artificial sweetener and asthma

I'll try and make this brief. About 9 months ago I got on a gum kick. I have a stressful job and I am a stress eater. Rather than eat all the time I started chewing gum. About six months ago I started having this weird lung butter build up at night. It takes about 45 minutes for me to clear my throat and then one big WHOARK!! in the morning. I chalked it up to seasonal allergies.

About 6 weeks ago I started having asthma. I've had asthma in the past, both seasonal and exercise induced, so I was not too worried. I have Advair and albuterol and know how to use them and when.

Well, the "asthma" and tight chest stuff is not clearing up. We've gone through a few seasons here so it's no longer seasonal allergies. I take two benedryl almost every night as a sleep aid so I'm relatively sure it's not allergies.

Today I start thinking what the heck has changed in the past 9 months. It hits me that I am chewing HUMONGOUS quantities of gum. It's sugarfree and my particular brand has aspartame as a sweetener. Following a quick google search I find that a potential side effect of aspartame is chest tightness. This pretty much fits what I am having.

Questions:

has anyone else experienced this?

Has anyone found a solution? I'm off the gum as of today for a detox test period.

If anyone chews huge amounts of gum, is there anything out there that is "all natural" with "close to zero calories"? I can almost say I don't care about the taste, I can get used to anything.

Go to the doctor.

A few years ago I got pneumonia but I thought it was asthma as well. My albuterol got rid of the symptoms and kept me going. After a few weeks of the same thing, I knew something was wrong. I put off the doctors and I ended up being sent to the emergency room one night. I ended up getting some scar tissue in the lungs, reduced lung capacity which I'm building back up, and it's all because I thought it was asthma because my asthma medication covered up the symptoms. Tightness and shortness of breath were there, and in the morning I always coughed up green phlegm, but after morning the symptoms tapered off. The green phlegm was the first sign to go to the doctors.

Not saying this is what your case is, but it is similar and happened to me. Best thing to do is get a checkup.

Regards, Oka

Yikes... I'll keep that in mind. I'm happy you are recovering. Did you ever have a fever or chills or any other symptom to indicate you were really sick besides the green lung butter in the mornings?

Nothing in particular. I think I had weezing when I layed down at night for sleep. If I had a fever or chills I would have assumed it was the flu, and might have went to the doctors sooner if it didn't go away. I've had persistent asthma for weeks at a time before I got more fit, so I didn't think anything of it beforehand. Kinda wish I did look into it better, but I'm not too bad right now, I just need to start doing that God-awful cardio...