Friday, April 01, 2005
Poisoned by a Diet Pepsi: Antidote? "It's gotta be fruit"
Why was I drinking a Diet Pepsi earlier today? My mother, with a big smile on her face, offered it to me, as if she had been chilling it in her fridge as a nice treat. I knew I'd probably get sick, but I drank almost half of it while my husband and I chatted w. her.
Did I wind up in the hospital after drinking the Diet Pepsi? My husband prevented that with a calming "wait for the crisis to pass" while witnessing my reaction -- my heart was racing and the new lymphatic power of my nervous system went haywire. Which explains why I could drink Diet Pepsi like it was water (which I think my mother remembers) when I had no tonsils and poor (or maybe zero) lymph flow.
Guess where I felt first the impact of my foolishness? In my lungs! I started coughing as if the aspartame, phenylalanine and whatever else the soda contained had seeped out of my stomach, up through my diaphragm, to reach my lungs and make me hack.
I keep thinking, what am I going to do to get over this... and the first thought that came into my mind was "it's gotta be fruit"! Translation: thru my poisoned haze, I knew I'd have to eat fruit (I ended up with a lemon slice which I'm known to have w/o any sugar) or have real, 100% natural fruit juice (by now, four hours after my crisis, I've had two small glasses of OJ mixed w. a small amount of pure cranberry).
What ended up being my first line of defense: two glasses of milk and a couple tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil about a half hour after I started feeling sick.
My husband had a Diet Pepsi, too, but his reaction to it was not as violent. He simply got a headache.
Our plan: Never to have Diet Pepsi again. My mom's feelings will not be hurt, she witnessed how I immediately acted as if I'd gotten wired, so I seized the opportunity to tell her I drink only water now, mostly, when I'm not drinking milk or natural juice. It's been too warm to drink tea (I've only had one cup of green tea in the past couple of days) and I haven't made any iced.
My husband, a very respected lawyer, knows the flip side of our plan, if I wind up drinking a Diet Pepsi again, and get as sick, we are going to the hospital and then he's filing a claim w. the local Federal Circuit Court (he knows what the other side would reply anyway, I've already asked him, that the fault for drinking the Diet Pepsi is mine, and how could I possibly link all my symptoms to their product)!
For now, I'm posting this incident for all of you to be aware of exactly how violently toxic a Diet Pepsi can be. Useful links will be posted as soon as I cull some, I'm still feeling a bit out of sorts to go website hunting.
Another thought: I wonder how other healthy people w. tonsils react to Diet Pepsi, and what would happen if a bunch of, say, vegan people who have never touched that product would get together to drink it to see just how sick they would get exactly. Morgan Spurlock would probably love that experiment!
Did I wind up in the hospital after drinking the Diet Pepsi? My husband prevented that with a calming "wait for the crisis to pass" while witnessing my reaction -- my heart was racing and the new lymphatic power of my nervous system went haywire. Which explains why I could drink Diet Pepsi like it was water (which I think my mother remembers) when I had no tonsils and poor (or maybe zero) lymph flow.
Guess where I felt first the impact of my foolishness? In my lungs! I started coughing as if the aspartame, phenylalanine and whatever else the soda contained had seeped out of my stomach, up through my diaphragm, to reach my lungs and make me hack.
I keep thinking, what am I going to do to get over this... and the first thought that came into my mind was "it's gotta be fruit"! Translation: thru my poisoned haze, I knew I'd have to eat fruit (I ended up with a lemon slice which I'm known to have w/o any sugar) or have real, 100% natural fruit juice (by now, four hours after my crisis, I've had two small glasses of OJ mixed w. a small amount of pure cranberry).
What ended up being my first line of defense: two glasses of milk and a couple tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil about a half hour after I started feeling sick.
My husband had a Diet Pepsi, too, but his reaction to it was not as violent. He simply got a headache.
Our plan: Never to have Diet Pepsi again. My mom's feelings will not be hurt, she witnessed how I immediately acted as if I'd gotten wired, so I seized the opportunity to tell her I drink only water now, mostly, when I'm not drinking milk or natural juice. It's been too warm to drink tea (I've only had one cup of green tea in the past couple of days) and I haven't made any iced.
My husband, a very respected lawyer, knows the flip side of our plan, if I wind up drinking a Diet Pepsi again, and get as sick, we are going to the hospital and then he's filing a claim w. the local Federal Circuit Court (he knows what the other side would reply anyway, I've already asked him, that the fault for drinking the Diet Pepsi is mine, and how could I possibly link all my symptoms to their product)!
For now, I'm posting this incident for all of you to be aware of exactly how violently toxic a Diet Pepsi can be. Useful links will be posted as soon as I cull some, I'm still feeling a bit out of sorts to go website hunting.
Another thought: I wonder how other healthy people w. tonsils react to Diet Pepsi, and what would happen if a bunch of, say, vegan people who have never touched that product would get together to drink it to see just how sick they would get exactly. Morgan Spurlock would probably love that experiment!
