A perfect evening, aspartame and antidepressants

[danaeris]

Last night was as perfect an evening as possible. It began with a last minute plan and was followed by a long BART ride while reading more of Kushiel's Chosen (mmm).

Next, I was met by the fabulous pusifoot, and we drove, with fabulous conversation, to La Fondue, where angelbob met us for dinner.

La Fondue was, well, La Fondue. Need I say more?

Well, actually, I do have to -- our waitress, Ashley, was adorable and may have been flirting with us... its hard to tell. But she had cute braids and a tongue stud. Mmm, tongue stud.

Afterwards, we returned to the Disaster House and hopped in the hot tub, where we geeked about psychology and social games. Mmm, psych geeking.

As we dried off I got some snuggles, and then pusifoot went home and angelbob and I crashed.

Today, I slept in and am now hanging out at angelbob's place untl S&P, at which there will be chocolate fondue goodness.

Aspartame and antidepressants

The only downer last night was a mood crash partway through the dinner that didn't completely resolve itself until around when pusifoot left. It lasted, all told, about 4-5 hours. Nothing prompted it. I mean, nothing, no thought or words, or anything. It just happened.

I did have a diet coke before I got on the BART train (at 5:30 or thereabouts I finished it). Aspartame reportedly interferes with your serotonin cycle.

Has anyone else had this obvious a mood crash due to consumption of aspartame? If so, are you on antidepressants? Which one(s)?

Comments

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

princeowands has reported that aspartame causes his mood to crash. I have heard plenty of other reports of such effects, not necessarily related to antidpressant use. I avoid the stuff if I possibly can.

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

That, of course, should be princeofwands. Duh.

[auros]

I've heard various rumors of drug interactions with aspartame, but never any actual conclusive studies. I know the molecule is a relative of formaldehyde, and that's hardly encouraging.

You might look into whether you can find stuff that uses Splenda. Since it's basically just a sugar molecule modified so that it can't get absorbed through the intestinal wall, it oughtn't to interact with anything; it's never supposed to reach your bloodstream. Or at least, that's the theory. (Just repeating what I've been told by my dad, or at least what I understood of it.) Also, I know my mother, who abhors the taste of aspartame, finds Splenda acceptable.

[auros]

Ah, thanks for the correction/details. (I knew it had some relation to formaldehyde, anyways.)

Anyways, like I said, I've never seen a report of an actual study showing it had harmful effects. I just think that what I have heard makes it seem kinda creepy. *g*

[coffeekitty.livejournal.com]

if you feel like panicking a bit to liven up your day, Splenda is a chlorinated sugar; some of the -OH groups have been replaced by chlorines. carbon-chlorine compounds of very different chemical ilk are insecticides, which makes some people nervous.

from my point of view, i'm a biologist, and also consume aspartame and sucralose by the bleeding gallon, having gone over the relevant chemistry and safety trials and having convinced myself that they aren't likely to hurt me. i've noticed that in very large quantities, sucralose makes me a bit queasy and kills my appetite, but if i'm consuming that much, i ought to stop eating anyway.

[auros]

Chlorinated? I thought it was bonded to an alcohol?

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

No problems with Aspartame here, but then, everyone seems to be different when it comes to depression effects, drugs that work, etc.

[redfishie.livejournal.com]

sqaw your post off of a friend's friends page...

i'm actually allergic to aspertame...makes me sleepy and gives me flu like effects (yeah dizziness!!)

splenda is supposed to be better for some people...sadly i am also allergic to that