Dairy Allergy, Should I be Concerned?

[espritbelle85]

My mother told me that as a baby I would always get sick or refuse milk for the longest, but the she started me with sweet acidophiles, and i did ok with that.  Milk products have always made me gassy, mucusy,with occasional runs to the bathroom.  But since I've been in college, things have become increasingly worse with milk products.  I can have a small amount of a milk product and just have minor muscle cramps and mucus with some difficulties breathing (but i think that's because of the mucus) .  but sometimes my muscle cramps start in my tummy and hurt in my shoulders and upper legs.  If the cramps get too bad I vomit.  If I take Ibuprofen,  my cramps stop, but my stomach has a lot of action going on and finally Im running to the bathroom.  when I go it's a chalky white bile, sometime runny sometimes solid.  But either way it goes, my body is happier without milk products or once that milk product has been released from my system.

i asked my doctor about it and she just laughed and said just stop eating milk products, which I have tried, but I'm finding that eating out with friends is difficult because a lot of stuff is made with milk.  if the waiter doesn't know if it has milk in it, i able to inform them before the night is over.  Plus, who can resist cheese, ice cream, and other desserts made with milk?

Is my occasional intake of milk products something I should be concerned about?  or do I just need to be prepared for the discomfort?  What do I need to be sure to include in my diet in place of milk?  Right now I do soy products.

oh yeh, i seem to be able to tolerate hard cheese like some cheddar and Parmesan.

[espritbelle85]

What are your credentials?  What type of professional are you?  I saw that you responded a lot to dermatology posts.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

Your symptoms are suggestive of milk allergy.It is a food allergy immune adverse reaction to one or more of the proteins in cow's milk.

If you consume dairy product in any form,it will cause allergies and sometimes life threatening anaphylaxis. Cow’s milk contains over 25 different proteins which can cause reactions in individuals allergic to milk. Some people are allergic to just one of them, whilst the majority are allergic to several.These proteins may be found in other foods also.Like wheat or gluten contains riboflavin which is found in milk also.So people allergic to milk may show allergy towards wheat also.This phenomena is called cross reactivity.

Pls do not consume any form of dairy product. In addition to the avoidance of allergen in your diet, you can take some OTC antihistaminics like benadryl or Claritin. They can relieve the symptoms.

If your symptoms do not improve then pls consult an allergy specialist.You may need steroids or immunotherapy.

Also wear an allergy bracelet in future describing your milk allergy and carry an epipen along with you so that life threatening anaphylaxis can be avoided.

Hope it helps .Take care and pls do keep us posted in case you have any additional queries.Kind regards.

[espritbelle85]

one more thing, should I see another expert about this?  or is this somethin I should be able to manage on my own?