I just returned from a meeting with my accupuncturist and she mentioned something very interesting...
when i told her that my primary concern with PCOS was that it was making my hair fall out, the first thing she asked was whether i drank diet coke or used sweetners with aspartame... well, i am a diet coke junkie, drinking about 3 cans a day for the last 5-6 years. she said that in every female patient that she has has with hair loss, whether it was related to pcos or not, diet coke was a big part of their diets!
apparently, aspartame turns into formeldahyde (sp??) in the body and literally kills off your kidneys slowly, meaning that particularly in women with pcos, that screws up our insulin and hormones even more!
but the best part is that she said she also has pcos, was a total diet coke junkie, lost about 1/3 of her hair in 4 years, stopped diet coke permaently, drank TONS of water, and the hair came back
Interesting, although I don't drink diet soda or use artificial sweeteners, I still have some hair loss. My cousin had to stop drinking diet coke because it caused ulcers.
__________________
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that would be just my luck! i drink about 2litres of diet coke a day (for the last 20yrs or so)...it's the only way i get enough liquid in my body...lol
i have heard something about aspertame turning into something or other so i did a search and here's some stuff i found....
looks like i'll have to start choking down plain old water
__________________ dx PCOS 3/03 & Metabolic Syndrome 2/05
I have every classic symptom of both diseases.
current meds: 300mg cardizem CD & 25mg HCTZ for HBP, multivitamin, 2500mcg b12, 2000mg metformin
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I'm not about to believe that's the reason for my hair loss. And when hair loss happens for hormonal reasons, it very seldom comes back.
Doesn't mean I'm going to start drinking a lot of stuff with aspartame either. Just means I'm not going to quit drinking what I do, thinking my hair is going to grow back!
__________________ "I knew I had a problem when I put my underpants on backwards and they fit better..."
Age 46
Obesity, very mild hirsuitism now almost gone with age and met, seriously thinning hair. Regular cycles on met.
Diagnosed with diabetes 8/2003
Dammit people, asparatame is safe. Unless you have PKU or an allergy, it does not cause health problems.
Aspartame is the most tested artificial sweetener on the market. If it was unsafe, it would have been pulled (at least from Canada, which is a bit more stringent.) I want to pull out my hair when I see people using Stevia (which may cause fertility problems and be mutagenic) instead of aspartame.
This person has no evidence and is purely basing her opinion on anecdotal evidence. It's like me surveying 5 people who have cancer and asking if they like mac and cheese. all 5 happen to LOVE mac and cheese this doesn't mean that mac and cheese CAUSES cancer. It is correlation NOT causation.
Or should I say, "Hair, Hair!" This hair loss thing is so bad, though. Even I, as I try to be logical and informed and realistic, sometimes find myself hoping there is some sort of magic out there.
__________________ "I knew I had a problem when I put my underpants on backwards and they fit better..."
Age 46
Obesity, very mild hirsuitism now almost gone with age and met, seriously thinning hair. Regular cycles on met.
Diagnosed with diabetes 8/2003
I have been drinking Diet Coke everyday for years(& I'm talking about alot of the stuff)
So far I still have as much hair as I did when I was kid and it's even healthier now than it was then.
It seems that everyone is trying blame problems on aspartame.
in all fairness to people who are uber-sensitive to aspertame and may have side effects like hair loss, headaches etc etc....uhh...phen phen, vioxx, and the umpteen other "things" that were once safe and studied the hell out of...are now not even on the market and have major lawsuits against the manfacturers. there's a reason studies are done far beyond the minimum expectations...it's because some people believe there are actual health concerns and issues. and to some people who are sensitive to aspertame, believe it or not...i'm sure they're appreciative of those studies. they give a name to something they knew wasn't right...just like all us gals who had our issues for decades before someone gave it name like PCOS.
praise the lord and amen if you don't have any problems with diet coke and aspertame. keep drinking it. but to discount someone else who might have a problem with it...or even think they might...even if they don't...is pretty insensitive.
__________________ dx PCOS 3/03 & Metabolic Syndrome 2/05
I have every classic symptom of both diseases.
current meds: 300mg cardizem CD & 25mg HCTZ for HBP, multivitamin, 2500mcg b12, 2000mg metformin
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for starters, i am not sure who the chemists or chemical engineers are on the board that insist that aspartame is safe, but there are COUNTLESS documents to suggest that it is not and has played a role in the increase of hormonal problems in women, childhood asthma, and auto-immune deficiencies. etc, part of the reason why (at least in the US that I know of, there are class action suits forming) as other women on this board mentioned, let's think back to the countless things that were apparently wonder-drugs, only to be yanked off the markets. we don't even have to go that far...let's just look at all of the different and dramatic side effects that many women on this board get from everything from birth control to met to spiro...everything will affect everyone in very different ways.
i don't want to suggest that drinking diet coke will make everyone's hair fall out...i was sharing information that i had recieved from a source that i trust, a woman that has had a lot of experience with this, and seeing as this is supposed to be a forum for sharing info with each other, i thought it would be appropriate to post, and as with everything on this site, people decide whether it is applicable to them or not.
sorry to have a bit of a whinge, but i get so insanely frustrated with the level of *****iness on this site sometimes!!!! Just because something does not apply to you does not mean that it is completely wrong. If you disagree, make your opinion known without suggesting that others are objectively wrong for believing otherwise.
don't hit the panic button until you see evidence. There are so many biased sites out there full of all these problems with aspartame that aren't backed up with solid proof.
Remember, anyone can put stuff on the internet and it doesn't mean its true. Remember bonsai kitties? fake as can be and I laugh because there are STILL people who get all worked up about how horrible bonsai kitties are. bwahaha
I guess I just don't have the same faith in the government as you do. Just because the government organisations (FDA, or Canada's equivalent) says that a Asparatame (or Splenda for that matter) are safe, I have to disagree. They both upset my system and I obviously can't tollerate them at all. It doesn't matter what they are in, I get a bad reaction. Once I discovered that they are made out of chemicals like chlorine I don't see why I would want to use them anyway. I'm just sorry that I didn't realise it earlier.
Me2 - Where did you hear that Stevia may cause fertility problems and be mutagenic? In all of my reading and research I have never come across that. Can you point me to the source of that information? It is the only sweetner (and natural at that) that I use.
__________________ TTC #1 since Feb. 2004
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I don't now about where you live but in MI there is a new diet coke coming out with splenda in it and it's not all that bad tasting. I have been trying to buy this insed of reg and reg dietcoke do to cal. in reg and the aspartame in reg. diet . I have aslo been told that apartame can also couse cancer. so for now were i can get diet coke with splenda i will and if not i will go with reg.diet coke becouse i now i can't give up coke all to gether even thow i have cut back. and diet coke is beter than reg. coke do to the fact it has no cal.
Diet Coke and Hair Loss!!!!! 
