maybe you will have the same results as I did. I thought I had better not quit caffeine AND aspartame at the same time because I would be wondering which it was that improved my seizures. I know it's not caffeine because I have 1 to 2 cups of coffee with caffeine daily and a Dr. Pepper several times a week so I'm getting plenty of caffeine. Good luck! I hope it works for you too!
 
Whoa, that's a ton of soda, diet or not. I bet you were very dehydrated as well.

I drink 2 diet dr peppers each morning and chug water for the rest of the day.

I agree 100% with masterjen. Moderation is key. If it makes you feel bad, don't drink it.
 
Cathy Ann I wouldn't have know rather I was dehydrated or not because I drank it constantly. Aspartame is dangerous. If I was diabetic, (which BTW) has also been linked to aspartame, I would just drink tea with stevia, never with aspartame. I don't mean to be offensive and hope you don't take it that way, but I would urge you to do the research. It is really bad. My niece has bugged me about getting off it for years and I just thought she was a health nut and basically dismissed what she was saying. If only I had listened to her I'd be better off now.
 
Just thought I'd drop back in again to announce I am still seizure free starting on my 6th month in a few days. I have not touched the poison nor will I ever again. Just quickly want to point out also that my husband drank as much of the stuff as I did and he always suffered from joint pain. Now he has no joint pain since he gave it up. His blood sugar has been normal.
 
I'm so happy to hear that Kathy. I'm hoping that will be the case with me. I drink a regular soda in the morning then tea for the rest of the day. Gotta have the caffeine. There is defiantly a connection between the two. Even if it doesn't work with me I still will never get any thing that contains aspartame. The last seizures I had were the beginning of February and I have gone 60 days before without having one so I'll probably wait 6 months before I try to go of the meds. I can have up to 10 absence seizures in one day, sometimes into the second day then I'm good for awhile. Sometimes I have grand mals and some times I have petit mals. Thank goodness I didn't have them on a daily basis like you did. It's almost like it would build up in my system. That's my theory anyway.



Drug companies are in a serious business, and need "lifetime loyal customers".

Pfizer had added aspartame to the seizure drug dilantin when they changed the look of the capsule in 2007. Aspartame has been known to cause seizures in healthy people who have no history of epilepsy. Why would Pfizer add aspartame to a drug that controls seizures?
 
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If you're going to rip a post from another site, please provide a back link to it, and ensure it remains in context- we wouldn't want that changing would we?

Pfizer had added aspartame to the seizure drug dilantin when they changed the look of the capsule in 2007. Aspartame has been known to cause seizures in healthy people who have no history of epilepsy. Why would Pfizer add aspartame to a drug that controls seizures?

I heard that Pfizer had added aspartame to the seziure drug dilantin when they changed the look of the capsule in 2007. Aspartame has been known to cause seziures in healthy people who have no history of epilepsy. Why would Pfizer add aspartame to a drug that controls seziures?


Dodgy holistic medicine site, sharing and scraping the same few posts of info with other dubious sites.
 
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If you're going to rip a post from another site, please provide a back link to it, and ensure it remains in context- we wouldn't want that changing would we?

http://www.druglib.com/druginfo/lamotrigine/description_pharmacology/

As for Lamotrigine, generic for "Lamictal", one of the inactive ingredients is ASPARTAME.

Quoted from link above.
"Lamotrigine tablets (chewable, dispersible) are supplied for oral administration. The tablets contain 5 mg (white to off-white), or 25 mg (white to off-white) of lamotrigine and the following inactive ingredients: aspartame, colloidal silicon dioxide, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, sodium starch glycollate, strawberry guarana 586997 AP 0551 and povidone K-25."

I don't know about Dilantin, but I agree with Jay1...why in the world would they put aspartame in any kind of seizure med.
 
AlohaBird how is it going for you? It's been awhile since I've been on.
 
If you're going to rip a post from another site, please provide a back link to it, and ensure it remains in context- we wouldn't want that changing would we?






Dodgy holistic medicine site, sharing and scraping the same few posts of info with other dubious sites.


Hi Slimblue,

I agree that I should have added the link here also.


Here is the link to my post on this forum with more than 40 different links to different sites.

http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/dietary-changes-seizure-control-25355/index6.html#post301061

Thanks,
Jay
 
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Hi Slimblue,

I agree that I should have added the link here also.

TBH providing a link in this case isn't that important.

Taking an anecdotal post from somewhere else and presenting it here as fact is what I'm more worried about.
 
TBH providing a link in this case isn't that important.

Taking an anecdotal post from somewhere else and presenting it here as fact is what I'm more worried about.
Here is the info about Dilantin - The capsule body contains titanium dioxide, USP and gelatin, NF. The capsule cap contains FD&C red No. 28; FD&C yellow No. 6;

It is a fact that Artificial colors are neurotoxins and consumption of Artificial colors over a longer period will cause numerous health problems.


http://www.druglib.com/druginfo/dilantin/description_pharmacology/
 
Aspartame is approved by the FDA as an inactive ingredient for drugs:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/iig/index.cfm

However, according to the FDA (as of April 2015), Dilatin uses confectioner's sugar and not aspartame:
Dilantin 100 mg: Each capsule contains a white powder. The medium orange cap has
“PD” imprinted in black ink and the white, opaque body has “DILANTIN” over
“100 mg” printed in black ink.
Active ingredient: 100 mg phenytoin sodium, USP
Inactive ingredients: lactose monohydrate, confectioner’s sugar, talc, and magnesium
stearate. The capsule body contains titanium dioxide and gelatin. The capsule cap
contains FD&C red No. 28, FD&C yellow No. 6, and gelatin.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2015/084427Orig1s032lbl.pdf

Found a similar reference from January 2011 showing the same inactive ingredients:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2011/084349s064,084427s023lbl.pdf

It doesn't appear that Pfizer ever had aspartame in Dilantin.
 
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