[Ski]

#1070022

I still drink caffeine every day, don’t tell. ” title=”Very Happy” /> It doesn’t appear to affect me more than the usual person, but I have always been pretty sensitive to caffeine anyway so I drink tea instead of soda (much less caffeine per serving).

For 100 doctors whose food advice I’ve heard, I’ve heard 100 different sets of rules about food, so I don’t believe there is any overall consensus about what we should consume or what we should avoid, especially once we’re regulating our thyroid hormone levels with replacement hormone.

I actually did quit drinking Diet Coke shortly after my diagnosis, because of all the internet rumors that aspartame was the cause for my disease (um, it’s not, just in case anyone wonders), and I eliminated caffeine from my diet entirely for at least a few years, maybe more. I would drink iced tea at restaurants, for lack of a better choice other than plain water, and finally found the famed "Arnold Palmer," iced tea & lemonade 50/50, so now I make my own and dilute the lemonade so there’s not much sugar in the ones I drink. Now I have those all day (not after dinner), it doesn’t bother me, doesn’t keep me from sleeping, and I don’t feel any different than when I wasn’t drinking any caffeine, in terms of my thyroid symptoms, etc. etc.

If you want to try doing without caffeine, you’d need to stop it for a while to get a really good idea of how you feel without it, because there’s the "withdrawal" phase where you get those horrible headaches, and you’d need to get past that before you’d really know whether it made a difference overall to how you feel.

You may want to look at quitting soda in general though ~ that stuff is just a pile of chemicals with caramel food coloring. I can hardly drink it any more, even in an "emergency" when there’s nothing else. When you think about it, you could be doing good things for your body with plain water, or adding nutrients with either juice or milk (soy milk, almond milk, or any kind of milk), instead of spending money on soda and getting nothing your body needs or uses for its health.

[Hopeful23]

#1070023

Ski,

Okay, cool thanks so much. I have been trying to cut back on soda intake. I have been drinking clear lol. Hey, it gives me justice. I LOOOOOOVE LOVE TEA. I have not tried soy products IM SCARED lol. I will see if it helps me though. Thanks so much for your great information. Have a blessed healthy day ” title=”Smile” />

<<<<HUGS>>>
Hopeful

[ewmb]

#1070024

Ski,
Did the stopping the aspartame make you feel any different? I know it’s not the cause of Graves but do wonder about it. I have tried some soda with splenda. Like you I don’t always want water and I don’t do tea or coffee. I’ve always had caffeine free soda but maybe I need to switch back to more juice. I just didn’t want the calories.

ewmb

[Hopeful23]

#1019199

ski,
I was reading over your post about caffeine and when I was at my endo appt the other day I had a can of Pepsi and when he walked in he said " That is something you really need to stay away from" I said why, he said "You just do". I think he didn’t go into details because I probably would have cried on the spot. He knows I am a very anxious person and emotional so I wanted to know if maybe you could give me some background on it and anything else that you know that is good to stay clear from. I just think any info on ways to stay GOOD/Normal would really benefit me. I will do whatever it takes to make small progressions. Thanks for you time as always:) Also, thanks for reading my last post and leaving that message ” title=”Smile” />

<<<<<HUGS>>>>

[Hopeful23]

#1070025

E- I did notice personally that cutting diet coke out did make me feel better however I was allergic to it and didnt know it until I had a seizure from it. Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners can cause a myriad of side effects. I honestly think something correlates it to my GD because I NEVER drank Diet than all the sudden I did with lemons and exactly to the year I came down with GD. I’m sure its not related at all buuuuuut we maaaaaaaaaaay never know LoL. Try to stay away from that and surcalose if you can ” title=”Smile” /> Just my opinion of course…

<<<>>>

[npatterson]

#1070026

From just a general health standpoint, the artificial sweetners are a collection of chemicals. But then there’s the caloric problem of sugar…! I know someone who says she is now "addicted" to water after having a ten-day stay in the hospital (not Graves’) She got used to drinking the water, and likes it. I remember when I had a water cooler in my office. I drank water (almost exclusively) for several years. For me, anything with lots of ice is fine.

[hyperm]

#1070027

Hi

I have to agree with Ski that I haven’t heard there isn’t really any set diet for thyroidism. I know that when I was first diagnosed that I was on a high soya diet and was told to come off that initially also as I am married to a Japanese man – to stay away from seaweed. However, maybe he meant the caffeine content in the diet coke etc which can increase your heart rate if taken in large amounts. I know that during pregnancy I didn’t take any caffeine and after the TS I had caffiene free tea and switched from my favourite Irn-Bru and Diet Coke to 7UP if I wanted some juice. But I love cold water so that is my tipple!

I am not sure about the whole sweetener debate. I imagine in high doses it can’t be good for you but I also think about the fact that you can have 120 cans of diet coke to one can of normal coke ( I only drink sugar free drinks) is rather alarming with regards to calorie intake and also the amount of sugar in a can of coke.

Sorry of no great help.

mxxx

[paloma]

#1070028

People, I have a confession to make. I still drink regular Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and coffee. I didn’t realize that caffeine is so bad for those of us with Graves’. I promise I wil begin to cut down, and eventually get off of caffeine completely. As for seafood, I HATE it, so, no loss there! Thanks for this info.

[ely2009]

#1070029

Hey all-

I gave up both caffeine and aspartame just after my diagnosis. It was actually something I had wanted to do before – my friends and I always TALKED about doing it – just didnt have the willpower. I drank WAY to much diet coke for the last few years and knew it couldn’t be good for me, but it just tastes so darn good. Can you tell I still miss it?

Anyway, I was feeling so TERRIBLE already, i figured that was a good time to go through withdrawal from those things. I now drink decaf green teas in the am and a lot of water. I also drink FUZE drinks, which are good but would be expensive to drink all the time. I get those as my treat. ” title=”Smile” /> I’ve found that diet rite is OK when I really "need" a soda – like with pizza. It has no sodium, no calories, no caffeine, but it has sucralose.

Giving up those things has been one of the "good" outcomes of Graves.

Emily

[Ski]

#1070030

Finally answering the last question put directly to me ~ did I feel better after quitting aspartame? Well, that’s all rather confused, because I did it at the same time my GD treatment began, so it’s not something I can say for sure. I do know that after months of not drinking Diet Coke, I picked one up and thought I must’ve been literally "brainwashed" to think I liked it all that time. It was like ingesting plastic. I used to drink it, literally, to the exclusion of all other fluids. That can’t help.

[Author]

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