Dairy and anxiety

[Lauren]

What a relief to find this website! I think I have a dairy intolerance but it has made me feel quite down over the past year. My GP said there was nothing they could test for and that all I could do was try cutting foods out. My symptoms are feeling sick, having trapped wind, funny tastes in my mouth, dry mouth, searing stomach pains and having to get to a loo within 15 mins of eating dairy! They can last all day but seem to be worst at night for some reason. I recently started to cut out diary as much as I could and I seem to be so much better.

I think the worst thing for me is that the awful feeling I get in my stomach when I'm ill has started to make me feel anxious and I have had anxiety attacks over the past five months. I think my mind has sort of linked the 'gut wrenching' feeling of when things go wrong/stress with the 'gut churning' feeling of when I eat something that disagrees with me. Consequently, I have evenings when I've eaten dinner and then had palpertations and awful feelings of fear and anxiety. It made me feel so isolated and afraid. I'm hoping now that I've started to cut dairy out that this will fade.

I wondered if anyone else has had the food intolerance with anxiety? Also, is my GP right? Is there really no test they can do to see if I'm dairy intolerant or lactose intolerant? I'm really hoping to get myself back to normal as a year ago I was a happy 28 year old but I feel like I've lost my sparkle at the moment! I think I've found it hard as my family are fantastic and I love them all to bits but they don't understand how hard it is to cut things out and how much dairy is in everyday products you pick up. They seem to think its a case of just not having cream on strawberries or cheese in a salad. Eating out has also been a nightmare - it was something I used to love. I was vegetarian until a few months ago and found my food choice shrunk as so much veggie stuff has dairy in it. I have eaten some meat to try and give me more choice but don't really like it so am wondering if I can manage being vegan or not. Anyway, apologies for the good old whinge! I'd love to hear about how others have coped and any tips!:)

[Copper]

Welcome to the site Lauren :bwelcome:

Your symptoms are like mine and I have lactose intolerance. My lactose intolerance used to catch up with me at night. I have spent many a night awake feeling really sick.

There is a test for this which I would not want to take. You have to drink a measured amount of lactose and then your breath is tested after various periods of time. I would be so sick that they would never get to test my breath.

The only time I get anxious is if I eat out and don't trust the chef/waiting staff. The best thing to do is always ring the restaurant first and ask if they can cope with a dairy free person. I have to say that when I have done this the chefs are always keen to feed me and fully understand dairy free meals. I don't bother with puddings.

If you feel better with a dairy free diet then stick with it. I am sure that we can help educate your family :D Once you feel happy on your new diet I am sure that you will feel less anxious.

If you need help with dairy alternatives do ask as I am sure we can all help.

Have you seen the list of alternative names for dairy here?

http://www.dairyfreeuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=738

I printed the list out and took it with me when I went shopping until I got used to what I was looking for in ingredient lists.

[rebecca c]

Hi Lauren and welcome to the site.

I have a range of problems on top of the dairy intolerence which does not cause me the same severe reactions you get. I suffer from some anxiety - I think it is a normal reaction to an illness especially when it is hard to get a diagnosis. Mine is often focused around drug side effects and deep seated infections over which I have little control. When I had a bad stomach I used to get anxious when my tummy hurt in the same way you do now.

Give yourself time to adapt to your new lifestyle, there is no rush and I am sure things will start to get better. Decisions like whether to eat meat dont have to be rushed. I too started eating meat after being a veggie and I quite enjoy my meat now even though it was daunting to start with. As I have lots of restrictions I felt this was my only choice but I am sure that for you a well researched vegan diet would also be an option.

[jill]

Hi Lauren. Prior to discovering that dairy was my problem my confidence had been reduced to virtually nothing. Even a trip to the shops was difficult and I got to the stage where I would not go on my own incase I had a bad turn and needed the toilet. When you don't know what is happening if is very hard, I used to get panicky which would often result in me fainting. For years I was told it was IBS and I just had to live with it. When the medical profession don't listen and you are reduced to tears in the consulting room all they say is its stress. Fortuantely for me I eventually got a GP who listened and referred me to a hospital consultant who listened and did me the lactose intolerance test (hydrogen breath test). By the time I got my results (about 2 years late due to a hospital blunder) I had already worked out for my self that it was dairy that was causing the problem.

Now I know what I can and can't eat I can't believe how much it affected my life. If you are feeling better without having dairy then it certainly seems like that is your problem. I often used to be worse in an evening and in the night. Stomach cramps and sudden diahorrea which used to leave me washed out for days has now gone - unless I have a slip up and unknowlingly have eaten something. Like Copper said, eating out is hard but as long as you make it clear what you can have then you should be fine.

It does get easier, I've managed to pull myself round such alot, hope this helps and you are now feeling less anxious. :)

[Katerina]

Hi Lauren :)

I'm sorry to hear you feel so anxious. I hadn't thought anxiety was linked to food intolerances but as Rebecca said, it is normal to feel anxious if you know you are ill but no one believes you or helps you [I've only just thought this now as I read REbecca's post].

I've always been a terribly anxious person, but it has got worse as I've got older, but I've also discovered more and more food intolerances as I've got older, so it may be linked. Its hard to know.

I get trapped wind a lot in my left side. The doctor who diagnosed it as IBS said it was a spastic colon. What I do is massage it really hard where the pain is, and within a few minutes/half an hour at most, the wind is released [from one end or another]. Sorry if that sounds obvious but it was a break through for me, as previously I just thought 'oh no, what can I do, I'll take a mint tablet' or whatever. The massaging has really helped my IBS, honestly. Its up to you if you feel confident to massage your abdomen really hard though. It hasn't damaged my insides so far...!

[Lauren]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Things are getting easier and I've found some good treats in the supermarkets that I can eat! One thing that I did wonder was what people would recommend as a substitute to milk in tea. I have tried soya milk and think that the unsweetened 'light' version is a bit better as it seems less 'nutty' to me but I wondered if anyone else had tried other things. I wish they did little sample pots of each milk alternative to try!

My family were great at Christmas (so I now feel very guilty about bemoaning them earlier)! I had all sorts of dairy free chocolate bars and biscuits for Christmas and 2 dairy free cook books!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas!

[Copper]

I am intolerant to tea and soya. I use oat milk in my coffee and that tastes ok to me.

[lollylissy]

Hi i am called melissa and i am 15. i am dairy free and nut free. i found this out when i was 4, on day i ate something with milk in and i started to swell up. My mum and sisters took me to the hospital and they did lots of test and found out that i was allergic to milk and nuts. i get really annoyed some times but i have kind of got use to it now. I have goats milk but there is also soya but i dont like it. I have found that buying dairy-free stuff is very expensive. Shps like tesco, asda, sainsbury and morrisons have this section called free from, it sells things that are free from milk gluten wheat etc. There are also goat cheese and yogurts. and you can but dairy free cream. Hope this is a bit of help to you. i do have some good news though i am going in to hospital soon th be retested to see if i have grown out of them because i got it at a early age i have a chance of growing out of it. good luck if you want a chat then please do or if u want any information then ask. Email me at princessmelissa@live.co.uk

[jill]

Hi Melissa and welcome to the site. Being allergic is obviously alot more serious than an intolerance like I have . I hope that your hospital tests go well and that you have grown out of it. Obviously going into hospital to be tested is very wise.

[nic84]

rice milk in tea and coffee works for me. Too much coffee isn't great for me, but as the doctor ruled it a mild intolerance I'm still having a cup in the morning as it seems all my favourite foods are ruled out now!

I heard someone say vanilla flavoured rice milk is lovely in porridge, but I've been using just the plain version and it's fine in both porridge and tea, doesn't turn tea as light a colour as normal milk, but I think it's the lipids (fats) that do that with milk!

[Dianne]

Hi Lauren

I’m a vegetarian and am Dairy Free. so other than Eggs and honey i suppose I’m a vegan. I did try to eat meat when I found out but spat it out as I just dont like the taste or the texture. Its amazing how many alternatives there are once you need to find them. I have found a cream cheese substitute made from Tofu (this is Tofu which I hate) the ‘cheese’ is lovely, I have it on crackers but also use it when im cooking a sauce for pasta or omelet’s. You can use it to make cheesecake too :o) Asda also do a vegan range of things like Chicken bits from their VegiDeli range (Meat free Vegideli organic). I tend to find that each of the large supermarkets do different ranges so some things I get at Asda some at Tesco and some at Sainsburys. I have also found a supermarket website www.dieteryneedsdirect.com (http://www.dieteryneedsdirect.com/) which sells food for people with allergies and intolerances. Once on the site if you tell them what you are intolerant to it brings up a whole list of food you can buy. A lot of it is also veggi.

Hope that’s helpful