A British mom of two is sharing her ordeal after spending three days in a coma, allegedly caused by consuming a diet soda by accident. The mom suffered a severe allergic reaction to aspartame, an artificial sweetener commonly found in diet soft drinks.
Elizabeth Perkins, from Swadlincote in Derbyshire, England, told Caters News that she ordered a regular soda at her local pub in October 2019. She received a diet soda by mistake and started drinking the beverage but claimed she knew something was wrong from the very first sip.
“I’d asked for a full-fat coke, and stressed that it had to be full-fat as usual to the bartender,” Perkins, who already knew she was allergic to aspartame, explained. “But once I took my first sip, straight away I knew it tasted strange.”
“I could feel the usual sickness start, like I was going to be sick,” she said. Perkins, then 30, lost consciousness and woke up in hospital three days later.
“Some people automatically give you the low-sugar or sugar-free versions, but for me, that mistake could be fatal,” Perkins later told Caters. The mother’s two young sons, Matthew and Jacob, share her allergy to artificial sweeteners.
After waking from her three-day coma, Perkins recovered in the hospital before returning home to her sons. She decided to share her story as a warning to others to remain aware of the severity of this particular allergy.
Perkins also lamented the effect of her family’s shared allergy upon their social lives. Her sons, she said, often miss out on sharing birthday cakes with their friends because store-bought icing contains artificial sweeteners.
“It feels like we’re penalized for needing the sugared versions of things when really, it’s a necessity,” she said. “[W]e need it to survive.”
“I don’t think people realize what a big difference something like that makes,” Perkins continued, “and since the sugar tax, fewer and fewer places are serving the full-fat drinks.”
However, for consumers with a known allergy wishing to avoid processed sugar, or for anyone wishing to explore more natural alternatives to sugar and sweeteners entirely, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, fruit juice, blackstrap molasses, and stevia leaves are several possible healthier alternatives.
