General Chat

specialist and my boss said lyrica are good,

i dont take sugar in anything anymore, nore sweetners tho i tell you wahts bad is chewing gum, and a lot of sweets contain aspartame and orange squashes

The runny nose drives me mad... I can't go anywhere without wads of tissues lol.

Linda, my dad uses some sweetners from superdrug that I think are aspartame free. Can't think of their name off the top of my head and can't get up the energy to go downstairs to the kitchen to look. they're in a white tub with green writing. The splenda is good in things like custard or on cereal but in hot drinks he says it tastes powdery and it can make it foamy or something, but doesn't have much of the same problem with the splenda in tablet form in drinks.

I've just been referred to a pain clinic because I was asking about Progabalin/Lyrica, but apparently it has to first be prescribed by the hospital.

oh and the runny nose i thought was from too much yawning in the day,
son just asked was i crying cos i was sniffing, lol

didnt know gabapentin was one of the helpers,

my neurologist recently said some anti epilepsy meds can help with the head pain too

im worried that once i stop taking the tramadol/tramacet he wants me off im gona get the muscle spasms bak, the duloxetine are meant to replace them,
amitriptyline didnt help me just made me feel like zombie next day

at moment im having terrible nightmares last night woke up crying again, tears running down my face

Gosh Liz

I am diabetic have been for 6 years and I have canderel in my tea an they contain aspartame and I drink diet drinks

I have had arthritis since I was 43 but only had pain like this for about 2 years

Linda xx

Hi I'v found myself reading through the posts and would like to add that I was diagnosed about 18 months ago with FM and because I am too far from a Hospital I havent been able to get to a pain clinic.
This has meant far too many trips to my gp but

Gabapentin seems to be helping me at the moment as well as amytriptaline.

Gabapentin is 100mg capsules 3 times a day and amitriptyline 100mg at night.

Good luck and good rest to all.
Regards
Chelsea

My aunt warned us of the dangers of Aspartame quite some years ago. I've been avoiding it where possible since. The problem is that it's in so many things. My dad, who's a diabetic, eats a lot of sugar free mints and I've never checked them before... just did and of course they have aspartame in them, so they went in the bin.

Was talking to my sis-in-law about it and she was saying that some drinks have it in that aren't the diet ones. Lilt for example have started to put it in.

We both agree that we'd rather rot our teeth with sugar than rot our organs with aspartame. You can replace teeth fairly easily. I've long held the position that I'd rather have sugar than the other chemicals. The trick of course is to limit how much unnecessary sugar you take in.

The thing that gets me is that the governing bodies wouldn't sanction putting formaldehyde in a drink but they allow aspartame. If you remember there was that big thing a short time ago about the benzine being in drinks and there was uproar...the amounts they were talking about were far less toxic than an accepted amount of aspartame is and yet where is the uproar over that?

Liz.

I have added the above two posts which came in an email to me.
The interesting and rather relevant, to me, point is that before I started to feel really unwell as I do now, and before I was diagnosed with fm/cfs, I had kidney stones and was told to drink more liquid, preferably water. As I don't like the taste of tap water I started drinking a bottle a day or more of the fizzy flavoured waters from Tesco and Sainsbury etc . All these drinks contain aspartame and altho I had tried not to have things with it in, I didn't realise for a long time that it was in the fizzy drinks etc so obviously was consuming a lot of it. I don't drink much fizzy water now but don't feel a huge lot better, but will check everything I consume now and avoid aspartame where ever possible, and will also speak to my doctor and ask to see the rheumatology specialist to ask him about this obviously poisonouse product being put into so much of our food and drink, especially as it is probably in lots of children's drinks too.
I didn't consume much in the way of fizzy drinks recently except for coke and I also began a course of CoQ10s, and did quite a bit of walking on holiday without the resultant pain, so will continue with the Q10s and see what happens. I have also been continuing with the magnesium tablets but not taken alongside calcium which I later found to be advisable.
Will let you know what else I discover.

Lizx

These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat cells,
particularly in the hips and thighs. Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin and
is used primarily to preserve "tissue specimens." Many products we use every
day contain this chemical but we SHOULD NOT store it IN our body!

Dr. H. J. Roberts stated in his lectures that once free of the "diet
products" and with no significant increase in exercise; his patients lost an
average of 19 pounds over a trial period.

Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics.

We found that some physicians, who believed that they had a patient with
retinopathy, in fact, had symptoms caused by Aspartame.

The Aspartame drives the blood sugar out of control. Thus diabetics may
suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that aspartic acid and
phenylalanine are NEUROTOXIC when taken without the other amino acids
necessary for a good balance.

Treating diabetes is all about BALANCE. Especially with diabetics, the
Aspartame passes the blood/brain barrier and it then deteriorates the
neurons of the brain; causing various levels of brain damage, seizures,
depression, manic depression, panic attacks, uncontrollable anger and rage.

Consumption of Aspartame causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics as
well.

Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children
diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their behavior
when these chemicals have been removed from their diet. So called "behavior
modification prescription drugs" (Ritalin and others) are no longer needed.
Truth be told, they were never NEEDED in the first place! Most of these
children were being "poisoned" on a daily basis with the very foods that
were "better for them than sugar."

It is also suspected that the Aspartame in thousands of pallets of diet Coke
and diet Pepsi consumed by men and women fighting in the Gulf War, may be
partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War Syndrome.

Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects, i.e. mental retardation,
if taken at the time of conception and during early pregnancy.

Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should NEVER
be given artificial sweeteners. There are many different case histories to
relate of children suffering grand mal seizures and other neurological
disturbances talking about a plague of neurological diseases directly caused
by the use of this deadly poison."

Herein lies the problem:

There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was included 100 different
products and strong objection was made concerning its use. Since this
initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, and still nothing
has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets.

Sadly, MONSANTO'S patent on Aspartame has EXPIRED!

There are now over 5,000 products on the market that contain this deadly
chemical and there will be thousands more introduced. Everybody wants a
"piece of the Aspartame pie." I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of
Aspartame, knows how deadly it is.

And isn't it ironic that MONSANTO funds, among others, the American Diabetes
Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the
American College of Physicians?

This has been recently exposed in the New York Times.

These [organizations] cannot criticize any additives or convey their link
to MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and are required
to endorse their products.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would require
label warnings on products containing Aspartame, especially regarding
pregnant women, children and infants. The bill would also institute
independent studies on the known dangers and the problems existing in the
general population regarding seizures, changes in brain chemistry,
neurological changes and behavioral symptoms.

The bill was killed.

It is known that the powerful drug and chemical lobbies are responsible for
this, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting and
uninformed public. Well, you're Informed now! YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!

SWEET POISON

A MUST READ



In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick. She had stomach
spasms and she was having a hard time getting around. Walking was a major
chore. It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much
pain.

By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies and was
on 24 various prescription medications. The doctors could not determine
what was wrong with her. She was in so much pain, and so sick.she just knew
she was dying. She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in
her oldest daughter's name, and made sure that her younger children were to
be taken care of.

She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to Florida (basically
in a wheelchair) for March 22nd .

On March 19 I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and she said
they didn't find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS.

I recalled an article a friend of mine e-mailed to me and I asked my sister
if she drank diet soda? She told me that she did. As a matter of fact, she
was getting ready to crack one open that moment.

I told her not to open it, and to stop drinking the diet soda!

I e-mailed her the article my friend, a lawyer, had sent.

My sister called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and told me
she had stopped drinking the diet soda AND she could walk! The muscle
spasms went away. She said she didn't feel 100% but she sure felt a lot
better. She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would
call me when she got home.

Well, she called me, and said her doctor was amazed! He is going to call all
of his MS patients to find out if they consumed artificial sweeteners of any
kind.

In a nutshell, she was being poisoned by the Aspartame in the diet
soda...and literally dying a slow and miserable death.

When she got to Florida March 22, all she had to take was one pill, and that
was a pill for the Aspartame poisoning! She is well on her way to a complete
recovery.

And she is walking! No wheelchair! This article saved her life.

If it says 'SUGAR FREE' on the label; DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on
"ASPARTAME," marketed as 'NutraSweet,' 'Equal,' and 'Spoonful.'

In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the United
States in 2001 there is an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic
lupus. It was difficult to determine exactly what toxin was causing this to
be rampant.

I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject.

I will explain why Aspartame is so dangerous: When the temperature of this
sweetener exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME converts to
formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic
acidosis. Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants. The
methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis and
systemic lupus. Many people were being diagnosed in error. Although
multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, Methanol toxicity is!

Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis,
especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. The victim usually does
not know that the Aspartame is the culprit. He or she continues its use;
irritating the lupus to such a degree that it may become a life-threatening
condition.

We have seen patients with systemic lupus become asymptotic, once taken off
diet sodas.

In cases of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the symptoms
disappear. We've seen many cases where vision loss returned and hearing loss
improved markedly.

This also applies to cases of tinnitus and fibromyalgia.

During a lecture, I said, "If you are using ASPARTAME (NutraSweet, Equal,
Spoonful, etc) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting,
pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches,
tinnitus, joint pain, unexplainable depression, anxiety attacks, slurred
speech, blurred vision, or memory loss you probably have ASPARTAME
poisoning!"

People were jumping up during the lecture saying, "I have some of these
symptoms. Is it reversible?"

Yes! Yes! Yes! STOP drinking diet sodas and be alert for Aspartame on food
labels! Many products are fortified with it! This is a serious problem.

Dr. Espart (one of my speakers) remarked that so many people seem to be
symptomatic for MS and during his recent visit to a hospice, a nurse stated
that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been
diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence!

Diet soda is NOT a diet product! It is a chemically altered, multiple SODIUM
(salt) and ASPARTAME containing product that actually makes you crave
carbohydrates. It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight!

I also have the runny nose

And I have become allergic to all chemicals perfume deodorant household cleaners Ive got permenant cold

Linda xx

Liz, I have the runny nose drives me mad...........i have had FM for years but was only diagnosed 4yrs ago i too have only been offered codeine phosphate as pain relief plus anti inflammatories.
Wendy.xxxxxx

Wow, just read through all 6 pages, it took a while. I'm sitting here with my usual insomnia. We've come to the conclusion my internal body clock is about 4-5 hours out of line with what it should be. Hence being ready to go to bed about 4 am. The irony is I'm so damned exhausted.

I've had FM since I was 20. That's 13 years now. And only a year since I was actually diagnosed. I saw several different specialists and had numerous tests in the early years and the best they came up with was polymyalgia, which is actually just a description of the symptoms meaning multiple muscle pain. And CFS (which I think they often use when they don't actually have a clue what it is). One helpful specialist told me to get a job "even if it's just washing dishes" at the time I couldn't stand for longer than ten minutes at a time and my hands were so painful I couldn't hold a plate never mind wash it.

Determination got me through university as a mature student because I was fed up of stagnating. When I came home after Uni, my new GP was fantastic. We discussed CFS/ME versus the possibility of FM but it was dismissed then. Then she heard about a new clinic for CFS. And after an hour of questions and answers the CFS specialist told me that they couldn't help me because the majority of my problems were from FM (with a side helping of CFS) and they weren't geared up for that.

I've been on Disabled Living Allowance: mobility -High rate and Care - Low and have a motability car which is due to be changed soon. Waiting for my review to be passed (I had to have a medical the first time and I'm much worse now). And in July I finally conceded defeat and applied for Incapacity Benefit which I've been awarded for a year after having a medical last week. The benefits departments don't talk to each other though.

The strongest meds that I'm on is Codeine Phosphate (I've never been offered stronger even though this barely touches the pain). The TENS works for as long as it's on but when it stops the pain is back and feels ten times worse because I had a little relief. Acupuncture was the first thing that made me pain free for the first time in 12 years... I could quite happily become addicted to it but my GP (who does it) limits me to once a month.

I've been able to empathise with most of what's been said... the pain, the fatigue, the not being able to sleep and when you do you don't feel like you have... lately the thing that is driving me nuts though is the runny nose. Does anyone else have problems with that?

Liz (who just about gave a life story there ;) lol)

thas good he can make you laugh

i avent seen my usual GP personally for myself, for a while, hes so hard to get to see,
hes lovely, says it how it is, and helps me, thats what you need isnt it

yeh marion thats me on that thread with you, just thought you needed to chat about it,
it looked like you were not gona carry on at first with your thread,

dawn i have same trouble, with banks,
some are sympathetic, but others are jsut like 'yeh yeh oh right so anyway thats the way it is we charge you for being ill '

my OH helps more now, with house work
i wouldnt want him to give up work cos i kknow hed do my head in, hed just be on here the whole time chatting in chat rooms

amazing how many people dont call round though.

All I have to do now is train the children to help boy thats a job and a half

and wish I could find a way of remembering things even with notes and diaries still struggling lost count of number of bills forgot to pay. Credit card company goneto online statements had to ringthem today and ask to be put back on paper ones as was too hard remembering the passwords etc to get into account and then forgot to pay them.

hi you lot, dont worry liz about starting new thread i dont mind, i know the other was getting hard to get to end of, it needed renewing,
as long as everyone gets to talk about how they feel i dont mind at all, it helps everyone

hi gillie, havent seen you for while either

i felt exactly same as you two marion dawn, still get frustrated at state of house, but you know what can you do, ive learnt last few months if i do go bonkers and try to sort stuff i suffer, and its 1 step forward 6 back so i just tidy surface now

Marion
am getting better at saying no to people wanting things done.
Hubby does my housework but he is working as well so doesnt get done all the time and he cooks for us.

Oh well bit of dust never hurt anyone mind you theyd probably fall over the mess before the dust got to them lol

Marion

dont go to pain clinic
my trouble is I am stubborn and dont like thinking I cant do things anymore but think looking at my house and the state of it prves I am worng on that score

Sorry the phone went...........i get a lot of facial pain and my legs are really bad, not much good parts at all anymore.........i cant believe 4 yrs ago i did 16hr working days.
Julie you can still get motobility if you work it is not means tested.
I havnt been around too much of late.
Hope you get it sorted, i had never claimed a thing before.xxxxx