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BOING G G G! <--- Barb hears a "wake-up bell") OHMAGOD!! Dennis - I just posted a day or two ago that for the past few months evenings seem to have become the worst PD-symptom time of day for me.. and that it seems to take my usual 6-ish p.m. dose of Sinemet up to 3 hours (instead of it's former 45 minutes) to kick-in. I ran out of sugar a few months ago and keep for getting to pick up some more at the market. The only time I ever use sugar (except when it's already included in a store-bought food) in my diet has been the 2 teaspoonfuls I added to my one post-dinner cuppa tea - and since I had Nutrasweet in the house at the time I ran out of sugar, I've used THAT in my tea each evening. AND I've felt YUCKY each evening since I've started using that Nutrasweet!!! Suddenly, all the pieces to this puzzle have fallen into place! I'm gonna pick up a box of sugar today and TRASH that Nutrasweet!!! The thing that is astounding to me is I only used the two little bags of Nutrasweet each evening. That's ALL I use of it on any given day... I don't keep colas in the house unless I've got company coming over (errrrr.... I don't keep colas at home 'cause I drink too many of 'em if they're THAT accessible --- which is another way of saying my willpower is NIL) <grin>. So to ME, it looks like aspartame's one heckuva potent dopamine-suppressor in my case! WHEW!! I'll post in a coupla-three weeks to let ya all know if dropping the 2 tiny bags of Nutrasweet from my diet make a significant difference in upgrading the quality of my evening "on time." (and I strongly suspect it will!) Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Dennis Greene Sent: Friday, December 12, 1997 3:59 PM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: Nutrasweet/aspartame Around the 10th of November a message entitled MSG was posted to the list. It spoke of the dangers associated with consuming aspartame (aka nutrasweet). In response to a statement that aspartame causes changes to the dopamine levels in the brain, and in a spirit of " What do I have to lose?", I stopped drinking diet drinks, my principal source of aspartame. I have observed the following reactions. (Please note that I acknowledge that most of what follows is subjective. I am also aware that I may be experiencing a placebo affect, though I do not believe this to be the case). 1. Within 36 hours of stopping aspartame my right side dyskinesia increased to the level of my pre-pallidotomy left side dyskinsia. This was quickly controled by decreasing my daily levadopa intake by 150 mg 2. Whilst initially able to function well on the reduced levadopa level, after a week I needed to increase my dose. Since then I have found that the severe dyskinesia tends to occur towards the end of a two day period and can be stopped by reducing the next dose of levadopa by 25mg. 3. For reasons I cannot yet explain I occasionly take a dose which does not work, leaving me "off" for up to three hours. The next dose works normally. To put this in perspective, I am well versed in the subtleties of timing meds, mealtimes, protien, etc 4. The transition from "on" to "off" seems more abrupt 5. The "on" periods not affected by severe dyskinesia (ie most of the time) are the best I have experienced in years. They no longer have the "brittle" quality which they had previously and I feel closer to my memory of normal. 6. Many friends and acquantences who have encountered me recently during a good "on" period have remarked that I am looking well. This takes on more significance when I tell you that this list includes my GP, my neurologist (met in neutral territory when we passed in a corridor - cheapest consult I've had in years) and the person who conducted 6 months of post pallidotomy tests on me, the last just two months ago. Conclusions I am reasonably certain that in my case at least, aspartame has had the affect of reducing the amount of naturally ocurring dopamine. I don't think the amount involved is large, but it is significant. I would urge any PWP who regularily uses this substence to exclude it from their diet for a period to check what, if any, affects it may be having on them. I shan't be using it again. Dennis. ************************************************* Dennis Greene 48/10 [log in to unmask] http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/ **************************************************