Woman Claims Aspartame Made Her Ill for Years

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In hopes of saving other lives, blogger Rhonda Gessner shared an incredible story about how a “dying” woman got better.

Fourteen years ago, the woman became very ill. She started suffering from intense stomach spasms and other excruciating pains, with even walking becoming “a chore.”

Less than a year later, the woman had undergone several tests and more doctor’s visits. She was taking 24 prescribed medications but doctors didn’t know what was wrong.

“She just knew she was dying.”

That’s when the woman started making plans, like putting all of her possessions in her oldest daughter’s name. She also planned a “last hooray” for March 22.

Three days before the woman’s final party, new test results came in that led doctor’s to diagnose the woman with Multiple Sclerosis. The woman called up her sister, and that’s when the sister remembered an article she had read.

Her sister then asked the woman if she drank diet soda. Turns out, the woman was about to crack a can open that moment.

Aspartame is found in many diet sodas and drinks, and is approved by federal officials, but it can have some adverse effects on health.

MDHealth notes that the body digests aspartame is a “common yet dangerous artificial sweetener,” which accumulates in the body and causes serious health issues. Symptoms include breathlessness, elevated blood pressure, and abdominal pain.

“Aspartame poisoning can be serious and even life threatening,” the site added.

The health concerns prompted Pepsi to ditch aspartame all together in its latest edition of diet soda.

After the woman’s sister informed her of the facts, the woman stopped drinking diet soda. She started feeling better, and went back to a doctor and explained what she thought had happened.

By the time she left, she was down to just one medication--for aspartame poisoning.

This image provided by PepsiCo shows Pepsi Zero Sugar, from left, Diet Pepsi Classic Sweetener Blend and Diet Pepsi. Pepsi MAX will be re-introduced to U.S. consumers in fall 2016 as Pepsi Zero Sugar and will contain aspartame. Diet Pepsi Classic Sweetener Blend will contain aspartame in its formula. But Diet Pepsi will continue to be sweetened without aspartame. PepsiCo via AP

New Study on Diet Drinks

Drinking two or more diet beverages of any kind per day has been linked to an elevated risk of blood clot-related strokes, heart attacks, and early death in women over 50, said the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association in a new study.

The risks were highest in women who had no history of heart disease or diabetes, women who were obese, or African-American women, said the study, as CNN reported.

There has been research showing a link between the consumption of artificially sweetened beverages and stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and a slew of other health problems.

The study was published in the journal Stroke.

“Higher intake of [artificially sweetened beverages] was associated with increased risk of stroke, particularly small artery occlusion subtype, coronary heart disease, and all-cause mortality,” researchers concluded. “Although requiring replication, these new findings add to the potentially harmful association of consuming high quantities of [artificially sweetened beverages] with these health outcomes.”

Women between the ages of 50 and 79 are 23 percent more likely to have a stroke if they drink diet drinks than if they do not, the study noted, reported UPI.

Meanwhile, post-menopausal women who drink diet beverages on a regular basis are 31 percent more likely to have a stroke caused via a clot, the study noted.

Those same women are also 29 percent more likely to have heart disease and 16 percent more likely to die from another cause, it was noted.