Neuropathy and artificial sweetners

@mcd123, That's an interesting question. I try to reduce the amount of sugar intake and have tried to avoid artificial sweeteners altogether. Here are a few articles on the topic.

-- Neurophysiological symptoms and aspartame: What is the connection?: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28198207/
-- Effect of long term-administration of aspartame on the ultrastructure of sciatic nerve: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213879X16000171
-- Neuropathies Associated With Diabetes and the Metabolic Syndrome: https://neuropathycommons.org/neuropathy/causes-neuropathy/neuropathies-associated-diabetes-and-metabolic-syndrome
-- The Pros and Cons of Artificial Sweeteners: https://www.verywellhealth.com/artificial-sweeteners-5184450

My problem with artificial sweeteners is that using them makes you crave them more and after you stop for a few days it's easy to understand how they effect you when you suddenly don't crave the sweetness as much, at least that's been my experience.

In my experience avoiding artificial sweeteners or any processed chemicals has helped me a lot with my symptoms.

This is a cheat sheet of ingredients not to ingest in foods or drinks.

I think food is directly related to health issues and mystery illnesses.

Welcome @ashleyy302, Thank you for sharing the cheat sheet of ingredients. Do you mind sharing what brought you to Connect, what you were searching for?

@johnbishop i wanted to share this with others that suffer with small fiber neuropathy. I’ve been through how frustrating it is and trying to seek answers and reasons to why it happens.

If what I’ve tried can help others that would be so fulfilling.

This disease is no joke and is way misunderstood.

Thank you @ashleyy302, It sounds similar to my journey and how I found Connect. I started looking at cellular nutrician after reading Dr Terry Wahls story and how she was able to address her MS symptoms using diet and lifestyle changes - https://terrywahls.com/about/about-terry-wahls/.

If you have found something that helps, I’m all ears. Not fun!

Hi @virginiashort, Welcome to Connect. I thought I would jump in and add my two cents to your reply to @ashleyy302. You are so right! Neuropathy is definitely not fun. It may not be the total answer but eliminating sugar (or as much of it as you can!) along with artificial sweetners and other foods that don't play nice with your body is a good start. The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy has some good information on the topic here - https://www.foundationforpn.org/living-well/lifestyle/nutrition/.

Can you share a little more about your diagnosis and current treatment or what you have found helps?

@johnbishop thanks for sharing that information. Food has been such a natural healing method that is definitely overlooked by most doctors.

Wish they would emphasize this more for healing patients but every Neurologist I’ve seen doesn’t mention nutrition and says they have no idea about small fiber.

interesting!

Welcome @tlandow, I agree with you. It definitely is an interesting topic. Do you mind sharing how you found Connect, what you were searching for?