Stuttering

Stuttering and Aspartame

We have been elimnating Nutra-Sweet (aspartame) from Sophie's diet also. I am bummed out because she LOVES sugar free jello, and it is only made with nutrasweet,not splenda. I suppose I could make kool-aide with splenda, and use unflavored gelatin to make it jell? (does that sound like too much work or what? LOL)Anyway, as to the lady with MS-like symptoms, I have heard of things like that, but not to that extent. I know it causes extreme reactions (headaches, shaking,etc)in some people.

The reason we have been getting it out of Sophies diet was not aggression, but that she had begun stuttering, and not just a little, but enough so it was making it hard for her to communicate! Her communication skills have always been really strong, so it was a "new" behavior, and I just had a hunch it was from some external cause. My husband and I sat down and brainstormed the things that had changed since she started this... 1. we started babysitting our 3 mo. old grandaughter. 2. Sophie got a new speech therapist who is a severe stutterer himself (this was my husbands theory-he wanted to fire the poor guy on the spot when he thought of it-LOL) 3. a slight decrease in coQ- they were out of 100mg caps when we ordered so we got 60's and are giving her 3 60's instead of 2 100's, she is getting 180 mg instead of 200. AND- She used to drink Crystal Light occasionally, and V8 Splash alot, but we went thru this thing where her skin was getting orange- her docs tested her for excessive vitamin A, etc. Even though her test came back ok, we cut the V8 and she has been drinking a TON of crystal light lately. That one hit me like a ton of bricks. That stuff has so much nutrasweet in it.. Did you ever have one of those "light bulb goes on" moments??? I just knew that was having an impact. (not that the other things have nothing to do with it..it could be a combination of some or all)

Well, we are on day 3 of no nutrasweet, and I think I am noticing a distinct decrease in the repeating/stuttering (she didn't really stutter like her therapist does..more of a repeating the first word of the sentence about 10 times before she could "break the cycle" and get to the next word). She just asked me if she could wear my bathrobe (and wear the belt for a necktie- she LOVES to play dressup) and her speech was smooth as silk. I'm not sure we've got it figured out, but I'm betting it is a piece of the puzzle.

Thank God there are getting to be more splenda products out there all the time.. Hopefully in a fewyears they won't decide that IT is bad too??!!??

In addition: I have spoken with Dr. Judy (the coQ10 Dr. from Florida) and he agreed it was possible that the slight decrease in her coQ10 may be having an impact also. SOOO we have eliminated the Nutrasweet, and raised the coQ, and the problem has almost totally disappeared. She is still occasionally "stretching" a word.. kind of hard to explain..(not repeating, but making the word sound longer than expected while she gets ahold of the next word-??) But NO MORE repeating/stuttering.