My F'd up reaction to Stevia..

I took a small break from here over the last couple days as I was trying to wrap my head around a few health issues that were getting on my nerves and making me insane (really, really close.. seriously) In retrospect, I believe I found the culprit.. Stevia.

I was doing fine with my Splenda/erythritol as needed, but decided to try going "natural" and ditch the Splenda  slowly a couple months or so ago. I tried Stevia (NuNaturals) and got some gut bloating/swelling, but wasn't 100% sure it was the stevia, so I ditched things one by one, then reintroduced them slowly again over a period of weeks- so far, so good, more bloating- but figured my body would get used to it and calm down. About that time- my regular cycles started getting weird. 24 days one month, 35 the next.. then day 20 back again, stopping and resuming a week later.. very off. This month- nada, and I'm on day 40+, this has not happened since I was 13.

These last few weeks I totally stopped using any Splenda, and switched to stevia in my coffee and tea (and I drink a lot of tea all day) and adding it to yogurt etc once in a while.. I also started having frequent premature heartbeats, getting worse two weeks ago- I was having the flutters/palps daily, sometimes hourly, esp morning.. it was getting spooky, and despite knowing it was likely harmless.. I called the Dr.. thinking it was related to the lack of period too or some electrolyte imbalance (no other symptoms of low potassium.) I also had gained about 10lbs !!(expected if off plan for weeks, not like this!!) of fa****er retention that would not budge, and though some was from eating off plan on a few days here and there- there's no way that it should have added up to as much and especially as fast as it did (1-2-3+lbs up every day over the course of a week)- plus normally I shed the water weight that jumps on afterwards, this time- it kept coming..  my shoes no longer fit, undereye puffiness and sore breasts to boot.. if I didn't know better I would think I was pregnant/protein malnourished/electrolyte unbalanced.. I was running every scenario.

I did some serious googling, and found others that had heart rhythm effects, and missed/aberrant cycles with stevia use.. and I stopped using it immediately. Next day- not one skipped beat, dropped 2lbs overnight. Go figure. I have not had a palp since and have started to shed the water I was holding for the last couple as fast as I gained it.. down into the 140's and can see the bones in my feet again (yay!) I really believe by every symptom my body was giving me, it was seriously messing with my hormones and that is no small issue in my book.

I really thought I was going crazy. I was feeling really sick, the heart thing was giving me serious anxiety very badly and not to mention the crazy fast gains I hadn't seen since forever.. all it took was stopping with the stupid stevia drops that I was using all day (a few in tea, but a lot of them, much more in coffee) and I feel back to normal after two days! Just really happy I stopped long enough to dig around and see if there was something outside of myself that could have been causing this before running for tests galore.  it's the only thing I was doing differently, and apparently my body really does NOT like it one bit. It's pretty rare to react to it, but it anecdotally happens to some and their symptoms mirror mine to the tee, and now I can count myself with the others that say it negatively effects them.. great.

Consider this my little rant.. just because it's "natural" doesn't mean it's safe.. how many times have I said this to others and never gave it a thought when I had problems? Ugh. Just a little psa I guess. Getting my feet back under me after this (yes, it really did scare the bejeezus out of me.) 

This is what I always say when people go on about how Stevia is natural and Sucralose is not:

• arsenic is natural and penicillin is not

The thing is, both penicillin and sucralose are made from natural sources. Sucralose is made from tweaking sugar molecules. It's actually more natural than aspartame or saccharin -- which are also perfectly fine sweeteners IMO. It's all about what your body can handle/prefers and what you like the taste of.

I can't do Stevia. The gut-wrenching pain just isn't worth it for me. My hubby drinks a protein drink with it and he doesn't have a problem. I do Splenda or nothing. I drink all of my teas straight - no sugar subs. The only thing I add splenda to is my coffee - still haven't been able to get to black.

I'm glad you found out what was going on.

Yeah mine has no issue with it- but when it's gone, I'm just sticking to the one I know. Did your gut pain come with swelling/bloating or just pain? Geez, I was stubborn/stupid about it.. you'd think I'd take the clue, gut bloat=body no like, and would quit.. but not apparently. 

Stevia acts like a sugar alcohol for me - MAJOR bloating, fast weight gain. It's part of the reason I finally had to get rid of the protein bars. The only fake sugar I can handle is Splenda - the rest just kill me. They act like too much salt for me - fluid retention, puffy hands, feet and face. Just all-around sucks. The fake sugars also make me crampy like PMS kind of cramps. I had a hysterectomy 2 years ago, so having PMS cramps seriously ****** me off.

Doesn't stop me from trying to go back to trying things with the fake sugars/sugar alcohols in them. The stupid in me runs deep sometimes.

I am glad you figured this out.  It would have driven me crazy too.  Good call.

This is good to know.  Now I'm afraid to try Stevia; I think I'll just stick with Splenda but just try to limit my intake.  I know everyone is different but I don't wanna change what is working for me so thank you!!!

I was curious so I looked on the website for NuNaturals. Only one of their stevia products is pure stevia. All the others have other ingredients that may have caused your symptoms. Personally I like stevia but have found that the brands vary. I like the KAL brand. I won't waste my money on anything else.