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Lucy's Case History

The June issue of First For Women Magazine ran a two-page article about my experience using Splenda®. While I truly appreciate the magazine's attempt to get this information to consumers, the editors changed my story enough to prompt me to give our readers the full account of what happened to me. So, here is the real story.

Lucy Watkins

In the summer of 2005, just a little over a year ago, I began using Splenda® in my morning coffee and green tea. Interestingly, July 8, 2006 marks the first anniversary of the day I began seeking a cure for what was the most debilitating pain I'd ever experienced in my life, short of the birthing process.

My decision to use Splenda was based on the need to make hectic mornings easier and to control my blood sugar. At the time, I was working three jobs and doing everything I could to manage my new life as the single mother of two healthy, active children. I spent most mornings juicing watermelon rinds and eating the sweet fruit every day. I found it highly effective in controlling many of my cravings for sweets. This regime combined with vegetable juices during the day, helped me feel better than I'd felt in years.

But, it was a lot of work and I needed to find a way to better manage my time. So, after hearing about the wonders of Splenda, I decided to use it in my morning coffee and tea rather than juicing, cleaning the juicer and managing the fruit gnats, a ubiquitous pest during the summer months in Texas.

The first time I used Splenda, it tasted strange to me and I felt a fogginess around my head. I remember making note of it, but I thought it had more to do with my general sense of stress rather than the chemical sweetener. Most importantly, I was so happy with my new routine of quick and easy mornings and sleeping a little later every day.

Shortly after I began using Splenda, I experienced serious pain in my stomach. Initially, I thought maybe I'd pulled a muscle doing backbends in the yard with my kids. It seemed odd though, because I'd been doing them for years in yoga. Thinking the pain would subside in a few days, I went about my work.

Unfortunately, the pain increased to the point of feeling like I was in labor. The pain grew so intense, I found myself struggling just to make it through my busy days. I began popping ibuprofen like M&Ms in the hopes that the pain was somehow related to my menstrual cycle or physical activity. The pain remained, but did become a bit more tolerable after a couple weeks.

When my symptoms flared up again, they came back with a vengeance. This time, I not only experienced abdominal pain, I began to have diarrhea and constipation. One day I'd be constipated, and the next, I'd have diarrhea. My bowel movements became so painful, I would cry out every time I went to the bathroom. Passing gas also become very painful; I would hold myself up by my arms much like I did the first time I felt transitional contractions during labor. I clearly remember my five-year-old daughter running into the bathroom, wiping my tears, and hugging me. The look of fear on her face scared me.

On July 8, 2005, I went to an urgent care facility. As I sat in the fetal position, writhing in pain on the examination table, I told the nurse my symptoms. He was visibly concerned about my state of health and got me into the gynecological examination room immediately.

The gynecological exam was like none I've experienced before. It was the most painful examination I'd ever had in my life. At the end of the appointment, the doctor said she had no idea what was going on but she suspected endometriosis.

"Diagnosing endometriosis is not an easy process," the doctor informed me. "It usually comes down to going into the uterus and finding the endometria before a clear diagnosis can be made."

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Posted on July 8, 2006 in Splenda Toxicity | Link To This Entry | Comments (0)

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