Aspartame?

[btportugal]

I'm on quit smoking / start vaping attempt 3, and it's going pretty well. I've had about 7 cigarettes since last Saturday

However...what I need to find out about is aspartame being used as a sweetener in eJuice.

I KNOW I'm allergic to aspartame. It causes odd little muscle ticks, usually in my calves. I KNOW it's aspartame after extensive experimentation with cutting it out. I don't go near sodas (even non-diet ones often contain aspartame), light yogurts and anything sweetened with it.

I can therefore have a fairly high certainty that one of the liquids I've been vaping must contain it, because I've got my aspartame twitch back!

I've emailed all the juice vendors I have juices from and will await their responses with interest - will also share them in this thread in case anyone is interested.

In the meantime: does anyone know much about this issue? Can anyone point me to a UK maker who definitely doesn't use aspartame? (Or a US brand I can buy here).

Would be interested on any views on the matter!

PS. I know the aspartame thing is quite fiercely debated, but I've taken years of eliminating things from my diet before concluding it's that that gives me these twitches. All I need is one can of diet Fanta to prove it!

 

[ddirtyvapes]

I can't really help with juice vendors, but as someone with an allergy, you might want to strongly consider making your own juice. Part of the point of DIY e-liquid is knowing exactly what goes in it. Lots of people can help if it seems overwhelming. I just think you might have a hard time nailing down too much pre-made juice that you can be 100% sure won't have something that causes a problem.

Juice makers are not always as transparent as they ought to be, IMO.

I am not positive whether aspartame is a particularly common sweetener in commercial e-juice as I've been making my own for so long, but certainly I believe you that you are having such a reaction. Do you have any clue whether you might have a Propylene Glycol allergy? I don't think it typically manifests the way you describe, though, and the specificity of your symptoms probably means it is indeed aspartame (though I'm not playing web doctor)...

In any event, that's my two cents: unless you are diametrically opposed to doing so, the safest bet will likely be to make your own juice. That's just what I know, but I'm sure someone else can be of more direct help to your question.

 

[btportugal]

Hi there and thanks for the reply.

I don't think I have an issue with PG or VG. I get a slight background headache when vaping sometimes but I'm really bad for keeping myself hydrated. This twitch thing, I'm sure, is aspartame.

To be honest, I'm not particularly keen on making my own juice. I have a toddler in the house, limited space, and like being able to switch around lots of flavours (it's one of the things that takes my mind off cigarettes). The DIY thing just doesn't appeal to me I'm afraid.

I think the ideal for me would be to find one or two vendors I know don't use such sweeteners and then stick with them.

 

[RainSong]

I am not even going to attempt to play web doctor but I would continue looking for commercial juices that are verified aspartame free and I second the looking into DIY comment. Sorry, disregard the DIY suggestion, we were posting at the same time.

 

[ddirtyvapes]

Yep, that's all I would do in that case. Hopefully you will hear back from the vendors you contacted and others here on the forum may be able to help with specific juice makers.

There are also websites that will make "DIY" juice for you; you can select from recipes or plug in your own but the point is that will be akin to buying a store-bought juice in terms of not having to make it or possess the ingredients, but you have control over what goes in. I'll try and find the link to that one place.

VAPECRAFTER, if it helps!

 

[btportugal]

First vendor response: El Diablo

"I am happy to advise that none of our liquids contain any added sweeter. St Louis however does have a flavouring that contains Stevia."

Happy coincidence that I like their liquids and have a couple on order, now just have to hope they arrive tomorrow and not after the weekend!

 

[btportugal]

Another response from Totally Wicked:

Hi Ben,

I can confirm that our Red Label is free of Aspartame

This one's a result as I'm currently loving their sherbert lemon.

I think I suspect which juice is the culprit for aspartame as I avoided it yesterday and the twitch has gone but I'll wait to see what they say!

 

[retired1]

Moved to General E-Liquid Discussion