Hi everyone!

[Fozzybear]

Hi all. I've looked in on these forums occasionally for a while but thought it was about time that I joined, so here I am! I thought I'd say hello and write a quick bit about myself as an introduction. I've had an intolerance to milk since November 2002 (may have had a mild intolerance for a year or more beforehand as I'd not been 100% for a long time), when I suddenly became ill with nausea, diarhoa, lethargy and dizzyness and had a long spell off work. My doctor couldn't tell me what it was and kept sending me for tests with no result. I was pretty ill for about a year, taking quite a lot of time off work and gradually getting pretty depressed. After a visit to a hospital specialist (about 9 months in!) I was diagnosed as having IBS but was given no other information. I finally discovered that IBS was probably a symptom of an intolerance and after some time realised that milk was the cause - this took a long time to isolate as I had so much milk in my diet that I was ill pretty much constantly.

Even after I discovered that milk was the problem I still had a lot of illness because I was unaware that I was still eating a lot of food with milk hidden in it. It was only last autumn that I realised that I shouldn't actually be ill like I was and discovered the hidden milk in my diet. I then made a conscious effort to totally eliminate milk from my diet and since then I have been much better and have only had one attack of IBS, brought on by some anti-biotics that my doctor gave me to treat an ear infection. I don't feel quite up to my pre-illness state but I am close to normal again and still improving.

Outside of looking after my milk intolerance I like to watch films, dabble in photography, play games on my PC and Playstation 2 and go for walks.


Must stop there as it's getting late and I need to be up for work early in the morning. Night all... :D

[Steve]

Welcome to the site :dance:

[matt]

welcome, glad you're feeling better. good to hear from you and see another member become active in the forums. the more the merrier.

[Pam]

Welcome to the site, it's good to hear the success stories when people finally find out what is the cause of feeling so bad for so long. Doing without milk can be a pain as, like you say, it is hidden in so many things, but at least you know it is worth the sacrifice. We're always pleased to hear new suggestions and all about new products, so keep on posting.

[Copper]

Welcome to the site. I have had lactose intolerance on and off since birth. I only realised this when I was really ill after taking some tablets which contained lactose. I was only 49 at the time! I know that I have to keep my lactose intake very low - have not reached the point where I have to give up the lactolite milk and a Brunch bar :)

[zoefruitcake]

Hello & welcome :0)

[Fozzybear]

Thanks for the welcome everyone. It's great to find a place to talk (well... type) with other people who have the same problem and I think that this site is a great help, both for information and a sense of community. I don't personally know anyone with this problem (probably something I should be glad of really!) and it makes a lot of difference to know that other people have gone through what you have.

[linny]

Welcome Fozzybear!

I have a milk intolerance and suffer from lots of stomach symptoms. I found out about the intolerance by doing a 'York Test' kit. I've just been tested for crohn's but the initial results look good. My GP says I suffer with gastritis and maybe ibs. I also have an intolerance to most anti-biotics, there's only one I can take now which is Ciproxin.

So you're into PC games - perhaps you may have more luck trying to knock champion Pam off the top :naughty: - I've no chance - I'm 2nd but there's a big gap!

Nice to meet you.

[Pam]

Oy, are you talking about me? I've just worked out how to play zookeeper today and I'm addicted. My typing is very hard work at the moment because I've got my finger all bandaged up after cutting it. At least zookeeper is one handed. I think you have the lead on that one and I can't get anywhere near. I'm off work this week and the weather is miserable so I'm here more than usual.

York tests are supposed to be very good but they are quite expensive.

[Lan]

Hi all.

I would like to welcome Fozzybear to the website. Thanks for the kind post about the community. I started this website for that exact reason, to help others and enable them to know they are not alone out there.

I am actually considering training to be a dietician as I feel I have a lot to give, experience and time. Am completing GCSE Maths and A-Level Science this year part time and then studying full time for three years to graduate.

It took me alot of time to get diagnosed (approximately 3 /4years) as my Doctor thought it was 'All In My Head'. If only he knew.

I am again on an elimination diet as I have a problem with something other than milk, caffeine and citrus and cannot even have tapwater. I'm living on rice, veg (no potato, onion or corn), fruit, meat and fish. Going well though and only on the second day!!

Well, enough said. Welcome to the site and I hope you feel better and back to your old self soon.

Take care.

Lan. :D

[Fozzybear]

Dietary problems do seem to be a bit of a problem for GPs. The doctors I saw ranged from "you'll get over it", through "I'll write you a sick certificate - stay off work for a week or two" and ending with the company doctor saying "why have you had so much time off?" and "you shouldn't have those symptoms", closely followed by "you probably know more about this than I do now". :huh:

[linny]

Good luck with the elimination diet Lan. You could become the site's 'consultant dietician' or has that put you off the whole idea!!!!!!!

My husband has 2 rashes come up. An eczema/dermatitis on his arms and a red angry rash where the seatbelt and his belt go round him. He went to the GP and she says she doesn't know what it is and gave him antihistamines!! I bought him a tub of aqueous cream, as you mentioned a while ago on the site. That seems to help but we need to find out what is causing it - what's the next step, go back to see our GP I think!!!

[matt]

good plan to become dietician lan. good luck.

would you want to give up your main job though? heck that's a way off yet, meanwhile you'll gain knowledge which is never a bad thing. you can find out at what point they get told we're all cranks and should be treated as idiots!

let's hope it isn't choc you have a problem with! hope you do find out what it is, and it doesn't turn out to be some obscure hard to identify additive. if only there was an easy fool proof guarenteed method for finding out. life would be so much easier.

[Pam]

Fozzybear, you're definitely right about the professionals, most of them are sceptics as far as food intolerances go. If it doesn't show up as a definite allergic reaction they think it is all in your head. I think most of us here have had to self diagnose through trial and error to get any answers and then you have a difficult job getting your doctor to believe you.

Which tests did you have done with York? Did you have the full tests to see exactly what you had problems with or just the food group tests? I'd like to be tested but they are so expensive that I really can't justify spending all that money right now.

[Fozzybear]

I haven't been tested for allergies or other dietary intolerances. Over the year when I first became ill I had about four sets of blood tests for general medical problems, stool tests, urine tests, an ultrasound on my lower torso and a camera where I didn't really want it! The result of that was IBS and a dietician told me that I needed to watch my diet. My testing for food intolerance has been purely trial and error. Not sure what a 'York' test is? Is that an alergy-type test? My problem seems to be purely digestive as I don't exhibit any allergergic symptoms and I'm assuming it's just lactose intolerance, but I generalise to milk and don't eat anything with any milk products in.

[Pam]

Sorry, I must have got you mixed up with someone else, I thought you'd done the York tests (York Labs). These are supposedly the only tests approved by Allergy UK other then NHS testing, but the full tests are around £200. You just send a drop of blood off to them and they do all the tests, but they are very reliable.

I've been really naughty this morning, I haven't even got dressed yet, came here, started to catch up on the messages, had a quick game in the arcade and found some more messages. My daughter is happily playing with the playdough and her brothers are still in bed. I suppose I ought to get something done now. Lots of washing waiting to be done.

[Pam]

Just found it, it was Linny who did the York tests. Please, Linny, tell us more about them.

[linny]

ok I've found the booklet!

Prices right as of March 2004.

You buy a testing kit from Yorktest.

Simply by pricking your finger and absorbing a drop of blood onto a matchstick-sized wand, our laboratory can perform an analysis and advise if you have raised levels of IgG antibodies.

Our initial Food Intolerance Indicator test will simply tell you whether you have a food intolerance or not. Once you have found out if you have a food intolerance you can upgrade to identify the specific foods that may be causing your problem.

Food Intolerance Indicator Test £19.99

There are two in-depth tests to choose from, the full test of 113 foods or a test featuring just 42 foods. To help you adjust your diet with ease we provide you with support and guidance to help you through the transition. If you take the Food Intlerance Indicator Test first, and choose to upgrade within 10 days a reduction of 10% will be applied to the cost of your upgrade test.

foodSCAN 113 Food Intolerance Test includes:

a comprehensive food intolerance guidebook - to assist you in changing your dietary habits

30 minutes of nutritional consultation with a fully qualified nutritionalist - to ensure that you maintain a balanced diet after you have excluded your problem foods

priority service for results - keeping your waiting time to a minimum

a credit card sized list of foods to avoid - for you to use whilst eating out.

foodSCAN 113 Food Intolerance Test £260.00


foodSCAN 42 Food Intolerance Test includes:

a comprehensive food intolerance guidebook - to assist you in changing your dietary habits

15 minutes of nutritional consultation with a fully qualified nutritionalist

a 10 day results service

foodSCAN 42 Food Intolerance Test £135.00


I thought that I'd copy their description as it's easier to understand than my waffle!!

I did the full 113 test and also got a free 1 year memebership with Allergy UK.

Contact details: website: www.yorktest.com (http://www.yorktest.com)
email: info@yorktest.com
tel: 01904 410410
fax: 01904 422000


I never even thought I could be intolerant to dairy until I did this test. It's expensive but it's changed my life!!!!!!:) Hope this helps.

[Pam]

Thanks for posting that Linny, I will copy and paste it onto a thread of its own so that people can find it more easily when searching.