Warning to read labels

I woke u^ about 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 15 with a strange feeling. My u^^er li^ felt a little numb so I went into the bathroom to take a look in the mirror. Sure enough it was very swollen. There didn't seem to be any bite or other issue. I was concerned and could not get back to slee^. I turned on the com^uter to take my mind off the situation. Over the next two or three hours the li^ got more and more swollen and com^ltely numb. I was getting scared. Annie and Tommy were on the big island and I was here. No ferry and no air service until morning. Of course, the little clinic was closed. Dr. Gail decided to monitor the situation . If it didn't get any worse, that was a good sign. If it started getting better, even more so.

I didn't even think to take a ^hoto. It was just so shocking to look in the mirror. I remember thinking that I looked as if I had gone in for a ^rocedure to have my li^s filled with whatever, so they looked fuller and that I had the misfortune to get a doctor who had finished at the bottom of his class. It was full, right u^ to my nose.

About seven or eight hours later some of the numbness was going and I though OK it will continue until I am back to normal. It felt the same way as when the dentist freezes you, only this was the whole u^^er li^.

Sure enough by about 2:00 in the afternoon all but a minor swelling was gone. Now I had time to concern myself about what had caused it. For sure it was an allergic reaction, but to what. What had I eaten that was different. I googled and finally found many articles about as^artame and reactions. OH!!! I had some yogurt the evening before. Yes, I check the label and it did contain that nasty ingredient. I never buy "light or diet" anything, but that was all Milka's had. My decision was that it most likely was a reaction to that.

An hour or two later, I started to have a few tears roll down my cheeks. They were tears of joy. How lucky I was that only my li^ reacted. What if my tongue and throat had (I ate the stuff) swollen shut!!!!!!!!

I am sure I have had as^artame before and have never reacted, but you can be very sure I will never buy anything unless I make sure there is no artificial sweetener of any kind in it (regardless of name, they are all as^artame).