Have any of you quit drinking diet-soda/anything with aspartame?

Caffeine will probably help with that sort of headache. Try drinking some coffee.

Like lefteh says, a little coffee. It’s the caffeine. I gave up all diet and now I just drink flavored waters and juices. Much better.

Aspartame and paint thinner have a lot in common.

It takes time to wean off things like that, but some caffeine will help. I stopped drinking soda for a while (while pregnant) it was hard, and I took sips every so often, but I felt it was in the best interest of my child.

Not yet quitting but minimizing intake :)

Did your Diet Pepsi have caffeine in it? If so the others are right. You’re having a withdrawal headache. Take some Tylenol and cut out caffeine altogether. Completely. If not, drink some coffee or tea with the Tylenol.

This happens to my hubby all the time when he quits, usually for a week, so don’t ever go back once you’ve quit.

YEP! I hate that shit.

I won’t go back, I promice :D Just like I’ll never go back to smoking (and that’s 7months ago)

I tried Paracetamol and Ibuprofine but they didn’t work… But I’ll give the coffee a try! (Even tho I’m going home to bed in 2 hours :P)

But how long will it last? I have a BIG party at my house this friday, and I’d like to NOT want to bite anyones head off…

I’d think you’ll be fine by then. If not, wine.

Wine? Now THAT’S a suggestion I can like ;-)

Thanks all :D

Diet Coke, cold, and in the can is my favorite thing in the world. I would never, could never quit it.

I love it cold in the small glass bottle. That’s the best!

When an Oncologist tells you to stay away from artificial sweeteners; you should take heed. That’s exactly what happened to me; I listened. I should however mention that I never ingested them in large amounts to start with, so I never experienced any withdrawal.

I am hopelessly addicted. I have thought about going to one of those detox spas to see if I could actually go a week without those scary chemicals!

The information about the Searle trials being flawed, and the controversy around the FDA passage, coupled with the correlation between aspartame and a 10% solution of paint thinner is troubling. The amount of money to be made from aspartame by Searle is enough to give credence that something may be amiss. The studies that indicate diet soft drinks make it more difficult to lose weight is also bothersome to me.

Somewhat off topic; this is a partial list of what I was told to steer clear of:

Acesulfame-K
Acesulfame-potassium (“Sunnette”)
Aspartame (In all forms & names)
Artificial colors and/or FD&C colors (esp. Red #3)
BHA & BHT (BHT is banned in England)
Potassium bromate (Is a known carcinogen, mutagen and highly toxic. It is banned worldwide, except in the U.S. and Japan)
Nitrates and nitrites
Olestra
Saccharin (The pink packet)

I never started. Mostly because I thought they all tasted weird. But also because I never trusted them.

@bythebay: that’s an interesting list. In general, I prefer my food as unadulterated as possible (until I get it into my kitchen). I never buy stuff from regular supermarkets (except on vacation, when I don’t know the area), and do as much of my food shopping as I can at farmer’s markets. I’m lucky, there are a lot in my city.

As mentioned previously, you’re probably having headaches from caffeine withdrawal. Drinking other caffeinated beverages will get rid of them. However, if you want to fully withdraw from caffeine you just have to tough it out for another day or so. I went through the same thing and it was totally worth it.

@tko7800: Worth it in what way? Were you trying to discard caffeine only?

Worth it in that I felt a lot better when I was no longer dependent on caffeine. I was less jittery, moody, etc. And yes I was trying to discard caffeine only at the time although I used to drink artificial sweeteners too. I’m convinced future generations are going to be shocked that we used to cram that crap into our bodies.

@tko7800: I think you may be right about the future generations.

As a diabetic, I usually eat things with artificial sweeteners in them. I do try to avoid items with Aspartame in them because I’ve heard bad things about it and seen that also (more on that later). I try to use more products with Splenda now but one product I’ve been told is really good to use at home for artificial sweetening is a product called Stevia.

There’s a lot of disagreement out there just how bad Aspartame is or isn’t but I watched a documentary a few years back called “Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World” and it is a thorough explanation of Aspartame and the disturbing facts and history behind it. Watching this documentary was one of the leading reasons why I won’t use products that contain it anymore or at least very sparingly. I would seriously recommend it to anyone who might want some interesting and revealing history on Aspartame.

I eschew aspartame. A good substitute is Diet Rite Cola, which has no caffeine or sodium and is sweetened with Splenda.

Or drop soda altogether.

Splenda is not much better. Actually, if I have to much splenda I get very hyper and crazy. I don’t buy this, “one molecule away from sugar” crap. I am not a scientist, But I am sure there are a whole lot of things that can become really dangerous by changing only one molecule.

You are so right,@Judi. I found this article broke down the facts in a manner easy to understand.

@Milladyret Are you still Diet Pepsi-free? I just quit yesterday and am beyond fatigued, cranky, and have a massive headache. I’m sure it’s partly the caffeine.