Tinnitus

On Friday (four days ago) I realised I have tinnitus. It's at about 9000hz and I've been struggling to sleep - I'm quite scared - going to see doctor tomorrow.

Has this been caused by my attempting to cut down on aspartame? I don't know.

My cutting down has been going quite well - down to one can of diet coke (and no other source of aspartame) every two days. But for the past four days I've felt awful.

Today I drank diet coke and I felt better - my appetite returned - it made the headaches go away, but the tinnitus is still there.

Can I notice the tinnitus now, because my brain is less excited?
The neurotoxins hurt my hearing?



http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/ageing/1995-September/001727.html

It says in the
Congressional Record, S5511, May 7, 1985, the following:

"Aspartame has been demonstrated to inhibit the carbohydrate-induced
synthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin (Wurtman affidavit).
Serotonin blunts the sensation of craving carbohydrates and thus is part
of the body's feedback system that helps limit consumption of
carbohydrate to appropriate levels.  Its inhibition by aspartame could
lead to the anomalous result of a diet product causing increased
consumption of carbohydrates."

http://www.rawcuisine.co.uk/whats-happening-to-food/diet-coke/

This page mentions tinnitus and aspartame.

” … I am a Pediatrician, a Professor of Pediatrics at Emory, and have spent 25 years in the biomedical science, trying to prevent mental retardation and birth defects caused by excess phenylalanine.. . . . . .I have considerable concern for the increased dissemination and consumption of the sweetener, aspartame, (1-methyl N-L-a-aspartyl-L- phenylalanine) in our world food supply. This artificial dipeptide is hydrolyzed by the intestinal tract to produce L-phenylalanine which in excess is a known neurotoxin. Normal humans do not metabolize phenylalanine as efficiently as do lower species such as rodents and thus most of the previous studies in Aspartame effects on rats are irrelevant to the question, ‘Does phenylalanine excess occur with Aspartame ingestion?’”

Statement by Louis J. Elsas, II, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, before the USA Senate Committee of Labor and Human Resources on the subject “Nutrasweet: Health and safety concerns”, November 3, 1987.

http://www.tinnitusformula.com/infocenter/articles/treatments/toxins.aspx

Both aspartame and monosodium glutamate are excitatory neurotransmitters. That is, they excite brain neurons and increase levels of electrical activity in the brain and the auditory cortex, the area where tinnitus is perceived. We know that people with tinnitus have an elevated level of electrical activity and reducing this activity is helpful for tinnitus. Increasing electrical activity increases tinnitus. A previous article discussing elevated states of electrical activity in the brain and tinnitus can be seen by clicking here.

http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/ageing/1995-September/001727.html

HE ROLE OF ASPARTAME

Each of these components of aspartame -- phenylalanine; aspartic acid;
the methyl ester, which promptly becomes methyl alcohol or methanol --
and their multiple breakdown products after exposure to heat or during
prolonged storage is potentially toxic to the brain and inner ear.  These
organs are uniquely vulnerable to metabolic disturbances and neurotoxins
because of their unique metabolic requirements.

http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/ageing/1995-September/001727.html 

Subject:      Help at last... please read
Date:         1997/09/13
Newsgroups:   alt.support.tinnitus

On 07-11-97 I received information on the fact that
aspartame(Nutrasweet/Equal) could cause tinnitus by destroying the
central nervous system.  I had been a large user of diet sodas which
contain aspartame.I  figured I had nothing to lose by switching to plain
water. The results were not immediate but took approx. 2 months. I can
now honestly say that my tinnitus has been greatly reduced and
completely gone much of the time.

update

one can today, one reg from Mcdonalds yesterday, none day before?

2 bottles

one 500ml bottle of diet coke yesterday

and one today - I feel sick - and hot but addicted - it's a sickness

I cracked - 1.5 diet cokes

I'm drinking it now - one and a half cans.

I had it with chocolate - made me high... wonderful

Still no diet coke

My diet coke craving has subsided a bit - I would love one, though.

Been drinking carbonated water with instant coffee in it.

Food cravings subsided - so am trying to cut down on refined sugar? Carbohydrates?

Why Have Carbohydrates Become Such A Controversial Food?

To understand why carbs have attracted so much dietary criticism - much of it inaccurate and misleading - you need to understand a bit about the diet and food industry. The following explanation is a simplified account of the carb controversy.

Heart Disease And Low Fat Diets
In the 60s and 70s, cardiologists established a clear link between animal fats (in fatty meat, butter, cheese etc.) and coronary heart disease (hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis). So low-fat diets became very popular. Unfortunately, in its attempt to cater for this preferred reduced-fat type of eating, the food industry started producing a huge range of low-fiber white flour food products (eg. muffins, donuts, bagels, cookies), tons of carb snackfoods (eg. multi-flavored popcorn, nachos etc.) and various high-carb add-ons and toppings. Note that ALL these foods are largely "refined" carbs - that is, carbs with most of the natural fiber removed. Thus, the low-fat approach led to a significant increase in the consumption of refined carbohydrate.

Kola Nut - phenol and alkaloid

Bissy, bissy, bissy
published: Wednesday | February 26, 2003

KOLA NUT (or bissy) extract is popularly used around the world in some soft drinks. Bissy (Cola acuminata, C. nitida) is native to Africa, and is cultivated extensively in the tropics, particularly in West Africa, West Indies, South America, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The tree grows about 40-60 feet high, has yellow flowers, spotted with purple; the leaves are pointed at both ends. There are 125 species of this plant. Though it is called a "nut", the part of this plant consumed is the cotyledons of the fleshy seeds. When fresh it is nearly white but on drying it undergoes a fermentative change, turning reddish brown and losing much of its astringency. Fresh kola seeds have a bitterish, astringent taste, but this is lost during the drying, the dried seeds being almost odourless and tasteless.

Kola (or Cola) is related to cocoa and contains the same methylxanthine stimulant alkaloids including caffeine and theobromine, found in coffee, tea, cocoa and mate. Small and medium doses render one capable of warding off physical and mental depression and exhaustion. Large doses produce overstimulation, and thus tend to destroy the usefulness of the drug. Their consumption is not considered habit forming.

For thousands of years, West Africans have traditionally chewed cola nuts for their stimulant effects, as a necessity and a luxury. The kola nut has particular uses in the social life and religious customs of West Africa. It

was used as a declaration of war (red nut), and as a symbol of peace (white nut). It figured in courtship and marriage, compacts of friendship, as a mark of hospitality, and was put into the graves of the dead to nourish them on their long journey.

Primary constituents of fresh kola seeds include caffeine (0.6 to 3.0 per cent), theobromine (up to 0.1 per cent), other xanthine alkaloids, tannins, proanthocyanidins and anthocyanins such as "kola red". The phenolics and anthocyanins are likely to provide antioxidant activity. Specimens of African kola yielded more caffeine (2.24 per cent) than Jamaican kola (1.93 per cent).

The properties of kola are the same as caffeine, modified only by the astringents present. Fresh kola nuts have stimulant action apart from the caffeine content, but is often used for the stimulation caffeine supplies.

The action of kola has been compared to that of coffee and cocoa, but it differs even from these, and from that of the two principles-caffeine and theobromine-contained in it.

Clayton's Kola Tonic is giving me the buzz

Clayton's Kola Tonic is giving me the buzz without the hot face that comes with a can of diet cola.

Why?

Is it just the caffeine and sugar? (test this)

Diet coke breaks down into a phenyl

One of the simplest phenyl containing compounds is phenol,

Clayton's Kola Tonic contains Kola Nut - which contains phenols?

Oh - I dunno - is this too far fetched?