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Posted Yesterday 6:31 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Its Renee Again,
I'm brand new to all this and I"m sure this issue has been discussed already but if you could help me get caught up....what is this thing I keep reading about on the web about diet coke being bad for ms or even causing ms.
Do I have to throw away all my diet drinks? What is everyone on this list thinking about this?
Thanks for being here.
Posted Yesterday 7:04 PM (GMT 0)

Hi Renee, and welcome to the board! I’m sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis. So far there is no evidence that the sweetener in diet sodas can cause MS. Check out the link below to view an example of one of the emails that went around claiming that it could, and then take a peek at all the articles below it that refute that claim.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Hope this helps :-)

Sunny

Posted 12/2/2008 3:14 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah, I got one of those. I think one of the "other sites" I was in was selling email information. I get so tired of "mircle cures" and the "take this pill and in 5 hours all will be right in your world" emails and I have even started getting in my postal mail at home.

I don't believe anything until I see it on a medical web site that is more than just a bunch of people guessing at things instead of doing the research.

Heather
Posted 12/4/2008 9:26 AM (GMT 0)
I have read of cases where people stopped drinking diet drinks and lost the symptoms. If I could lose my MS by stopping drinking soda I would. If it was me I think I would just give it a try for a few weeks and see what happens, but its your call. Wish you all the best :-)
Posted 12/4/2008 8:09 PM (GMT 0)
I'm also really new to all this -- I will say, that what took me to the dr. in the first place was a concern over heart problems. A lot of a very, almost 'metalic' nerve pain in my left breast/chest and down my left arm into my middle and ring fingers. Some days the pain was so bad I thought I was having a heart attack, but it always felt buzzy, like nerve pain. After going to the ER twice and having three different work-ups, the dr. assured me something else was going on. That pain, combined with a lot of other strange symptoms -- tingling, hot spots, cold spots, numbness, dizziness -- led them to start all the testing for MS. BUT, I personally started to recognize that on the days that I had a lot of diet drinks (and I mean 4-5 in a day), that pain in my chest and arm got much worse. I cut out the diet drinks at the beginning of Sept. and after about a month, that pain started to go away -- now, instead of having that pain 3-4 times a day, I'm getting it only once every couple of weeks. That being said, I don't know if that pain was ms, and the other symptoms have not subsided -- if anything, they've gotten worse -- and that was before my lumbar puncture and mri. But it was that pain that made the dr. think ms in the first place. So, I certainly don't think that diet drinks cause MS, but since they don't know what does, maybe some people are sensitive to certain chemicals that exacerbate the symptoms??
Valerie
Posted 12/6/2008 2:47 AM (GMT 0)
I am pleased you have less pain, thats a big help & youre right that some are more sensitive than others. Personally, synthetics and chemicals make me really sick so I avoid them. I have had a lot of pain the last 12 years but now with a baclofen pump I actually have no pain which miraculous but I do still have all my other symptoms which are nothing like yours. Maybe its not MS, did you have a MRI? That seems to usually be apretty good indicator & is not painful or too invasive :-) Good luck.
Posted 12/6/2008 2:57 AM (GMT 0)
Valerie,
Sorry, I reread your post and see you had both lp and MRI, if they did not give you a positive answer surely you dont have MS?? As you responded so well when you stopped the diet drinks maybe excluding other chemicals could help further. My dentist told me that fluoride was very bad for people with MS (it is in the water here) & when I desensed to it I found that I could eat out without the bad reactions I had had for years. wink
Posted 12/6/2008 12:41 PM (GMT 0)
Popsie,
I don't have a diagnosis yet, so yes, it's possible it's not MS, although the dr.'s parting words at my last appt. with him were "I think we're going to end up with a diagnosis of MS" (after my upcoming MRI in Feb). Taking away the diet drinks seemed to correlate with one of my original symptoms disappearing -- but since then, I've had more pop up in different areas and some old ones intensifying. And I cut out the diet drinks two months before my lp, so I was actually surprised to hear the lp showed 'inflammation.' I don't know why I was surprised since all along I was still getting symptoms in other places, but nevertheless, I feel like since there's nothing objectively measurable to show that something's wrong, then it must be all in my head. When I met with the dr. last time, just before Thanksgiving, I was having no symptoms, so I was pretty sure he's wrong -- but now I'm coming off a week of having a lot of symptoms all over, so I don't know.
Of course, I'll be glad if it's not MS. However, if it's not, I go back to feeling like a hypochondriac who must be making it all up...
Posted 12/7/2008 8:50 AM (GMT 0)
Valerie,
MS symptoms are so varied that everyone seems to be different. You have done the lp and MRI and if they are clear I do not think that it is MS. Drs told my mum that she was a hypochondriac for years cos they had her dxd with poly myalgic rheumatism & she was not responding to the medication. Just do not let them put you in a box. Do not give up just yet cos I am sure that you are not a hypochondriac you just need to be strong and persevere and keep looking until you get a diagnosis that fits. All the best , love & light :-)
Posted 12/7/2008 12:28 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, Popsie and everyone,
Yes -- the mri and lp were not clear, which is why they are leaning toward ms. Dr. wants to do a follow-up mri in feb before making a dx. But I'm not assuming anything (trying not to...)
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