Milk allergy? - Newcomer

[ourjen]

Hi,
I am a newcomer with lots of questions.
I was wondering if my symptoms could be associated with milk allergy?
I have had a yeast overgrowth (Candida) for several years for which I take probiotics but over the last 8 months I have been feeling very nauseous. I find that I am fairly OK first thing in the morning but after having my breakfast of organic probiotic yogurt with fresh kiwi fruit and orange I find that the nausea begins quite strongly and continues throughout the day.
Also over the last 8 months I have had 3 bad bouts of vomitting & diaorrea lasting several hours.
Could this be a milk allergy?
Many thanks Jen

[Copper]

Welcome to the site. An allergy usually involves some sort of swelling and or rash. It sounds like an intolerance to me. I suffer in the same way if I have dairy and I have lactose intolerance.

Dairy is probably the cause of your sickness etc. To prove this you need to cut down on the dairy. I would start by replacing your yogurt with a soya alternative. See this site for more details

http://www.alprosoya.co.uk/alpro/UK_en/products/bycategory/yofu/index.html

These can be found in the chiller section of supermarkets. I have seen them in Tesco down here.

If you have a lot of dairy in your diet you might want to try and cut down for a while. Give this new diet a good two weeks and then see how you feel. If you have any questions just ask as somebody here is sure to have the answer. Let us know how you are getting on.

The only things we miss on a dairy free diet is cheese and chocolate. We spend lots of time talking about the latter. There are some really nice alternatives out there and passable alternatives to cheese. Don't get depressed about dairy free it is hard to start with but does get better.

[ourjen]

Many thanks for your response.
Do you know of any recipes that I could try?
Your help is very much appreciated.
Jen

[ourjen]

I'm sorry I forgot to mention that I cannot have soya as I had breast cancer in 2004 and it was recommended that I leave soya alone as much as possible.
Thanks, Jen

[Copper]

Recipes for what?

I know that there are others here who are unable to have dairy or soya. I am hoping that they see your message, as I am sure that they can be of more help than me.

If you are trying to cut out dairy you could use rice milk, oat milk or Tiger White (the latter is made from a plant root) I have tasted the sweetened Tiger White and that was ok.

Margarine - there is a Pure with no soya or Vitalite. Stork block margarine is dairy free and ok for baking.

I use my old recipes and just replace the dairy with an alternative.

I hope that answers some of your questions.

[matt]

it does feel like a huge step to start with but you'll get used to it. if you make stuff fresh from scratch you can fairly easily avoid the problem foods. it's as you add processed food that the problem stuff appears either soya or milk etc etc.

so you'll get used to checking to see what's in stuff and calling ahead when you intend to eat out.

[Flora]

Hi Jen,
It takes a tad longer doing the weekly shop to start with when you cut out Dairy but you do soon get used to what you can put in your trolly & what you can't. There are lot's of alternatives about now. Rice Milk is quite nice.
I have to cut out yeast from my diet too & there is a really good thread on here which tells you what things have yeast in & I found that really good but I'm sorry I don't know how to put a link to that but one of the clever peeps on here will help you with that if you'd like to read it.

Copper can I ask you if you eat Vitalite? I ask cos I tried it being Dairy free but I had terrible pains in tum after eating it for a few days then when I read the tub it says it contains Lactic acid. I thought this was from Milk. Am I wrong in thinking that?
Flora x

[Copper]

Yes I am fine with Vitalite. The lactic acid is probably not from a dairy source. We make lactic acid when we exercise. We know we have made lactic acid when we get cramp. I won't bore you with the technical biology which even I struggle to understand.

[goose]

i too can eat vitalite, i actually prefer that to pure, tastes soo much nicer

[ourjen]

Many thanks for the replies.
I gave up the yogurt for breakfast and any other dairy products I was having, which wasn't many. But I am finding that I am having horrible stomach cramps and mild nausea, is this common after first giving up dairy products?
Jen

[rebecca c]

I have not heard of it Jen. But you can expect the dairy to take up to 6 weeks to clear your system - that is how long it takes to clear mine and others on the site.

If you do not feel considerably better into the seventh week it may be something else causing the problems either a different intolerence like gluten or a medical problem.

[Copper]

My problems cleared up very quickly once I cut down on the dairy. My tolerance to lactose has changed every now and again, so now I can't tolerate any!

I agree with Rebecca that if things have not improved after a few weeks, you will have to see if it is something else is causing the problem. Do you get worse after breakfast and what are you eating then? Just to complicate matters you could be intolerant to dairy and something else! We just have to find out what the something else is. I am intolerant to a number of things and rather worryingly I am still acquiring new ones.

[goose]

i was once told that you can suffer symtomps a few days after you have eaten something, depending on the individual, so that may be that, could take you a little bit longer to ween off dairy, but stick in there.