A Warning Sign Perhaps?

Well I've had the scariest 12 hours of my life today! Michael spent most of the day in hospital after having some numbness/tingling sensations in his left arm last night. This along with some indigestion after dinner googles to look like the symptoms of a heart attack. Around 3am this morning we decided that it was best to call an ambulance - when explaining the symptoms the operator advised that they would send an ambulance for monitoring and based on the results of that they would decide whether he needs to go to emergency or not. He was given an ECG and a heart attack was ruled out quite quickly which is good news. But the doctor he saw in the hospital around 6am this morning was concerned that he may have had a mini stroke - he said he was slurring some words and his face had a slight droop to it. I didn't notice either (he recommended Michael call me to talk to me to see if I could notice a difference in his voice). Once the kids woke up we went to the hospital and he was finally given the all clear to go home around 2pm this afternoon. I have to admit I would have felt much better if we had an official diagnosis but the doctor he saw later in the day didn't think it was a stroke either as he still had a considerable amount of strength in his arm. They felt it could be a trapped nerve in his arm that was causing the problem but we're to return to the hospital if there are any further problems. I have decided to treat this as a warning sign of what our lifestyle can do to us! Enough is enough - we may not drink or smoke but we are physically inactive and have numerous food choices in our diet. Interestingly enough when googling further tonight we discovered that numbness/tingling anywhere in the body could be a sign of aspartame poisoning. Once I looked into it further I discovered some of the horror stories behind this and went checking the pantry and fridge for tell tale signs. Pepsi Max contains it and is the main soft drink we drink at home! Suffice to say we will be limiting soft drinks and taking Pepsi Max off the list altogether! So these things are all signs to gear us up for a fabulous kick start to a new (and healthier) lifestyle that starts on 1st January! I've even convinced Michael that we should exercise first thing in the morning so that we don't use the end of the day as an excuse not to do it! Enough talk - it's time for action!