Splenda/Sucrolose Allergy
It's back...that dreaded burning of my cheeks and the tell tale spots to warn me I've eaten something I shouldn't! Well I say eaten... it doesn't have to be eaten, last year I started using a new face cleanser within a couple of days my face and eyes swelled, the burning itchy cheeks and the itchy spots were back!
What had I eaten?... nothing new I was sure of that, it couldn't be the cleanser but that's the only new product I'd used, so I decided to google the ingredients... Aqua, well we all know what that is, and the second ingredient on the list E955 or sucrolose!
In the bin it went, although not before I'd sent a letter of complaint to Asda customer services explaining my allergy to sucrolose and how their 'Dermatologically tested' cleansing lotion had affected my skin!
Anyway...
It all started a few years ago, I'd gone on a No Carbs diet, but was starting to miss sweet foods, I decided to buy this much raved about sugar substitute... Splenda! So I baked cakes and egg custards with it.
Within a day I'd developed an itchy patch on the side of my eye and I started to feel unwell. The next day a red patch had appeared under the same eye, my whole eye socket was very tender to touch and the swelling was spreading up the side of my face, the next day the other side was affected too! Then the next morning my whole face had ballooned, my eyes were almost shut and I actually thought I was going to die! I knew it was an allergy so I started taking Piriton allergy tablets, but I still didn't know what I'd had an allergic reaction to!
My second attack was six weeks later. This attack was worst than the first, again it affected my eyes the worst, they had swelled shut, and my whole face had ballooned, I looked like some hideous monster, I felt like I'd been beaten up my whole body hurt and my legs were so heavy I could hardly move, and I had trouble breathing. The rash (redness) this time spread to my neck and all over my chest, I took the piriton again, but it got worse before it got better and I had to take it for over a month!
It took about two years to learn what it was, Doctors didn't have any idea and neither did Google, I spent hours researching rashes, swellings and the rest, all I knew was I was allergic to something... but what!
Then I came across an image with a very familiar redness spread across some ones neck which said... sucrolose allergy...
I knew then that I'd cracked it!!!
I've been left with permanent eye damage, before I started using Splenda I never had any problems with my eyes, and my eyes and my face were the things that were affected the most!
Since my first encounter with Splenda, I have become sensitive to light and can't go outside without sunglasses on, and they run constantly, I suffer from the most horrendous eye pain and migraines neither of which I had before, it never occurred to me I was actually poisoning myself with this stuff.
Now I have to read every label on everything I buy, I was certainly caught out with the cleansing lotion, but now I know it's in some cosmetics too I have to know my stuff!
My recent outbreak was because I HADN'T read the label on a bottle of Old Jamaica Ginger Beer light!
I'd had a couple of glasses, I'm not a fan of fizzy drinks to be honest, but this took me right back to my childhood... now having checked the ingredients of most diet drinks sucrolose is in most of them so I won't be having any more.
A couple of people I know, recently asked on Facebook if anyone knew what the rash was on their child, and they'd put a photo up of the rash. I took one look and asked "what had they had different to eat or drink?" One woman told me "just a fruit juice" (specially marketed for young kids), I Googled it and guess what...one of the ingredients of this so called fruit juice... sucrolose!
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| Image of sucrolose allergy from the internet, the only one I could find. |
Well, it had, but she's not convinced he's allergic to it so she's since asked her Doctor for a referral to an allergy clinic, trouble is... Doctorsand GP's aren't aware of this allergy so I'm sure he won't be tested for it, but we'll see.
I'm having difficulty believing they actually put sucrolose in children's food products, and I'm saddened to find it's in cosmetics of which I use everyday
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| What the cleansing lotion did |
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| Splenda caused this...Itching, burning and swelling |
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| This is like poison to people with sucrolose allergy . |
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| Face and eye swelling, and my eye brows started to disappear! |
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| eye swelling |
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| Burning and swelling |
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| Eye swelling, which has resulted in permanent eye problems |
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| As well as on my face it was all over my neck and across my chest and breasts too. It's caused the loss of my eyebrows too, I'm not sure if it was because this area of my face was extremely itchy or what, but my eyebrows started to fall out and just never grew back! I now have to pencil them on, but I'm hoping to get them tattooed as soon as I can. There is a blog on the net by a man called Zack, he lost some of his body hair thanks to sucrolose, it wasn't until I read his blog that I realised why my eyebrows had disappeared, until then I hadn't really associated it with the sweetener although I'd had my suspicions, as it was too much of a coincidence to be anything else!
Update November 2014
I'm suffering again, because of the eye damage I suffer, I have to permanently use eye drops everyday, thought I'd found some that suited me at last and I could leave the house without having to constantly wipe my tears, the constant eye running I suffer causes puffy sore eyes every day and migraines at least 3 times a week!
The trouble is with eye drops they tend to run out as soon as you put them in, but I discovered an eye gel, and the first time I used them it was like I'd poured some soothing oils into my eyes it was heaven! So that day I ordered another 3 tubes. The next morning I woke up and my eyes had been running all night and were sore and a bit swollen, I didn't associate it with the eye gel, after all it was the same as the drops and I'm OK with those... The next day I realised I'd ingested sweeteners somehow, but I couldn't think what I'd eaten. By day three, I was very wheezy and unable to open my left eye, my eye sight was blurry in my other eye and I was unable to go to work! I asked my husband to read the ingredients on the pack and one of them was... Sucrolose! Yes it was in my eye gel, the very stuff I use to get relief from the eye problems caused by sucrolose!!!
My fault for not reading the label of course, I don't blame the manufacturers.
I have emailed them and told them though, and they are going to refund me for the gels I bought before I knew I was allergic to it, and they are going to bring it to the attention of their Head of quality control.
So I'm sat here, feeling very sorry for myself with eye's the size of golf balls, scratching eyebrows I don't have, swallowing antihistamines like they were sweets, and I'm back on the Opticrom allergy eye drops! I've been like this for two weeks now and not getting any better which is very worrying, although my last few attacks usually lasted a month or more. I'm scared to go out, but I have to because I have to go to work, unfortunately I have to walk (don't have a car) it's just over a mile and three times I've nearly been hit by a car because I can't see to cross the road my eye sight is so blurry! I was thinking about going off sick, but we're short staffed where I work plus, do I really have the excuse 'because I can't see properly?' I just don't know.
December 14
It's December 6th 2014, and I'm still suffering, still can't see out of my left eye and my eyes are no better. I've had to take time off work as being inside relieves the symptoms, I assume it's the warm air and no breeze, although when I move around (walk from one room to another) they start to run, so I haven't left the house for 5 days, and although not better they are not as sore and the migraines are getting less and less. The day I went back to work I was just back to square one, within minutes of stepping outside it was like I'd never put my life on hold for the past 5 days, total waste of time!
Next stop A&E I think, waste of time going to Doctors, that's if you can even get an appointment, but they just give me eye drops each time and they aren't doing much really, and with sucrolose coming disguised with numerous different names I can't remember them all and my eye sight's too bad now to read the ingredients on packaging even if I could remember! Update; Feb 2017 Just made an appointment to have some new eyebrows with Elaine, she's a professional cosmetic tattooist, from Mickleover in Derby. My daughter is getting married in September and It's given me something to aim for. So I'm having a scratch test next week, but because Elaine is so good, she has a waiting list of 6 months but hopefully by July/August, I should look quite normal again.  Examples of Elaines work, i'm so excited look normal again. 
All that's left of my eyebrows nowadays.
The following information I found on the internet, it makes very interesting reading!
Sucralose aka Splenda aka E955; a Dangerous Artificial
Sweetener Chemically Similar to DDT
With the rising popularity of low carbohydrate diets, and
increase in sales of sugar-free and low fat foods and
drinks, is it any wonder that the market for sugar
substitutes is becoming more and more competitive?
Splenda is one of a long line of sweeteners and
substitutes promising the taste of sugar without the
effects of sugar consumption. This can be construed as
true in a literal sense. It is true that Splenda has none
of the dangerous effects of sugar on the body – no
calories, no insulin boost, and no cravings.
Unfortunately, while many hundreds of times sweeter than
sugar, Splenda poses its own unique health risks and
dangers, according to many experts.
A New Pesticide?
Splenda is different from other sweeteners in that it
claims to be ‘made from sugar,’ and ‘natural,’ because
Splenda is the trade name for sucralose. Sucralose is a
synthetic compound, which — without going into too much
scientific detail –is basically sugar modified by adding
chlorine atoms. Sucralose, incidentally, was discovered
in the 1970s by researchers looking to create a new
pesticide. Chlorine is added to many products – drinking
water, for example – and does not necessarily render the
product dangerous. On the other hand, you are ingesting
chlorine, which is not advised in large amounts.
The reason Splenda produces no calories, is that the
majority passes through the body without being digested.
Most studies show that only around 15% of Splenda is
actually digested. The worrisome fact for some
researchers is that people with healthier GI systems,
will absorb more of the Splenda, and thus more of the
dangerous chlorine.
Where is it hiding?
Of course, Splenda is not likely dangerous in smaller
doses, but what about larger ones in which larger
quantities of chlorine are ingested? Herein lays the
bigger problem. Perhaps the greatest reason for Splenda’s
success in the marketplace is that, as opposed to the
other sweeteners, Splenda remains stable at higher
temperatures, meaning that it can be, and is, used in
cooking. Many of the sugar-free, low fat and low-calorie
diet foods use Splenda in their recipes.
It is found in processed foods such as non-alcoholic
beverages (fizzy drink), chewing gum and mint, bakery
products, frozen desserts, fruit juices, gelatines,
pharmaceutical drugs, vitamin supplements, weight loss
products, liquid and powdered drinks, and toothpaste
among others.
People on diets are at greater risk, obviously, because
they may consume this product many times a day without
knowing it.
Human Rodent Trials?
Sucralose, like its predecessor Aspartame, has never been
proven safe for human consumption. There are very few
human trials on Sucralose. All of these trials involved
less than 100 people and lasted a few days. There has
never been a long term scientific study on a large number
of people. Most trials have been done on animals and even
then there were many reports of adverse health effects.
One could say that the long-term study is being conducted
in households and supermarkets around the world, with
consumers as the test rodents.
Allergy Risk
A small segment of the population is allergic to
sucralose, and the reactions produced in this group can
be everything from rashes, panic attacks, headaches, to
intestinal cramping, diarrhoea, muscle aches, and stomach
pain. Findings for allergic reactions are well-
documented, but for the rest of the population, the
studies are murky, at best.
As with any nutritional supplement, caution and due
diligence should be practiced. Read and learn all you
can, and consult with you doctor before starting on any
new diet. If you are already dieting, be sure to read the
labels to see if the diet foods are using Splenda in the
place of sugar, and make sure that you aren’t replacing
the bad effects of sugar with the potentially dangerous
side effects of Splenda.
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