I have always stayed away from artificial sweeteners as they cause headaches, dehydrate, and cause stomach aches. But my dad, who claims to tolerate it well, has been having sinus infections which then spread to his stomach and cause symptoms such as diarrhea, cause his heart to race, etc. For him, it's nearly debilitating.

First off, can the bacteria from a sinus infection spread to the stomach?

Secondly, can Splenda significantly reduce the good gut bacteria? If so, and there is bacteria from the sinus infection going into the stomach and then into the intestines, then could this possibly be the cause of him getting extremely sick after the sinus infection is over?

He doesn't get immediate adverse reactions from splenda, such as sickness, stomach pain, headaches, diarrhea, etc. He can "not" consume splenda for a few days, but just as long as it's after the sinus infection (like clockwork) he will get extreme gut problems.

If anyone could give feedback or has had experience with this issue, I would really appreciate your input.

You can't really lump all artificial sweeteners in one category. They can be very different. Is there one in particular you're talking about?

It is unlikely, only certain bacteria can survive in the gut, like H. Pylori.
I doubt it.

Dairy products can really mess up my sinuses. Also, if your Dad has thyroid issues, that can cause chronic sinus infections too. I had a ENT tell me about that once.

Sounds like he should go to the doctor and get his symptoms checked out.

Sorry about that first line being vague. I meant Splenda. But others like aspartame and sugar alcohols mess with me in different ways.

He's had this problem for years and did go to an IBS specialist a few years back. With his (lack of) expertise, you might as well go to a shaman for medical treatment. Once he's on Medicare, he'll go in and get a bunch of tests run for thyroid and gut bacteria.

He's low-carb, but does consume heavy cream with splenda sometimes. He did agree to try giving those two up and see if that improves things.

This has happened SO many times that I think he's thrown in the towel on getting it treated. He's pretty down on doctors since he hasn't gotten any useful advice on actually treating his IBS. Also, I'm under the impression that there's so many types of IBS... it's like observing one person with breast cancer, and other person with brain cancer and saying that they both have cancer. Not very specific. I think that doctors have a long way to go when it comes to learning about the stomach and how it affects the rest of the body.

I have known about this study at Duke university, which was done on rats. This is only one study and was not done on humans, but perhaps there are humans who did get stomach problems with this.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/93218323/...Splenda-Effects

It looks like you really, really want to pin this on Splenda. I don't know how willing your dad would be, but an elimination diet could pinpoint the culprit, if it is diet related.

Some people react badly to the dextrose used as a filler for Splenda. Maybe he'd do better with the liquid sort.

I guess. I wouldn't mind pinning it on casein protein either, seeing that that's the only other thing that I think might be making things worse.

He eats eggs all the time, but he got tested for all types of allergies a while back and I'm sure he would have known about them.

Also, he doesn't consume wheat, soy, caffeine, artificial sweeteners besides splenda, or stevia. Also, no corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, all those other bad plant-based omega-6 oils.

Maybe it will be forever a mystery. I listen to him complain on a daily basis and I'm thinking it will just stay that way. Wouldn't it be great to be able to go to the doctor, get a correct diagnosis, and have someone that was lowcarb-friendly who would actually work with him. But I'm guessing that winning the lottery or being struck by lightning would be more likely.

Allergies and intolerances are two different things. An allergy test doesn't tell you anything about food intolerances.

Oh, thanks for bringing that up. I think I heard that a long time ago but I forgot. I guess I'll just leave everything up to him. He's already given up so much at this point. I will suggest that he try cutting out one thing at a time (as you suggested) to at least try to narrow down the culprit. I think it could be a mix of external factors. Maybe he gets a cold, that spreads to his stomach, and one or more foods he eats makes it harder to recover. I'm really hoping that some changes in his diet can further improve his IBS. But if it didn't, I can't say he didn't try.

So yeah, reducing diet for now. I think as long as he isn't eating Splenda, he won't be drinking hwc either. Those two just go together for him. But he'll still consume cheese. As there will be two variables taken away, I understand that if his problem goes away, it could be either of those things that caused it. But again, hopefully it will at least be narrowed down as to what the culprit is.

Maybe someone has already said this but some of these things sound like the symptoms of over-infection with yest (see Dr Atkins book, i.a.).