O.K., let me preface this by saying that I am NOT one of those people who think that MS is caused by artificial sweeteners!!

I ONLY drink ice tea flavored with SWEET AND LOW, prefer SPLENDA SPOONFUL in my coffee at home, and use EQUAL packets in my coffee at work and at restaurants...and consume whatever sweetener diet pepsi uses when I drink my many cups of D.P daily.

That being said...

My father developed tinnitus quite some time ago and spent many hours with his ENT and audiologist.

After many false starts, they finally determined that his problem was caused by Aspertame.

It turns out that a VERY SMALL number of people can develop a sensitivity to Aspertame that can manifest as a ringing in the ears (tinnitus).

It took my father approx. 1.5-2 months of abstaining from equal for the ringing to completely disappear, although it started to fade much sooner than that.

He kept completely aspertame-free for about 5 years, and then started introducing it again. When he did start using it, he severely limited it. I think the most he would consume would be two diet cokes per month.

Once splenda made it's debut in the US, my parents made the switch and now it's only on the rare occasion that he ever touches aspertame.

It might be a very long shot, like I said, his doctors told him that the percentage of people who have this sensitivity is ridiculously low...but it might be something to try if you use a lot of aspertame. If you are like my father, if aspertame is to blame, you would probably know fairly soon. If not, you won't have wasted much time.