New and wanting to say Hello!

[kittyvalentine79]

Hello all,
I'm new here and just wanted to introduce myself.I have been having a read through the forums and you seem like a friendly bunch :) I'm here as I finally realized that it was dairy products that were causing my migraines.I was a bit nervous about talking about it but I figured you guys would understand better than most.Generally people aren't very sympathetic about migraines(I think if you have never had one perhaps some people just think it's like a bad headache and you should pull yourself together;) ) Also there seems to be less and less tolerance for food allergies/intolerances nowadays.Maybe they think you are just jumping on the bandwagon or something I don't know? Anyway sorry about the rant,just had a bit of a hard time this week about cutting out the dairy and being 'awkward' (oddly from my Mother,who's a vegetarian!).I have felt so much better (only one migraine in three months as apposed to the two a month I was getting) since cutting out dairy and my daughter and I have had great fun checking the labels when we do our shopping-it's amazing how many things I wouldn't dream of contain dairy!
Hopefully I can nab some great recipes off some of you while I'm here
:p

Kitty

[Copper]

Hello and :bwelcome: to the site Kitty. We understand intolerances and allergies here. I suffer from migraines too and only in the last year have I had the flashing lights. I find them scary.

Sadly various celebs have got into fad diets which I believe includes dairy free. Now people think we are picky eaters and that there is no such thing as dairy intolerance. Grrrr

If you need dairy alternative foods do ask as I am sure somebody here will know an alternative. I would be wary about using soya as a replacement for everything as you might develop a problem with soya. I kept my soya intake to a minimum and I am now intolerant to soya :(

[kittyvalentine79]

Hi Copper,
Thanks for making me so welcome:). I know what you mean about the flashing lights,I'm quite lucky I very rarely get them now but when I was a teenager they were pretty brutal!It can be scary I know but I hope they calm down for you.
I have noticed the forums have quite a lot of comments referring to what you said about the potential soya intolerance, I had not thought about that and am now quite worried:( I guess I thought I would be consuming quite a lot of soya now.Maybe not so much :unsure:. I know I can use rice or nut milk instead but I don't think I have seen any dairy free yogurt/pudding type things that don't contain soya. Don't think I could live without those type of things.

[cnc]

Hi Kitty,

Welcome to the site. I'm slightly more fortunate in a way as people tend to take me a bit more seriously as I'm allergic to milk, which apparently is a little more legitimate, plus I think they're scared they'll get in trouble with me as I'm also in a wheelchair ;)

Maybe you could use the soya puddings but try and substitute everything else instead? I can sympathise with the migraines, I've only ever had the one, but I really don't ever want one again, I had the 'can't move my head without being sick' one, so I can appreciate why you want to do everything you can to stop them.

Hope you get plenty of useful information here, we generally specialise in chocolate, and ermmm more chocolate. Must be time to restart the Easter Egg thread actually :D

[kittyvalentine79]

Hi Claire,
Thanks for making me welcome.Glad to know you all love chocolate as much as I do :) Luckily I love dark chocolate so that's not to much of an issue-except for Galaxy ,that's my big thing I think I will miss the most. I'll have to have a wander through the forums and see if anyone has suggested a good non dairy version.
Kitty

[rebecca c]

Kitty

good to hear you have such a big improvement with dairy free. We all have had to handle people's annoyance at our intolerences and ill health.

Luckily my mum is a complete star as I have quite a range of food intolerences. I feel safest when cooking for myself or if my husband does it but it is nice to have a break from cooking and I am not such an inspired cook as I used to be.

I used to have bad migraines as a teenager. Now I just get the aura (blurry vision) for half an hour about once a year. It definitely used to be after a period of stress - it is less predictable now. Its OK as long as I am not driving - which I never have been I have enough warning to pull over. I used to find they completely obliterated me I really couldnt do anything but sleep and be sick. Then I would come round fragile but starving.

[Copper]

In my opinion Swiss Organica made with rice milk tastes like Galaxy.

Ooops I need a chocolate fix now :)

[kittyvalentine79]

Thanks copper I'll have to look out for that choccie!:)
Hi Rebecca,I thought it was just me who had the thing where after you feel exhausted after but famished! I can't even look at food when I can feel a migraine coming on and during one-forget about it-but afterwards all I do is eat! Very strange-but hey at least I know someone else is as strange as me! :p

[jill]

Hi Kitty and welcome, I didn't realise that dairy could trigger migranes, fortunately you have discovered what it could be and can now do something about it. I am lucky that I have not had migranes ( I have had bad headaches which are made worse by noise and light so I can imagine a little what you have had to put up with). Yes we are a friendly bunch and I am pleased that you have found us useful.

On the topic of chocolate - isn't that supposed to be a migrane trigger like cheese?

[kittyvalentine79]

Hi Jill,
I've found that dark chocolate is fine so have assumed it was the dairy content rather than the chocolate itself,which is a shame because while I enjoy dark chocolate I know I'm going to miss Galaxy bars :-(
I never thought it could be dairy as I tried to exclude different foods over the years but the only thing that has worked is cutting out the dairy.It's funny as I've never heard of migraines being caused by dairy but was hoping to come across one here....anyone else have the same problem?