Aspartame Contributing to Dry Eyes???

[dnew85]

Hey Gang,

Well, It looks like I have removed thyroid ans sjogren's as possibilities for my dry eyes. I have an appointment w/ an allergist in April. At this point I can give all the credit to a decision that I can never take back... LASIK.

Two things I came across:

1. Aspartame in diet sodas can contribute to dry eyes. I spend most of the day driving so I guzzle the stuff. Anyone else heard of this?

2. I was on the Freshkote site and there is a chart that states that tear deficient dry eye (ME) is associated with the most severe cases of dry eye while evaporative dry eye is associated with mostly mild to moderate cases. Any thoughts???

Thanks again,
dnew

[Rojzen]

labels of little utility

RE: severe v. moderate/mild dry eye, and whether aqueous deficiency or, rather, "evaporative" issues can be associated with one or the other. . .

Possibly the severe/moderate/mild labels are not useful/meaningful, because they don't convey exactly what is being measured. . .

I would ask, instead, whether a patient is suffering:

1. corneal damage
2. vision loss
3. pain
4. paresthesias (burning, stabbing, stinging, pressure that don't seem to cause detectable damage)
5. windy/menthol sensation
6. stickiness or foreign body sensation
7. redness,

and to what degree any of these are being suffered, in a given case. The severity of damage and/OR symptoms would then be the measure of how "bad" a case is. I sense strongly that whether lacrimal/aqueous deficiency or meibomian dysfunction were primarily involved in a given case would not be a predictor of how "bad" a case is, using the above criteria.

If doctors could focus on how disabling/symptomatic a case is, and on how much damage the syndrome is doing to cornea and vision, it might become less important to assign causation. . .Causation could still help in designing treatments, but it could not be used against patients to limit a doctor's appreciation of how serious a case is. . .

[Terri]

Hey Gang,
Aspartame in diet sodas can contribute to dry eyes. I spend most of the day driving so I guzzle the stuff. Anyone else heard of this?

I haven't heard anything about aspartame contributing to dry eyes, but I've heard enough other horror stories to say you should switch to iced tea sweetened with Splenda, water, or something else immediately. There are thousands of individual anecdotes that link aspartame to nerve damage, multiple-sclerosis-like symptoms and damage to the brain. I don't think there's been any large scale testing that proves any of this, but I'm not waiting around for such evidence. Aspartame is on my list (along with partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup and several food colors) of stuff never to put in my body.

[rubyslippers]

I would not be surprised. I get raging bladder infections if I drink or use the stuff.

[shoebox]

Aspartame & Inflammation

I know Aspartame increases inflammation in my body (and from what I've read, in general) as someone with Fibromyalgia...
Maybe if it increases inflammation, it can also cause drier eyes -- or increase eye inflammation which exacerbates dry eye (thinking about how Restasis is supposed to help dry eye by reducing inflammation, etc.).
Aspartame is BAAAD.