Posted by Racer on April 29, 2007, at 14:55:07
In reply to Re: Aspartame - anybody quit and feel better? » Larry Hoover, posted by mattdds on April 29, 2007, at 14:18:13
I didn't quit, but I did cut way back. It's been a couple of years, and I am pretty well convinced that it was not good for my depression. Right now, with my depression mostly controlled, it's hard to tell a difference between days when I have more, versus days when I have less, but back when I was in worse shape, I could really tell the difference.
Now, some of that was probably psychological -- the sense that I was doing something bad for myself when I had more probably increased any effect that the aspartame had on my mood. But I can safely say that cutting way back made a difference for me. So, n=1, statistically useless, but personally meaningful.
My husband and I drink far too much diet soda. I can't drink coffee -- upsets my stomach too much -- so the diet cola was my only caffeine, and I didn't cut it out entirely for that reason. I went from probably (oh, this is so embarrassing) 6 to 8 diet colas per day, to two. For a while, it was only one, but now it's pretty much two. I also stop -- or try to stop -- having any after noon. The net result was slightly improved depression, and much, much better sleep. When I was having only one per day, I was up early every day, and ready to function. Then again, I was also depressed, so I was up early because early waking is part of my depressive symptomology. And I was probably at the height of my anorexia, so functioning was part of the hyperactivity from that...
But, no matter what other variables are involved, I believe cutting way back on aspartame made a difference for me. I'll be interested in hearing what your experience turns out to be.
Good luck, and do, please, keep us informed.
poster:Racer
thread:754354
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070426/msgs/754448.html